Opener Dean Elgar led South Africa’s fightback in bowling-friendly conditions of Centurion on Day 2. The partnership of 93 runs for the second wicket between Elgar and Tony de Zorzi put pressure on the visitors. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri was not happy with Rohit Sharma’s tactics as he used Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna in the second session, a passage where plenty of boundaries came off Elgar’s bat. Shastri called it a ‘big tactical mistake’ by Rohit as he felt Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj should have bowled in tandem as they had plenty of rest during the lunch break.
“That's something that we've discussed multiple times when I was the coach. And more often than not, we decided to go with the best two bowlers at the start of the session,” Shastri recalled when he was head coach and Virat Kohli was the captain.
"If you cast your mind back, India would feel they have missed a massive trick in the first half hour of play. Two bowlers they started with that tactically was a big mistake," he opined.
Manjrekar agreed with Shastri as he said, "Clearly India missed the trick. This is something Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma must have thought about during the break and then decided to go with Prasidh and Shardul."
Former South Africa pacer Vernon Philander tried to understand the reason behind Rohit’s move that led to quick runs, "Perhaps they wanted to preserve him (Bumrah) after the 6-over spell he bowled (before lunch). I think it's a window of opportunity that India lost. India gave away 42 runs and that gave South Africa the momentum after lunch. They lost an opportunity."
Elgar went on to score his first Test century at home against India. He remained unbeaten for 140 as South Africa posted 256/5 to take an 11-run lead before bad light stopped play. Shastri lauded Elgar for taking the game away from India.
"This is the most fluent I have seen Dean Elgar. The way he has driven through the off-side and the way he has flicked anything on that pads. His strike rate shows that as well. Almost 80 percent of his runs have come in boundaries. It shows he has been on the lookout for loose balls," Shastri said.
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