Indian bowlers might have been doing their work successfully but it is the Indian middle order that can turn out to be a big headache for the Indian team management. In a situation like this, former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock said that he feels that the Indian batters were a little ‘overconfident’ which resulted in their collapse on the Day 3 of the current Boxing Day Test in Centurion.
India vice-captain KL Rahul, with the help of his terrific hundred, guided India to a formidable score of 272/3 on the first day of the first Test. On Tuesday (December 29), India started their innings from there but they lost their remaining seven wickets scoring just 49 runs as South Africa pacers Lungi Ngidi (6/71) and Kagiso Rabada (3/72) ran through India’s middle-order inside the first session.
“I think it’s always concerning that someone cannot stop the rut. You can always lose 2-3 wickets but the fact that someone can’t stop it is a little bit of a concern… Mindset wise the conundrum for a coach is you never want to… overtalk about how things could or couldn’t go wrong [but] you just think maybe Rahul Dravid was tempted at the start of play on Day 3 to say, ‘Listen, guys, we batted superbly on Day 1 but let’s not take it for granted. Let’s apply ourselves, let’s really get stuck in, let’s build it from the beginning once again,” Pollock told a website.
“I think it was a case of maybe they (the batters) were slightly overconfident coming onto the crease and then a combination of your lower-order – Ashwin, Thakur, Shami, Bumrah, Siraj… those guys haven’t had much time in the middle, they need a little bit of game time, additional practices and maybe were just short of a gallop,” the 48-year-old former South Africa skipper added.
Indian bowlers, on the other hand, did not waste too much time as hosts were bundled out for 197 in 62.3 overs. A terrific bowling display by the Indian pacers helped the Indian team to secure a 130-run lead in the first innings.
India lost opener Mayank Agarwal’s wicket at the end of the day’s play as KL Rahul (5 not out) and Shardul Thakur (4 not out) will restart their second innings on Day 4.
