South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince was critical of the side's display with the bat against India in the first Test of the two-match series. The team could only withstand the Indian bowlers for a little over two sessions before being bundled out for only 159 runs. Aiden Markram was the top-scorer for the Proteas with his inning of 31 as the Proteas' batting order completely collapsed.
Prince on SA's batting collapse
Following the conclusion of Day 1, Prince heaped praise on Indian bowlers for their brilliant performance, but also pointed out how they got a lot of help from the inconsistent bounce on the pitch.
“When you look at the scorecard, quite a few of them will be disappointed at getting to 20 or 30 and then getting out. Firstly, we’ve got to give credit to the Indian bowlers, as a lot of them were pretty good. Secondly, my assessment of the surface is that the bounce is not consistent. The signs were there pretty early on in the first over," Prince told reporters.
“Quite often, when you expect batters to get to 20 or 30 and grow in confidence, I don’t particularly believe that any of the batters grew in confidence because of the inconsistency of the bounce. What can happen is that you don’t trust the surface as much as you should after spending an hour at the crease. And then, of course, when you face a quality bowling attack, they more often than not get the ball in the danger area, and it does too much for you. Unfortunately, that’s been the case today," he added.
Bumrah stars for India
Jasprit Bumrah was the star performer for India in the bowling department against South Africa, recording figures of 5/27. This was his 16th fifer in Test crickket and also saw him become the first pacer in 17 years to take a fifer on the opening day of a Test in India. He was assited well by the likes of Mohammed Siraj (2/47), Kuldeep Yadav (2/36) and Axar Patel (1/21) who all chipped in with wickets.
India finished off the day on 37/1. They lost Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply for 12 runs, but KL Rahul and Washington Sundar are looking set on the crease. The hosts trail the Proteas by 122 runs and will be hoping to take a big lead on Day 2.