Former cricketer Ravi Shastri highlighted India’s tactical mistake during the second day of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. He expressed that the visitors shouldn’t have started with their Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur right after the lunch break.
Batting first, India managed 245 runs on the board on the back of KL Rahul’s century. In response, Dean Elgar has stood tall for South Africa. He was unbeaten on an overnight score of 140 runs. Speaking on Star Sports, Ravi Shastri highlighted the tactical mistake that cost India. He said,
“On any pecking order, these two (Shardul and Prasidh) would have been the last to start the proceedings (after lunch).”
“That’s something that we’ve had a discussion 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. 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 added.
Sanjay Manjrekar agrees with Ravi Shastri’s opinion
Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared the same thoughts as Ravi Shastri. He expressed that India missed the trick by bowling Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna after lunch. He said on Star Sports, “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.”
South Africa took a lead of 11 runs at the end of the second day’s play. They had lost five wickets for 256 runs with Dean Elgar and Marcon Jansen at the crease. Elgar was unbeaten on 140 runs, while Marco Jansen was unbeaten on three runs in the innings.
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