Former India pacer Ashish Nehra said that Team India should play with a mindset of batting only once on Day 3 of the first Test against South Africa. Notably, the rain washed out the entire Day 2 whereas India posted 272/3 on board before the stumps of Day 1 as well.
However, Virat Kohli & Co didn’t have a great start to the third day’s play as they lost centurion KL Rahul, who could only manage to add one run to his overnight score.
The veteran also believed that the team shouldn’t think about increasing their scoring rate as the bowlers will get help from the pitch. Speaking on Cricbuzz, Ashish Nehra said:
“There are still 4 (3) days left in this Test and the way the game has proceeded so far, the way the pitch has behaved – if it had been a flat pitch and there was no help for bowlers then the day’s loss would have had a bigger impact. It can have an impact still but 4 days on this surface, you can still see a result and India just needs to put runs on the board… Now you don’t want to bat again even more because you have already scored 273 runs and don’t need to drastically increase the run rate.”
Ashish Nehra continued:
“If you score around 450, the weather keeps changing and there’s moisture on the pitch then South African batters might also struggle. Runs on board is always runs on board. In four-day matches, if the team batting first can put 425-450 runs on the board, they rule out their loss. From India’s perspective, it will have an impact but not much if they can put up 400+ runs and the conditions don’t change much.”
“Having five bowlers are always a big plus for any team” – Ashish Nehra
When he was asked whether India’s strategy of going with five bowlers can help them as the second day has already washed out, the veteran stated that it wouldn’t matter much. He, however, claimed that India’s fifth bowler, Shardul Thakur, could play an important role.
“Having five bowlers are always a big plus for any team. And in these conditions, who is your fifth bowler? Shardul Thakur. The way these conditions are, and the type of bowler Shardul Thakur is, he can get a lot of help here. We saw in England he bowls the out-swing well. And how the game has gone here, Shardul Thakur can have a big role. But whether you have five bowlers or four, you just have to bowl well,” Ashish Nehra concluded.
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