SA vs IND 2018: "Another ten days, would have made a difference."- Ravi Shastri

The Indian team has already lost the three-match Test series and will be looking to salvage some pride in the third Test and perform better. India’s head coach Ravi Shastri feels that the Indian team must rectify their past mistakes and take responsibility on their own. Shastri has also added that the players have been told about it as well.

The Matter-:

Indian batsmen have been struggling in the fast and bouncy pitches in South Africa, and the Proteas fast bowlers have been ruthless in their approach. None of the Indian batsmen has been able to look comfortable against seam and bounce except for Virat Kohli who scored a brilliant 153 in the first innings of the second Test.

India’s most reliable batsman in the Test format Chesteshwar Pujara has struggled miserably in the ongoing series and has scored just 49 runs in the four innings. Moreover, he was dismissed run-out in both the innings of the second Test adding more trouble for the Indian batsmen.

Shastri’s Say on the matter-:

When asked about how he felt when the batsman threw his wicket away in such a manner Shastri said:

“It feels sad, as it is the conditions are tough and then a batsman gets run out, it adds to the miseries. There’s no doubt about that. And you hope you learn from those mistakes at times school boy errors which are to be rectified. You know in tough conditions where there’s not much between the two teams you can’t afford to give away wickets like that and the boys have been told about that.” 

Shastri also added that they would not moan about the pitches being tough for them but added that another ten days of practice would have made a lot of difference:

“We are not here to moan about the tracks because like I said at the start of the game both teams play on the same surface. The good thing though is people wont crib and moan when matches in India get over in two and a half days. Neither will they ask me what kind of track are you playing on. In hindsight, I would say another ten days of practice here would have made a difference. But that’s no excuse. The pitch we play on, it’s the same for both sides and I would rather focus on the 20 wickets we have taken. That has given us a chance in both test matches to win games. Yes our top order, if we can fire, it will be a good test match.”  

Conclusion-:

The Indian team must learn from these mistakes and plan well in advance for their future away tours. India’s next away tour is of England in July, and the Indian management should start planning to play some warm-up matches before the start of the series.