SA vs IND, 2018: Ottis Gibson rues lack of fizz in Proteas batting line-up

South African head coach Ottis Gibson lamented the failure of batsmen while attributing them to the series loss against India. Meanwhile, India won their first series in the Rainbow Nation beating South Africa by 73 runs in the fifth ODI.

Batting first India post 274 runs for the loss of seven wickets after riding on Rohit Sharma’s century. However, India rattled South Africa on 201 in 42.2 overs courtesy the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Hardik Pandya provided good support to the spinners while affecting a runout dismissal of Hashim Amla.

Ottis Gibson seemed optimistic:

Gibson admitted to being positive despite missing some star cricketers. Further, he added he hoped to level the series.

“I thought at the halfway stage we gave ourselves a very good chance to keep ourselves in the series. We came this afternoon very optimistic that the series was still there to be drawn. We showed at the Wanderers that we can play better than we have done, but tonight was disappointing,” Gibson said.

South African didn’t live up to expectation:

Also, Gibson said he has players, who can adapt to conditions and win matches, but they just didn’t live up to the expectations.

“You want to have a group of players who can adapt to certain conditions and play accordingly. We know we have those players but they haven’t produced it in this series, which is disappointing. The way we have played as a group at certain times has been disappointing but especially tonight because there was still a lot to play for in the series,” he added.

Moreover, the batting unit failed miserably with Hashim Amla only trying to create some resistance.

“To be fair we were 50 for none and we lost a wicket with four balls to go in the PowerPlay to their best bowler. Bumrah has been their fast bowler all summer. We lost a couple more shortly thereafter and that set us back. Hash worked really hard to try and rebuild but every time we rebuilt we lost wickets. With the four bowlers, we needed our best six or seven batsmen to bat the bulk of the overs and they weren’t able to do that tonight,” Gibson added.

Indian top-order was of top-class:

Gibson credited top-order for India’s success as did Rohit Sharma. Also, he added that his bowlers haven’t controlled the length.

“The Indian top order is very experienced and they’ve played well. They’ve seen off the new ball or been able to score freely. We haven’t been able to hold the length very well. I keep saying to the bowlers that in order to control the scoring rate you have to control your length,” Gibson asserted.

“We succumbed quite easily tonight, to be bowled out in 42 overs is very disappointing from a batting point of view. Even with the bowling, there were some soft boundaries, which has gone on the whole series. So just a bit more fight with the bat,” Gibson concluded.

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