IND vs SA: "Team India Won't Change Their Batting Approach"- Sitanshu Kotak Fires Massive Warning To South Africa

As the Indian team suffered an embarrassing loss to South Africa in the 2nd of a 3-match ODI series, Captain KL Rahul blamed the batting order for the loss. However, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak thinks otherwise and has insisted the team not change their approach.

Sitanshu Kotak has clearly stated that there is no need to rush as of now and that their approach will not change despite the heavy loss. Sitanshu Kotak’s statement comes only a day after South Africa handed India an 8-wicket loss at Gqeberha’s St. George’s Oval.

South Africa captain Aiden Markram elected to bowl first after winning the coin toss and his decision was proved right by his players. Out of the 42 ODIs played at the surface of Gqeberha, teams batting 2nd had come out on top on 21 occasions.

So it was a bad toss to lose for KL Rahul whose side started to suffer right from the beginning. Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad after hitting a 4 in the first ball of the first over, departed in the 2nd ball by Nandre Burger.

His partner Sai Sudarshan took the onus and charged on to help India recover from the early setback. The Chennai-born batter scored his 2nd consecutive half-century which is a clear indication that he has well and truly announced himself in International cricket.

1st down Tilak Varma looked good early on but he departed after a 42-run stand with Sudarshan for 10 off 30. At number 4 came skipper KL Rahul who steadied India’s innings for a bit by standing for a partnership of 68 which was expected to increase before Lizaad Williams got the danger man Sai Sudarshan out for 62 off 83.

As the inning went on, wickets kept falling for India at regular intervals and it looked as if the visiting batters had no clue whatsoever in front of the South African bowlers who were deriving a lot of assistance from the pitch.

KL Rahul’s 56 off 64 went in vain as India’s middle order fell into pieces one by one. Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, and Axar Patel scored 12, 17, and 1 whereas the tail-enders – Kuldeep, Arshdeep, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar scored 1, 18, 9, and 4 to help the men in blue get to a very unsafe total of 211.

It will be fair to say that India lost the match in the 1st innings itself as the body language of Indian bowlers in the 2nd innings looked extremely dull. And why not? They had such a small target to defend.

South African openers took full advantage of India’s degraded morale with Reeza Hendricks and Tony De Zorzi scoring 130 runs for the first wicket. It was Zorzi who led from the front and scored a tremendous maiden ODI century to help the hosts equal the series by 1-1.

After the match, KL Rahul mentioned that the batting unit could have done better but batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said there is not much to worry about. “Our approach won’t change at all. Not many changes I wouldn’t think but again once we go and see the wicket then we will decide.” – Sitanshu Kotak said in the post-match conference. 

Sitanshu Kotak Calls Out Bowlers To Adjust To Different Situations

For a fact, it was not just the batting that flopped but the bowling attack also underperformed to some extent. India took just 2 wickets with Arshdeep taking the first and part-time bowler Rinku Singh taking the second, otherwise, all the other bowlers only bled run after run.

“On any wicket anywhere, the intent we play with that won’t change much. The batters will have to apply according to the wicket and the bowlers will have to adjust,” Sitanshu Kotak stated.

It remains to be seen how the Indian batters and bowlers fight back for the series-deciding 3rd ODI tomorrow at Paarl’s Boland Park Stadium.