IND vs SA: "When I Was Coach..." - Ravi Shastri Miffed With Rohit Sharma's Captaincy In 1st Test

Dean Elgar came as an out-of-syllabus question for the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team as he slammed his 14th Test ton during Day 2 of the first IND vs SA Test match.

Team India was not able to do much with the bat in Centurion and was wrapped up for 245 runs in its first innings. However, at one point 245 also didn’t look possible for the visitors, though, it was KL Rahul who slammed a ton on his comeback and took the team out of trouble.

The Indian team needs a strong comeback from the current situation if they want to keep their chances alive to win the match. However, former Indian cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri was not happy with Rohit Sharma‘s defensive captaincy on Day 2 of the Centurion Test.

Ravi Shastri unhappy with Rohit Sharma’s captaincy

As per Ravi Shastri, always the best two bowlers of the time shall start from the front and at the start of any session. However, it was Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, who started the proceedings after Lunch for India.

As a result, the South African looked under no pressure, and South African opener Dean Elgar took his team out of trouble after the early wicket. At one end, Krishna went close to six runs an over, Thakur also looked off-color and hence they were taken out of attack.

Ravi Shastri said during commentary on Star Sports, “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.”

The start of Day 2 of the first IND vs SA Test was special after KL Rahul completed his ton on his Test comeback. Rahul reached his century by hitting a six off Gerald Coetzee and also hit 14 fours and four sixes throughout his innings.

KL Rahul was dropped from the Indian Test side due to his poor form at the start of this year, however, he has had a dream comeback and has been scoring runs for the past few months. Rahul was injured in the IPL 2023 and had to be away from cricket for over 3 to 4 months.

However, KL Rahul made a magnificent comeback in the 2023 Asia Cup and slammed a ton against Pakistan. The 2023 ODI World Cup was special for Rahul as he took some blinders behind the stumps and also played a match-winning knock in India’s first match of the tournament against Australia.

Getting back to the IND vs SA first Test match, the game has been taken away from the Indian team by the hosts as they put up a brilliant batting display. The Proteas had an inexperienced batting lineup which had a tough challenge of a lethal Indian pace attack.

However, they have taken up the challenge brilliantly and are ahead in the match in the current situation.