South Africa Coach Mark Boucher Takes Responsibility Of Team’s Defeat Against Pakistan, Says ‘He Is Extremely Hurt’

South Africa coach Mark Boucher has taken massive responsibility for South Africa’s ODI and T20I series loss against Pakistan. South Africa lost the ODI series 2-1 and T20I series 3-1 to Babar Azar-led Pakistan on their home soil. Responding to the team’s loss, coach Mark Boucher said that he is extremely hurt at the moment.

South Africa played most of the matches in the absence of their core players. Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Quinton de Kock, and David Miller were only part of the first two ODI matches. They departed to India for their IPL 2021 commitments, for which they had already obtained a no-objection certificate from the South Africa cricket board.

I Am Extremely Hurt, Says Mark Boucher

While speaking to ANI, South Africa coach Mark Boucher took responsibility for his team’s loss and said that he is extremely hurt at the moment.

“I take a massive amount of responsibility and I should. I don’t shy away from it. I am hurt, I am extremely hurt at the moment, as is the rest of the management and coaching staff. We put a lot of hard work and effort into this.

“But there’s no panic from me yet because I do understand that we have been given some trying circumstances over the last period of time and we will continue to put in hard work,” Mark Boucher said.  

Boucher also said that he doesn’t want to make excuses about the absence of core players from the team. He also said that there have been a lot of positives from the tournament.

“I am not going to make excuses. We’ve still got to try and win with whichever players we put on the park but it has been tough. There have been a lot of positives. With the opportunities that have been given, a couple of guys have come through with flying colours.

“It’s given us a better view of what our depth is like, so I’ve got a fair idea of a larger squad we can look at,” Mark Boucher further said.

Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 after a great batting show by Babar Azam in ODI and T20I series. Pakistan won the first ODI by 3 wickets. In the 2nd ODI, South Africa bounced back by winning the match by 17 runs. However, in the 3rd ODI, Pakistan defeated South Africa by 28 runs and won the series 2-1.

In the T20I series, Pakistan won the 1st T20I by 4 wickets, 3rd T20I by 9 wickets, and 4th T20I by 3 wickets. South Africa’s only victory came in the 2nd T20I by 6 wickets. South African eventually lost the T20I series 3-1.