SA v IND 2018: South Africa Post-Mortem report

It would be only fair to say that South Africans had a forgetful last few weeks when it comes to cricket. Losing at home is always a hard pill to swallow for any top class team, let alone as comprehensively as the Proteans have. South Africa lost an ODI series after a decade and a half at home by a humiliating margin of 5-1 in the 6-match ODI series.

The Indians displayed their superiority over the men in gold and green even in the shortest format of the game. Virat Kohli and his men went on clinch the T20I series by 2-1, to complete the South African mauling in coloured clothing.

Here, we try to analyse the causes of their mortifying defeat in limited overs format and their subsequent remedies

Injury to Key Players

When we talk about cricket in South Africa, we look at names such as AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, and Dale Steyn. The four D’s proved to be the pillars of South African cricket over the recent years.

Unfortunately, the four players made sporadic appearances throughout the Indian tour as they struggled with their respective injuries. This had been the case in their English tour last year as well. The likes of Morkel and Philander struggled with their injuries which made young Rabada their spearhead.

CSA should be looking at giving enough rest and briefing regarding the importance of their availability during major assignments. Therefore, stringent steps must be taken in order to prevent injuries to players while fielding.

No-show from senior players

In the absence of their key players, the senior pros simply did not show up during the ODI series. The likes of Hashim Amla, David Miller, Chris Morris and JP Duminy had a torrid limited-over leg of the Indian tour.

Duminy resurrected his form in the during T20I series, with the additional responsibility of captaincy. IPL marquee player Chris Morris had a disappointing couple of series, both with bat and ball. Miller’s bat, barring the Jo’Burg ODI largely remained dormant.

With only a few months left for the World Cup, the senior pros have to take additional responsibility in absence of their star players in the future.

Brittle reserves

The likes of Khaya Zondo, Aiden Markram and Farhaan Behardien couldn’t quite fill in large boots lefts by their star players. There came a moment when the coach had to look at other possibilities in the reserves with persistent failures from the batting unit. This only went to show the brittleness within the Tier-2 players of South African cricket.

The structure within South African cricket needs to be inspected regarding the quality of players coming through the ranks. Because let’s face it, the likes of de Villiers and Du Plessis are only going to be available for a limited amount of time henceforth. The disparity between domestic and international level was there for everyone to see.

Selection and Reservation Policies

The selection and reservation policies on the basis of colour prohibited South Africa from stepping out with the best XI on the field. With the Kolpak deal, South Africa has already lost the likes of Colin Ingram, Rilee Rossouw and Kyle Abbott.

South African origin players such as Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and numerous others have opted to represent England looking at the politics and reservations within the system. Time has now arrived for introspection within Cricket South Africa (CSA) which calls for changes in regulations as far as selection policies are concerned.

Lack of exposure to spin

In simple words, South Africa was beaten by spin in the ODI series. The wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep and Chahal picked up 33 of the 53 South African wickets. Which meant that the batsmen could not read the two bowlers in all 6 matches of the series.

This also meant that the country suffered from the lack of quality spinners and exposure spin. South Africa should be looking to schedule more ‘A’ tours such that talents like Kuldeep and Chahal should not come as a surprise in future. Not even in their wildest dreams, the Proteas would have thought spinners would dominate in the seaming conditions of Africa.

Bizzare selection strategies

South Africa surprised one and all with their selection strategies during the ODIs, given the talent available from the T20I series. The likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Christiaan Jonker, Junior Dala, and Reeza Hendricks, should have played more ODI games by now, rather than tagging them as T20 specialists.