IND vs SA: Close Game, Disappointing To End On Losing Side - KL Rahul
Indian captain KL Rahul was a dejected man after the loss in the third ODI against South Africa in Cape Town on Sunday. Technically a dead rubber, the third ODI proved to be the best of the lot as it went down to the wire.
Chasing 288, India had lost its way before a Deepak Chahar special saw them get closer before they lost their last three wickets for five runs to lose the final game by four runs and consequently the series 0-3.
“Deepak gave us a real chance. Quite an exciting game, disappointing that we ended up on the losing side. it’s quite obvious where we’ve gone wrong and it’s for everyone to see, our shot selection has been really poor as batsmen.”
“Even as bowlers, we weren’t hitting the good areas consistently. We didn’t pressure the opposition for long periods so we ended up losing the series. We need to recognise now how we can get better. what has always stood out for us is the energy and the passion, and the skill and understanding of the game. These kinds of mistakes will keep happening, but it’s important we learn and don’t keep repeating the mistakes,” Rahul said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We’ll go back with learnings and memories” – KL Rahul
India’s tour of South Africa started on a high with the win in the first Test but things went downhill quite stunningly from thereon. They proceeded to lose the next five matches (two tests and three ODIs) and ended up performing worse than the 2018 tour.
“In the ODIs, we repeated some of the mistakes. We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and have some hard conversations. We’ve had a great time in South Africa, we were looked after really well, thanks to CSA. We had an exciting series, we showed a lot of fight, in patches. We’ll go back with learnings and memories, and get better for sure,” Rahul added.
Rahul became the first Indian captain to lose each of his first three ODIs as a leader.
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