"We failed to do that…": Rohit Sharma explains reason behind India's loss in the 1st test against South Africa

Rohit Sharma had a dismal performance with the bat against South Africa in the first test in Centurion.

Team India failed to win the Boxing Day test against South Africa and suffered a crushing defeat at Supersport Park in Centurion. South Africa have thrashed India by a huge margin of an innings and 32 runs as the game concluded on the third day. Indian batters had a dismal show against South African pacers and failed to cross the 250-run mark in the game. India managed to score only 131 runs in the second innings.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma also had a poor outing in Centurion and was badly exposed by Kagiso Rabada in the second innings. Kagiso Rabada got Rohit out in both innings as the Indian opener could only manage to add 5 runs to his tally in two innings. Rohit Sharma expressed his disappointment over Indian batters not putting up any fight against South African bowlers.

Rohit Sharma disappointed after the loss

Following the defeat in Centurion, Indian captain Rohit Sharma has expressed that to win in South African conditions, India need to play as a collective side which they failed to do that in the first test. Rohit said, “If we have to win Test matches, we have to come together collectively and we didn’t do that… Our batters were challenged and we didn’t adapt well.” Indian batting failed miserably in the Centurion test. 

According to Rohit Sharma, team India had no positives from the game except for KL Rahul’s performance with the bat in the first innings. Rohit added, “Not too many positives to finish the game within 3 days, but KL showed what we need to do on this sort of pitch.” KL Rahul scored 101 runs in the first innings in just 137 balls with 14 fours and 4 sixes. 

South African opener Dean Elgar was awarded the player of the match for his magnificent 185-run knock in the first innings that took South Africa 163 runs ahead of India’s first innings total. South African pacer Kagiso Rabada picked up a five-wicket haul in the first innings, while debutant Nandre Burger picked up four wickets in the second innings and rattled the Indian batting lineup.

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