Irfan Pathan, a prior Indian cricketer, doubted the team’s strategy against ex-South African leader Dean Elgar at Centurion’s first Test of the two-game series.
Elgar, 36-year-old played remarkably in his retirement tribute series. He hit 185 out of 287 balls, adding a 163-run advantage for the South African team in the primary innings. This allowed South Africa’s winning streak in home Tests against India to continue.
The South Africans triumphed, getting a lead of 1-0 in the Test series by securing a win by an innings and 32 runs.
Post-match, Pathan vocalized to Star Sports his thoughts on Elgar’s perceived weak spot for short-balls. He felt the Indian throwers missed using this to their advantage at the start of Elgar’s performance.
“Elgar is known to have problems with the short ball. You bowled short balls to him when he was batting at 60-70. In the next match, please bowl short balls to him early. He got out to short balls in 4 times in Australia and I talked about that too in the commentary. You have to bowl very well in the second match to level the series.”
Irfan Pathan
With a batting average of 43.30 in 14 Tests against India, it was Elgar’s second century in 85 Tests and his 14th overall. In his maiden appearance in the second Test at Cape Town, which begins on January 3, the southpaw will also lead the Proteas due to Temba Bavuma’s injury.
“When Elgar got set, even then India continued their attacking bowling as if they would get him out with one delivery” – Irfan Pathan criticizes India’s bowling attack
In the first Test, Irfan Pathan chastised India’s bowling performance, pointing out their lack of discipline and failure to find the right balance between attack and defence.
The hosts were able to easily register a huge 408 in their batting innings on a wicket with lots of seam movement. Aside from Elgar’s 185, a number of pundits and fans were perplexed by Marco Jansen 84* when batting at No. 7.
“India did not have any sharpness in their bowling. The Indian bowling unit did not get the balance of attack vs defence right. When Elgar got set, even then India continued their attacking bowling as if they would get him out with one delivery.”
Irfan Pathan
The renowned Indian batting lineup’s 245 and 131 scores provided more proof of their subpar bowling, which let the Proteas score far more than expected.
While the first setback crushed hopes of winning a Test series in South Africa, Team India will want to avoid losing the series and earn valuable World Test Championship (WTC) points in the final in Cape Town.