Sunil Gavaskar ‘baffled’ by India captain’s tactics after the series defeat

Team India failed to win their maiden Test series in South Africa as they faced a heavy defeat in the third and final Test of the series. South Africa won the series 2-1 after winning Cape Town Test by seven wickets. Although Virat Kohli’s team were firm favourites to win the series in front of a relatively inexperienced South African side, Team India failed to step up in crucial time. And, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that the series “has turned into a nightmare” for them.

On the other hand, South Africa were playing without their key pace bowler Anrich Nortje. Moreover, after the first Test, they also lost Quinton de Kock as he suddenly announced his retirement from the longest format of the game as well. Despite the multiple setbacks, they made a remarkable comeback to seal the three-match series convincingly.

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“India’s cricket after lunch has just baffled me. One would’ve thought that you would make one last-ditch effort, bring Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami on to bowl. Because after an interval, batsmen have to reset. India’s dream of winning a series for the first time in South Africa has turned into a nightmare,” Sunil Gavaskar said on-air after South Africa batsman Temba Bavuma hit the winning runs in the Cape Town Test.

He continued: “What can one say? Both of these victories are comprehensive for South Africa, winning by seven wickets again. India hasn’t even got close. India had a big victory in first Test and I really thought that is going to be a template for the next two Tests as well. It didn’t happen.”

“The application showed by South Africans in Johannesburg and here is praise-worthy” – Sunil Gavaskar

The batting legend further said that India’s performance with the bat were way too disappointing where all of them failed apart from a couple of knocks. He again said that India could have handed a winless Test series also.

“That is something which is terrific for South Africa. But hard to understand as far as India are concerned. The way they dominated that first Test, I really thought they would be able to win the series. I was thinking in terms of 3-0 series win, because of the fragility of South African batting, the fact that Nortje wasn’t playing.. that was a huge plus once again for India,” again shared Sunil Gavaskar.

“You have two inexperienced bowlers, they had Olivier who was making a comeback. Rabada was the only threat really and I thought the Indian batting would come good. Yes, the pitch had been testing but I thought the Indian batting wouldn’t have too many worries. The application showed by South Africans in Johannesburg and here is praise-worthy. That tells the character of the team,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.