India’s ODI captain KL Rahul admitted that they kept making the same mistakes in the three-match ODI series against South Africa after they were whitewashed 3-0.
Rahul stated that the batters’ shot selection was poor in the series and they were also not clinical with the bowling.
South Africa won the third ODI by four runs at Newlands, Cape Town as the home side won five matches on the trot against India, including the two Test matches. Quinton de Kock scored his sixth ODI century against India to help his team post a fighting total of 287 runs.
Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scored their respective fifties but once again they were not able to convert their start into a big score. India was on the ropes however Deepak Chahar gave a glimmer of hope to the visitors as he scored a quickfire knock of 34-ball 54. But the tourists fell four short of the target after Chahar was dismissed by Lungisani Ngidi.
KL Rahul said in the post-match presentation, “Deepak gave us a real chance of winning the game. Quite an exciting game, just disappointed we ended up on the losing side. We gave ourselves a real chance, something we can learn from and get better. Quite obvious where we’ve gone wrong. No shying away from it. At times our shot selection has been poor. Even with the ball we haven’t been hitting the right areas consistently”.
He added, “Have played well in patches but haven’t built pressure over a long period. Can’t fault the boys for the passion and effort. In terms of skill and understanding the situation – sometimes we’ve gone wrong. But it happens – we’ve got some new guys in the team. In the one-day series at times we’ve kept doing the same mistakes. It’s early in our journey to the World Cup. We can go back, have some hard conversations. Have had a great time in SA. Have been looked after really well. We’ve shown a lot of fight”.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant once again played a poor shot as he decided to take the attack on the opposition on the first ball he faced. Furthermore, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Suryakumar Yadav could not get going with the bat in the final game.
India will be disappointed with their performances on the South African tour as they were not able to win the crucial stages of the game. The visitors have a lot of work to be done and they will look to bounce back stronger in the ODI series against the West Indies.
India will now host West Indies in three ODIs and as many T20Is.
