India’s veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has pointed out the main reasons behind India’s defeat in the 2nd Test match against South Africa in Johannesburg. Before the start of the rain-affected day in Johannesburg, team India needed to pick eight wickets, while the Proteas needed to chase 122 runs to win. However, the Proteas batter showed strong resilience and made a great comeback to balance the ongoing series with 1-1.
Team India struggled to bowl out South Africa and incidentally, India was without the services of their pace sensation Mohammed Siraj. Well, Mohammed Siraj had to walk off the field, holding his right hamstring on the stroke of lunch in the first innings.
After the game ended in South Africa’s favor, Dinesh Karthik, while reviewing the performance of both the teams on the final day, conceded that team India didn’t bowl to their best. According to DK, team India badly missed Mohammed Siraj’s bowling masterclass in the game and that made quite the difference. He said:
“India, being the number one Test cricketing nation in the world, they would be little disappointed. They probably didn’t bowl at their best. And the main reason why India struggled through this test match was obviously the absence of Siraj. The hamstring injury not only put him in the backfoot but it put India’s bowling unit on the backfoot. Because he has the ability to seam the ball well in and out. And that would’ve been a massive difference.”
Besides Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, and Ravi Ashwin picked up one wicket each but failed to stop the Proteas batters from chasing the target of 240 runs.
Further, DK also heaped praises at Lord Shardul Thakur, who perhaps had his best match for India in his red-ball career. Talking about his performance, DK said:
“Credit to Shardul Thakur. He looked outstanding. He created opportunities every time he came on to bowl. Shardul was the biggest plus for India to come out from this Test apart from Rahane and Pujara batting so well. They batted brilliantly in the second innings. Very important knock for them and it was good to see the approach they had in their strokeplay.”
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