South Africa won the third Test in Cape Town to clinch the series 2-1.
South Africa clinched the series with a 7-wicket victory over India in the decider Test at Newlands on Friday (January 14). Skipper Virat Kohli averaged over 40 with the bat among all the Indian players who featured in more than one Test, which clearly explained the batting struggles of the visitors during the series.
Daryll Cullinan, former South African batter, spoke in detail about the batting performance of the Indian team in the Test series and pointed out a technical issue in the batters.
“South African bowlers changed their lengths (after the 1st Test) and asked India to play back more. Indian batters they were found wanting. You cannot change that in a Test match. These guys look good at home. They batted well in Australia but with movement and inconsistent bounce, they were found wanting, going back - technically squaring up, playing from the crease. There is a technical issue. No matter how long you've batted, you won’t have a long career if you are playing from the crease," Cullinan told ESPNcricinfo.
He also added that the win in Centurion was the “worst thing that happened” to India.
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“The worst thing that happened, probably, for India from a batting perspective, was they won the first Test. You almost thought they had arrived. But South Africa came back really well,” said Cullinan.
Indian skipper also insisted that his team could have shown better implementation with the bat.
"One of the challenges we have faced touring abroad is to make sure we capitalise on the momentum when it is on our side. When we do that, we have won tests, but when we haven’t it has cost us the match," Kohli told reporters.
"It (the reason for the series defeat) is batting, we can't pinpoint any other aspect of our game as a team. The batting has to be looked into, there is no running away from that.”