Sanjay Manjrekar, former Indian cricketer and pundit, blamed the bowlers for Team India's embarrassing innings and 32-run defeat in the first Test against South Africa in Centurion.
Manjrekar mentioned that the batting struggle was anticipated, considering the inexperienced batting line-up, as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul were the only ones to have experience of playing in South African conditions.
However, the cricket expert expressed surprise at India's subpar performance with the ball, deeming it 'unexpected.' He stressed that the poor bowling performance played a significant role in the team's crushing defeat against South Africa on December 28.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on Star Sports: “We knew the Indian batting lineup wasn’t the strongest when it comes to experience. So, to an extent, that failure to understandable, what surprised me was the bowling failure in many ways.”
He added, “It was a bowling failure when you see an opposition team get over 400 runs on a pitch, where a few moments later the Indian batter found it hard to survive. So somewhere, the more experience part of Indian playing 11, the bowling, I thought was unexpected, disappointing.”
Meanwhile, former Team India batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, also said that the Indian bowlers ‘lacked discipline’ in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion.
Bangar explained, “I am lost for words. The number of scoring opportunities, the lack of discipline, the average height of the releasing the ball. It can be a factor to an extent that extra probably 0.2 meters, which can make a difference where the ball hits on the bat.”
He signed off by saying, “But it is basically the line at which the balls were bowled. The Indian bowlers were not able to bowl the ball in the right channel.”
(With Star Sports/PTI Inputs)
