Veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik blamed a lack of skills for Team India's embarrassing defeat against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion.

The Proteas thrashed the Indian cricket team by an innings and 32 runs in the opening Test of the two-match series at SuperSport Park to take a 1-0 lead in the series. South Africa’s massive win dashed India's hopes of conquering their final frontier in Test cricket.

Well, Karthik stressed that deficiency in skills is the main reason behind India's shocking loss in Centurion. He specifically mentioned that India's middle order and the performance of the third and fourth pacers were not up to par in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion.

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Dinesh Karthik said: “I don't think it's about not being ready in red ball cricket. But I’ll definitely put it down to lack of skill. There are certain areas, which are gaping holes in the current Indian team. The two big areas for me are the 3rd and 4th medium based and the middle order batting. This is not the Indian team that we’re used to and this is not the standard that they’ve set over a period of time.”

Karthik added, “Shardul and Prasidh definitely need to up their game. I think Rohit was very kind to them when he said that they’re young bowlers. But Shardul was there at the previous series as well. He did pretty well. But this time, it was a very ordinary performance. Prasidh Krishna is young bowler and it shows that he doesn't have too much first-class experience. He was giving away one too many boundary balls. There wasn't any control and that’s never a good sign in Test cricket.”

(With Cricbuzz Inputs)