SA vs IND 2018: Ray Jennings slams South Africa for “trying to doctor pitches” against India in Tests

Ray Jennings believes South Africa needs to develop a winning culture soon.

Faf du Plessis-led South Africa side poses with Freedom Series, winning 2-1 against India | AP

Former South African coach –Ray Jennings, on Monday, lashed out at the South African team management for “trying to doctor pitches” during the recently concluded Freedom Series.

He went to further claim that their tactics helped them in winning the Test series against India, otherwise, chances of them winning the Test series was less.  Jennings also said that the South Africa pitches for Tests had not provided any assistance to the Indian pacers which cost them the series.

According to PTI, Ray Jennings said, “They tried doctoring pitches in the Tests and it was so close that South Africa almost lost the series. Such pitches won’t help because India have a great pace attack. Even the spinners will get assistance from seam friendly juiced up pitches.”

He further said, “Ten years ago, India didn’t have any fast bowlers. Now they have so many, starting from Under-19 itself, and the minimum they bowl is 135 which used to be maximum years ago.”

Jennings was also furious at South African Team selection policy, saying, “The selection is all wrong. They have juiced up pitches but such pitches can assist spinners as we are seeing. They say they are preparing for the World Cup, but if these youngsters fail in 2018, they will be chucked out. Who will you play in the World Cup then, you have to field your best XI at all times and develop a winning culture. You have to take it match by match and series by series, and not look too ahead into the future.”

He also thanked IPL for removing the fear of Indian players to playing at international level, saying, "Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav are true IPL products. Thanks to IPL, the fear of playing international cricket has gone away from young Indian players."

 The former SA  coach further admitted that Aiden Markram is a captaincy material, but he is still not ready to lead the national side in ODI cricket, believing a leader should be an experienced player.

Jennings signed off by saying, “Aiden is captaincy material, indeed. I was the one who handed him captaincy in the U-19 World Cup (2014). He has the right values and culture. But he is too young and very inexperienced in ODI cricket. You need players to become stable in their game before you hand leadership to them. Look at Kohli. He became captain only when he was a stable batsman.”

 

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 06 Feb, 2018

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