'Don't Forget What we Did in Australia and England': Rohit Sharma Backs Players After Crushing Defeat vs SA

After India’s hammering loss to South Africa in the first Test of the series at Centurion, skipper Rohit Sharma maintained belief in his players as they will look to level the series going forward.

The Indian skipper backed his players after their crushing loss against the Proteas. Rohit even recalled India’s performances in Australia and England. The skipper said,” “There’s no need to motivate them. They are all international cricketers. This performance is just one. Don’t forget what we did in Australia and England. We won in Australia with our batting. We drew in England with batting and bowling. It’s not like we don’t know how to bat outside India.

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Rohit Sharma believes that the opposition was the better team. South Africa managed to bundle out India for 245 in the first innings followed by a stellar batting display where thanks to Dean Elgar’s 185, Marco Jansen’s unbeaten 84 and David Bedingham’s 56 on debut, the Proteas managed to post a massive total of 408 rubs on the board.

The Indian skipper added,” Sometimes the opposition plays better than you. It’s not like they batted 110 overs and we couldn’t even do that. You go and check the scorecards of the last four or five away tours we have done.”

India’s batting performance was below par despite the brilliant century from KL Rahul in the first innings and Virat Kohli’s valiant 76 in the second innings. Rohit praised KL Rahul’s batting performance labelling it as the perfect example of ‘showing intent and respecting the conditions.’ He added,” Look at what KL Rahul did in the first innings. It is a perfect example of showing intent as well as respecting the conditions. At the end of the day, he scored at a strike rate of 70 and he put the bad balls away. That is what we talk about intent.”

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The skipper was also critical of the other batters who failed to put in a decent performance on the day as well. He said,” We can’t just go and swing our bats. That’s not the condition to do that. You have to understand that there is a thin line between showing intent and discipline as well.”

India will now look to level the series as they now head to Cape Town for the second and final Test match of their tour of South Africa.