Legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar recently expressed that the former Indian skipper MS Dhoni should not have retired early from Tests. MS Dhoni hung his boots from the longest format of the game in 2014. Since then, Wriddhiman Saha has been donning the wicket-keeping role for India in Test cricket. However, with Saha injured and out of the ongoing South Africa tour, Parthiv Patel has got his lucky break.

Much to his disappointment, Parthiv’s woes kept on increasing in the Centurion Test as he dropped the crucial catch of the South African opener Dean Elgar in the second innings of the ongoing second Test. Earlier in the game, he had dropped Hashim Amla and had given a respite to Faf du Plessis in the first innings. The catching woes is hurting India with South African inching closer to the series win.

Also read: Check out Saha's replacement for the Test series

During the analysis of the game on Sony Ten 1, Gavaskar said, “If MSD [Dhoni] wanted to carry on, he could have carried on. Clearly, I think he might have had too much of captaincy [burden]. I would have actually liked him to maybe give up captaincy and still stay in the team as wicketkeeper-batsman because his advice in the dressing room would have been invaluable. Maybe he thought that the best course for him was to not to be there.”

Commenting further on the wicket-keeping skills, Sunil Gavaskar acknowledged the fact that the Indian team is missing the services of Wriddhiman Saha, who pocketed 10 dismissals in the first Test in Cape Town. Drawing comparisons between Saha and Parthiv Patel, the legend said, “Parthiv Patel though is a competitive wicketkeeper. He is a little fighter as we can see when he gets the bat in his hand. We saw with that missed opportunity [Elgar on Day 3]. If we had gone for it and dropped it, then there would have been no issues. But not going for a catch does make you feel a little bit disappointed.”

Also read: Gavaskar's crucial advice for Kohli

Speaking about the chances of Team India winning the Test while batting fourth on a track that has started to tear away already, Sunil Gavaskar opined that chasing any score in excess of 250 will be tough.

Sunil concluded by talking about R Ashwin’s performance, he said, “If you look it, the odd ball was keeping low, some balls were bouncing. The pitch has started to wear around the good length area. If Ashwin can use that spot to good effect, he can create a lot of problems. But that also means, India will find batting in the last innings difficult. So they must make sure they are not chasing more than 250-260. Anything more than that is not going to be easy.”