South Africa have lost by an innings and 202 runs in the third and final Test against India at Ranchi. With this, they faced only their third-ever series whitewash. India dominated them in every department and South Africa captain Faf du Plessis admitted that as well.
“That’s the frustrating part of the tour. Starting the first innings at Visakhapatnam, there were good signs for us. But we went the other way and kept making more mistakes as the series went on,” Faf du Plessis said in the post-match presentation. “You got to give credit to the Indian team. This is a really tough Indian team under Virat. Be it in the batting, bowling or even fielding, we were dominated across the series.”
Ahead of the series, while there was a lot of debate whether the Proteas would do well against the Indian spinners, it was the fast bowlers who did the job for India in every game.
“We spoke about this (India’s spin threat) before the series. The mindset coming here, especially after 2015, was to be prepared for the spin attack. But the pitches were fantastic. India’s seamers were outstanding through the series,” he said.
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“Our seamers were good for 30-40 minutes but their’s were able to do that throughout the day. I think it’s the nature of the skill of the bowler. If you look at those who succeeded this series, it’s their skiddy nature that’s key but they’re also in the right areas most of the time. In South Africa, the natural length is shorter and you need to make that adjustment here. That’s what you need to do in international cricket,” he added.
Despite losing, Faf du Plessis backed his side and said they will do well in the upcoming games.
“We have young guys coming through and in the coming 3-4 years, they will get experienced. It’s been a really tough series for us but we need to ensure that when we tour again, we are better equipped. This is the toughest place to tour, the statistics say that. They’ve won, 11 or 12 series in a row? So, it’s been a very tough place to tour and it should only get better for us from here,” he concluded.
