Veteran Indian keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik believes India’s poor show in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa at Centurion was not because they were tired. His comments came as India lost the first Test without a fight by an innings and 32 runs after being bowled out for 131 on Thursday, December 28. Karthik also added that, having taken a break after the 2023 World Cup, the senior players would have been fresh coming into the series as well.
While speaking to Cricbuzz after India’s biggest Test defeat on South African soil, Karthik said: “I do not think it is the case of them being tired mentally. When you look at how the World Cup went, it was a massive success, barring the final. Post that, most of the seniors have had a break and have not played any of the bilaterals. They would be pretty fresh.”
The veteran cricketer-commentator further opened up on Team India must work on its middle-order woes in the red-ball format. He said that thy needed more firepower in their fast-bowling attack also.
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“I do not think it is about not being ready for red-ball cricket. I would definitely put it down to lack of skill. There are certain areas which are a gaping hole in the current Indian team. The two big areas for me are the third and fourth medium pacers and middle-order batting. This is not the Indian team that we are used to (seeing). This is not the kind of standard that they have set over period of time where they have gone and competed in Australia and England. This Test match was one where South Africa completely dominated us from ball one,” he added.
However, apart from Jasprit Bumrah, who claimed a four-wicket haul, the other bowlers failed to leave a mark as well. The same goes with the team’s batting, with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli being the only players scoring 101 (1st innings) and 76 (2nd innings), respectively. Dinesh Karthik seemed unimpressed by the Indian bowlers’ effort in the Test as well.
“It was shown to the world that there is still a long way to go in these kinds of conditions, be it with the bat and more so with the ball as well. You can complain about the batting, but the bowling looked very, very ordinary at different points of time,” Dinesh Karthik concluded.
