“Don't forget what we did in Australia and England” - Rohit Sharma downplays batting failure in Centurion Test

Team India captain Rohit Sharma admitted that the visitors were not good enough with the bat in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion. He, however, said that the team should not be written off after one poor performance, pointing to their impressive recent Test performances in Australia and England.

India went down to South Africa by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test on Thursday, December 28, inside three days. India were bowled out for 245 and 131, while the Proteas put up 408 the only time they batted.

t the post-match press conference, Rohit credited South Africa for being the better side in the first Test. He, however, asserted that they are confident of making a strong fightback.

"Yes, we had a performance like this here. But, don't forget, what we did in Australia and England. In Australia, we won the series, there our batters stepped up. In England, we drew a series, we shone with both bat and ball,” the 36-year-old said.

Downplaying the batting collapses in Centurion, he added:

"These type of performances happen. It's not that we don't know how to bat outside India. At times, oppositions play better than us and win matches. I think that's what happened here.

"It's not like the opposition batted 110 overs, and we didn't bat as many putting together both innings. In the last four tours outside India, go and see our records.”

Apart from KL Rahul, who scored a hundred in the first innings and Virat Kohli, who contributed a half-century in the second, none of the Indian batters made a significant impact in the Centurion Test.

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“Better that we prepare according to our requirements” - Rohit Sharma on not playing first-class practice match

India did not play any first-class practice match heading into the first Test against South Africa. He defended the team’s decision, saying that surfaces visiting sides get for practice games are very different to the ones used in the actual games.

“We have been playing practice matches in the last 4-5 years. We also tried to play first-class matches. The wicket that you get in the matches, you won’t get that in the practice matches. It is better that we prepare according to our requirements. We prepare the pitch according to our requirement. We can have control of the ground,” Rohit said.

“When we went to Australia the last time, when we played in South Africa in 2018, the ball didn’t bounce beyond the knee-roll on practice pitches. But here, the ball flies over your head. So, all these things were considered, and we decided to prepare according to our own style,” he concluded.

Rohit had a poor game with the bat, getting dismissed by Kagiso Rabada for 5 and 0 in the first and second innings respectively.