ICC Champions Trophy - 5 reasons why South Africa lost to India

The opening game of the Champions Trophy stood up to its stature as we saw India and South Africa contest a high-scoring game with some outstanding performances in all three departments of the game. But if there were some positives, there were some disappointments too. Arguably the best fast-bowler in the world missed out on the game with an injury that considerably affected the bowling strength of the Proteas. If that was not enough to dent South Africa’s chances, Morne Morkel too sustained a strain in his left leg during the course of the match and was unable to complete his 10 overs. The result does not augur well for South Africa who have had a traditional vulnerability to slip-up in big competitions. They will have to come all guns blazing in their other two fixtures against Pakistan and West Indies.

On the other hand, India continued their good run with the bat from the warm-up games. Putting up a score in excess of 300 for the third consecutive time, they have dispelled doubts regarding the ability of their young batsmen to adapt to English conditions. Another impressive factor in the game for India was their fielding effort that backed up their batting performance. The young blood in the side showed great energy and awareness, making South Africa earn every run in their uphill chase. It is important for India that they cash-up on this advantage against the weaker fielding sides such as Pakistan. At the moment, India look good to go ahead to the next stage if they do not goof up.

Meanwhile, there are a number of areas where the Proteas can improve as they prepare to take the challenges of the tournament head on. Here is a list of 5 reasons why the Proteas lost out against India and how they can recover.

1. Dent to the bowling-strength:

Captain AB de Villiers was quick to point out to the loss of Morne Morkel to a strain injury during the course of the match as a ‘turning point’ of the game. However, the loss of Dale Steyn prior to the start of the game, according to most critics, was a bigger dent. The South African bowling line-up, coming into this tournament was rated as one of the finest along with Pakistan and England. The conditions too were on their side and with two new balls, they had the potential to run through any side. However, once you remove Dale Steyn from the side, matters seem completely different, especially with Tsotsobe proving to be ineffective in some recent performances.

2. Erratic Running:

South African sides take a particular pride in their agility on the field and their running between the wickets. Whereas one would put down Peterson’s run-out to the superb ground-work and great match awareness of Ravindra Jadeja, David Miller’s run-out was complete chaos. A run-out is much different from any other cricketing dismissal as it threatens to push the team into panic. It leaves the surviving player in some doubt and overtly cautious, causing a snowball effect. The same seemed to have happened with South Africa as David Miller and Peterson became victims to run-outs, and AB De Villiers lost his wicket soon after a major confusion in the middle that saw him run two runs by himself while his partner remained at rest.

3. Excessive use of the short ball:

It’s become a well known theory in international cricket that Indian batsman can’t play the short ball. The South African bowlers blindly bowed down to this theory and peppered the Indian openers with short stuff, much to their own suffering. What they did not realise is that this team has a different brand of batsmen. Except for Suresh Raina, no other batsman is particularly inept against the short ball and especially not Rohit Sharma. Sharma was dealt some heavy blows to the short ball and even though Ryan Mclaren managed to hit a few helmets, there was no considerable damage done.

4. Lack of a credible spinning option:

The astute tactician that MS Dhoni is in the middle overs, is because of his ability to control the scoring rate and exert pressure with the help of his spinning options. With AB de Villiers and Peterson making merry in the middle, MS Dhoni applied the brakes with the help of Ashwin, Jadeja and part-timer Suresh Raina. Unfortunately, there was no such diversity in the South African attack as they failed to apply pressure in the middle overs till the power play overs. This has been a long-standing issue with South African bowling and it seems like it will hurt them going forward in the tournament.

5. Middle order

It is a little harsh on the South African batsmen that in spite of getting a total of 300, they have to take the blame in their batting department. The partnership between AB de Villiers and Peterson was potentially match winning as they scored more than the required run-rate and as a result, South Africa were never out of the game with the required rate always in reach till the last few overs. However, it seemed as if in the absence of Jacques Kallis, there was nobody to anchor their innings. When you lose 3 wickets within a the space of 10 runs, as they did, it becomes near impossible to chase a target of over 330 runs. South Africa need to rethink their batting order and provide more defined roles to players.