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India captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid faced the wrath of fans after the team's humiliating innings defeat in the 1st Test against South Africa in Centurion. The Proteas registered a clinical innings and 32-run victory in the Test and took a lead of 1-0 in the two-match series.
It was a disastrous match for Rohit as nothing went right for him from the very beginning. He lost the toss on a cloudy first-day morning and then got out cheaply for 5 (14) after the South Africa captain opted to bowl first. A compulsive and half-cooked pull shot resulted in his downfall.
Kagiso Rabada then wreaked havoc and destroyed the Indian batting line-up with a five-wicket haul. KL Rahul withstood the host's bowling onslaught and rendered respectability to India's first-innings score (245) with a valiant century.
Things got worse for captain Rohit Sharma as Indian bowlers struggled miserably with South Africa piling on 408 runs in their first innings to take a lead of 163 runs.
All Team India batters, besides Virat Kohli (76), surrendered meekly without a fight in the second innings, as the Test match finished inside three days by being bundled out for 131.
A few fans were critical of Rohit Sharma, pointing out the deficiencies in his captaincy and batting performances in the match. They were disheartened to see a lack of energy in the field when South Africa were batting and blamed Rohit Sharma for it.
Some were also not pleased with the track record of head coach Rahul Dravid, as India has now lost its fourth consecutive Test in SENA countries during his regime.
Here are some of the memes on the matter:
"We were not good enough to win this Test match"- Rohit Sharma
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma reflected on the loss and said:
"We were not good enough to win this Test match. We got a decent score in the first innings but we failed to exploit the conditions in the second half. Virat batted brilliantly but to win a Test match, we have to play collectively and we failed to do."
"We do understand what to expect and every individual has a plan on how to go about but we didn't adapt well. It's a boundary scoring ground but we have to understand the strengths of the bowlers and we didn't apply ourselves with the bat."
On the takeaways from the disappointing loss, Rohit added:
"It's difficult to take positives when you finish the Test match inside three days but there are some positives - KL with the way he batted in the first innings and the lot of bowlers haven't been here, so I don't want to be critical on them.
Rohit Sharma remained optimistic about his team coming back with a strong performance in the second Test. He concluded:
"We will regroup and come back stronger. It's tough to regroup after a loss like this but as a Sportsmen, we go through these times and we need to be ready for the next Test now."
The second Test between India and South Africa will commence on January 3 in Cape Town.
