"Tactically Big Mistake...": Ravi Shastri Underlines Fault In Rohit Sharma-led India's Strategy vs South Africa

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team endured a tough second day in the first Test against South Africa in Centurion on Wednesday. When bad light forced early stumps, South Africa had already taken a 11-run lead with five wickets remaining courtesy Den Elgar's classy unbeaten 140. Before that KL Rahul's 101 had taken India to 245, which many experts felt was a decent enough total. The start of India's bowling was not bad either as Mohammed Siraj dismissed Aiden Markram cheaply.

But after that, Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi stitched a great stand as South Africa went to Lunch at 49/1. After Lunch, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur were given the charge. The two bowled eight overs between them before Jasprit Bumrah was brought on. By then, the score had reached 91/1 with Elgar completing his half-century too.

Former Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri did not like the idea of using Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur right after lunch.

"On any pecking order, these two (Shardul and Prasidh) would have been the last to start the proceedings (after lunch)," said Ravi Shatri, former Indian cricket team coach, during commentary on Star Sports.

"That's something that we've had a discussion multiple times when I was the coach. And more often than not we decided to go with the best two bowlers at the start of the session. If you cast your mind back, India would feel they have missed a massive trick in the first half hour of play. Two bowlers they started with, that tactically was a big mistake."

Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar agreed with Ravi Shastri's opinion. "Clearly India missed the trick. This is something Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma must have thought about during the break and then decided to go with Prasidh and