The manner in which the Indian batting order collapsed in both innings at Cape Town suggested it needed more time to get acclimatised to the South African conditions ahead of the Test series.
And if an Indian Express report is to be believed, the team management had a chance to send India’s Test specialists such as Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to South Africa a few weeks before the tour began but turned down the offer.
“The BCCI had offered [the] Indian team management that the core group of Test team can be sent to South Africa early,” the report quoted an unnamed BCCI official as saying. “The BCCI was ready to bear the cost but [the] team management showed no interest and declined the offer.”
The board, the report added, had even suggested that top players could skip the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and instead travel to South Africa to get acclimatised. However, the entire Indian squad reached South Africa only seven days before the first Test started in Cape Town on January 5. India had also cancelled a two-day practice match ahead of the Test, preferring to do extra practice sessions instead.
Despite bowling well on a greenish Newlands track, India succumbed to a 72-run defeat because of the top-order’s poor show. The men in blue lost their top five wickets for just 76 runs in both innings.
India captain Virat Kohli, however, had refused to blame lack of preparation for the loss. “We were very well prepared,” Kohli had said in the post-match press conference. “I don’t think we felt any lack of preparation. Even [South Africa] got out for 130 in the second innings and they play here all the time. It was a wicket where things were happening every day. And I think we let ourselves down with the bat, that’s for sure.
“The BCCI has no problem in arranging practice games before any overseas tour,” the official quoted above added. “It’s the team management which has to take the call. When [India Under-19 coach Rahul] Dravid had requested for an early trip to New Zealand [for the Under-19 World Cup], the board straight away said yes as these Under-19 boys have not played in New Zealand before.”
The Indian U-19 team thrashed South Africa by 189 runs in a warm-up game on Tuesday.
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