SA vs IND 2023: ‘Can’t depend on just one bowler’ – Rohit Sharma rues lack of support for Bumrah

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma admitted Jasprit Bumrah lacked support from the other end in the opening Test match against South Africa, which they lost by a huge margin of an innings and 32 runs at the Centurion on Friday.

Rohit feels it wasn’t a 408-run wicket as there was a lot of help for the seamers. India posted a competitive score of 245 runs in testing conditions after KL Rahul scored a gutsy century. However, Dean Elgar scored a fantastic knock of 185 runs to help the Proteas take a massive lead of 163 runs in the first innings.

India was always chasing the game from that situation and they were skittled out for a paltry score of 131 runs in the second dig. Bumrah returned with impressive figures of 4-69 but Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Prasidh Krishna could not provide him the support.

Thakur (1-101) and Krishna (1-93) conceded their runs at 5.30 and 4.70 respectively and thus failed to create any kind of pressure. Siraj also leaked his runs at an economy rate of 3.80. Furthermore, India could not show any gumption with the bat in the second essay.

“This wasn’t a 400-run wicket,” Rohit admitted on Friday following India’s loss. “The way the wicket was behaving, we conceded a lot of runs. It happens. We can’t depend on just one bowler. It’s important that the other three bowlers also do well. The way the opposition bowled, there’s a lot to learn from that.

“Bumrah bowled well. All he wanted was a bit of support from the other end, which he didn’t get. That happens. All the other three bowlers were trying very hard, bending their backs, but it just didn’t work out. It didn’t happen the way we would’ve wanted to. But again, games like these teach what you need to do as a bowling group. Hopefully, they understand what went wrong and try and come back stronger in the next game.”

In the second innings, only Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill could manage double-digit scores. Rohit denied that technical issues led to the batters’ downfall but believes individual preparation did.

“When you come in such conditions, it’s important for you to have confidence in yourself even more than the technique. Mentally, if you trust yourself and your game on what you need to do, it’s important to have individual plans in such venues and such a country. Everyone has a different kind of technique, so you can’t tell everyone how to play. It’s important to come here with individual plans. If you want to score runs and do well, individual plans are more important than techniques, to study their bowlers, their strengths.”

The second Test match between South Africa and India will be played at the Newlands, Cape Town from January 3.