The batters could have let South Africa down and allowed India to breach the Centurion fortress, however skipper Dean Elgar on Thursday vowed to bounce again within the second Test in Johannesburg, saying they won’t be brief on confidence.
The Indian tempo assault comprising Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj was at its scorching finest as South Africa have been bowled out for 197 and 191 of their two innings to endure a 113-run defeat within the first Test right here.
“I don’t think we are going to lack any confidence going into Jo’burg. It’s never nice losing a game especially when we know we actually went wrong. And it’s difficult to correct those wrongs during a game,” the skipper mentioned on the post-match media interplay.
“Hopefully building up to the Wanderers second Test we’re going to have some time to reflect and learn around what’s happened.”
This was South Africa’s first Test in six months in a 12 months once they have performed simply six matches beneath Elgar, after Australia opted to not journey for a four-Test sequence in March.
Elgar began his journey with a 2-0 win over the West Indies earlier than this loss towards India.
“I don’t suppose it’s going to vary our confidence going ahead. We nonetheless have had a comparatively good run within the final six months, so we bought to utilise these type of good energies we’ve had.
“So yeah, we definitely are going to sit down and break up the game and as a group, we’re going to definitely come back on. It’s kind of what I expect our guys to be doing anyways,” the 34-year-old mentioned.
The hosts have been up towards it after shedding the toss and seeing India attain 270/3 at stumps on day one following KL Rahul’s majestic century.
“They scored over 300 which is at all times going to be a large plus level for them profitable the toss. It lies within the run scored clearly all through the 4 days of play.
“There’s a number of studying factors for us. The fundamentals of the sport nonetheless applies. I don’t suppose we had that as regards to the batting viewpoint.
“Day one we began fairly okay after which we we let it go and the run fee was a little bit bit too laborious for us to try to handle and produce down once more.
“Opposition being three wickets down on day one is something that is always going to almost hurt you as an opponent,” the South African skipper mentioned.
This is the primary time India have gained a Test match at Centurion. South Africa had misplaced solely twice in 26 matches on the venue.
Elgar additional mentioned they must be significantly watchful towards the duo of Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, who shared 13 wickets between them.
“Shami clearly posed some points for our right-hand batters. Obviously his wickets within the first innings mirror on that.
“Bumrah is somebody that’s at all times working with vitality, excessive vitality, regardless of if he’s going for runs or not. So he’s at all times going to problem you as a batter.
“You’ve bought to be very aware of dealing with each of them however saying that they’re fairly a effectively balanced assault in the mean time.
“Siraj can also come in and can also be a bit of a handful as he was a little bit last night. But the senior guys in Shami and Bumrah are the two guys,” he mentioned when requested about their important threats within the Indian bowling assault.
For South Africa, Temba Bavuma was the decide of the batters, making 52 within the first innings and an unbeaten 35 of their unbelievable 305-run chase.
The skipper led from the entrance with a stoic 77 within the second innings however his dismissal triggered a collapse because the staff folded in 68 overs.
“You want runs to clearly compete, secure to say that we didn’t execute that in our first innings, which I believed was nonetheless comparatively doable for us.
“The nature of Test cricket is that you’ve got to compete against the new ball and the way they started with their bowling in the first innings was something that like we obviously struggled a little bit against,” Elgar mentioned.
Going into the second Test, Elgar mentioned they might consider bringing their gifted quantity three Keegan Petersen down the order.
“Maybe we can provide him a bit alternative with all of the older ball coming in. Yeah, he has had a little bit of a tough begin to his his Test profession and it doesn’t mirror on him as a participant.
“He’s an extremely talented player. He’s been one of our best batters around domestically for the last few years. Clearly the stats don’t reflect his ability at the moment. I feel for him,” he mentioned of Petersen who bought out for 15 and 17.
