South Africa vs India: KL Rahul factors fingers at misfiring middle-order after 1st ODI defeat in Paarl

India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul conceded that India gave 15-20 runs an excessive amount of to South Africa within the first ODI in opposition to South Africa however rued the dearth of partnerships within the middle-order after they fell to a 31-run defeat on the Boland Park in Paarl.

KL Rahul, talking after the defeat, pointed fingers on the middle-order after they have been restricted to 265/8 of their quota of fifty overs. India fell from 138/1 to 199/7 as they suffered a collapse after well-set batters Shikhar Dhawan (79) and Virat Kohli (51) departed in fast succession following a 92-run stand for the 2nd wicket.South Africa vs India, 1st ODI: HIghlightsRishabh Pant, who had headed into the ODI collection after 100 within the third Test, and Shreyas Iyer, who returned to the XI didn’t get going after which R Ashwin fell cheaply.Shardul Thakur hit his maiden ODI fifty in a valiant knock in the direction of the top however the asking price shot up with wickets falling in common intervals.KL Rahul conceded that India’s middle-order points have been long-standing and likewise identified the dearth of wickets within the center overs.India had South Africa reeling at 68/3 however a 204-run stand between centurions Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen helped them publish an above-par complete of 296 on a sluggish pitch in Paarl.”It was a nice game. There’s so much to learn. We started off really well, we couldn’t get wickets in the middle. We’ll look to see how we get wickets in the middle overs and stop the opposition. The middle-order couldn’t get going. We were on par for the first 20-25 overs of the game. I thought we would chase it down easily but SA bowled really well and got crucial wickets.”I did not bat after the twentieth over, I do not know if it modified drastically. Virat and Shikhar instructed that it was an excellent wicket to bat on, you simply needed to spend a while within the center, sadly, we could not get the partnership going. They did very well, they put stress on the bowlers and we could not get these wickets within the center. 290+ was 20 runs further, however we simply wanted extra partnerships within the center,” Rahul said.WE WILL LEARN FROM MISTAKES: RAHULIndia will look to bounce back when they take on the hosts in the 2nd ODI on Friday in Paarl at the same venue. While the ongoing 3-match series is not part of the ODI Super League, Rahul said the series gives them a great opportunity to work on their shortcomings in the lead up to the next year’s World Cup.”Every recreation is vital for us, all of us wish to go on the market and provides our greatest performances. We have not performed one-day cricket for some time, we’ve the WC in thoughts and we wish to get the perfect XI on the park. We’ll make errors however we’ll study from them,” he added.