South Africa vs India: KL Rahul points 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 too much to South Africa in the first ODI against South Africa but rued the lack of partnerships in the middle-order after they fell to a 31-run defeat at the Boland Park in Paarl.

KL Rahul, speaking after the defeat, pointed fingers at the middle-order after they were restricted to 265/8 in their quota of 50 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 quick succession following a 92-run stand for the 2nd wicket.

South Africa vs India, 1st ODI: HIghlights

Rishabh Pant, who had headed into the ODI series after a hundred in the 3rd Test, and Shreyas Iyer, who returned to the XI failed to get going after which R Ashwin fell cheaply.

Shardul Thakur hit his maiden ODI fifty in a valiant knock towards the end but the asking rate shot up with wickets falling in regular intervals.

KL Rahul conceded that India’s middle-order issues have been long-standing and also pointed out the lack of wickets in the middle overs.

India had South Africa reeling at 68/3 but a 204-run stand between centurions Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen helped them post an above-par total 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 didn’t bat after the 20th over, I don’t know if it changed drastically. Virat and Shikhar told that it was a good wicket to bat on, you just had to spend some time in the middle, unfortunately, we couldn’t get the partnership going. They did really well, they put pressure on the bowlers and we couldn’t get those wickets in the middle. 290+ was 20 runs extra, but we just needed more partnerships in the middle,” Rahul said.

WE WILL LEARN FROM MISTAKES: RAHUL

India 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 game is important for us, we all want to go out there and give our best performances. We haven’t played one-day cricket for a while, we have the WC in mind and we want to get the best XI on the park. We’ll make mistakes but we’ll learn from them,” he added.