Rishabh Pant Blasted Over Tactics During 1st Test Against South Africa: "It Was A Miss"

Former Indian cricket team batter Mohammad Kaif was not happy with Rishabh Pant's tactics during the first Test match against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. With Shubman Gill suffering a neck injury, Pant stepped in as captain during South Africa's second innings. The visitors were struggling at 91/7 but Temba Bavuma played a crucial knock to take them to 153. Chasing a modest target of 124, India were bundled out for just 93. Kaif pointed out that Pant allowed South Africa to keep the scoreboard ticking with singles and that proved to be the turning point in the encounter.

"We gave them too many singles. Is it easy to score against four spinners on a turning track? Keep a mid-on, bring the point up, and ask the batters to take the challenge. The fielders were behind and 70-80% of their runs came in singles. Pant kept an in and out field with Gill not there and that also had an effect. He also took some time to understand things," he said on his YouTube channel.

"There would have been a difference if Gill was there. He could not play both innings. If we got a better lead, say 50, 60 or 100 runs, we would put South Africa out of the game there itself. It was a miss. Not having him on the field as captain was also a miss. In the second innings he was not there in the chase. So there is definitely a direct connection as Gill is one of our best batters at the moment. He is in form as well such a player can save you in such situations," he reflected.

Kaif was all praise for Bavuma and he complimented the South Africa cricketer on his smart decisions.

"South Africa's strength has been their fielding and captaincy, history is witness to this. When Markram got Sundar out, praise Bavuma as a captain that he stopped Maharaj and got Markram in there. Sundar was a set batter at that point. Whenever they got any chances, there were fielders there too. You talk about the fielding and the bowling changes. They even won without Rabada," he said.

Topics mentioned in this article

Rishabh Pant Mohammad Kaif Shubman Gill South Africa Cricket Team India Cricket Team India vs South Africa 2025, India Cricket