What started as a blazing series for India after their first test win against South Africa in the first test match, ended up being a disastrous tour. In fact, India hasn’t won any international match this year, losing the next couple of test matches and then 3 consecutive T20’s. This is the first time in 9 years that team India has been whitewashed by South Africa, the last time being in 2013 when the Proteas defeated India by 2-0 in 3 match series. (One washed by rain).
The ODI series for India was an utter disappointment. It was only in sparkles that India showed some grit, otherwise, the series was largely dominated by South Africa. While the bowling attack was pathetic with Bhubaneshwar Kumar, Ashwin and Chahal being ineffective, the middle order as well did not stand up with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav.
The biggest disappointment was the captaincy of stand-in captain Lokesh Rahul. He seemed to be lost and had no control over the match whatsoever. As a batsman also he failed to score any significant score in the three matches. The only positives were Jasprit Bumrah who bowled his heart out and Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar who was pretty impressed with their all-rounder skills. Dhawan and Kohli were just good enough to retain their spot on the team. However, what the team lacked was an aspiring captain and an impressive performance.
Team India’s next series is with West Indies at home where they play 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. Hopefully, Rohit Sharma will be fit and back and take the captaincy to carry forward Team India.
