Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar slammed South Africa for their bowling choices on the second day of the ongoing second Test against India at the Wanderers. He criticized Proteas captain Dean Elgar for giving the last over to left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.
Earlier in the ongoing New Year’s Test, the visitors were bundled out for 202, as the erratic nature of the Wanderers pitch helped the South African pacers, who scalped all 11 wickets in Day 2. Similarly, the hosts were all out for 229, thanks. For Shardul Thakur’s exceptional 7/61.
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KL Rahul-led India started their second innings in the third session on the back of 27 runs. Once again, the Proteas bowlers troubled the Indian batsmen as both the in-form openers Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were dismissed in the 12th over. However, to end the day, Elgar decided to hand the ball over to Maharaj to bowl the last over.
Questioning the hosts’ strategy, Manjrekar said they completed the formality by bowling the ball to the spinner.
“Today, just looking at that last session, it was just ridiculous. And Keshav Maharaj bowled the last over. As a formality. It’s kind of the old-fashioned thing we do with one over to go. Come on. Bowling to a left-arm spinner,” Manjrekar said.
“What does this mean on a pitch that has so much for fast bowlers? Why not another over from Lungi Ngidi? Just imagine how happy Pujara and Rahane must have been to see Maharaj bowl the last over.
In further discussion, Manjrekar trained his guns on South African pacer Kagiso Rabada for his average bowling against India. He also pointed out that the 26-year-old gave too many driving balls, which were ‘ridiculous’.
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“What has happened to Rabada? It is very disappointing to see him too. That suddenly he wants to be a Jimmy Anderson kind of bowler. The number of driving balls he has given to the Indian batsmen in both the innings is ridiculous at least. Although Dean Elgar didn’t give much overs to Rabada and (Duane) Olivier with the new ball, the amount of driving balls delivered by South Africa in a Test match when the pitch is your biggest ally. It just baffles me,” Manjrekar said.
“When I was there in the 90s, running the balls, you rarely met. Two or three per session. But here you’re getting three or four per over. And every ball you get for four runs. Such ridiculous tactics from South Africa,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indian batsmen Pujara (35*) and Ajinkya Rahane (11*) remained unbeaten from the stumps as India ended the second day of the second Test with a lead of 58 runs at 85/2.
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