New DelhiMighty South Africa registered a historic 3-0 series whitewash in the three-match series after thrashing India by 4 runs in the third and final ODI at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday. Batting first after losing the toss, South Africa scored 287 runs in 49.5 overs in a tough match against Quinton de Kock.
In reply, the Indian team was bundled out for 283 runs in 49.2 overs and the Proteas won the series final by four runs. Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi took three wickets each for South Africa.
India head coach Rahul Dravid lauded a young team India for their efforts and expressed confidence that the Men in Blue will surely get better with time.
“I think it is an eye opener for us. It was my first stint with the ODI team and we played ODIs for a long time. Good that the World Cup is away and we have time to regroup. We will definitely get better with time.
“We certainly could have done better with the batting in the middle overs. We understand the template. Some of them were not available for selection who batted in the middle. Hopefully when they come back it will help the team.” Will promote,” India head coach Rahul Dravid said in a post-match press release.
Deepak Chahar scored a quick half-century in the last over to give India a fighting chance but failed to take his team over the line.
“Deepak Chahar has also shown in the past that he has good abilities with the bat. It gives us more options. Shardul Thakur has also done well with the bat. We want to give him more chances.”
“We didn’t change the batting order much and wanted to give them an extended run. The idea is to give them a sense of security and when they are getting opportunities then you can demand big performances from them. That’s the idea,” coach Dravid said. he said.
Despite a series whitewash, head coach Dravid backed KL Rahul saying that the star batsman will continue to learn and do better in the future.
“KL Rahul has just started out as a captain. He tried to do a good job. He will continue to learn and do better in future, I am sure.
Head coach Dravid said, “I will not focus only on the spinners. We have to do well with our wicket-taking ability in the middle overs. We have discussed how we can improve in this area.”
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