"Captaincy is not KL Rahul's thing" - Fans slam Indian skipper after South Africa reach 296 without any trouble on a slow track
KL Rahul had a mixed day at the office in his maiden game as ODI captain. South Africa managed to put on a competitive target of 297 in the first ODI of the series at Paarl. At 68/3 in the 18th over, the hosts looked to be in trouble. However, the Indian bowlers failed to take advantage of the situation and let things slip.
Temba Bavuma (110) led his side from the front by scoring a patient century and anchored the innings to take South Africa to a decent total on this slowish track.
Middle-order batter Rassie van der Dussen (129*) played the enforcer role to perfection with an aggressive century to complement his skipper's sedate knock. The duo's match-defining partnership of 204 eventually played a pivotal role in the home team reaching 296/4.
Indian vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah (2/53) was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors on an indifferent day for the unit. Making a comeback after four years, Ravichandran Ashwin (1/53) picked up a solitary wicket of opener Quinton de Kock.
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Some of KL Rahul's captaincy decisions in the first innings left fans baffled. They felt that Rahul missed a trick by not using Venkatesh Iyer's medium pace when Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen were set and untroubled by other bowlers in the middle overs. Fans vented their frustration over KL Rahul's such decisions by slamming him on Twitter.
Can say it any day..captaincy is not his thing #klRahul #SAvsIND
KL ne toh literally topi pehna diya venky ko๐
#SAvsIND
#CricketTwitter twitter.com/KKRiders/statuโฆ
Not a single over to Venkatesh Iyer, not even as an effort to snap the Bavuma-Dussen partnership. Quite strange moves. #SAvsIND
Can say it any day..captaincy is not his thing #klRahul #SAvsIND
Virat Kohli's reaction after the end of South Africa's Innings. https://t.co/FbgzOTGiwR
Shardul at death is death #INDvsSAF #KLRahul #viratkohli #kohli
WHEN IT COMES TO CAPTAINCY, KL RAHUL BE LIKE :
#IndianCricketTeam #INDvsSAF #indvsaz #SAvIND #SAvsIND #KLRahul https://t.co/SKH6lIhJxX
#KLRahul #SAvsIND #CricketTwitter #Cricket #IndianCricketTeam #Bumrah
โ
Shardul Thakur bowling today
Be like- https://t.co/mIxGThuWHZ
#SAvIND #Bavuma
When you have Siraj in the squad but still play Bhuvi: https://t.co/wyHfp3RiZ8
South Africans scored only 1 century in 6 ODIs vs India in 2018, now they have already scored 2 in the first match of the series itself
Already missing captain Kohli in this new eRa https://t.co/OgaZ4GNwry
@Vikrant68964221 @ICC @tbavuma10 That pitch is not easy as you think, it very hard to score there, lets wait for India to bat you will see.
@vikrantgupta73 @venkateshiyer Yes he will directly bowl in the World Cup 2022 and will be out of the team after that just as Vijay Shankar. Don't know what the team management and captain thinks. #KLRahul
#INDvsSAF
If it's T20, Iyer Not bowling seems fine. But 300 balls...yet not bowling... Illogical.
Better they had chosen a proper batsman
With Rituraj at the top and Rahul at 4 or 5.
#INDvsSAF #KLRahul
Captaincy was below par today by #KLRahul but still hoping for a successful run chase at #Paarl #IndianCricketTeam #SouthAfrica #INDvsSA
Congratulations @BCCI for starting the downfall of Indian team.
#KLRahul #viratkholi #indvsa
Didn't use Venkatesh iyer in bowling. ???
Why pick run leaker in playing XI ? Bcos some kids keep hyping him as lord in social media. ???
KLR is below average in captaincy .
#KLRahul
#IndvsSA
This total looks super safe for #SA But #Kohli must get his #71st ton today.
#KLRahul has to go long way in #captaincy thing
#IndvSA #SAvsIND #dussen
When #Lord is going for runs.
#KLRahul gives him last over moreover having Venkatesh in the team but not using him for 2-3 overs instead of shardul.
Just Captain KL things๐๐
Yappa deiii @BCCI pls don't give permanent cap to KL #INDvsSAF #SAvsIND
#captaincy #KLRahul #RohitSharma #Pant #MSDhoni
#viratkholi https://t.co/1otceuolR5
#KLRahul saved #Shardul's One over in the last. #VenkateshIyer not given to Bowl in the first innings. When Markram got out, The Field Should be more attacking but choose to be defensive. #Ashwin and #Yuzi not properly utilised.
#Virat/#Rohit was missed today.
#INDvsSA #INDvSA
#KLRahul keeping alive his punjab captaincy strategies in Indian ODI team as well, totally flat with the thoughts.
Thank God #RohithSharma is ODI captain. #INDvsSAF
Bavuma played an anchoring innings and that allowed me to express myself: Rassie van der Dussen
Rassie van der Dussen revealed that Temba Bavuma's responsible innings helped him play his natural game and impose himself on the Indian bowling attack. Speaking at the end of the first innings, Rassie van der Dussen reflected on his crucial partnership with Temba Bavuma and said:
"It feels really good after coming in under a bit of pressure at 60-odd for three. Temba and I first thought of getting a partnership going. We knew if we let their spinners settle, it's going to be a long and tricky day for us. He played an anchoring inning and that allowed me to express myself. For me, in the middle order, it's about upping the intensity."
As the pitch is not easy to bat on, the onus will now be on the experienced top-order batters KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli to steer India towards the target in the chase.