The first Test between India and South Africa saw fast bowlers of both teams shine and leave the batsmen struggling. The Indian batting crumbled and fell like nine pins to the South African pace barrage comprising of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel. While India's pace battery -- Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya -- was effective too but the batsmen let the team down. Ahead of the second Test at the Centurion from January 13, India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who took only two wickets in the 1st Test, was seen practicing bowling medium-pace during nets.
In a slow-motion video uploaded by the Indian cricket team on Instagram, which is captioned as "How good is @rashwin99 bowling seam ?????? #SAvIND #TeamIndia", Ashwin can be seen trying his hand at fast bowling.
Earlier in the day, the Men in Blue were involved in a rather strange training session. Team India was seen warming up on the practice grounds with pacer Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and others seemingly chasing one each other and exchanging bibs during their session.
#WATCH Indian cricket team's warm-up session in South Africa's Centurion pic.twitter.com/VmFUoRQdqJ
— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2018
India's tour of South Africa began with a 72-run loss in the opening Test at Newlands and failure to string big partnerships was one of the main factors behind visiting team's inability to chase down a modest target of 208. After the loss, Indian captain Virat Kohli pointed out that losing wickets in bunches was something that needed to be looked into immediately.
"Losing wickets in bunches is something we have to plug in. We were in the game for the three days and it was a wonderful match to be part of. We would have taken that if someone told 208 would be the target," Kohli said.
South Africa are 1-0 up in the three-match Test series.
- Ashwin tried his hand at fast-bowling during nets
- India lost the 1st Test by 72 runs
- The second India vs South Africa Test will start on January 13
