Cape Town: The Indian pace bowlers were not patient on a good bowling surface during the opening Test against South Africa, a virtue they will need in abundance on a batting paradise at Newlands, where spinners will have little role to play, reckoned legendary Allan Donald.
India lost the first Test by an innings and 32 runs after conceding 408 in the first innings on a spicy Centurion track that offered steep bounce and enough lateral movement.
“I know South Africa probably got the better of the conditions, no questions about that. They pitched the ball in a 5 and 5.5 meter area and gave it a chance to do something off the deck.
But what they did better than India they were more patient in that area and even they used the short ball a little bit more in the second innings,” Donald, a fearsome pacer of his generation, decoded India’s defeat in an exclusive interview to an news agency. . The 57-year-old, who took 330 wickets in just 72 Tests, feels Indians were waiting for things to happen.
“For India, there was one debutant (Prasidh Krishna). I thought (Jasprit) Bumrah, but Indian bowlers searched too much for things to happen.
They quickly reverted to shorter balls and then lost their length a bit on the shorter side and then got opened up on either side square leg, off side and SA batters capitalized.”
“Come Cape Town, it will be hard work and there will be a lot more energy from both teams. Cape Town will be hard work and it will bring honesty out of both the attacks,” the White Lightening’ said.