Chasing 297 runs, the visitors fell short by 31 runs as the middle-order continued to trouble India despite a valiant effort from Shardul Thakur (50*).
Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan scored individual half-centuries. However, the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer failed to build on a 92-run partnership for the second wicket.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, KL Rahul said:
India lost the plot with the ball in mid-overs with Shardul Thakur struggling to pick up wickets. He conceded 7.2 runs per over while the spinners shelled 106/1 from 20 overs.
KL Rahul didn’t give the ball to debutant all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer. The young Indian captain highlighted that the bowling unit need to find ways to pick wickets in the middle overs to fight back in the series. He added:
India have a couple of options on the bench with Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj waiting for an opportunity to stake a claim in the ODI side.
“We needed someone to play deep” - KL Rahul
The middle-order woes have troubled India for a long period of time and continue to pose challenges to new head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma.
Rishabh Pant (16) and Shreyas Iyer (17) got starts but couldn’t capitalize on them, which came back to haunt the team in the end. KL Rahul stressed that they were on par with the run chase in the first half but lost control as the innings progressed, losing wickets on a cluster. He said:
He continued:
With the World Cup approaching, the new think-tank will look to find the right combinations and build a strong team for the multi-nation tournament.
The second ODI of the series is scheduled to take place on January 21 (Friday) at Boland Park in Paarl.
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