India's Test sequence in South Africa was being billed because the "final frontier", however when a staff loses the match in 210 overs, questions are certain to be across the preparation. India's choice for an intra-squad sport over a correct first-class match or follow match got here into query after their defeat within the first Test by an innings and 32 runs, however their captain Rohit Sharma outright dismissed the concept as a result of it's not within the hosts' pursuits to provide the opposition the most effective follow.

"We have been playing practice matches for the last five-six years," he mentioned. "We have even tried first-class matches, but we don't get these kind of wickets in practice matches. It's better we prepare on our own, make the pitch we want. When we last went to Australia, when we came to South Africa in 2018, the ball didn't bounce above the knee on those pitches. In the Test, it flies above the head.

"Keeping this stuff in thoughts, we determined we might put together in our personal means. If you get the situations in follow matches that you simply get in [Test] matches, then it's a totally different matter. But now we have seen on the final three-four excursions that we do not get these situations in follow matches. Even the bowlers bowl 120-125kph. We have skilled that within the final two-three follow matches that now we have performed on away excursions.

"That's why it is better we play our own bowlers, and make the pitch the way we want it."

The annoying fact-check out of the way in which, it wasn't most likely the batting that permit India down, though it at all times appears to be like so when a staff will get bowled out twice in somewhat over 100 overs. Rohit reiterated the standard of this batting line-up.

"Prasidh has played a lot of white-ball cricket for us in the last two or three years, and he has shown that he has got a lot of potential. Obviously, it didn't work out well for him playing his first game, but we all were nervous when we played our first game"

Rohit Sharma

"We might have put in this performance here, but don't forget what we did in Australia and England," he mentioned. "We won the series in Australia on the back of our batting. We drew the series in England through our batting and bowling both. These performances can happen. It doesn't mean we don't know how to bat outside India. Sometimes the opposition performs better than us. I think on those terms. The opposition played better than us. That's why they won. Not that we couldn't bat even 110 overs. Go and check the results over the last four years or last four tours."

India did, actually, bat nicely in extraordinarily difficult situations to attain 245 within the first innings, which many believed was a great whole. For some time it seemed that means when Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj seemed unplayable with the brand new ball, seaming it round corners, drawing 26 false responses in 11 overs. However, it resulted in just one edge that went at hand, and after that the assist bowlers could not hold the strain up.

"Bumrah bowled well," Rohit mentioned. "We all know his quality. All he wanted was a bit of support from the other side, which he didn't get. To be honest, that happens [once in a while]. All the other three bowlers, they were trying really hard, bending their back, but it just didn't work out. Didn't happen the way we would have wanted to. But again, games like this teach you a lot of things, what you need to do as a group, as a bowling group. Hopefully, they can understand what went wrong, and then try and come back a little stronger from this game."

Shardul Thakur conceded greater than 5 an over and picked up just one wicket•Associated Press

Not solely was this Prasidh's debut but in addition his solely thirteenth first-class match. He had most likely been earmarked as an Ishant Sharma-like tall bowler you'll want to hit the deck laborious, however he spent a lot of the 12 months on the sidelines with an harm. When Mohammed Shami injured himself in the course of the World Cup run, it left India with no selection however to take a punt on him. Prasidh bowled like, nicely, somebody taking part in his thirteenth first-class match and solely his second in 21 months.

"Look, a little bit inexperience, of course, but he has got the tools to come out here and play the game," Rohit mentioned. "The bowlers that we have back in India, some of them are injured, some of them are not available. So we try to pick the guys who are available and we see the conditions that we are coming up against and try to pick the bowlers based on that. I completely agree that he has not played a lot of cricket, but there are three guys in their team as well who have not played a lot of cricket; they came here and showed what it takes.

"More than the work within the legs, I feel it's within the thoughts. How you deal with your thoughts and the way you need to play the sport is extra essential. If you retain considering, 'Oh, I've not performed a variety of Test matches, I've not performed too many first-class video games', it isn't going to assist. When you get a possibility, clearly you have to be grateful and are available out and do the job for the staff.

"Prasidh has been with the Indian team. Not around the Test team, but he has played a lot of white-ball cricket for us in the last two or three years, and he has shown that he has got a lot of potential. Obviously, it didn't work out well for him playing his first game, but we all were nervous when we played our first game. He would have been nervous as well.

"These issues occur, however the man undoubtedly has the sport to excel on this specific format. So we're going to again him as a result of he undoubtedly has the potential and he has obtained an incredible perspective as nicely about his sport, which most likely will maintain us in good stead shifting ahead."

Sidharth Monga is a senior author at ESPNcricinfo