'Bound to lose matches if you go in with casual approach' - Madan Lal lashes out at Indian batters for dismal SA tour

Former Indian cricketer Madan Lal slammed the Indian batters for being very casual in their approach which led to losing games that should have been a win. India suffered a 0-3 heavy defeat to the Proteas in the recently concluded ODI series and KL Rahul as the skipper of the side had faced a lot of criticism as well. The subcontinent nation did start the tour on a high with a win in the first Test at the Supersport Park, and to lose every game from there in the tour has definitely raised a lot of questions.

In the final game of the tour, India had to chase down a target of 287 and they had completely made a mess of it despite having the upper hand in the first 20 overs. The middle-order did not step and it meant that the bulk of the scoring had to be done by top-order batters. Deepak Chahar almost pulled off an excellent win for India in the 3rd ODI but it was the South African side that kept a cool head in tough situations.

Batters must take more responsibility: Madan Lal

Madan Lal noted that India has lost the games due to some irresponsible batting and criticised the batters for their casual approach. He added that India hasn’t played good cricket in the tour except in Centurion and felt that it was more of India gifting games rather than South Africa winning the contests. This has been the first series loss for India to South Africa in ODIs since 2016 and that speaks volumes of the dominance India has had until this series.

“They got out while attempting the glory shot otherwise this match could have easily been won. In international matches, batters must take more responsibility. If you go in with a casual approach, you are going to keep losing matches and series like this. Apart from the first Test, we haven’t played good cricket. We have gifted games, that we should have won, to South Africa,” said Lal as quoted by HT.

Madan also reckoned that Rishabh Pant should have applied himself more with the bat and in the field as the latter was dismissed for a duck when India needed him the most. He went after the bowling in the first ball he had faced and it accounted for his dismissal.

“They (the players) are just very casual and are playing casual shots. Rishabh Pant played a casual shot and he didn’t keep the wicket well either, dropping two caught behind chances. We didn’t see a 100-150-run partnership. We haven’t learned from our mistakes,” he added.