'We should be sacked for poor predictions' - Sanjay Manjrekar's hilarious dig at cricket experts after Mohammed Siraj's fiery show in Cape Town

Manjrekar and other experts had predicted India to pick three or four wickets in 1st session of the Cape Town Test.

By Adreej Kumar Mitra

Updated - 03 Jan 2024, 19:07 IST

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South Africa comprehensively defeated India in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion last week. The second Test in Cape Town got underway on Wednesday, January 3.

Ahead of play on Day 1, Sanjay Manjrekar was asked how many wickets India could pick in the first session after stand-in captain Dean Elgar won the toss and chose to bat first. The former India batter predicted that the tourists would bag three wickets. Meanwhile, fellow analyst Piyush Chawla reckoned that India could end up taking four wickets in the first session.

Both predictions were far from correct as the Indian pacers had other ideas. Mohammed Siraj bowled with immaculate control and used the favourable conditions to his advantage to pick up a six-wicket haul. Jasprit Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar chipped in with two wickets apiece as India bowled out the hosts for a paltry score of 55, in 23.2 overs, in the first session itself.

At the Lunch break, the 58-year-old Manjrekar remembered the predictions that went wrong and hilariously stated that cricket experts, including himself, should be sacked.

“We should be sacked for poor prediction,” said the cricketer-turned-commentator during the mid-innings show.

India get past 100, lead looking ominous for South Africa

South Africa would have been in desperate need of early wickets, after getting bowled out for just 55. Kagiso Rabada gave them the initial breakthrough as Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for a duck in the third over. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill played some delightful strokes and stitched a 55-run partnership before the former was dismissed by Nandre Burger for a 50-ball 39.

Virat Kohli joined Gill out in the middle. They added 33 runs in 40 balls before the Punjab batter was dismissed by Burger, as Marco Jansen took a fine catch at gully. India lost their third wicket with 105 runs on the board. Shreyas Iyer also fell shortly after as India slipped to 110/4. However, the lead for the visitors has already gone past 50 and it's going to be important for South Africa to keep picking up wickets to make a comeback in the Test.

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