‘Have to look to seize a few key moments' - Rahul Dravid on going back to the drawing board after India's defeat in Johannesburg

With South Africa’s sensational victory in the second Test against India, the series is well and truly alive. It took a monumental effort by the Proteas skipper Dean Elgar to ensure that the visitors don’t win the Johannesburg Test. However, team India’s head coach Rahul Dravid believes that it was their batting which cost them the match.

The former Indian cricketer felt that the Indian batters need to bat a bit better, and seize their chances if they are to bounce back in the series. He drew light on the first innings, where the KL Rahul-led side were bundled for a score of 202. Dravid felt that the visiting team was at least 70 runs short. The former Indian skipper cited the need to build big partnerships as well.

“Honestly, we pride ourselves on wanting to do better and wanting to get better as a batting unit. We certainly have to look to seize a few key moments and certainly when you get those partnerships, may make them a little bit longer,” said Rahul Dravid, as quoted by India Today.

Some of the guys who got starts could have scored hundreds: Rahul Dravid

The 48-year-old drew light on the importance of converting starts into big scores. While he didn’t name anyone, India’s head coach felt that some of the batters of his side should have converted their starts into big hundreds. He even took the example of the opposition opener, who scored an unbeaten 96.

“Maybe some of the guys who got starts could have converted them into hundreds and that was the difference in the first Test as we had Rahul in the first game, who had got a hundred for us and we ended up on the winning side, and in the second game they had someone (Dean Elgar) scoring 96 and they ended up on the winning side,” he said.

“It really shows you the importance, on these kinds of wickets, of one of your batsman going on and making a big score,” he added. It is to be noted that while KL Rahul scored a half-century in the first innings, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane scored their respective fifties in the third innings. Thus, the hosts had to chase 240 in the fourth innings, and chased it with seven wickets in hand.