James Neesham reacts to Faf du Plessis losing the toss despite bringing Temba Bavuma as a proxy

Sport can be really tough sometimes; almost to the tune of being brutal. And, when it goes wrong, it goes horribly wrong. Form, confidence, luck everything reached its nadir. And, when it does go downhill, almost each and every one of us blame our pathetic luck for it. It is true that luck does play its role but the problem starts when we start using it as a facade and put other manageable issues on the backburner.

In recent times, there has been a lot of talk about the advantage that teams winning the toss are having in Test cricket. The stats will prove that too. Take India’s 2018 tour of South Africa or England for example. India won two Test matches. On both occasions, India batted first.

While in Jo’burg, Virat Kohli won the toss, in Nottingham, English captain Joe Root was generous enough to let India make first use of the conditions. But what the numbers or stats regarding the success rate of teams’ batting first also tells is how poor teams have been while chasing the target in the fourth innings.

Faf du Plessis brought Temba Bavuma for the toss in Ranchi

Closer home, Virat Kohli can’t lose a toss and Faf du Plessis, sure-as-hell can’t win one. South Africa has been shellacked in the first two Tests with India burying them under a mountain of runs before proceeding to clean up their clueless top-order. So, what does Faf du Plessis do? He decided what former Graeme Smith termed as a symbol of a “defeatist mindset”, to bring a proxy captain- Temba Bavuma- to call the toss in place of him.

Of-course! Nothing changed. Be it Temba Bavuma or Faf du Plessis, South Africa just can’t win a toss (and match) in Asia at the moment. India won the toss and on expected terms decided to bat first. It didn’t prove to be that bad a toss to lose for the visitors as Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje reduced India to 3-39 in the first hour of play.

But. then again! The inability of the South African backup bowlers, especially their spinners proved to be their nemesis as Rohit Sharma (117*) and Ajinkya Rahane (83*) stitched a record 4th wicket stand of 185 to rest the initiative in the home sides favor. Understandably, a lot of people on social media are having their say on Du Plessis’ actions and the Kiwi all-rounder James Neesham too had his say on the matter.

James Neesham knows exactly how it feels (Read: World Cup final) when luck doesn’t work in someone’s favor. “That really hurts” was his tweet.