File photo of former Indian cricket team captain Sunil Gavaskar© Twitter
India’s tour of South Africa got off to a wet start as the first T20I in Durban on Sunday was called off without a ball being bowled due to rain. The Indian cricket team will play a few T20Is before the T20 Cricket World Cup 2024 and this series is part of India’s preparations. The match lost on this road to the T20 World Cup is a big loss for the Indian cricket team. There are several points that the Indian cricket team would like to clarify ahead of the T20 Cricket World Cup. Now, the Indian cricket team has just five T20Is left – two more against the Proteas and three against Afghanistan at home in January – before next year’s final in the West Indies and USA.
With IPL 2024 preceding the T20 World Cup, the Indian think tank is sure to rely on the league to identify the top 15 players for the marquee event.
First-time visitors to the ‘Rainbow Nation’, like Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Arshdeep Singh etc., were keen to get this unique taste of cricket here and now they have to wait till Tuesday for the second match at St George’s Park in Grabiha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth.
Also, Suryakumar Yadav would have liked to make a winning start in Durban against the Proteas to underscore his credentials to give the standouts another name to potentially consider for the captaincy role, if it comes to that.
However, with the rain falling, there was little the Indian cricket team could do. Former Indian cricket team captain Sunil Gavaskar opined that South African cricket could not do much as rain affected the game. However, he had important advice for international cricket boards.
“Once you set the schedule, you can’t do anything. You can’t fight Mother Nature. There’s nothing the South African cricket team can do. But from what I’ve seen, a lot can be done and not just in South Africa,” Sunil Gavaskar said in Star Sports. Africa, but in many other countries, is the one that covers the entire stadiums. All players have a lot of money, if they say they don’t… They may not be like BCCI but still.”
What Gavsakar was pointing out was that in Kingsmead, Doraban, the entire ground was not covered, though the rain had not subsided either.
“What often happens is that the rain stops and it takes an hour to get the ground ready and then the rain comes back. That’s one point that every board can look at. But you can’t blame South African Cricket for choosing this venue.”
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