Hurt Rishabh Pant doesn’t mince words after South Africa humiliate India 2-0 at home: ‘Do not take cricket for granted’

India’s stand-in captain Rishabh Pant was visibly upset as he walked up to reflect on his team’s performance after South Africa smashed them by 408 runs in Guwahati and won its maiden Test series in this country. Pant, who stepped in as India’s captain after Shubman Gill was ruled out due to the neck injury he sustained in the Kolkata Test, could not hide behind excuses and blatantly exposed all that’s wrong with this Indian team. Pant said a lot without speaking too much or naming any individual but highlighted the issues that are plaguing the Indian team.

“It’s a little disappointing. As a team, we need to get better. Credit to the opposition for playing better than us. They dominated the series, but at the same time you can’t take cricket for granted. We’re playing at home, and sometimes we were up in the game. Still, we didn’t capitalise on it, so we have to learn and get better. Whether you’re playing at home or away, cricket demands that determination and that extra effort. As a batting unit, you need to capitalise on certain moments. As a team, we didn’t do that. The positives from this series will be to focus on our own plan,” Pant said after the match.

This is India’s worst defeat on home soil, surpassing the 342-run beatdown they received at the hands of Australia back in the year 2004. Furthermore, the fact that this is the fifth defeat this team has suffered in the last year is what makes it sting more. With this, South Africa picked up their maiden Test series win in India after 25 years. In 2000, South Africa also whitewashed India 2-0 at home. For India, this is their third clean sweep ever on home soil, including the 0-3 loss against New Zealand last October.