Ongoing India’s tour of South Africa, which was touted to be one of the most successful ones for the country in the history of the game, is actually turning out to be a nightmare. It all started with a historic 1st Test win in Centurion but since then, things have gone from bad to worse. After losing the red-ball series 1-2, the disappointment continued in ODI series as well.
Once again, it was a brilliant start on Wednesday when Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin took a few early wickets putting Men in Blue on top. However, the duo of Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen, who took their side over the line in Cape Town, once again piled on the misery for India.
Both the players smashed brilliant centuries to guide South Africa to 296/4 in 50 overs on a wicket which was not so easy to bat. The Jai and Veeru of rainbow nation wreaking havoc proved out to be too much for KL Rahul and Co. on the day in Paarl.
No captain needed !#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/g9g6EzHfHg
— 𝙰𝚔𝚍𝚊𝚜 𝙷𝚊𝚢𝚊𝚝 (@Akdas_Hayat) January 19, 2022
Also Watch: Virat Kohli throws the ball in anger towards Temba Bavuma
Although India were once in a solid position with Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli playing some gorgeous shots. However, unlike the set batsmen of South Africa, the Indian experienced duo could not convert their fifties to a big score as they were dismissed one after the other.
Their dismissal led to another batting collapse for India as they lost 7 wickets for 76 runs, completely losing their way in the run-chase. While some fans admitted that ‘seh lenge thoda’, there were few who were just pondering ‘har par har lamha main kaise sehta hu’.
Another middle order failure 😭😭
#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/EbcjlFT6oq
— 🇮🇳🇮🇳Bharat Army 🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@BhartArmy) January 19, 2022
#SAvIND 💔 pic.twitter.com/lgAQvmvlz6
— Code_Vivi (@1379Vivek) January 19, 2022
ALSO WATCH: Temba Bavuma’s reaction after taking catch of Virat Kohli
But amid all the disappointment, there was one major positive for Team India – Lord Shardul’s batting. The all-rounder played a gritty 43-ball 50-run knock and stayed unbeaten till the end, setting up an example for other lower-order batsmen how runs needed to be scored on the slow and sluggish track.
The netizens did not miss the opportunity to roll out some hilarious memes on Shardul’s batting and India’s middle-order collapse.
Lord Shardul Thakur to Team India Middle order : pic.twitter.com/RSSnZe7icV
— g0v!ñD $#@®mA (@rishu_1809) January 19, 2022
Lord Shardul. #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/GzbOV0bdcJ
— Navya #WhistlePodu (@SweptForASix) January 19, 2022
Lord Shardul to middle order after hitting a fifty #INDvsSA pic.twitter.com/ZKlV8yGjmY
— D Jay (@djaywalebabu) January 19, 2022
While some people were unhappy to see Rahul Dravid sad after the defeat, one of the fans was happy that India lost the first match, meaning that they will go on to win the series (since this is exactly what happened in Test series).
First Match haare hai Matlab Series Jeetnge 💪#INDvSA #SAvIND #Cricket pic.twitter.com/AQjq9ei70p
— sYed KhaliQ (@YKhaliqH_7) January 19, 2022
My sympathies for this man. #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/Dg4hAM9jXX
— Younus Basheer (@YounusBasheer_) January 19, 2022
ALSO WATCH: Venkatesh Iyer runs out Aiden Markram with a bullet throw
While there was a meme which reflected that no one will be able to blame Kohli for the loss since he is not the captain anymore and he also scored a half-century, one of the tweets just stated a sad fact that India did not really celebrate the one-year anniversary of Gabba heroics in perfect fashion.
https://twitter.com/Aebandya/status/1483843930861223937
https://twitter.com/Sunainagosh7/status/1483849217974353920
The Men in Blue, led by KL Rahul, would now be keen to bounce back and level the series when two sides clash again for 2nd ODI on Jan 21 at the same venue.
