The ongoing India’s tour of South Africa has literally turned into a nightmare for all the fans and players as the home side have followed the Test series win with a comprehensive victory in the ODI series. Rahul Dravid’s men have been outplayed in all departments across both the formats and there is no hiding away from the fact that Men in Blue on Friday had a really difficult outing.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, India got off to a good start but the batsmen once again did not live up to the expectations. Although KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant scored half-centuries, the others disappointed and it was once again a cameo down the order from Shardul Thakur which took India to 287/6 in 50 overs.
The wicket was way better than that and South Africa certainly proved it when they came to bat. The opening duo of Quinton de Kock (78 off 66) and Janneman Malan (91 off 108) took the game apart from India as KL Rahul looked short of plans.
As expected, the netizens were not impressed with his captaincy as the fielding positions, bowling changes and lack of aggression on the field was something that left the viewers disappointed. Some of the people on the internet went on to hilariously claim that while one can take KL Rahul from Punjab Kings, no one can take Punjab Kings out of KL Rahul, suggesting that he was to be blamed for the defeat.
You can take Kl Rahul out of PBKS but you can't take PBKS out of KL Rahul.
— Kanav Bali🏏 (@Concussion__Sub) January 21, 2022
Without Indian Captain #RohitSharma This Indian Team Looking Like —–#pbks #INDvsSA pic.twitter.com/yXdpsFSvdJ
— Abhisek (@Abhisek099) January 21, 2022
Misplaced batting order, poor field positions, poor team selection, playing average bowling attack, defensive approach in personal batting while opening, no attack first while bowling .And let's blame management. Same story at PBKS, now with Team India. KL Rahul is the problem.
— टीरीयन कनपुरिया (@tyrionkanpuriya) January 21, 2022
The others opined that this could prove to be the last series for KL as the captain of side, suggesting that he needs to learn a lot from Rohit Sharma who is India’s primary skipper in white-ball format. Some of the memes were also rolled out on how Hitman would react to KL’s captaincy in the ongoing ODI series.
KL Rahul 1st and last series as a captain 😂😂 #SAvIND
— Ganesh Gaitonde (@GaneshG71105549) January 21, 2022
Indian cricket fans: #INDvsSA #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/A75S7xcQd1
— Abhishek Tripathi (@abhithecomic) January 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/bholaladkaa/status/1484565876666138624
#INDvSA #SAvInd#RohitSharma to #KLRahul after the series loss – pic.twitter.com/SZQIJWE8Bv
— Sanskari आत्मनिर्भर Launda 😷 (@verysanskari) January 21, 2022
There was one tweet on the internet which summed up the whole story for the visitors. The banner in the crowd (from an old India vs Australia match) re-surfaced with a totally different reason which suggested ‘Get well soon, Team India’ not in terms of injury but in terms of performance.
https://twitter.com/Should37738/status/1484565201370460166
With the series lost, India will have an opportunity to end the tour on a positive note when they meet South Africa in 3rd ODI on January 23 (Sunday).
