South Africa on Tuesday suffered a humiliating defeat as they lost to India by an inning and 202 runs in the third Test in Ranchi. This was South Africa’s heaviest defeat to India in Test cricket. After his side’s agonising 0-3 series defeat, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis said the loss has given them “mental scars” which would be hard to overcome. Du Plessis also slammed the Cricket South Africa for their lack of vision and “not planning” to fill the big gap created by the retirement of some of their prominent names. He also criticised South Africa’s cricket structure saying it has created a “gap between domestic cricket and international cricket”.
“It shows that our structures are not where they need to be. The gap between domestic cricket and International cricket. If you look back three or four years and if someone had the vision of saying, in three or four years’ time there will be a lot of inexperienced guys. A lot of 34, 35, 36-year olds could possible retire. So what do you do to make sure you get yourself ready for when that time comes?” Du Plessis said in the post-match press-conference.
“And possibly we are guilty of not planning or when these guys going at the same time. And now you’ve got to replace not only one player but four or five of your best players. Perhaps we could’ve been a little bit smarter in our planning phase, and the phasing out of the great players,” he said.
Reflecting on his side’s series loss, Du Plessis said the it has left the team with “mental scars” and that it is “difficult to come out of that hole”.
“A tour like this reveals that there’s a lot of mental scars that can happen and then obviously it’s difficult to come out of that hole,” Du Plessis said after they conceded their heaviest defeat to India in the third Test.
