South Africa v/s India | Batsmen have to take more responsibility in remaining Tests: Karsan Ghavri

As India gear up to reverse the first Test debacle in their next game starting in Johannesburg on Saturday, the pressure is mounting on Virat Kohli and Co. to stay alive in the three-match series in South Africa.

Two former India pacers, both new-ball partners of the legendary World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, Raju Kulkarni and Karsan Ghavri were confident of India bouncing back in the series.

Kulkarni, a right-arm pacer from Mumbai who played in 3 Tests in 1986-87, opening the attack with Kapil in two of them, said in Mumbai on Thursday: “India will bounce back. Our batting has been failing. I feel they should have gone there early, got used to the conditions, played a few practice games.

“I heard Sourav Ganguly say that if they had allowed youngsters to play against Sri Lanka (at home in limited-overs last month), and our 7-10 main players had gone to South Africa early and played practice matches, that would have helped. I totally agree,” the 55-year-old Kulkarni said.

Ghavri, who played in 39 Tests from 1974 to 1981 and took 109 wickets, said that the batting let India down in the first Test. “We bowled extremely well in both the innings. Bowlers …read more