'Let's not press the panic button': Sunil Gavaskar after India's loss against South Africa in T20 World Cup

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar believes not playing smart cricket cost India their Super 12 clash against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday (October 30). India lost a low-scoring thriller against the Proteas by five wickets in Perth after failing to defend a total of 133 runs.

While India's batting line-up crumbled on a tricky wicket in Perth, their fielding also failed to impress with several missed opportunities during South Africa's run-chase. Virat Kohli dropped a sitter to hand Aiden Markram a reprieve before captain Rohit Sharma missed an easy run-out chance.

Despite getting off to a brilliant start with the ball, India failed to capitalise as Markram and David Miller slammed half-centuries apiece to take South Africa home. Gavaskar insisted fielding was not the major reason behind India's loss as he pointed out at the lack of smart cricket by the Men in Blue.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"I think, in cricket, you are going to have situations where catches are going to be dropped, run-out opportunities missed. What you really going to see is that we didn't score enough runs. On a pitch like this where there is going to be a little bit of a challenge for battes, I think you have got to play it smartly. I don't think we played smart enough cricket because if you had played smart cricket, we would have had a 150 on the board," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by India Today.

Also Read:Virat Kohli furious after invasion of privacy in hotel room, says 'I am not okay with this kind of fanaticism'

Gavaskar highlighted how the likes of Deepak Hooda and Dinesh Karthik could have played smartly and tried to settle down in the middle instead of trying to play a big shot early on. While Hooda was dismissed on a duck off just three balls, Karthik got dismissed on 6 off 15 balls trying to take on the bowler.

Their dismissal put extra pressure on Suryakumar Yadav, who was the lone saviour for India after Lungi Ngidi ran through the team's top order. Ngidi picked up a four-wicket haul to ensure the likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli among others were all sent back cheaply. Suryakumar played a fantastic knock of 68 runs to help India post a fighting total of 133 runs on the board.

"I have been stressing about playing an extra batter but Deepak Hooda tried to attack in his 3rd delivery when he had Suryakumar Yadav at the other end. He had to play smart cricket," said Gavaskar.

"Similarly, I think, Karthik getting out at that stage. I am not blaming them, I am saying generally saying that apart from Suryakumar Yadav, nobody played the kind of cricket with the experience that they had that would have helped us get those 15-20 runs more," he added.

Also Read:Rohit Sharma rues missed chances against South Africa, says 'we were just not good enough'

However, the former India captain insisted there is no need for India to press the panic button yet in the T20 World Cup as they are comfortably placed to qualify for the semi-finals with 4 points after three matches. India have to play Bangladesh and Zimbabwe next and will hope to win both games to ensure they can have a smooth qualification.

"Yes, let's not press the panic button at all. We have 4 points and 2 matches to go. 2 matches against opponents we should be able to win. You should never taken any team lightly, Bangladesh have given us a run for the money in T20Is. So we have to be careful against them, even Zimbabwe, the way they have played in this World Cup, we have to be careful," said Gavaskar.