Team India needs good blend of youth and experience, says Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Irfan Pathan have pointed out where the focus of the Indian cricket team should be for the future. In a video shared by Star Sports, Gavaskar was heard saying, “You’re looking for the freshness and energy of the youth and you’re also looking for that you know wise, old, head, experience and sometimes temper…you need to have that combination for winning”. In the same video, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan stated that Team India are lacking a strong fast-bowling pack. It was especially evident in their opening Test match of the ongoing South Africa tour where India dearly missed Mohammad Shami. Read | Rohit Sharma backs Prasidh Krishna’s ‘ability to succeed’ in Test cricket According to him, India must prepare a strong unit of pacers to have an upper hand against some of the best teams in the world.

Team India seemed completely unprepared for the onslaught that was bestowed on them in their opening Test against South Africa in Centurion. Playing at the SuperSport Park, India found themselves batting first after losing the toss. South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada was at his best on the day, earning five scalps to curb India at a mere 245 runs. Read | You need to be more creative, Allan Donald tells Indian pacers KL Rahul’s fantastic century was the only saving grace of the innings. During South Africa’s batting, Dean Elgar smashed a jaw-dropping 185 runs. This performance was followed by another crucial 84-run knock from Marco Jansen. Elgar and Jansen’s stunning batting helped their side put up a total of 408 runs. India were unable to make any impact in the second innings as well. It was Virat Kohli who scored an impressive knock of 76 runs in just 82 balls but his side could only manage a total of 131 runs in the second innings, losing the match by an innings and 32 runs. **IND vs SA: Revisiting Team India’s record at Cape Town’s Newlands** Both Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger finished the game with seven wickets each while the Indian bowlers failed to make much impact. It will now be interesting to see if India can learn from their mistakes and bounce back in their next Test scheduled in Cape Town. That match will begin on Wednesday January 3.