T20 World Cup 2022: "I don't think we played smart enough cricket" - Sunil Gavaskar on India's defeat to South Africa

Former Indian opening batter Sunil Gavaskar rued Team India's failure to play 'smart cricket' following their T20 World Cup loss to South Africa on Sunday. Gavaskar reckons that India would've reached 150 had they played tactfully.

Rohit Sharma and Co. struggled on a bouncy Perth wicket against a relentless South African pace attack. The Men in Blue could put just 133 on the board with Suryakumar Yadav doing the bulk of scoring with 68 off 40 balls.

Speaking on Star Sports, the 125-Test veteran opined that runs are the only currency in such challenging conditions and that India missed out on a few due to their reckless gameplay.

"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 batters, 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."

Paceman Lungi Ngidi, who replaced Tabraiz Shamsi, made inroads with the new ball by removing KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli. He returned to remove Hardik Pandya for a duck, finishing with figures of 4-0-29-4.

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"It was difficult to do something different against a quality attack" - Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar. (Image Credits: Getty)

Gavaskar observed that India's shot-making highlighted their issues against pace and bounce, prompting them to do something different. The 73-year-old added:

"For example, some of the dismissals that we saw show that they were perhaps concerned about the pace and bounce on the pitch and therefore trying to do something different. But it was difficult to do something different against a quality attack.

"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."

Team India will next face Bangladesh on November 2 in Adelaide.