“Only person I know who played us well was Tendulkar” - Allan Donald opens up on Indian batters’ struggles in South Africa

Proteas’ fast bowling legend Allan Donald reckons South Africa is one of the toughest places for overseas players to bat.

While sharing his views on Indian batters’ struggles, Donald said that players whose footwork is not spot-on will find themselves in trouble, adding that Sachin Tendulkar is among the few to have stood up to the challenge.

India suffered an embarrassing innings and 32-run defeat in the first Test against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. The visitors were bowled out for 245 in their first innings with only KL Rahul (101) offering resistance. In the second innings, they crumbed to 131 all-out.

Reflecting on Team India’s batting woes in the Rainbow Nation, Donald was quoted as saying in a PTI report:

“It's not an easy place to combat. We see that daily in South Africa, the ball does nip around more than it does in Australia or England. If your footwork isn't 100 percent then you are in trouble.

"Only person I know who played us well was Tendulkar, who triggered (had a trigger movement) while batting in South Africa rather than stand on middle-stump. He pressed forward and left the ball amazingly well."

Sharing advice for visiting batters on how to tackle South African conditions, the former pacer added that knowing which ball to leave is crucial.

“If you leave the ball well here, you can score runs. You got to get bowlers to come to you and search a little bit more. They start coming to you, the opportunities of scoring get better.

"It's an interesting phenomenon as it's tough to bat. In Cape Town though, it will be a very good Test pitch. It will flatten out quickly, so you need to work very hard,” the 57-year-old added.

Virat Kohli (76 off 82) top scored for India in the second innings in Centurion. Shubman Gill (26) was the only other Indian batter to reach double figures.

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“Indian bowlers searched too much for things to happen” - Allan Donald

While India’s batting crumbed in Centurion, their bowlers also disappointed, as South Africa scored 408 in their first innings, gaining a significant lead of 163.

Donald said that the hosts got the better of the conditions but also added that India’s bowlers were not patient enough and lost their lines and lengths too soon.

“For India, there was one debutant (Prasidh Krishna). I thought (Jasprit) Bumrah, but Indian bowlers searched too much for things to happen.

"They quickly reverted to shorter balls and then lost their length a bit on the shorter side and then got opened up on either side - square leg, off side and SA batters capitalised,” the former fast bowler concluded.

While Bumrah ended with impressive figures of 4-69, Shardul Thakur (1-101) and Prasidh (1-93) proved very expensive in the Centurion Test.