"Rohit Sharma is being very kind to them" - Dinesh Karthik on Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna after India's defeat vs South Africa in 1st Test

Dinesh Karthik has expressed his disappointment over the underwhelming performances from Indian pacers Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion.

The Men in Blue lost the Test by an innings and 32 runs after being bowled out for 131 on Thursday, December 28. Speaking at the post-match presentation, skipper Rohit Sharma defended his bowlers by pointing out their inexperience of playing in South African soil.

Reacting to Sharma's comments, here's what Karthik said during a discussion on Cricbuzz:

"Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna definitely need to up their game. Rohit Sharma is being very kind to them when he is saying that it is the first time for the bowlers and they are young bowlers, but Shardul was there on the previous tour as well and did pretty well. Today was a very ordinary performance from Shardul Thakur with the bat and the ball."

Shardul Thakur was the most expensive Indian bowler in the Test, conceding 101 runs from 19 overs while bagging a single wicket. Prasidh Krishna too failed to impress on his debut, giving away 93 runs from 20 overs and picking up one wicket.

Assessing Krishna's performance, Karthik added:

"Prasidh Krishna, yes, he is young and doesn't have too much first-class experience under his belt, and it really showed with the ball as well. He was giving away one too many boundary balls. There was not any control that he was able to give the captain."

The cricketer-commentator suggested that India's fast bowling attack hasn't looked threatening enough in Mohammed Shami's absence. He also mentioned that the side missed the reliability of senior bowlers like Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma, elaborating:

"India prides itself in the last few years on how good the bowling attack is. But you could see that without Mohammed Shami there, this Indian attack is not what it used to be. Before, we had Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They gave us at least consistency in length, and that was missing in a big way today as well."

It is worth mentioning that Mohammed Shami was ruled out of the ongoing two-match Test series in South Africa due to an ankle injury.

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"He has played a lot of first-class cricket" - Dinesh Karthik feels Mukesh Kumar will replace Prasidh Krishna in India's playing XI for second Test

During the discussion, Dinesh Karthik reckoned that the Indian think tank should consider replacing Praisdh Krishna with right-arm pacer Mukesh Kumar.

He highlighted how Mukesh is an experienced bowler who has played a lot of domestic cricket. Karthik said:

"I do think Prasidh Krishna makes way for Mukesh Kumar. You get the feeling that they need a little more experience. Not that Mukesh Kumar has played a lot of international cricket, be he has played a lot of first-class cricket."

The second and final Test of the series is scheduled to be played at Newlands in Cape Town from January 3 to 7.