Sri Lanka vs South Africa: Test 1, Day 2 - 3 talking points

The Proteas showed severe lack of confidence

#2. Lack of confidence and poor shot-selection

South African batsmen were visibly shaken by the spin for the major part of their innings, and that led to an enormous meltdown in their morale. It was pretty evident from the way the Proteas were batting, as they failed massively to score even in singles. All except one of South Africa's last eight innings in the subcontinent has ended with the side scoring less than 200, and the fear was visible this time around as well. Too much caution led to the players failing to score at all. Collapses of 6 for 51 and 4 for 11, which preceded and succeeded the 64-run seventh-wicket stand between Faf du Plessis and Vernon Philander, highlights the problem.

This, when coupled with problems in batting technique, like the left-handers playing cross-batted at balls pitching into them from wide of off-stump, also resulted in bonuses for the Lankans in the form of wickets.