'Maybe they were slightly overconfident' - Shaun Pollock on India's batting collapse in the first innings at Centurion

The Indian side endured a batting collapse in the first innings of the first Test match at Centurion. From 272/3, the Virat Kohli-led side was bowled out for just 327. And, former South African pace bowling legend Shaun Pollock has opened up on this batting collapse from the Indian side.

Pollock feels that it is concerning for India that no batter could stop the batting collapse. Pollock added that the head coach of the Indian side, Rahul Dravid, would have probably wanted to tell his boys that they should not take things for granted, and should apply themselves out in the middle with the bat in hand.

“I think it’s always concerning that someone can’t stop the rut. You can always lose 2-3 wickets but the fact that someone can’t stop it is a little bit of a concern… Mindset wise the conundrum for a coach is you never want to… overtalk about how things could or couldn’t go wrong [but] you just think maybe Rahul Dravid was tempted at the start of play on Day 3 to say, ‘Listen, guys, we batted superbly on Day 1 but let’s not take it for granted. Let’s build it from the beginning once again,” said Shaun Pollock while speaking on Cricbuzz.

The Indian lower-order needs more game time: Shaun Pollock

Shaun Pollock also feels that the Indian lower-order needs to spend more time out in the middle. Adding that the Indian willow wielders were overconfident when they walked out to bat, Pollock concluded by stating that the Indian batters need more game time.

“I think it was a case of maybe they (the batters) were slightly overconfident coming onto the crease and then a combination of your lower-order – Ashwin, Thakur, Shami, Bumrah, Siraj… those guys haven’t had much time in the middle, they need a little bit of game time, additional practices and maybe were just short of a gallop,” concluded Pollock.