Former coach says South Africa tried to 'doctor pitches'
Criticizing the hosts for their tactics, former South Africa coach Ray Jennings revelation that they "tried to doctor pitches" during the Test series nearly backfired for the Proteas. He said, "They tried doctoring pitches in the Tests and it was so close that South Africa almost lost the series. Such pitches won't help because India have a great pace attack..unlike in the past."
Jennings says the selection was all wrong
Jennings made a pointed observation about South African team selection, calling it all wrong. He remarked, "They say they are preparing for World Cup, but if these youngsters fail in 2018, they will be chucked out. Who will you play then? You have to field your best XI at all times and develop a winning culture..take it match by match..and not look too ahead."
On South Africa's inability to play spin
While agreeing that there was not enough time to prepare a counter against Indian spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, he launched a sharp critique saying, "If at this stage, you don't know how to play spin, you just have to live with your incompetency."
All praise for Chahal and Kuldeep
Jennings who previously coached IPL's Royal Challengers Bangalore team, was all praise for the duo of Chahal and Kuldeep. Describing them as 'true IPL' products he said, "The wrist spinners are very good. They can even play Test cricket because sometimes overseas you can struggle to take 20 wickets..Thanks to IPL, the fear of playing international cricket has gone away from young Indian players."
"ODI series already lost"
2-0 down in the 6-match ODI series, missing the services of Faf du Plessis, and AB de Villiers, in addition to an inexperienced middle order, Jennings believes that the "series is already lost" for South Africa.
