IND vs SA: Three Reasons Why New-look Team India Lost Boxing Day Test vs South Africa in Centurion

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IND vs SA: A lot was expected from India in the Boxing Day Test match against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. India had won the opening Test in South Africa two years ago, but ended up losing the series 1-2.

The Indian team was expected to kick off their campaign on a positive note once again, and win the series this time around. However, the defeat in the first Test has ended India's dream to register their first ever Test series in South Africa.

In fact, a 2-0 clean sweep by South Africa looks very much on the cards now. The dominating South Africa win is going to have a severe impact on the Indian team. The nature of the defeat makes an Indian comeback highly unlikely.

Failed Young India batters: India played a Test match without either of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara for the first time in over one decade. The result was not very good. Newest member of the Test team Yashasvi Jaiswal could not handle the pace and bounce of the South Africa quicks.

Shubman Gill continued to fail at number three. Shreyas Iyer could also not make any major impact, while Rohit Sharma still appeared to be healing from the defeat his team faced in the World Cup 2023 final, he looked disinterested.

Having three relatively inexperienced players in top five in a Test series in South Africa might just have backfired. There was no application from India batters. Ahead of the Test, coach Rahul Dravid said that the better batting would win, and India were not at all the better batting side.

Absence of Mohammed Shami, unimpressive Prasidh Krishna: Indian bowling unit looked ineffective in the absence of Shami. Jasprit Bumrah ended up bowling the most overs and picking the most wickets. Mohammed Siraj was decent, but both of these bowlers missed the company of injured Shami.

Prasidh Krishna came on the back of a good outing against South Africa A, however, he was costly and lacked any impetus. His short balls had no impact on the South Africa batters. Shardul Thakur's 19 overs for 101 runs for one wicket added to India's woes. Once South Africa managed to post 408 on a surface where India were bundled out for 245 and 131, the match was lost.

White-ball cricket hangover: The ODI World Cup, the two T20I series after it, and the preceding ODI series preceding the Test match - India were likely to lose in overseas conditions due to the white-ball hangover.

The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah were on a break after the World Cup. Someone like Rohit Sharma, who also lost his Mumbai Indians captaincy recently, went through a lot in the last one month. One did not really hoped India to win.