Former
India bowler Madan Lal slammed Team India for their lacklustre performance
against South Africa. India lost both Test and ODI series against South Africa.
Madan Lal criticised the Indian team for their “casual” approach to the game
and their failure to learn from their mistakes.

Also Read: India should break tradition and go for a fast bowler captain: Shoaib Akhtar

On
Sunday, South Africa won the ODI series 3-0 after beating India by four runs in
the third and final ODI at Cape Town.

Earlier,
India began their tour of South Africa with a solid 113 runs victory in the
first Test at Centurion but two back-to-back seven wickets defeat in Johannesburg
and Cape Town Test meant India failed to win their maiden Test series in the
rainbow nation. In the ODI series, India were never in competition for a win as
they lost the first two ODIs embarrassingly. Only the third ODI saw competition
as India lost it by four runs.

Also Read: Had Virat Kohli led for two more years he would have won 50-60 Tests: Ravi Shastri

Madan
Lal, a member of India’s 1983 World Cup-winning squad, pointed out the reasons
why India lost a match they should have easily won and why the twin series loss
is so disappointing.

Also Read: Shoaib Akhtar says Virat Kohli was ‘forced’ to leave India captaincy

“They
got out while attempting the glory shot otherwise this match could have easily
been won. In international matches, batters must take more responsibility. If
you go in with a casual approach, you are going to keep losing matches and
series like this. Apart from the first Test, we haven’t played good cricket. We
have gifted games, that we should have won, to South Africa.

Also Read: Harbhajan Singh tests positive for COVID-19; requests contacts to get tested

“They
(the players) are just very casual and are playing casual shots. Rishabh Pant
played a casual shot and he didn’t keep the wicket well either, dropping two
caught behind chances. We didn’t see a 100-150-run partnership. We haven’t
learned from our mistakes,” he elaborated.

Meanwhile,
former batters Sanjay Manjrekar and Aakash Chopra also criticised India for
their series loss in Tests and ODIs.

Also Read: ‘We were caught off guard’: Anushka Sharma breaks silence as Vamika’s pictures go viral

“The
way the match ended sums up the whole trip for India. It has to be one of the
poorest Indian tours to South Africa. That’s how it was destined to be. It just
wasn’t India’s time in South Africa. It is a bad loss,” Manjrekar told
ESPNCricinfo.

“Last
year, the overwhelming thought during India’s tour to Sri Lanka was that India
can field two teams at the same time and still win. 8 months later, India
struggled to win a single game in a series with the best side (minus Rohit).
How did we get here?” tweeted Chopra on Monday.