India won the toss and chose to bat first in Sunday’s high-voltage clash against South Africa in Perth. However, the Men in Blue’s batting order crumbled before an excellent bowling performance by the Proteas, giving rise to the question of whether choosing to bat first in the match was wrong. 

India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and  Virat Kohli by the time they managed to put up 42 runs on the board. Lungi Ngidi dismantled the Indian top order, besides sending allrounder Hardik Pandya back to the pavilion. The only commendable performance came from Suryakumar Yadav who scored 68 off 40 balls. India managed a 133 in 20 overs, putting up a mammoth task for the bowlers as South Africa starts the chase.

Also read: Suryakumar Yadav hits boundary off Lungi Ngidi to reach his second consecutive fifty: Watch

Speaking at the toss, Proteas captain Temba Bavuma told Ravi Shashtri that they would also have chosen to bat first had they won the toss. Perth is a good batting pitch with a quick outfield and scoring big runs is not a problem.

The fact that India’s batting order failed to put up a bigger target can be attributed to the brilliant bowling performance of the Proteas, rather. The decision to bat first was irrelevant to how the Men in Blue performed on the Perth pitch.