Nikhil Naz for NDTV
With inputs from PTI
Cape Town, New Delhi, Nov 27: India went down shamefully to the South Africans in the Cape Town one dayer on Sunday, losing by 106 runs and the brickbats have begun flying back home.
After the defeat, Indian cricket coach Greg Chappell acknowledged that many players in the team are out of form.
"We are just not playing well enough, that is the basic problem. We have got too many players out of form, obviously that is the biggest concern at the moment," he said.
Fresh controversy
The coach fuelled further controversy and evoked strong reaction from across the political spectrum.
Several Members of Parliament attacked him for his comments that MPs were paid to criticize him.
One of them even threatened a privilege motion against him. "If Members of Parliament are willing, a privilege motion can be moved against Chappell," said Renuka Choudhary, Minister for Women and Child Development.
CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta said the former Australian captain "had no business" to make such comments. "Chappell doesn't understand the nuances of democracy."
Echoing similar sentiments, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said, "Let nobody lecture us" on what the MPs' job was.
On their part, cricket fans in Kolkata protested Chappel's comments on MPs. They burnt the effigy of the coach and demanded the return of Sourav Ganguly to the team. Middle order batsman Mohd Kaif's house was also attacked in Allahabad.
Defending coach
Chappell had said in Cape Town, South Africa, last evening that he was not surprised by the sharp criticism from the MPs following India's poor show in the one-dayers so far.
He said the MPs were doing their job. "I am not surprised. They (MPs) are paid to do so in Parliament," Chappell told the post-match press conference on Sunday.
Defending Chappel, BCCI Spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said the coach didn't mean any disrespect to MPs when he made those comments. But he added that Chappel must refrain from making any further remarks that has politicians up in arms.
BCCI President Sharad Pawar said there was no question of interfering with the team.
But he did acknowledge that the Men in Blue should learn from how Australian captain Ricky Ponting performs, even when his team is under tremendous pressure.
Sloppy fielding
Sunday's loss was India's tenth defeat in a row in the last 13 one-dayers when the hosts won by 106 runs. There were three major batting changes for the match but they did not work.
Virender Sehwag gone for a duck out to a trademark shot that did not quite work in these bouncy conditions. Sachin Tendulkar out to an uncharacteristic pull shot and the reaction after his dismissal said it all.
With India at 17 for 3 when Kaif got out there was little hope of chasing down the score of 275.
At 76 for 6 India should have gone for the kill instead a catch dropped by Tendulkar when Justin Kemp was on 9 set the tone for a sloppy fielding performance.
Kemp went on to make his first one-day hundred becoming the third number seven batsman to do so in one-dayers after Hashan Tilkeratne and Mohammad Kaif.
The big hitting South African is ready for lots more after putting on a world record 8th wicket stand of 138 with Andrew Hall.
"Definitely I think if you have done it a few times for your country, it does make a difference, I think in that situation you can give yourself a little bit more time and you can catch up at the death, I was a bit lucky a few times with a few dropped catches which helped but it does give you the confidence," Kemp said.
India had played five bowlers but erratic bowling towards the end allowed South Africa to make 113 runs off the last 10 overs. Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar were severely punished.
If you are looking for any bright spots in the Indian team's performance, perhaps the only one was Kumble bowling his 10 overs for just 24 runs. Not bad for somebody playing his first one day game in 13 months.