Ian Chappell credited the batters for playing some extraordinary innings in tough conditions in South Africa, he lauded the top scorers but was particularly impressed with Rishabh Pant and Keegan Petersen.
In the recently concluded Ashes series, Australia recorded a 4-0 victory over England and it also marked the sixth loss for visitors in the ongoing World Test Championship 2021-22. Ashes is one of the oldest rivalries and players, of both sides, have always given their 100 percent in making it a high voltage clash. Former Australian captain Ian Chappell felt that this time, Ashes missed the fight.
From the first Test to the last, Australia had complete domination over the game. New skipper Pat Cummins has started with a prestigious series victory. But Chappell believes that the Test series between India and South Africa was more enthralling compared to the Ashes.
He opined that both India and South Africa had fought tooth and nail until the last delivery, which made the Test series a treat to watch. Finally, it was South Africa who registered a 2-1 series victory over the Indian side.
In his column for ESPN Cricinfo, Chappell credited the batters for their extraordinary innings in tough conditions of South Africa. He said that despite pitches in South Africa being completely seamer-friendly, the hosts had shown immense courage in chasing down scores above 200.
“Some nine hours away South Africa surprisingly defeated India in an old-fashioned dogfight that included some enthralling cricket. It also involved ample emotion of the sort that has notably been missing from an Ashes contest that has been surprisingly uncontroversial so far. The South Africa series featured bowling domination on pitches that were probably too much in favour of the fielding side, but there was also some exquisite batting,” Chappell wrote.
Chappell also lauded the brave efforts of the top run-scorers in the South Africa-India series, which were Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli. The former Australian cricketer was particularly impressed with the attacking gameplay of Rishabh Pant and Keegan Petersen.
“Because defiant batting wasn’t prevalent, gutsy innings by Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli stood out. The exhilarating shot-making extravaganzas of Rishabh Pant and Keegan Petersen proved that aggressive batting with scoring in mind could be achieved even on testing surfaces.” he added
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