As Virat Kohli led team India are on cusp of a first ever series win on South African soil across formats as they lead 3-0 in the six-match ODI series, Former captain Graeme Smith feels that India’s complete dominance in the ongoing ODI series is an indicator that the Gen-Next of Proteas is “not quite ready” to take on quality opposition.
“India team is very deservingly 3-0 up in the series. While South Africa have lost three key players (AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock) to injuries but it also showed that next generation of South African cricketers is not quite ready to take it on,” Smith said.
“I think Cricket South Africa needs to think how they would want to blood and develop the youngsters in order to get them up to the level where they can perform. I am extremely disappointed with their performance but one must give credit to India as they have played outstanding cricket,” he added.
“At the moment, it looks like a big series loss for the team and it could be disappointing. Post 2019 (World Cup), I think we would lose a couple of players (like AB de Villiers) and this series in particular showed that next level of players have a lot of work to do in order to get up to the standards where they can at least be competitive.”
“I think SA cricket will have to really plan as to how they are looking to blood youngsters. May be keep them in the system (academy or domestic cricket) a bit longer,” Smith added further.
