South Africa reached lunch at 49/1 after India, spearheaded by KL Rahul‘s 101, were bowled out for 245 runs.
To the astonishment of Shastri and the other commentators, Rohit began the second session by bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur and rookie pacer Prasidh Krishna rather than Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.
Making the most of this was opener Dean Elgar, who is playing in his swansong series. He found the fence at will and eventually raced to his 14th Test century.
In commentary, Shastri stated that, in any pecking order, Shardul and Krishna would be the last to begin play following lunch, and that, in his time as coach, India would always open a session with their two best bowlers.
“On any pecking order, these two (Shardul and Prasidh) would have been the last to start the proceedings (after lunch),” said Shastri on commentary.
“That is something that we have had a discussion multiple times when I was the coach. And more often than not we decided to go with the best two bowlers at the start of the session,” he added.
After dismissing Tony de Zorzi for 28, Bumrah gave India a much-needed breakthrough by breaking the 93-run partnership for the second wicket.
Indian skipped a trick, according to former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, by not allowing Bumrah and Siraj to open the second session.
“Clearly India missed the trick. This is something Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma must have thought about during the break and then decided to go with Prasidh and Shardul,” he said in commentary.
Vernon Philander, a former Proteas seamer, stated on television that the Proteas gained much-needed momentum after lunch when South Africans scored runs off the bowling of Krishna and Shardul.
“Perhaps they wanted to preserve him (Bumrah) after the 6-over spell he bowled (before lunch). I think it’s a window of opportunity that India lost. India gave away 42 runs and that gave South Africa the momentum after lunch. They lost an opportunity,” Philander said.
(With ANI inputs)