You can’t take cricket for granted: Rishabh Pant

Stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant on Wednesday conceded that India needed to get better as a Test team, and said results cannot be taken for granted just because of playing in home conditions.

South Africa towelled India by 408 runs in the second Test here to complete a 2-0 series sweep, the first such instance for the visitors since their triumph under Hansie Cronje in the 1999-2000 series.

“It’s little disappointing. As a team we need to get better. We need to give credit to the opposition. They dominated the series but at the same time, you can’t take cricket for granted (because of playing at home),” said Pant in the post-match presentation.

Pant said India will have to learn from the series and get better in future. “We need to take the learning and stick as a team. We needed to be clear with our mindset. In the future, we need to learn from it and get better.” The wicketkeeper-batter admitted that South Africa played better cricket throughout the series.

“They played better cricket, cricket demands that you need to capitalise as a team. And we did not do that and that cost us the whole series. “The positive will be focussing on our own plan and that’s what we will take from this series,” he added.

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma was delighted to sweep the series. “It’s massive. For me personally, I’ve been out of the game for a couple of months with injury. Not every day you can come to India and walk away with a 2-0 series win.

“What’s special is that we had dark days as a group and it’s a credit to them. There’s a big shift in our mindsets in terms of what we want to do. I think our preparation is something — guys go out there looking to contribute,” he said. Bavuma lauded spinners Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj for their consistency in the series.

“Simon has the experience of playing here in India in 2015, he complements Keshav quite well. Bit more guile with the ball, it’s a struggle to take the ball out of their hands. Simon was the man for us in this series,” he said. Off-spinner Harmer was adjudged the player of the series, and he said he will leave these shores with fond memories.

“Like I said in the last Test, it’s been a long road. 10 years later, a completely different feeling. Will leave with a lot more fonder memories from then. To beat a very good Indian team is a hell of an effort.

“I was just watching our second innings, after 40 overs, the ball got softer and it became easier. But there was the odd-ball, the ball that Rishabh got. Nice to contribute, nice to get wickets and nice to get a fifer in India,” said Harmer. Marco Jansen was the player of the match for his all-round performance here, 93 runs in the first innings, and a match haul of seven wickets.

“Winning any game is a nice feeling and winning in India is special. It’s a team performance. We spoke about sticking to our own things. Got to give credit to Shuks (SA head coach Shukri Conrad), he told me to go out and play my game, I was nervous in the first Test.

“Everyone is working hard, our prep as a team and in an individual capacity. We see where we can get better and on the field we give our best,” he added. Opener Aiden Markaram was happy to conclude a tough assignment on a happy note.

“It’s a great feeling. A great effort by everyone to be fair. No easy task coming to India and winning. We needed a few moments of good luck I suppose along the way, very proud of the team.”  The opener said they did not want to keep any demons in their minds ahead of the series.

“A lot of it was preconceived ideas about conditions. A lot of chat about spin, and quality seamers with the new ball. You don’t want to have demons in your mind before facing your first ball.” Markram gave due credit to his bowlers for keeping Indian batters under pressure.

“Credit to the bowlers, they get the balls in the right areas and you try to catch them and make them happy. Spinning the ball different ways helps in conditions like this. You have to do that for long periods of time and that’s where the control comes in,” he said.

We need to take the learning and stick as a team. We needed to be clear with our mindset. In the future, we need to learn from it and get better-Rishabh Pant, Stand-in skipper.