Rohit needs to sharpen his captaincy, feels Manjrekar

Rohit Sharma not taking advantage of crunch moments shows chinks in his captaincy, reckons former India player Sanjay Manjrekar

IMAGE: Rohit Sharma not taking advantage of crunch moments shows chinks in his captaincy, reckons former India player Sanjay Manjrekar. Photograph: Esa Alexander/Reuters

Following India's win in the 2nd and final Test against South Africa, on Thursday, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar made pointed comments on skipper Rohit Sharma's mistakes while leading the visitors in the Test series.

"In Test cricket if you lose moments, you lose the game. Rohit made mistakes in both Tests and while it cost us massively in the first game, thankfully Siraj had given allowance for the second Test.

"(In the 2nd innings), Siraj bowling just one over when Markram was scoring and the lead swelling to 60 was a mistake," Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.

The former skipper called Rohit an "old-school" long-format batter. He added that there will be np competition if Rohit extend his career.

"Rohit Sharma is still among the last of the old-school Test batters. Only he can tell us how much Test cricket he wants to play. I think if he wants to extend his Test career, there will be no competition. Virat Kohli I feel will play as long as possible and thankfully for us. This tour in tough conditions, just the distance between him and the next best Test batter India has at least until Rishabh Pant is back," he added.

Recapping the second Test match, South Africa elected to bat first and was bundled out for just 55 in 23.2 overs after Mohammed Siraj's fiery spell of 6/15 destroyed the Proteas' top and middle order, while Jasprit Bumrah (2/25) and Mukesh Kumar (0/2) also took wickets.

In their first innings, India was 153/4 at one point before Lungi Ngidi's three-wicket burst sunk India to 153 all out in 34.5 overs.

Ngidi (3/30), Kagiso Rabada (3/38) and Nandre Burger (3/42) took three wickets each for SA.

Later in their second innings, SA ended the day one at 62/3, with Aiden Markram (36*) doing the bulk of the scoring. On Day 2, Markram scored a fighting century, a knock of 106 in 103 balls with 17 fours and two sixes before a six-wicket haul by Bumrah (6/61) bundled out SA for 176 in 36.5 overs, setting India just 79 runs to win.

With the help of knocks from openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (28) and skipper Rohit Sharma (16*), India chased down the total with seven wickets in hand in 12 overs.

India squared the series 1-0 and Siraj was named 'Player of the Match'.