Let’s not overreact, we need to give the Proteas room to grow, writes Ongama Gcwabe.

A score of 601/5 in the first innings for India meant that they are in a comfortable position in the 2nd Test match in Pune.

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The Proteas bowlers had a very tough day at the office, similarly to how they bowled on the first day of play.

Playing three seamers in India, one on debut, one specialist spinner and an all-rounder in Senuran Muthusamy, was always going to be tough purely because they just don’t have enough tmatches under their belt to perfectly complement each other as a bowling unit.

With the retirement of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, Faf and the team are in a phase of trying to find the best combinations.

Unfortunately, there’s only one way to do that and that is to give guys opportunities to prove themselves against the best Test cricketers in the world.

Although the boys didn’t have much luck on their side, they were also very inconsistent, they bowled too wide and perhaps too short. These are traits of inexperience.

In my opinion, we need to give the boys room to grow and learn. I mean, we can’t expect them to bowl out India’s strong batting line-up at first go, especially in their home conditions.

After all, its Test cricket. The boys were tested in India’s first innings, surely there’s a lot they took from how they bowled and how the Indians managed to be on top of the game.

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