Pakistan’s win exposes South Africa’s mental frailties and preparedness for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

South Africa crumbled the moment Pakistani bowlers started applying pressure on them, as the ‘tournament favourites’ suffered their second demoralising loss at ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Eden Park, Auckland. Devarchit Varma highlights that South Africa’s homework for the tournament has been inadequate. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: POINTS TABLE

South Africa are an interesting side: they have had tremendous amount of talent coming through their domestic circuit at a regular basis, and yet they have always carried chinks in their armour which proved to be too costly for them. These chinks are exposed badly when one is playing outside the comfort zone and in challenging conditions, and three teams — Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan — have proved that South Africa have lot of homework left to do before they can actually claim to be worthy of being world champions. De Villiers completes 1,000 World Cup runs during SA-PAK ICC World Cup 2015 match

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In the lead up to ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, the cricket world hailed South Africa as red-hot favourites. They had an excellent build-up too. But five matches into the tournament, three sides — none who were considered favourites going into the tournament — have exposed South Africa so badly that not many want to give them the tag of ‘favourites’ anymore. Top 10 batsmen in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

In five matches so far in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, South Africa have beaten a hapless and misfiring West Indies by 257 runs, crushed a lowly Ireland by 201 runs and barely scraped past Zimbabwe with a 62-run win (if anything, the result flatters them). They did work hard for these wins, but aren’t the ‘World Cup favourites’ supposed to run riot among the lower-placed sides? Top 10 bowlers in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

The defeat to India by 130 runs was sheer embarrassment, wherein South Africa could not even manage to put up some fight and tell the defending champions that their crown is under threat. That loss highlighted South Africa’s failure in completing their homework of mental toughness and preparations, but the defeat to Pakistan — irrespective of the margin — highlighted that South Africa are not ready to learn from mistakes. Top 10 fielders in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

And we all know what happens then. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Pool-wise Team Standings

JP Duminy played an atrocious stroke to get out against Pakistan; David Miller’s misery continued for 13 balls, off which he failed to score even one run; and Rilee Rossouw played a stroke which was not needed at all. All these three had to do was to hang around till pressure eased; all they had to do was to be there with AB de Villiers before going for the shots; but their indiscipline and eagerness to remain on top of every bowler proved suicidal. Top 10 wicketkeepers in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

South Africa may highlight that they are treating ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 as ‘just another tournament’, but they probably have not consciously realised that these frailties continue to exist and the mental part of the game has not been worked out. This may be ‘just another tournament’ for them, but the negatives that have been around South African cricket exist. And if this continues to exist, the road is going to get a thousand times tougher for them. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: SCHEDULE & MATCH DETAILS

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Complete Coverage

(Devarchit Varma is a reporter with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)