Proteas cricket legends lash out at team for going for draw in first Test against India

South African cricket legends Clive Rice and Ray Jennings have lashed out at their former team for not going for the win against India in the first Test at the Wanderers over the weekend.

South Africa was on course to chase down a record total of 458, needing 16 runs off 19 balls with four wickets in hand, although when Faf du Plessis was run out for 134, Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn opted to play for a draw instead of going for the victory.

According to Sport24, Rice, who was the team's first captain when they re-entered the international fold after isolation, described the decision as shocking and said that it is not way to play cricket when a team gets in a winning position.

Stating that if South Africa would have earned a lot more respect had they gone for a win and lost the Test in the process, Rice further said that it is only a team that doubts itself that pulls out and takes the option South Africa eventually took, adding that a team should at all times have a winning mentality.

Ridiculing the batsmen's decision to play for a draw, Rice also said that when he was captain, the players always knew what he expected of them and what their plan was, adding that the current team management and the captain should be hauled over the coals.

Jennings, a former Proteas coach, also felt that the game was a choke and said that in a situation like that, a lot better is expected from the best Test team in the world, adding that he is struggling to understand where the decision to shut up shop came from.