India vs S Africa

zing

Zingle balls
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
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First test today.

Selection committee has made a complete balls-up of everything. Didn't name any extra specialist batsmen and named Wriddiman Saha(:wenger:) as a back-up wicketkeeper. Laxman injured and his replacement Rohit injured in the last min.. so they're playing Saha(who has an average of 35 in domestic cricket which is like really shit in Indian domestic cricket) is playing as a specialist batsman.

S Africa 2 down now..
 
Serves them right for being idiots and picking up Saha in-front of Karthik who has always performed well whenever he has been given the chance. They should have also chosen more than one back up specialist batsman. Our bowling has performed well though till now, Zaheer and Ishant has been impressive whereas Mishra looks like he is gonna pick a wicket soon.
 
Clique said:
Complete balls-up is the perfect phrase. We have so many bloody good youngsters, Pujara being one. Saha? for heavens sake. !!!
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Excellent prospect, should be ahead of Rohit in the test matches IMO.
 
It's stupid to expect Karthik to fill in every 30 matches and do well. He didn't score in 2 innings in Bangladesh, so he's dropped? The selection committee are idiots.

Pujara, Dhawan, Kohli, Pandey, Jaffer. So many players better than Wriddhiman fking Saha.
 
Just seen the Duleep Trophy final, amazing by West Zone to chase 536 odd in 4th innings, Yusuf Pathan scored a great double century to win the match.

On another note Karthik Scored 183 and 150 in first and second innings
 
Read that they dropped Pathan about a million times.
 
zing said:
Read that they dropped Pathan about a million times.
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According to Cricinfo, he was dropped only twice. Although South's bowling was absolutely terrible, they had no good pace bowlers. Is Sreesanth still injured?
 
Karan Mittal said:
According to Cricinfo, he was dropped only twice. Although South's bowling was absolutely terrible, they had no good pace bowlers. Is Sreesanth still injured?
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Saw some comment saying he'd been dropped 5 times. Yea, Sreesanth's injured.
 
Came in the thread to ask about Saha. I see you've already answered my questions.
 
He came in as backup wicket keeper, it's the selectors who should take the blame for not having the proper backups. TBF to Saha, he has been in good form for Bengal in the last Ranji Season but still Karthik didn't deserve to get dropped.
 
Bloody hell, the south zone guys must have had ghee roast or something this morning, the ball wasn't sticking on to their hands according to cricinfo commentary.

Now that was an awesome test match, 37 wickets says the wicket wasn't a nightmare for bowlers and more than a 1000 runs says it wasn't a dustbowl.
 
Amla is one of the most under-rated players in world cricket today, never mentioned in very good players but is South Africa's most consistent and stable batsman. Their Version of Dravid although much less technical
 
Amla is a top player. India had a very good chance with two early wickets but they let it go.
 
With our weakened batting lineup, we could be in more trouble in this match, Selectors decision not to include another backup batsman in the team is now looking more stupid.
 
What a innings by Amla. Indias top batsman have to perform to otherwise could be a lot of pressure on the debutants
 
Karan Mittal said:
Amla is one of the most under-rated players in world cricket today, never mentioned in very good players but is South Africa's most consistent and stable batsman. Their Version of Dravid although much less technical
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To be fair, he's not a patch on Dravid.
 
Sultan said:
To be fair, he's not a patch on Dravid.
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I would just talking about his temperament and the fact the bring solidity to the South Africa's middle order. I know technically Dravid is miles better
 
Karan Mittal said:
I would just talking about his temperament and the fact the bring solidity to the South Africa's middle order. I know technically Dravid is miles better
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Actually if his earlier career is anything to go by Hashim has been the opposite of Rahul. He has a tendency to play some rash shots which has cost him his wicket on numerous occasion.
 
Karan Mittal said:
I would just talking about his temperament and the fact the bring solidity to the South Africa's middle order. I know technically Dravid is miles better
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I think Dravid's temperament and his attribute of bringing solidity to batting line-up is unrivalled in world cricket.
 
Sultan said:
Actually if his earlier career is anything to go by Hashim has been the opposite of Rahul. He has a tendency to play some rash shots which has cost him his wicket on numerous occasion.
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Fair Enough, I haven't followed his career from the beginning, I was just talking about last one year or so. I should have clarified this in my previous posts.

zing said:
I think Dravid's temperament and his attribute of bringing solidity to batting line-up is unrivalled in world cricket.
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Agree with this.

Bad start for India today. Gambhir and Vijay out, lots depend on Viru and Sachin now
 
233 All Out, amazing collapse by India after tea with Steyn destroying our lower order
 
Karan Mittal said:
Amla is one of the most under-rated players in world cricket today, never mentioned in very good players but is South Africa's most consistent and stable batsman. Their Version of Dravid although much less technical
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Hashim is a top player but still far from his best. His 250 will give him the confidence to up his game. He has not been as consistent as you would like to believe. His 50 to 100 conversion rate has been poor and he needs to improve on it. He is a massive asset to us and I think he will become a great player for us.
 
zing said:
I think Dravid's temperament and his attribute of bringing solidity to batting line-up is unrivalled in world cricket.
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Excuse me, I beg to differ. Jacques Kallis anyone? The man does it time and time again. Just like Dravid he brings a solidity to our top and middle order. If we lose our openers cheaply we don't panic yet because Kallis is coming to the wicket.
 
Stretch said:
Excuse me, I beg to differ. Jacques Kallis anyone? The man does it time and time again. Just like Dravid he brings a solidity to our top and middle order. If we lose our openers cheaply we don't panic yet because Kallis is coming to the wicket.
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Good call.

I always thought he was selfish in his early career and bored the life out me. However he has been playing better than ever since his comeback from injury and seems a different person these days.
 
Sultan said:
Good call.

I always thought he was selfish in his early career and bored the life out me. However he has been playing better than ever since his comeback from injury and seems a different person these days.
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You hit the nail on its head there. He used to just think about his batting average and not the team. However, he is a different player nowadays and he brings calmness to our batting line up (especially to De Villiers and Duminy) when shit hits the fan.

We are going to miss him when he retires because he's an all rounder. Him being in the team allows us to start with only 4 front line bowlers, him being the fifth. That means we can play 7 specialists batsmen. Great advantage to have that as England will find out with Freddie.
 
I thought of Kallis when writing it but I didn't because I'm really biased when it comes to Indian greats, particularly Dravid. Can't stand Kallis too, find him very boring.

SA on the verge of victory.. 4 wickets left. They're the best side in world cricket now. Them or Australia, it's not us. No #1 side is built on shabby bowling attacks.
 
Poor stuff. For all the talk about bestest ever batting line up ever, when it comes to facing top bowling attacks, you can only really rely on Sachin and Dravid to put in performances consistently.
 
crappycraperson said:
Poor stuff. For all the talk about bestest ever batting line up ever, when it comes to facing top bowling attacks, you can only really rely on Sachin and Dravid to put in performances consistently.
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To be fair this Indian side is missing 3 of its top 6 batsmen, 2 debutants thrown into the bargain against a world class bowler on top form in Steyn...its been a bit of a mismatch really.

I still think Indias best team is superior to this South african one, i dont rate SA's bowling attack that highly as a collective unit bar Steyn having seen them against England first hand, Morkel has great days and average ones, they lack a genuine quality spinner (i dont rate Harris at all duminy outbowls him and hes a part timer allbeit a useful one) and Kallis overs these days are as much a token gesture as anything, i think Indias best batting line up would cope fine against them most days, you pretty unlucky to have Yuvraj Sing/Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all out at once lets be honest.

The selection of India is whats screwed them in this match as well as the obvious injury problems, selecting Saha was a joke quite frankly and unless Sehwag and Gambiher get them off to a flyer up front their middle order bar Tendulker looks pretty retchid.
 
crappycraperson said:
Poor stuff. For all the talk about bestest ever batting line up ever, when it comes to facing top bowling attacks, you can only really rely on Sachin and Dravid to put in performances consistently.
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All the talk about this being one of the best batting line-ups ever IS inclusive of Sachin and Dravid. Why would you exempt them?

This is a bit like saying Utd last 3 seasons couldn't have maintained high standards without Ronaldo and Rooney.. well yes, they couldn't have.. the point is Ronaldo and Rooney are part of the team.
 
Dravid's been missed the most. Almost nothing is written when he is in the side, but the hole he leaves behind has become apparent only over the course of this test. Very under-rated player.
 
Allforone said:
I still think Indias best team is superior to this South african one, i dont rate SA's bowling attack that highly as a collective unit bar Steyn having seen them against England first hand, Morkel has great days and average ones, they lack a genuine quality spinner (i dont rate Harris at all duminy outbowls him and hes a part timer allbeit a useful one) and Kallis overs these days are as much a token gesture as anything, i think Indias best batting line up would cope fine against them most days, you pretty unlucky to have Yuvraj Sing/Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all out at once lets be honest.
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Morkel looks to have come into his own since the England series. Always had the raw ingredients to be a top bowler.

Steyn and Morkel are so good that they make the 3rd seamer, let alone Kallis, look almost redundant. Last 4 innings Parnell's almost been unnecessary. That new ball pairing is immense.
 
Just on a side note im interested to know what the Indian fans thoughts are regarding Yuvraj? i rate him extremly highly personally and think he has the tools to be as good a batsman as any especially in ODI cricket, hes an absolute joy to watch, my rating him so highly may be because hes time and again raped Englands bowling attack (didnt enjoy that quite so much :() i dont know but have always thought very highly of him as a cricketer.

Is he rated as highly among the Indian public?
 
zing said:
Dravid's been missed the most. Almost nothing is written when he is in the side, but the hole he leaves behind has become apparent only over the course of this test. Very under-rated player.
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How is Dravid under rated?

He has been regarded on the circuit as one of the best players of his generation. India has plenty of talent to easily cope without Dravid.
 
Sultan said:
How is Dravid under rated?

He has been regarded on the circuit as one of the best players of his generation. India has plenty of talent to easily cope without Dravid.
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By the fans. Dravid's rated only by the fans who watch cricket regularly. The majority of them label Dravid 'boring'. Almost anyone I talk to about cricket doesn't seem to appreciate his quality.

Best example I can give is the first test against Sri Lanka in the series just gone by. Sachin, having just come in, was at one end and Dravid at the other. Every time Dravid got a single, there was tremendous applause because the crowd was full of anticipation of what Sachin was about to do. Each time, the camera panned out to show Dravid's face just standing there thinking nothing of it. I thought the way the crowd applauded him going off strike each time was pretty disgraceful. He's been in Sachin's shadow his whole career.
 
zing said:
I thought of Kallis when writing it but I didn't because I'm really biased when it comes to Indian greats, particularly Dravid. Can't stand Kallis too, find him very boring.

SA on the verge of victory.. 4 wickets left. They're the best side in world cricket now. Them or Australia, it's not us. No #1 side is built on shabby bowling attacks.
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zing said:
By the fans. Dravid's rated only by the fans who watch cricket regularly. The majority of them label Dravid 'boring'. Almost anyone I talk to about cricket doesn't seem to appreciate his quality.
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Smells of serious contradiction if you ask me. How is Kallis boring and Dravid not? Both bat at the same pace, both are strong on the drive especially through the cover region etc etc etc. They are very similar in a lot of areas and I fail to see how you cannot mention Kallis in the same breath as Dravid.
Even though I'm biased to SA, I can admit the quality of the Wall call Dravid...but guess what? We have Table Mountain in Jacques Kallis.
 
Stretch said:
Smells of serious contradiction if you ask me. How is Kallis boring and Dravid not? Both bat at the same pace, both are strong on the drive especially through the cover region etc etc etc. They are very similar in a lot of areas and I fail to see how you cannot mention Kallis in the same breath as Dravid.
Even though I'm biased to SA, I can admit the quality of the Wall call Dravid...but guess what? We have Table Mountain in Jacques Kallis.
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I enjoy watching Dravid play, I don't enjoy watching Kallis play, but I can appreciate that Kallis is a world class batsman. The majority here don't appreciate the fact that Dravid is a world class batsman, choosing only to see his batting as 'boring'.
 
Allforone said:
To be fair this Indian side is missing 3 of its top 6 batsmen, 2 debutants thrown into the bargain against a world class bowler on top form in Steyn...its been a bit of a mismatch really.

I still think Indias best team is superior to this South african one, i dont rate SA's bowling attack that highly as a collective unit bar Steyn having seen them against England first hand, Morkel has great days and average ones, they lack a genuine quality spinner (i dont rate Harris at all duminy outbowls him and hes a part timer allbeit a useful one) and Kallis overs these days are as much a token gesture as anything, i think Indias best batting line up would cope fine against them most days, you pretty unlucky to have Yuvraj Sing/Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman all out at once lets be honest.

The selection of India is whats screwed them in this match as well as the obvious injury problems, selecting Saha was a joke quite frankly and unless Sehwag and Gambiher get them off to a flyer up front their middle order bar Tendulker looks pretty retchid.
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Some fair points.

1. Morkel has improved a lot since he got back into the test side. He was dropped because of being inconsistent and bowling all of over the placed. He's come back bowling better lines and lengths and with more control. I fail to see how you can say he was mediocre against the English as he gave problems. Sure, he's not the end product yet but then at his age I don't expect him to be.

2. Paul Harris has no spinning talent but he works hard and persists. He does well for us. He takes important wickets without looking threatening. Don't just look at the England series, SA did not have a great series. He has come up with the goods when called upon and I for one won't drop him. Sure he's no Swann, he's no Harbajan but he grafts and keeps one end quiet to allow his pace bowlers to get the wickets from the other end. SA has never and will never be a spinning nation so don't expect miracles from us in this department. The best we've had was Paul Adams and he didn't last long. SA have played with 5 seamers no spinner, no problem for decades on end.

3. Even though India have Harbajan, Morkel and Steyn are ten times better than Zaheer and Sharma. Parnell is young. The bloke is what? 20? He's averaging 23 a wicket and he's doing a job for his side. He gives us much needed variety that we never had and I've seen what he can do on the local scene so I'm more than confident that he will be a pivotal player in our attack.

Our attack is a work in progress with Morkel and Parnell being young bowlers. Kallis will eventually not bowl to prolong his career as our premier batsman so Parnell and Morkel can fill that void in future easily.
 
zing said:
I enjoy watching Dravid play, I don't enjoy watching Kallis play, but I can appreciate that Kallis is a world class batsman. The majority here don't appreciate the fact that Dravid is a world class batsman, choosing only to see his batting as 'boring'.
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You mean in India?
 
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