Looks like we will have to bat again. Just hope we don't have to chase more than 100 else we could be in spot of bother.
India vs S Africa
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Guess I'm wrong. Regardless of the fact that India missed some star players, we played really well and deserved to win.
From cricinfo,
In the last 25 years India have suffered innings defeat only thrice at home. All of them have come in the last ten years. And interestingly, all three of them have come against South Africa.
In the last 25 years India have suffered innings defeat only thrice at home. All of them have come in the last ten years. And interestingly, all three of them have come against South Africa.
Fair point but at this point we should be looking to cement a lineup which can cope without those two. Sehwag, as destructive and swashbuckling, as he can be and is on plenty of occasions, will always be an unreliable test player. Gambhir is yet to prove himself against top bowling attacks. Less said about Dhoni and Yuvraj the better. Someone Raina are far from being ideal test player as well.
I share those sentiments. Amla's innings and Steyn's devastating bowling in India's first innings set up the victory for SA so both deserve it.
I don't agree with that, Gambhir has proved himself to be one of world's best opening batsman in last 1-2 years. His centuries in New Zealand(especially the one in which he lasted 600 minutes) spoke a lot about his quality and temperament. Our opening wasn't the problem in this match, our middle order was just taken apart by Steyn&co. in both of the innings.
I fear for the future when Dravid, Laxman and Sachin decide to retire
I don't agree with that, Gambhir has proved himself to be one of world's best opening batsman in last 1-2 years. His centuries in New Zealand(especially the one in which he lasted 600 minutes) spoke a lot about his quality and temperament. Our opening wasn't the problem in this match, our middle order was just taken apart by Steyn&co. in both of the innings.
I fear for the future when Dravid, Laxman and Sachin decide to retire
Gambhir's been excellent so far, but the real tests he needs to pass are the ones like SA at home, SA away, England away, Australia away. Played well in the ODI series in Australia if I recall correctly, but hasn't played a test there yet.
Scored a century in the ODI Series there and also has a double century against the Aussies at home. I backing him to score some big runs in the next test match.
I rate Gambhir a lot. Saw him play in Delhi school circuit couple of times, was clear then he was destined for bigger things. In fact I berated selectors for 2-3 years for not selecting him. But that is all paper talk, he needs to perform in difficult away tours.
Raina's been picked even though his name's not been talked about for awhile when it comes to the test team.
Saha, Mithun, Tyagi dropped. Sreesanth is fit and returns. Dravid not fit yet. Laxman retained. Rohit's also been dropped.
Saha, Mithun, Tyagi dropped. Sreesanth is fit and returns. Dravid not fit yet. Laxman retained. Rohit's also been dropped.
I like Raina as a player but don't think his game is suited to test match cricket. He has a tendency to go for the big hits when there is no need for it. The likes of Pujara, Rohit are much better suited to Test Match Cricket. Karthik is also back which is good
You can bet your Life Morkel and Steyn will Target Raina with the short ball if hes selected, hes looked less than comfortable with the ball in and around his armpit, i suppose hes fortunate this is on Indian wickets far more easy paced than say in SA.
Although he could well have improved on this aspect of his game since i last saw him play.
Although he could well have improved on this aspect of his game since i last saw him play.
He hasn't. He'll get shown up if he plays.
Would have preferred seeing kohli being given a chance. He looks the real deal. Also surprised that despite all the missing bowlers rp singh's name hasn't come up once.
To be fair, he's been a bit shit this season.
Pujara should have gone to Bangladesh. It would have been a good way to test our bench strength.
Saha for fecks sake was our bloody reserve?
. We had two bloody centuries in the test and yet go on to lose the test by an innings. Horrible display in the art of partnership formation.
Hope we improve.
He'll be back in the reckoning in a couple of months, then dropped again from the Indian squad after 3 matches. Turns up only for the IPL.
That was pretty wank from India.
laxman vijay and raina for badri maybe
Naah, We have a slot available with the non inclusion of Saha. Laxman should come in there.
Vijay and Badri should get the nod for the next test team. Vijay's a classy player with a very sound technique. He should be groomed better actually. More playing time and stuff. It'd be unfair to badri to remove him after scoring a half century (only one among three in both the innings). Also whats the point in bringing in raina if he's going to get out every time morkel and co aim for his upper body?
I must say you make a very good point regarding Raina. He will be tested especially by Morkel with the short ball. Morkel is tall enough and bowls fast enough to generate some sort of bounce out of any wicket. I thought Badrinath played really well and showed maturity in the situation. One to keep around for the future I say. Haven't seen Vijay play enough to make a call on him.
I hope they make a good call tomorrow. Going in with two spinners who are woefully out of form and two pacers one of whom has gone astray with his line and length will be nothing short of handing the test on a platter.
However, with the Batting also not having enough experience it'd be foolish to go with 5 bowlers. So India should take their best 4 bowlers. In current form it'd be Zaheer Kahn, Sreesanth, Ishant (More due to the lack of any other bowler), Harbhajan.
Still a very risky ploy, but i'm hoping Sehwag can roll him arm over a few times. Its our best bet.
Batting. I'd have Sehwag and Gambhir without blinking twice. Laxman should come in at 3. Murli Vijay seperating Laxman and Tendulkar and Badrinath coming in at No. 6 and Dhoni at 7.
That should sandwich the inexperience with the more experienced soldiers.
However, with the Batting also not having enough experience it'd be foolish to go with 5 bowlers. So India should take their best 4 bowlers. In current form it'd be Zaheer Kahn, Sreesanth, Ishant (More due to the lack of any other bowler), Harbhajan.
Still a very risky ploy, but i'm hoping Sehwag can roll him arm over a few times. Its our best bet.
Batting. I'd have Sehwag and Gambhir without blinking twice. Laxman should come in at 3. Murli Vijay seperating Laxman and Tendulkar and Badrinath coming in at No. 6 and Dhoni at 7.
That should sandwich the inexperience with the more experienced soldiers.
South Africa set for a big score again.
Amla again playing beautifully, and Peterson just out after reaching a century on his debut. The South Africa mountain arrives at the crease.
Amla again playing beautifully, and Peterson just out after reaching a century on his debut. The South Africa mountain arrives at the crease.
Harbhajan, Mishra and Ishant again bowling crap
Harbhajan, Mishra and Ishant again bowling crap
True
Ishant needs to add some intelligence to his undoubted talent. I might be wrong but it seems fast bowlers coming in raw into the test team seem to perform better.
India need to assess their fast bowling coaching techniques...
Wow. What a session.
What a collapse. Maybe India might just win this match.
Spectacular collapse by South Africa. India should win this match from here on in but then again they still have to bat. Great bowling from the Indians, bowling well as a pack in that session. I'm really happy for Alviro Petersen. He should've gotten his chance a long time ago.
Too early to say. Need to wrap up that one wicket and put a good score. Fully capable of it, though. Even though Dravid and Yuvraj are missing, it's still a pretty solid line-up with Laxman back.
I told it yesterday and i'll tell it again. We don't have our best four bowlers in the squad on the team right now.
Zaheer and Harbhajan qualify for sure. Ishant had that one good spell where he managed to rattle Amla, other than that he was innocuous as was Mishra.
One of Ohja's main assets is his ability to land it on the spot almost every ball. Useful for creating pressure in one end. With the ball swinging i would have had Sreesanth in the team in place of Mishra with Sehwag turning his arm over at times.
I'm being a massive spastic after such a turnaround though, but i'll stick to my point.
Oh and Sults, Amla is how i visualise you, maybe with a little more on top.
Zaheer and Harbhajan qualify for sure. Ishant had that one good spell where he managed to rattle Amla, other than that he was innocuous as was Mishra.
One of Ohja's main assets is his ability to land it on the spot almost every ball. Useful for creating pressure in one end. With the ball swinging i would have had Sreesanth in the team in place of Mishra with Sehwag turning his arm over at times.
I'm being a massive spastic after such a turnaround though, but i'll stick to my point.
Oh and Sults, Amla is how i visualise you, maybe with a little more on top.
No you're right Sultan.
R.P Singh, Irrfan Pathan, Munaf Patel have gone worse with age, they all looked much better in their debut series. You can add Sharma too the list as-well. All of those above bowlers have lost their speed also.
Spectacular collapse by South Africa in the last session, reminded me of the Australian collapse in that Legendary Kolkata test.
Harbhajan bowled well in the latter stages also credit to Ishant Sharma, he didn't got the wickets but he stemmed the flow of runs which was crucial.
That final session was awesome, hopefully we can turn this on its head and draw the series.
Mushtaq Ahmed is a better match buddy.
I think Ojha's over-rated. He's like Paul Harris. No variations.
Variations mean nothing if you don't know how to apply it, ala Mishra. Look at Harris for example, he has a knack of getting crucial wickets by focusing on his strong points. He uses the 'dry up the runs' tactic and bowls within his limits. It works for him. He makes up for his lack of talent with bowling intelligence. I haven't seen much of Ojah but my point is that variations mean nothing if you don't know how to bowl according to a plan using those weapons.
100 no. 47 for Tendulkar
The man's a machine
The man's a machine
Sehwag gone....we still need one more big partnership to get a good lead. Need at least a lead of 150-200. But if Sachin goes now, I don't think we will get anything more than 100.
India will get at least 500 i think
I think any bowler can slow bowler can do that with a little bit of practise. He runs in and bowls 30 overs outside leg stump. It's just that no one else plans to do negative stuff like that.
Badrinath gone. Think we'll get another 100 runs at least.