***Official*** South Africa in India

[ret]

not sure if anyone posted/commented on this: footwork my foot

what does everyone think? is this the way batting is going or is it just an overreaction to a sehwag special?

skimmed through the article .... it's a pretty good one .... i agree with most of it

bookish technique is over-rated, i won't be surprised if someone writes a new book on technique

i remember listening to Gavaskar once where he said that the book on cricketing technique is written by the British, basically for the types of pitches found in England. If it were written by an Aussie, and considering the bouncy pitches, it could be different. Then he talked abt playing bouncers by the bookish technique which emphasis on the body being behind the ball but Gavaskar said that he preferred to play bouncers/short pitched stuff by playing besides the ball as it opened up a wide array of shots

 

[ret]

India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 VVS Laxman, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Piyush Chawla, 11 Sreesanth.

Source - cricinfo

If Chawla plays then, I guess, Ind has a good chance to pull off a win .... it will be nice to see one of those balls that pitches out-side leg and takes out the off-stump

Most of the Indian batsmen, except Sehwag, have high averages at A'bad .... Pathan avg 54, Dravid 61 and Ganguly 81 .... may be it's time for Sehwag to follow up on its triple and get a good record at A'bad

 

[Goughy]

not sure if anyone posted/commented on this: footwork my foot

what does everyone think? is this the way batting is going or is it just an overreaction to a sehwag special?

"There is more than one way to be successful. More than one way to be effective."

This is true. If you can score boatloads of runs then it doesnt matter what you do. Whether a player has a different grip like Bradman, hits the ball like Afridi or opens the stance like Chanderpaul the only thing that matters is production.

Howerver, and this is the kicker, the better the technique the more likely to be consistently successful. Players with great handeye co-ordination like a Sehwag or a Fleming look great when everything is going well. However, the importance of technique is that it is something to fall back on and allow success when a little out of sorts. It binds everything together.

The article talks about specific innings. That misses the entire point. Anyone can do anything over 1 innings. That proves nothing.

A great technique isnt a requirement to scoring lots of Test runs but it helps, especailly in the long run.

TBH, this article and my reply is all probably an over reaction to a pretty irrelevant innings in a pretty irrelevant Test match.

 

[Googenheim]

The article talks about specific innings. That misses the entire point. Anyone can do anything over 1 innings. That proves nothing.

Are you suggesting that Sehwag waved goodbye to textbook footwork for just the duration of this particular innings?

 

[Goughy]

Are you suggesting that Sehwag waved goodbye to textbook footwork for just the duration of this particular innings?

No. Im suggesting that to point to one successful innings and say "Look, he did well in this innings and therefore technique is unimportant" is wrong. The article didnt say as much, but it implied that its possible to evaluate off one innings.

Chris Gayle has a Test triple and Kallis doesnt even have a double, yet Id take Kallis everyday of the week.

Looking at 1 innings and drawing conclusions is dangerous. Just look at Jason Gillespies last innings.

 

[silentstriker]

Also, as Goughy said, if you don't have the technique, your lows are likely to be lower, as you can't fall back on anything. Tendulkar has no triples, and Kallis doesn't even have a double, but I'd take their techniques any day. Sehwag, on his day, is very successful. But Tendulkar and Kallis, even not on their days, can still contribute. You can rarely say that about Sehwag on his off day.

 

[silentstriker]

OK, start putting in your predictions guys.

Me: India have arguably their top three bowlers out, and may even go in with three spinners. SA are confident IMO and are more injury free. I have a sick feeling in my stomach they will take this game. What do you all think?

 

[ret]

OK, start putting in your predictions guys.

Ind, esp if Chawla and Pathan play

 

[R_D]

OK, start putting in your predictions guys.

Me: India have arguably their top three bowlers out, and may even go in with three spinners. SA are confident IMO and are more injury free. I have a sick feeling in my stomach they will take this game. What do you all think?

very optimistic aren't we ? :P
I do get the same feeling as well especially if India lose the toss. Hoping for a better pitch than the last one.

 

[Sanz]

OK, start putting in your predictions guys.

Me: India have arguably their top three bowlers out, and may even go in with three spinners. SA are confident IMO and are more injury free. I have a sick feeling in my stomach they will take this game. What do you all think?

No Way. India wins the game and take the lead in the series.

 

[Sanz]

The article talks about specific innings. That misses the entire point. Anyone can do anything over 1 innings. That proves nothing.

I dont think the article talks about one particular inning. IMO it talks about the obsession with technique especially in the subcontinent. The article has clearly pointed how Indian selectors destroyed the career of Sadgoppan Ramesh only because he didn't have a text book technique.

 

[kingkallis]

Green top @ Motera

Anil Kumble is NOT happy! Reason for that is the grass which has been left on the wicket...

India has won the toss and elected to bat first. It will be a very interesting first hour...

India team :

V Sehwag, W Jaffer, R Dravid, SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, IK Pathan, A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, S Sreesanth

If we wanted to bat first then why did we include 3 seamers? RP Singh should have been left out for Piyush Chawla as wicket surely will start helping the spinners from day 4...

Lets see how Jaffer and Sehwag starts against Steyn & co. this time...

 

[jeevan]

Very surprised at RP being retained despite an off color first test. No one here predicted India to go with 5 bowlers and 3 pacers being one of them. Perhaps they are counting on Sehwag to bowl spin.

Kumble is in, hope he is fit.

 

[Sanz]

Anil Kumble is NOT happy! Reason for that is the grass which has been left on the wicket...

Did He confess to you ? The guy chose to bat after winning the toss.

 

[duffer]

Thank god Anil made it for this one. Pathan over Kaif was probably an insurance move in case we had to bowl when conditions were best to bat on. We can't afford any passengers if we're going to win this one and I'm happy we've got someone as solid as Rahul in there in case our bats have the jitters without Sachin.

Big toss to win though. Neeed to capitalise.

 

[honestbharani]

Very surprised at RP being retained despite an off color first test. No one here predicted India to go with 5 bowlers and 3 pacers being one of them. Perhaps they are counting on Sehwag to bowl spin.

Kumble is in, hope he is fit.

ahem..........

 

[Protean]

Jaffer gone!

 

[Protean]

Steyn bowls Sehwag. What a start!

 

[duffer]

What a mess!

social on the scene in 5 4 3 2 1 ......

 

[honestbharani]

lol... this time he could well be right though.