*Official* South Africa in India

[L Trumper]

Because I love you.


Steyn: 5 overs - 3 runs - 5 wickets. That's bloody marvelous. Finally, have we found a current fast bowler good enough to grace the hallowed pixels that are my avatar? Do we have a first post-McGrath fast bowler good enough to occupy the same place he once made his own?


I think we may have.

Still a long way to go. But Mcgrath is more of a fast bowler with spinner's mind and prized out the wickets. While steyn can be tear way fast if the pitch has some green tinge in it. I am always adamant on praising steyn but he rectified his poor record against ENG and blew away the indian order for second time in india this time on a feather bed even if he fails in the reminder of the series I don't care. He is the best bowler for last three years hopefully he'll be for the next 7.

 

[silentstriker]

Haha, certainly not comparing the two! That's sacrilage!

 

[kingkallis]

Where has all the discussion on South Africa's inherent negative tactics gone after they enforced the follow-on?

Ermmm they are chewing their nails!

You bet it was so bloody hard to praise Steyn'gun' when they said 'Well done Steyn! What was superb' etc etc etc

Anyways, fantastic bowling spell!

 

[Jono]

Wasnt hard to praise Steyn at all. Talking rubbish

 

[G.I.Joe]

There is a reason why people don't belive ind is not the best side even in the current period. Every one is saying they are undefeated since SRI08 tour but they hardly have a tough series from then on. Played against aussie team in disarray and transition and won which is a good result. That is the only series can be considered tough. Through out the 2009 they beat NZ away which ENG,SA and AUS do for fun everytime. And they won against SRI in home which AUS and SA do for fun. Before that they had a series victories against ENG in 2007 which mostly achieved cause of the rain in lords test. Because their away record is nothing to write off, most of the aussies and saffers are hard to agree about IND being the best side, which is understandable.

Except Aus and SA don't do it in conditions that are closest to home for the Lankans. Fair enough if SA beat India and take away the ranking, they'd have earned it on the back of performance and not because a bunch of people on an internet forum deem them to be the best despite the rankings saying otherwise.

 

[ret]

You bet it was so bloody hard to praise Steyn'gun' when they said 'Well done Steyn! What was superb' etc etc etc

Anyways, fantastic bowling spell!

Are you talking abt yourself? Anyways, if you thought that then I would say full credit to those who praised Steyn despite finding it hard to do that. Show that they are cricket fans who can praise players of both teams and call a spade a spade as seen when they criticized Ind's perfo and praised Steyn

 

[Shri]

When discussing Steyn's current performance a decade later, people will say he wouldn't have done as much damage if Dravid and Laxman had played. People who saw the game will call bull ****. Top form.

 

[AaronK]

I didn't watch much of the match last night..but when i saw Steyn bowling to Sachin and eventually geting him out.. I thought this guy will be crucial in this match.. the way he was bowling..pacy yet with good line and length and accuracy..i stil have to see how he got those wickets though..

 

[silentstriker]

Weak middle order gives India a grim view of the future | Cricket Features | India v South Africa 2009/10 | Cricinfo.com

Seriously? One innings?

 

[silentstriker]

Not only one innings, but one innings where one debutant made a fifty, the one player who is not part of batting plans, and the third who had his first failure in Test cricket.....

At least they could wait until the match is over...

 

[Shri]

After seeing that spell, I have to ask, are there any batting line-ups in world cricket that could have survived such a hostile spell? No way.

 

[pasag]

Haha, they've already got in on the act in the "Number Crunching" section as well.

 

[L Trumper]

Not only one innings, but one innings where one debutant made a fifty, the one player who is not part of batting plans, and the third who had his first failure in Test cricket.....

At least they could wait until the match is over...

In fairness to vijay the ball he got out was nip back a lot, its not really his fault considering the wicket, its not a poor judgment from his POV.
As far as cricinfo articles considered they always over do it with the verdict of the day they try to predict the next decade.

 

[ret]

I saw the highlights and saw some comical leaves by Indian batsmen that resulted in to them getting bowled .... the damage could have been much less, if some of those guys had applied themselves a little more or resisted that rush of blood. But I guess that's cricket

 

[Shri]

I saw the highlights and saw some comical leaves by Indian batsmen that resulted in to them getting bowled .... the damage could have been much less, if some of those guys had applied themselves a little more or resisted that rush of blood. But I guess that's cricket

You didn't see the bowlers setting them up then. Vijay got some out swingers with the same line and length before being done in by one that came back in. Was just exceptional bowling.

 

[aussie]

Tentaively i'll say it seem like Gambhir has the same problems like Strauss againts bowlers coming around the wicket to him. This is the first time he has faced a quality pace attack since he came back in the IND team vs SRI 08 & in this test he has looked like the nervous Gambhir that struggled on his debut vs AUS 04 & vs Vaas 05. Which coincidentally was the last tme he faced quality & inform new-ball bowlers.

Will be interesting to see how he counters that in the second test.

 

[L Trumper]

Tentaively i'll say it seem like Gambhir has the same problems like Strauss againts bowlers coming around the wicket to him. This is the first time he has faced a quality pace attack since he came back in the IND team vs SRI 08 & in this test he has looked like the nervous Gambhir that struggled on his debut vs AUS 04 & vs Vaas 05. Which coincidentally was the last tme he faced quality & inform new-ball bowlers.

Will be interesting to see how he counters that in the second test.

This. I always thought the same. I hope gambhir will cope with that problem in the next test. But come SA tour in the end of year is the real test for him.

 

[ret]

You didn't see the bowlers setting them up then. Vijay got some out swingers with the same line and length before being done in by one that came back in. Was just exceptional bowling.

No doubt that the bowling was exceptional (esp the strategy) .... What I am saying is that I would have liked Ind batsmen to match that too (thinking process). It's obvious that a bowler is setting you up with something if he is bowling the same line and length

I remember doing such stuff in school like get a couple of ball to come in to the pads and then bowl a straight quick one. Or keep bowling on a few staight ones on the legs and then get one to move away from the leg to off. I know this is not a great example to use but just to show that bowlers set batsmen up at most level. Which is why I found some of those leaves strange but those highlights don't reflect the whole game plan so may be I could have missed something. And yeah those simple things work at all levels

 

[social]

I saw the highlights and saw some comical leaves by Indian batsmen that resulted in to them getting bowled .... the damage could have been much less, if some of those guys had applied themselves a little more or resisted that rush of blood. But I guess that's cricket

How well prepared is any batsman for that stuff and especially considering that Indian batsmen are brought up on a diet of "fast" bowlers are 10 ks slower and nowhere near as skilful?

To put it mildly, there is a massive difference between world class versus good enough to get into a team because the options are limited

 

[aussie]

This. I always thought the same. I hope gambhir will cope with that problem in the next test. But come SA tour in the end of year is the real test for him.

Indeed.