*Official* South Africa in India

[NUFAN]

Yeah honestbharani I agree, but the problem is that when you lose by an innings you almost feel as though your team needs 12 players! An extra bowler had the potential to help India heaps too.

Just on Steyn, if he gets 5 wickets next Test Match, he would have 200 wickets in 38 matches, which would place Steyn equal second quickest. 200 Test Wickets

 

[Prince EWS]

The game is over, so yeah they did bat for the rest of the game.

Clearly wasn't what I meant though. My point was that if South Africa declared then and India batted out the rest of the game (that is, until stumps on day 5) they'd surpass their total and hence declaring would be pointless. I wasn't making a comment about how many runs I thought India would get bowled out for - merely how many runs they'd make if they batted out the game from that point.

 

[honestbharani]

@ret and nufan:

yeah.. to be perfectly honest, we haven't had a bad batting test (I mean bad displays in both inninggs) for a very long time now... So this was basically bound to happen. As long as we can improve from this, (and hopefully a proper batsman and a decent wk/batsman will come in for the injured guys for the next match), it will stand us in good stead. That is the problem with these short series, u have no time for a comeback.. But obviously, we all knew it was only 2 matches long and to RSA's credit, they hit the ground running harder than India..


Any thoughts on the team for the second test?

 

[Prince EWS]

yeah.. to be perfectly honest, we haven't had a bad batting test (I mean bad displays in both inninggs) for a very long time now... So this was basically bound to happen. As long as we can improve from this, (and hopefully a proper batsman and a decent wk/batsman will come in for the injured guys for the next match), it will stand us in good stead. That is the problem with these short series, u have no time for a comeback.. But obviously, we all knew it was only 2 matches long and to RSA's credit, they hit the ground running harder than India..


Any thoughts on the team for the second test?

Well, apparently Laxman will be okay. Laxman in for Saha; that's the only change I'd make. You could look at the bowling but with Sreesanth still injured I don't think you could really make any improvements to it.

 

[Stapel]

Just on Steyn, if he gets 5 wickets next Test Match, he would have 200 wickets in 38 matches, which would place Steyn equal second quickest. 200 Test Wickets

I guess, of all fast bowlers active today, he is the (only) one that can be one of the greatest ever.

 

[Sir Alex]

I think we will see a 5 man bowling attack in next test with 3 spinners and a rank turning deck if Laxman is fit. Saha will go out and so will Vijay.

 

[ret]

Any thoughts on the team for the second test?

If it's a square turner than Laxman and Sree come in for Saha and Ishant respectively. May be a better spinner in stead of Bhajji, but he bowls well on square turner (even Sehwag does)

If it's normal pitch, we need to look in to playing an all-rounder. Some one like Jadeja in place of Bhajji and have 3 seamers + Mishy. Don't forget we would be playing for a win so getting 20 wkts is the key

 

[ret]

Squad for the Kol test: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Kartik, Suresh Raina.

^ Can't argue much with the selection except may be Kohli/Panday in place of Raina, the cover for VVS, depending up on how you rate them .... Bhajji if he fails here should be rested from tests .... Until Laxman is declared fit, we should assume he is unfit

 

[social]

Laxman will obviously play

I predict that Sree and Ojha will come in for Ishant and Mishy respectively

BCCI should already have told the groundsman to stop watering the wicket and a dodgy coin should also be ordered - even conditions and it'll be 2-0

 

[kingkallis]

Laxman will obviously play

I predict that Sree and Ojha will come in for Ishant and Mishy respectively

BCCI should already have told the groundsman to stop watering the wicket and a dodgy coin should also be ordered - even conditions and it'll be 2-0

Pitch curator @ Eden garden is a tough cookie to break!

He already said NO to BCCI employee who adviced him to prepare a turner...

But you never know!!!

 

[wfdu_ben91]

Watering the wicket? Any wicket Amla gets a double-ton and a half is pretty flat in my books.

 

[silentstriker]

Laxman will obviously play

I predict that Sree and Ojha will come in for Ishant and Mishy respectively

BCCI should already have told the groundsman to stop watering the wicket and a dodgy coin should also be ordered - even conditions and it'll be 2-0

What does that even mean? Non even conditions imply someone switches out the pitch in between innings breaks.....

 

[wfdu_ben91]

I guess, of all fast bowlers active today, he is the (only) one that can be one of the greatest ever.

Mohammad Asif will be better if he lives up to his full potentiel.

 

[Shri]

Laxman will obviously play

I predict that Sree and Ojha will come in for Ishant and Mishy respectively

BCCI should already have told the groundsman to stop watering the wicket and a dodgy coin should also be ordered - even conditions and it'll be 2-0

Its known as 'home advantage'. RSA should man up and deal with it.

 

[silentstriker]

If you come to India, and the horror or horrors, are forced to play spin, it's blatantly unfair. I mean, it's not like India have to play seam bowling in South Africa.

Anyway, I think SA are doing just fine. The ranking is gone barring a miracle. I think they are quite clearly a superior side.

 

[Shri]

If you come to India, and the horror or horrors, are forced to play spin, it's blatantly unfair. I mean, it's not like India have to play seam bowling in South Africa.

Anyway, I think SA are doing just fine. The ranking is gone barring a miracle. I think they are quite clearly a superior side.

Superior indeed when compared to an under strength Indian batting line-up. Superior without doubt against a side in which a specialist WK who is miles away from international class played as a specialist bat just because there were no suitable replacements present in the ground.

 

[Sir Alex]

Only in the last series SA were in a similar position going into the last test. SA has the superior bowling attack no doubt. But our batting ilneup (after months of domination) failed against truly world class bowler.

 

[silentstriker]

India lost by an innings mate - it wasn't close. It's superior, period. Amla alone scored more than India's entire first innings.....

Fast bowling wins matches anyway, but regardless of that, SA are clearly the superior team all around.

 

[honestbharani]

India lost by an innings mate - it wasn't close. It's superior, period. Amla alone scored more than India's entire first innings.....

Fast bowling wins matches anyway, but regardless of that, SA are clearly the superior team all around.

tbh, at full strength, I think the Indian batting line up will give them a run for their money and over a 3 or 5 test series in India, I think it will be more than equal between these two teams...

But of course, in RSA, I expect India to lose pretty well.. So for me, at least, at full strength there is very little to choose between them..


But then again, on days when Steyn bowls like that, RSA will beat anyone..

 

[Faisal1985]

The only player who batted like an opener of the no 1. test side was Sehwag.........but full credit to Steyn, he really bowled brilliantly and a lot of those balls were very hard to pick.......