*Official* South Africa in India

[Ikki]

was I questioning their class? Dravid is a class batsman but I don't think Laxman is with his 45 average..
SA is their bogey team and it's hard to say with any certainty that they would have saved India..

TBF, much of that record is against a different S.African team. Sachin proved previous records aren't always the best indicator. Anyways, class batsmen like Dravid and Laxman are almost always better bets than newbs IMO.

 

[wood-e]

All this might have been fine if Eden Gardens had a history of sporting wickets and if Mr Mukherjee had himself a reputation for raising the domestic game through preparing good wickets (and Indian cricket certainly needs that). Absent that (Eden gardens is more known for featherbeds) - he comes across as a pompous minion overstaying his 5 minutes in the spotlight.

If he does not provide home field advantage, BCCI must think of visiting Eden Gardens less frequently - and that is the biggest disservice this guy could do for whom he professes to serve.

I would seriously look at playing Sreesanth or Dinda in the next test. We need a pitch it up bowler who will attack and try to get wickets.
IMO Harbajhan Singh totally sux, hes been bowling flat offies for the best part of half a decade and his test match average is around the same as Nathan Hauritz and Paul Harris, and he plays half his matches in spin freindly conditions and he has the geratest batting lineup of the decade to setup huge scores for him. The only reason he is in the team is because there is simply no one better. I would even play Ramesh Powar ahead of him to be honest although this will never happen.. Ojha is far superior bowler to Amit Mishra who just gets smashed and serves up one bad ball an over much like Stey Magill without the strike Power.
India have very little if any chance of winning the next test match unless they can pull some strings and find a way to take 20 test match wickets.
I just cant see them doing it and im the most ardent Indian supporter.

PS REALLY HAPPY FOR BADRI REALLY HOPE HE CAN HOLD HIS PLACE FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.

 

[0RI0N]

lol.. some guys care more abt getting themselves famous than about the job they are supposed to do..

honestbhai why does the cricket fraternity from Kolkatta always feel like its "us vs them" Kolkatta vs the rest of india?
Or is that just my perception of Juggy Dalmiyah?
Inb4 Safricans win the 2nd test on a square turner with the great white of Fish Hoek, Paul Harris, bowling india out.

 

[Xuhaib]

Get VVS for Saha and keep the rest of the side Bhajji rarely goes missing thoroughout a home series so expect him to play a role in the 2nd test I reckon it will be a close game with the toss having a big bearing on the result.

 

[Black_Warrior]

and you can't say with any certainty that they would have done any better than the two that played the match. You can have billion runs behind your name but can get out to the first ball. It was easier for Sachin to get that hundred after the match was lost.

Just like it is easier for you to say that now after you have seen the result. You see in the realm of us normal human beings where Sachin Tendulkar belongs, it is difficult to know what will happen in the future, whether you will win the match or not. It is however relatively easy to check the news to see what the result is after the match ends.

You are right, anyone can get out first ball, point is, if I had a choice between someone with 10000 runs averaging 50 plus and a 2 test old player, I would say the 2 test old player is relatively more likely to get out first ball than the one averaging 50 plus. To look at the other end, it is more likely that the one averaging 50 will get a 50 as compared to the 2 test old player.

 

[Pratters]

Couldn't comment earlier on the Indian defeat. Well played South Africa, really well played. India has to win the next test if they want to stake any claims at being number one after this series is over. If South Africa wins this series, I think it would be fair to put South Africa at No. 1 despite India lacking batsmen in the first test.

 

[vic_orthdox]

If SA win the series, do they take over the no. 1 spot in the official rankings?

 

[Black_Warrior]

^ not sure about that, but they would be my undisputed number 1 team if they manage to win this series.

 

[Sir Alex]

If SA win the series, do they take over the no. 1 spot in the official rankings?

Yes

 

[0RI0N]

If SA win the series, do they take over the no. 1 spot in the official rankings?

Put it this way
Is Precam posting in this thread?

 

[R_D]

If SA win the series, do they take over the no. 1 spot in the official rankings?

Got to love Dhoni's comments....
Full of praise for opposition not giving excuses..... so good to hear

Full credit to South Africa.. they outplayed India in all departments and lets see what happens in second test before any claims of superiority eh. They may be superior on paper but haven't really played to their full potential in last year or so.

 

[marc71178]

^ not sure about that, but they would be my undisputed number 1 team if they manage to win this series.

Even though they failed to win their previous series?

 

[Uppercut]

Even though they failed to win their previous series?

So you'd still have India as number one if they lose here?

 

[marc71178]

Not sure who I'd have - what I wouldn't have is an undisputed number 1 though.

 

[pasag]

So you'd still have India as number one if they lose here?

I'd have it as a two or three way tie. SA certainly can't have it outright (imo) after losing to Aus and not beating England. It depends on the series scoreline though. I guess another couple of huge wins here and at home vs India and I'd have to concede.

 

[G.I.Joe]

SA need just the draw to become the official #1. India need to win to stay #1.

 

[Uppercut]

Well it's between South Africa and India, and the fact that South Africa would have beaten them home and away in the past few years makes it hard for me to plump for India.

 

[ret]

"Laxman is going to be back in the Kolkata Test match," Srikkanth told CNN-IBN. "He has said he is 100% fit. [His] capability will bolster the Indian batting." Laxman was one of the three first-choice middle-order batsmen who missed the first Test, which India lost by an innings and six runs.

Laxman is fit and will play at Kol, so that some good news!

But if the pitch is not a square turner then Ind will have to look hard at the playing 11 combination

Ind traditionally strike through spinners, who usually come in to play later on in the test match. You can't blame them too much if the struggle on the first day of the test. Usually, it's pacers who strike in the first inning and spinners in the next (unless you are a Warne or a Murali or a Kumble to some extent)

Considering Ind's bowling strength, I usually criticize playing 2+2 unless the pitch is an absolute turner. If you want to play 2+2 then you have to play a pace bowling all-rounder in the squad too. Or you have to play five bowlers, if you want two specialist spinners (considering the quality available)

That's why I said it was time Dhoni payed for his mistakes in form of his first test loss. We had SA 6/2, with Zak bowling well but not much pressure from the other end. What do you want to do then is bowl another pacer and rotate the seamers. But Ind couldn't do that as it had only 2 pacers. And since Ishant wasn't picking up wkts, Zak couldn't be that effective too. Eventually he runs out of steam and we have two spinners bowling on first day and it became easy for SA

Do your math, if pacers are bowling well on the first day, you would want to bowl them more but with just two, you can probably get 7-8 overs out of them to have them bowl at optimum level. That's 15 overs and then they tire out so you have spin coming in as early as 16th over or so! But if we had 3 pacers, we could have kept Zak fresh bowling in short bursts and the other two being rotated around

 

[Shri]

Am I the only one disappointed to not see Irfan Pathan in the second test? Hey, he couldn't be much worse than Ishant now and he adds some valuable batting to the side. Maybe Piyush Chawla should also get another go sometime in the near future.

 

[Sir Alex]

Am I the only one disappointed to not see Irfan Pathan in the second test? Hey, he couldn't be much worse than Ishant now and he adds some valuable batting to the side. Maybe Piyush Chawla should also get another go sometime in the near future.

No Pathan please. The guy is simply not test class. Although he is still a prospect in ODIs. Piyush, yes, he needs a look in. He owned county leagues last season and this domestic season too hasnt been terrible either.