Pratters
Cricket, Lovely Cricket
I think we all agree there but at least we got 2 tests. Even those weren't scheduled initially.
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*Official* South Africa in India
- Thread starter James
- Start date
NasserFan207
International Vice-Captain
Anyone know what Amla averages before and after this series? I'd imagine he had a massive jump.
Manee
Cricketer Of The Year
I tend to like to keep FC performances away from ODI cricket - I don't think his new style of a rather flat but not slingy trajectory (and loss of hoop swing, that he did have even in his 'lowest' point in 2006/7) is suited to ODIs, if you look at his ODI record since his return in 2007, it is shocking. The Test figures have the strong series in Australia, though. Almost a direct inversion of what occured before 2007.
It is not about drastic improvement, just getting into a rhythm and understanding the bowling. I cannot mention countless times where I have bowled the same deliveries one day early in a season and they got spanked about and the same balls another day later in the season, having some oomph and purpose behind them and the difference is astounding. It is not so much about regaining some 'nip' as much as merely being match fit to hit the pitch and seam hard and rush the ball through - sometimes such a thing is not so much quantified on the speed gun as in the carry through to the keeper and response of the batsman.
On second thoughts, I would not look to get him into the Test team yet, due to the injury, this may undo the good work of the past two years and I'd probably look to give him some more cricket, whether he gets some domestic work overseas or has to wait till the Indian season is another matter - but I never underestimate the power of injuries to ruin the rhythm of the last few years.
Manee
Cricketer Of The Year
Playing for India will not help and he should have time to work on his game in domestic cricket, you are right there.
Jono
Virat Kohli (c)
**** it feels good! To win that match without Zaheer... wow!
But to get to business, I still think Vijay should get a go. Sure, not a good series. But I think he's going to be better than Badrinath. Wouldn't be fussed who was dropped for Rahul though. Both deserve another go.
Ishant must go and take a nice long spell. He was infuriating at times.
Mishra should still be in the XI, but needs to increase his consistency. Otherwise the load will eventually catch up to Harbhajan and Zaheer.
Speaking of Bhajji, I've never been so proud of him. Just led India to victory!
But to get to business, I still think Vijay should get a go. Sure, not a good series. But I think he's going to be better than Badrinath. Wouldn't be fussed who was dropped for Rahul though. Both deserve another go.
Ishant must go and take a nice long spell. He was infuriating at times.
Mishra should still be in the XI, but needs to increase his consistency. Otherwise the load will eventually catch up to Harbhajan and Zaheer.
Speaking of Bhajji, I've never been so proud of him. Just led India to victory!
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Yea, Ishant needs a long stint in County Cricket, ala Zaheer Khan. I don't think Indian domestic cricket will help him. It's inexusable how simple flaws are allowed to fester in Indian domestic cricket, and are quickly fixed by the much more professional and (may I say merit based) staff and teams in County Cricket (Exhibit A: RP Singh). Plus, the conditions will really teach him to bowl to his strengths, especially early in the season. He has really just fallen off the cliff after good start, like so many others. He's still so young, and a good long county stint where he just bowls for days on end will do him good, aside from the other benefits you get from playing county cricket. I don't know if any county will have him, but BCCI should push to make it happen if they can (maybe some kind of exchange program).
Mishra has potential but I do think he's just too short and doesn't extract the bounce he could if he were just a little bit taller. He also frequently bowls way too short, and his lengths are completely inconsistent - of course it doesn't help that Dhonis' field settings to him are frankly horrible.
Harbhajan is a great bowler once he gets into it, and takes his first wicket. He looks confident, starts talking ****, and the flight, loop and all that just come right into his game and he looks like taking a wicket every over. But if he is hit early, he just bowls flatter and faster and his body language just goes to all hell. For someone who now has ten years of Test match experience, that is frankly very dissapointing, but if he gets one or two, he's still India's best bet to lead them to victory.
Zaheer's body seems to be breaking down, and injuries are adding up. He'll be invaluable for the SA series, and hopefully he can last until at least then. He needs to stop playing all other forms of cricket except Test series. That county stint did him so much good, and he might be the #1 reason for India's ascendency to the top of the ranking. He almost invaiably gets the wicket early, and India should hold on to him as much as possible, especially in outside the subcontinent Tests. His performance drops off a bit in between the new ball and if/when reverse swing happens, but it's still a great thing to have, and it's up to the rest of the bowlers to make it happen.
Sreesanth. His seam position is amazing, and he has the pace. But mentally, he is in his own universe. He's the absolute worst when things are not going his way. His deliberate no ball beamers to Kevin Pietersen were an absolute disgrace, and he frequently just simply lost his run up completely. I don't even know what to do about him. He can be an excellent new ball partner to Zaheer (as he showed in SA), but he is way too volatile and frankly, in an important series, I don't know if I would trust him. He may give one good spell and then just be completely off the boil for the next four and a half days.
This may seem overly pessimistic, but oddly enough, even with all the problems, I do think that at their best, they are good enough to take twenty wickets almost anywhere. Dhoni needs to set better fields though for all of them, but especially to Mishra.
Mishra has potential but I do think he's just too short and doesn't extract the bounce he could if he were just a little bit taller. He also frequently bowls way too short, and his lengths are completely inconsistent - of course it doesn't help that Dhonis' field settings to him are frankly horrible.
Harbhajan is a great bowler once he gets into it, and takes his first wicket. He looks confident, starts talking ****, and the flight, loop and all that just come right into his game and he looks like taking a wicket every over. But if he is hit early, he just bowls flatter and faster and his body language just goes to all hell. For someone who now has ten years of Test match experience, that is frankly very dissapointing, but if he gets one or two, he's still India's best bet to lead them to victory.
Zaheer's body seems to be breaking down, and injuries are adding up. He'll be invaluable for the SA series, and hopefully he can last until at least then. He needs to stop playing all other forms of cricket except Test series. That county stint did him so much good, and he might be the #1 reason for India's ascendency to the top of the ranking. He almost invaiably gets the wicket early, and India should hold on to him as much as possible, especially in outside the subcontinent Tests. His performance drops off a bit in between the new ball and if/when reverse swing happens, but it's still a great thing to have, and it's up to the rest of the bowlers to make it happen.
Sreesanth. His seam position is amazing, and he has the pace. But mentally, he is in his own universe. He's the absolute worst when things are not going his way. His deliberate no ball beamers to Kevin Pietersen were an absolute disgrace, and he frequently just simply lost his run up completely. I don't even know what to do about him. He can be an excellent new ball partner to Zaheer (as he showed in SA), but he is way too volatile and frankly, in an important series, I don't know if I would trust him. He may give one good spell and then just be completely off the boil for the next four and a half days.
This may seem overly pessimistic, but oddly enough, even with all the problems, I do think that at their best, they are good enough to take twenty wickets almost anywhere. Dhoni needs to set better fields though for all of them, but especially to Mishra.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
AWTA.. every word..
And yeah, still think Vijay and Badri are our best bets for test match back up spots.. I mean, I think most of our contenders woudl have been found out by Steyn's pace and reverse. Seriously, what he bowled was a good 20 K quicker than the fastest Ranji seamers.. Please BCCI, PLEASE, arrange more A "FC" tours..
Pratters
Cricket, Lovely Cricket
True. I have said it before and I will say it again, Sehwag is the best batsman in world cricket right now.
Manee
Cricketer Of The Year
In Asia and Australia - elsewhere, it is less certain.
Sir Alex
Banned
I agree 100%. However had South Africa been South Africa in catching, and had Tendulkar not batted as he did, India might not have even drawn perhaps.
Yes.
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
That's all well and good, as long as when South Africa win the match in the last five overs and Sehwag has scored 120 (115b), you point out that that South Africa wouldn't have time to win the match had Sehwag scored his runs at the rate of Tendulkar.
Scoring your runs quickly is only advantagous if you prove to be the better team throughout the game. If you get outplayed, scoring them slowly is actually much more advantagous. As such I just ignore strike rates when attempting to compare players as there are pros and cons of each extreme.
Shri
Mr. Glass
Would be awesome if he plays in the middle order in other countries.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
yeah.. but you cannot fault a batsman for scoring quickly in the first or second innings of any game, tbh.. Only in the 3rd or 4th dig can it be certain that a team cannot win the match and is hence trying to save it and hence one needs to bat for time..
Otherwise, to criticize a batsman for scoring quickly WHEN his team had a chance of winning the match would be juz idiocy..
Sir Alex
Banned
I agree with this. To dictate a batsman to "consume" time unless the team is batting out a draw, is simply negative cricket.
Zinzan
Request Your Custom Title Now!
Gutted for SA, they are the masters at falling at the final hurdle. Could imagine a few of them would be physically sick after that heartbreak.
Despite my prediction that India will lose the no.1 spot in this series, I was wrong, but only by 9 ***** deliveries.
I still can't see them winning in Aust, SA or Eng (when they next tour), because they don't have good enough bowlers imho, time will tell.
Also, surely a bit of a concern for them to get absolutely whipped like they did in the first test in a home test.
Anyways... credit where credit is due... I can't deny the fact they were good enough (by a hairs whisker) to manage to draw that home series in the end.
Despite my prediction that India will lose the no.1 spot in this series, I was wrong, but only by 9 ***** deliveries.
I still can't see them winning in Aust, SA or Eng (when they next tour), because they don't have good enough bowlers imho, time will tell.
Also, surely a bit of a concern for them to get absolutely whipped like they did in the first test in a home test.
Anyways... credit where credit is due... I can't deny the fact they were good enough (by a hairs whisker) to manage to draw that home series in the end.
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G.I.Joe
International Coach
9 deliveries and a motherload of time lost to the elements. Hardly a hairs whisker.
Zinzan
Request Your Custom Title Now!
The one thing that has definitely come out of this series for me is proof that there really isn't categorically & clearly a no. 1 test side right now & even if SA had survived another 8 deliveries & claimed the no.1 spot back, that wouldn't have made them clear no. 1 either in my eyes. It's just too close at the top with India/SA & Aust & England aren't that far off either IMO .....then a wee way back to SL
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Jarquis
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yeah, knew you'd reply with this. "Whilst scoring quicker gives you more time to force a result it also gives your opponents more times to force a result".
Based on this, if India lose a match in the final 10 overs of the match and Sehwag has hit a ton at a SR of 80 I'll be the first to point it out
