*Official* India in South Africa

[joels344]

Why would anyone care about him being not out? We are losing either way and so it is no big deal to me as to who remains not out. But who knows if we had 10 or 20 lead, they might have lost a wicket.. And a 9 wicket loss is not as bad as an innings defeat. The whole thing is that you try to win and when you can't, you try to draw and when you can't do either, you try and go down by as less a margin as you can... As they say, at least he could have frustrated South Africa by having them bat again. It is not often you take a lead of 500 in the first innings and still end up having to bat again.. Very disappointing to see Sachin basically play for the red ink..

I understand all of that and I agree with that as well. You give 100% every single moment. But I still see no reason to criticize Sachin for not trying to score the extra runs. People are now saying he's not a team player. He played full out in the 2nd innings, but others lost wickets as well, which prevented them from making the match more of a contest.

 

[Himannv]

Either way, India were obviously going to lose this match, so it doesn't matter if it were by an innings and 25 runs or by SA winning by 10 wickets. India took a pretty big beating in this match, but fought back well in the 2nd innings. Even if Sachin hogged the crease to attempt to knock off those runs, he would still be most likely not out.

Disagree that an innings defeat is the same as a 10 wicket defeat.

Its the attitude that counts IMO. I'm no fan of the aussies but look at them, regardless of the odds they will battle on and sometimes that even gives them a chance. Take even Angelo Mathews, young as he is, he just had Malinga for company in that ODI a few months back and achieved a win out of absolutely nothing.

Batting almost a whole day to save a test match is not easy by any means, but if you're going to back anyone to do it, you might as well back Tendulkar. He's one of the best batsmen in the world after all. He could have at least given it a shot.

 

[GotSpin]

I understand all of that and I agree with that as well. You give 100% every single moment. But I still see no reason to criticize Sachin for not trying to score the extra runs. People are now saying he's not a team player. He played full out in the 2nd innings, but others lost wickets as well, which prevented them from making the match more of a contest.

There's no doubting he played a great knock, but jeeze, there was a distinct impression that he'd given up at the end.

It is a minor criticism though

 

[Cevno]

Agree with HB and Blaze. What Tendulkar did here is not consistent with what he said yesterday in press conference - "Give our best" etc. Where is that sense of pride, ffs? This is why I admire Sehwag no ends. Losing by 9 wickets instead of an innings (as HB says) would have mattered to Sehwag for sure.

How do you know that hitting out would have been the best option?

He could have hauled out for all you know.

I remember Laxman being criticised for giving Ishant the strike in the Famous win against Australia in the recent series.
I have to say i was guilty of that too at the time.

 

[Ruckus]

I remember Laxman being criticised for giving Ishant the strike in the Famous win against Australia in the recent series.
I have to say i was guilty of that too at the time.

He was probably doing that because of his injury though. It was a fluky thing which will hardly ever pay off.

 

[Cevno]

Nope, but he could have tried to knock off the defiict and saved an innings defeat. Seriously, if you are not thinking that way as an international cricketer, then you definitely warrant the criticism you get.



Tendulkar is not the reason we lost. He is not the reason we were in a hole either. But he could have definitely tried harder and shown a better attitude to try and at least avoid an innings defeat...

I remember Laxman being criticised for giving Ishant the strike in the Famous win against Australia in the recent series.

 

[joels344]

Disagree that an innings defeat is the same as a 10 wicket defeat.

Its the attitude that counts IMO. I'm no fan of the aussies but look at them, regardless of the odds they will battle on and sometimes that even gives them a chance. Take even Angelo Mathews, young as he is, he just had Malinga for company in that ODI a few months back and achieved a win out of absolutely nothing.

Batting almost a whole day to save a test match is not easy by any means, but if you're going to back anyone to do it, you might as well back Tendulkar. He's one of the best batsmen in the world after all. He could have at least given it a shot.

Both are pretty huge defeats, though. Sachin did give a good shot in the 2nd innings, so did Gambhir, Sehwag and Dhoni. The whole team fought back.

 

[masterblaster]

Only seen bits of this test due to the time difference but overall a very clinical performance by South Africa. So happy for Jacques Kallis on finally getting a well deserved double century. India needed this wake up call after riding high for so long and I don't mind it.

I think the second innings from us was our true talent on display. I don't blame them for performing the way they did on the first day's play in South Africa on that pitch and in those conditions. Sachin Tendulkar can take a bow, he's truly a legend and he deserves every bit of credit that comes his way. I can't imagine many batsmen in the future getting up to the 50 test century mark. Amazing stuff from the champion.

For India, our bowling and the form of Suresh Raina is a big concern. At this stage you'd have to think that Raina is dropped for the next game and either Murali Vijay or Cheteshwar Pujara would come into the team. I'd go for Vijay as he's in good form and seems to have the technique and character that would do well in South African conditions. Zaheer Khan coming in is a big bonus too.

Looking forward to the next game, hopefully we'll put up a much better show and can work towards winning the next game and drawing the series level.

 

[Cevno]

He was probably doing that because of his injury though. It was a fluky thing which will hardly ever pay off.

No he wasn't doing it because of injury.

Both Laxman and Sachin are doing it since quite a while now.

I remember Sachin doing it with RP singh in the last Australian tour too and it paying off ,also with Harbhajan.

Both the options are as likely to succeed.

 

[ankitj]

How do you know that hitting out would have been the best option?

He could have hauled out for all you know.

I remember Laxman being criticised for giving Ishant the strike in the Famous win against Australia in the recent series.
I have to say i was guilty of that too at the time.

Criticism of Laxman was not entirely unfair and had Ishant got out, it would have all looked silly. But at least I know he had plan better than boosting his average in that match. Can't say the same of Tendukar here. I always knew Tendulkar loves his records and nothing wrong with that because that gives him all the motivation. But in a situation like this, a sportsman's sense of pride should take over love for averages.

 

[Burgey]

Steve Waugh used to give the tail the strike too.

Look, I'm the first to criticise some of the OTT Tendulkar love, but come on, bagging him here, for what happened this morning? In the context of a game done and dusted? Nah.

Look at it from the pov that he's saying to the Saffies that they couldn't get him out, despite dominating, and what that may mean for the rest of the series.

 

[Blaze 18]

Agree with HB and Blaze. What Tendulkar did here is not consistent with what he said yesterday in press conference - "Give our best" etc. Where is that sense of pride, ffs? This is why I admire Sehwag no ends. Losing by 9 wickets instead of an innings (as HB says) would have mattered to Sehwag for sure.

I reckon South Africa would have won by an innings anyway - they were bound to get a crack at Unadkat at some point. What does rankle is that Tendulkar did not even try to hit out and wipe the deficit. I am not too pissed though, as it did not have any bearing on the result of the match. If he had done such a thing with a result on the line, then I would have been mighty pissed. That is not too say I am not a little annoyed - I am.

 

[Ruckus]

No he wasn't doing it because of injury.

Both Laxman and Sachin are doing it since quite a while now.

I remember Sachin doing it with RP singh in the last Australian tour too and it paying off ,also with Harbhajan.

Both the options are as likely to succeed.

How do you know he wasn't doing it because of his back? If you have at least one more of the tail to work with, then it isn't a bad option (like Laxman did with Sharma, with Ohja still to come right near the end), but if you literally have one more partner left like Sachin had with Unadkat, then it's just downright stupid (not saying Sachin meant to do it, but in theory).

 

[kingkallis]

I understand all of that and I agree with that as well. You give 100% every single moment. But I still see no reason to criticize Sachin for not trying to score the extra runs. People are now saying he's not a team player. He played full out in the 2nd innings, but others lost wickets as well, which prevented them from making the match more of a contest.

We all understand the value of SRT's knock and nobody ever questioned anything like him being the team player or not.

Yes, he should have shown the right attitude by protecting the tail and knocking off those 25-30 runs.

 

[Cevno]

Criticism of Laxman was not entirely unfair and had Ishant got out, it would have all looked silly. But at least I know he had plan better than boosting his average in that match. Can't say the same of Tendukar here. I always knew Tendulkar loves his records and nothing wrong with that because that gives him all the motivation. But in a situation like this, a sportsman's sense of pride should take over love for averages.

So If Laxman had hauled out trying to hit out unneccesarily then?

There was even less chance of him scoring all of the 90 runs alone.

In this match the loss was likely in any case, even if Sachin had hit out.

So why not give the tailenders some batting practice as well.

It was not as if there were 10 overs left in the day.

 

[kingkallis]

Where's Robelinda when you need him? FFS, post the highlights of it man!!

Check your messages. I have posted a link there for GS.

 

[Cevno]

How do you know he wasn't doing it because of his back? If you have at least one more of the tail to work with, then it isn't a bad option (like Laxman did with Sharma, with Ohja still to come right near the end), but if you literally have one more partner left like Sachin had with Unadkat, then it's just downright stupid (not saying Sachin meant to do it, but in theory).

Because Laxman has done it before too.

And Even when Ojha came in Laxman did the same for one over if i remember correctly .


Even in the famous perth test where we had the win,laxman gave strike to RP singh in the second innings in a crucial situation.

 

[Ruckus]

Because Laxman has done it before too.

And Even when Ojha came in Laxman did the same for one over if i remember correctly .


Even in the famous perth test where we had the win,laxman gave strike to RP singh.

Oh ok. I'm not opposed to it providing it isn't the last batting partner, but there is no logic whatsoever in giving the strike to the no. 11 - quality, higher order batsmen vs lousy tailender. It's pretty obvious who is more likely to get out if you give them the strike...

 

[vcs]

Soo....

Does anyone think Zaheer will magically transform our attack? Sreesanth and Ishant still look toothless. Man, this is going to be a long series. It's depressing to see all our top batsmen playing so far below their career averages in SA. They just seem to own us.

 

[kingkallis]

So 21st Man of the match award for the King.

Next 3 from currently playing ones are Ponting ( 16 ), SRT ( 14 ) and Sanga ( 12 )