*Official* India in South Africa

[b1acksun]

This is going to be a pretty interesting match from here on out. S. Africa still has a lot of chances with a fair chance of an Indian collapse under the watchful eyes of Steyn.

If India can manage a solid knock of 350, we should bag this. A flying start from Sehwag would seal the deal. Either way this is promising to be the type of test match you would expect from #1 and #2.

 

[Turbinator]

I'm off to the gym now. Hopefully by the time I'm back, no wickets have fallen.

 

[M0rphin3]

AB Dev.. I get what you mean though

AB, won't trust him to build a partnership from such a stage, but still yeah.

 

[Evermind]

Watching South Africa bat here has convinced me that they would have been in deep **** if they had lost the toss and batted first in the first test.

Yeah. And if not for the greedy bastards at BCCI, India would've had a good chance to draw it had they had some batting practice.

Starting an important series without a practice game is criminal.

 

[M0rphin3]

Will the lightning strike twice? Steyn to take a 5 fer?

 

[r3alist]

just a shame kallis was got out to a fluke.

i mean he is exactly the type of batsmen who would steady the ship with singles and sensible play.

even a 20-30 run contributions would be pretty important

 

[Prince EWS]

Will the lightning strike twice? Steyn to take a 5 fer?

Kallis to take seven IMO.

Kallis.

 

[shankar]

Zaheer's been consistently good in conditions with help since the England series. The recent change is that he's now managing to average low even in matches in India.

 

[Contra]

I guess the good thing about the first test was that everything that could have gone wrong for us did go wrong

Lost the toss and faced good bowling on bowler friendly conditions. Lost Zak before the test began. SA piled on runs against garbage bowlers (Bhajji bowled well overall though) and more importantly SA's lower middle order didn't get any time in the middle.

And all those factors came back and now we have bowled em out for 131 =)

What's the chances of rain on day 4/5?

 

[Uppercut]

AB, won't trust him to build a partnership from such a stage, but still yeah.

In fairness he's done it before against even better bowling. 1st Test: South Africa v Australia at Johannesburg, Feb 26-Mar 2, 2009 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo First innings here was sick.

No way round it- he's absolutely world-class.

 

[Jono]

SA will get some early wickets and taipan will magically appear again

 

[Uppercut]

SA will get some early wickets and taipan will magically appear again

And Indian fans will stop claiming that South Africa's obscenely awesome batting lineup is not that special and they would have won the first test had they won the toss .

 

[Jono]

Nah we're delusional 24/7... but at least we front up

 

[Blaze 18]

Yeah. And if not for the greedy bastards at BCCI, India would've had a good chance to draw it had they had some batting practice.

Starting an important series without a practice game is criminal.

No arguments from me there, Evermind. I agree with every word of this post.

 

[shankar]

Harbhajan's performance is an indictment of the Indian wickets. Rarely see him get anywhere near this assistance even on 5th days. It's been like this for 7-8 years and there's no signs of improvement...

 

[Jono]

Turning point was Amla's wicket IMO.

Sure Kallis had bad luck, and it was huge to get 4 before lunch... but Amla still looked untroubled. Then he played a bad shot to Harbhajan and the game totally swung in our favour.

 

[Vroomfondel]

You call it a 'self-discovery phase', but for other countries, it goes without saying that someone needs domestic cricket before international cricket. It is just common sense which India lack.

Indeed, even the mercurial quicks from Pakistan are allowed 10-15 FC matches before being thrown into the cauldron of international cricket.

Someone mentioned county cricket earlier, and this would be a great option for Ishant IMO. With IPL clashing with the county season, this is a distant dream for Indian bowlers.

 

[weldone]

Good to see South Africa falling short of 136. Revenge is sweet.

Weather Gods permitting, I don't see India not winning from here.

 

[Jono]

SA are paying $3.05

I am loading up bitches. Can't help myself. Win/win whatever the result (except a draw )

 

[Briony]

SA perform so poorly at Durban you wonder why in a three test series they don't opt to play at one of their other venues.