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***Official*** India in South Africa 2013/14

Xuhaib

International Coach
I hate being the optimist here since I'm generally quite the pessimist about India in overseas tests, especially with Dhoni at the helm. But think about this:

If it's flat and some pace is necessary, what is Philander to do? He's obviously a far better bowler than Bhuvneshwar, but both need the same sets of conditions to perform at their peak. (And if you remember, Big Vern did not have a fun time on the flat bouncy wickets of Australia until Perth served up some lateral movement).

I say go with Shami, Zak, and Bhuvi until Umesh can prove that he'll hit the right lengths often enough. In that case, and only that case, Umesh should come in for Bhuvi. And if Bhuvi is going to be totally out of his depth, and so too Umesh, don't hesitate to play two spinners even on a seamer's pitch. At least spinners can bowl darts and keep the runs down.
Philander outbowled Steyn in UAE. Infact at the moment I find him a more threatening bowler then Steyn in tests.Steyn strength has always been his outswinger but his incoming ball has been even more ordinary over the last couple of seasons and it has virtually come to a point that he is almost a one trick pony its another matter that one trick of his is virtually unplayble if he gets it going however on a good deck he can be lined up and handled well on the other hand Vern has this knack of getting subtle in/out movement from virtually the same spot creating massive headaches for the batsmen.
 

Shri

Mr. Glass
Relax guys. Everything is going according to plan.:ph34r:

I guess Shami is good for 3 wickets every innings in the tests and so is Zak if he plays. Ashwin could maybe take one or two every innings. The rest have to come from the 3rd seamer. We should be able to bowl SA out once or twice but I don't think we are going to bowl them out 4 times and so I don't think we are going to win. A drawn series is the best case scenario unless we produce something special with our bowling 4 times in a row and bat decently as well. Freak performances are what we are counting on atm. Not cool.
 

Ray.

School Boy/Girl Captain
India has a test in Durban. Doesn't SA lose most of its tests here?
But this team is ****. They're having problems facing Tsotsobe and McLaren with white cherry. Wonder what will happen when the'll face Steyn and Philander with red cherry and there is no Tendlya anymore to salvage some respekt.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
But this team is ****. They're having problems facing Tsotsobe and McLaren with white cherry. Wonder what will happen when the'll face Steyn and Philander with red cherry and there is no Tendlya anymore to salvage some respekt.
To be fair the Test lineup is a bit different - Yuvraj and Raina won't be playing, Pujara will be there and Rohit won't have to open.

I do agree to an extent that they're likely to get completely owned in the Durban Test but it's not because they're "****" or because a pretty different side is struggling in the one dayers; it's just because South Africa have such a good bowling attack, the conditions are so alien to them and they have such little experience in them.
 

kykweer.proteas

International Debutant
But this team is ****. They're having problems facing Tsotsobe and McLaren with white cherry. Wonder what will happen when the'll face Steyn and Philander with red cherry and there is no Tendlya anymore to salvage some respekt.
McLaren was one of the better ODI bowlers in the world this year regarding wicket taking. Tsotobe also a former world no 1.
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
McLaren was one of the better ODI bowlers in the world this year regarding wicket taking. Tsotobe also a former world no 1.
However good you think they are, they're obviously not a patch on Steyn and Philander. Our batting somehow needs to turn this around somehow.
Pujara seems the only hope but he'll have his work cut out too... Shouldve picked him for the odis. Instead he'll take time to settle too
 

karan316

State Vice-Captain
Irritating to see Yadav being picked ahead of other well deserving bowlers. He can't bowl in powerplays, gets hammered at the death, then what exactly is his role in the limited overs matches? He makes the death bowling issues even more worse.
 

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