***Official*** South Africa in India 2015

[StephenZA]

Is there any word on Duminy's fitness?

"Both teams will finalise their playing elevens before the toss, but Amla confirmed that JP Duminy will not be available for the first test due to a hand injury suffered during the one-dayers." India, SA play down pitch worries - SuperSport - Cricket

PS: I was just showing where I got the information with the Supersport site... not that, that is a good place to get info!!

 

[weldone]

This is what Moonda has written in the preview under Team News.

"Team news


India will field five bowlers, even if it means shortening their batting line-up. They are likely to play all three specialist spinners with only two of the three seamers, and will have to choose between Chesteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma at No.5.

India: (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 M Vijay, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Cheteshwar Pujara/Rohit Sharma, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 and 11 Umesh Yadav/Varun Aaron/Bhuvneshwar Kumar

JP Duminy, who had stitches removed from the cut on his hand, is "unlikely," in Amla's words, to be rushed back from injury which will allow Temba Bavuma an opportunity in the middle order. South Africa will have to find holding overs from someone else, probably part-timers. They are likely to rely on their usual three-pronged pace pack, provided Morne Morkel passes a fitness test, which could see Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl bowl more than usual. Imran Tahir could make a Test comeback 11 months after he last appeared in the longest format unless South Africa go conservative and opt for Simon Harmer.

South Africa: (probable) 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Stiaan van Zyl, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Hashim Amla (capt), 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Temba Bavuma, 7 Dane Vilas (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Simon Harmer/Imran Tahir
"

Who pays this lady and why?

There is so much wrong with the above that I don't know where to start. Sigh. Utterly useless and clueless crap.

 

[Black_Warrior]

This is going to be such an awesome series. Can't wait.

Amla's first real test as a series, and also an extremely critical time for Amla the test batsman. His career has now lasted long enough to see a fair share of slump and decline in performances, but at 32, he is entering perhaps the most crucial stage of his career. The next few years will determine exactly where his career ends up at, and where he stands among the greats.

ABDV in a similar situation.

Kohli the test captain and test batsman will face a huge test. I am pretty sure Kohli the test batsman will come through, and we will see that batting average getting closer to the 50 mark where it belongs. The test captain will face a major major challenge and he will be figuring out a lot of things about captaincy, about his own leadership, how to be in charge of 10 other guys, how to extract the best out of them while facing the best side in the world.

India and South Africa have the most number of the 'best of the next generation' starting with Steyn, Amla, ABD, Morkel following on from Kallis-Smith era while India are starting to move on from the Dhoni era with Kohli, Rahane, Ashwin, Pujara taking over.

The best decision the boards made was to make it a 4 match test series after the facade of 2 test series in 2013.

 

[longranger]

I thought that the previous overseas tours showed that Rahane is perfect at #5. And Pujara is more than at home with being at #3. Its this ridiculousness of making Rohit Sharma play, moving up Rahane to #3 and giving the #5 slot to him. I really hope we don't go for the latter.

 

[cnerd123]

sunil gavaskar is at the pitch report and whoa! It is so dry and is laden with cracks which gavaskar "has never seen before"! Wow, that's a rather worn-out look the pitch has even before the match has begun and gavaskar also said the ball was likely to keep low at times, and ends with, "it's not the best of pitches to bat on."

itstl

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ffs. A minefield isn't necessary. Just makes it a lottery. Not feeling good about this.

 

[Pratters]

Rohit dropped finally.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Good thing we're batting first though. I'm so pumped for this.

 

[Contra]

I'm so tired of oppositions having hissy fits over India pitches, overseas teams have gotten so use to the 2005-2009/10 India pitches which were mostly just roads with draw after draw that anything that remotely turns = ranging turn/doctored.

WOW the match is starting already? YESSSSSSS INDIA BATTING FIRST!

 

[OverratedSanity]

Really think we should've gone with Bhuvi instead of Aaron. Don't like 3 spinners either.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Damn, Rabada's in. Should be a lot of fun watching him bowl.

What happened to morkel?

 

[honestbharani]

Not a bad idea to play guys with genuine pace on a pitch which is expected to be up and down already. Whether these two can sustain a decent line and length though is a different question. Good to see we picked our ideal batting line up as well.

 

[test cricketer]

Injured

 

[Contra]

YESSSSSSSSSS OMG OMG I love this line up, Bhuvi > Aaron but man this is my dream line up, Ishant being back next game would be ideal too. Please Pujara at 3 and Rahane at 5.

 

[StephenZA]

Really happy for Rabada!

 

[StephenZA]

Villas at 6. 5 bowlers for SA.. very surprised! Lots of pressure on big 3 batters.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Batting lineup definitely is the ideal long term one. But Umesh + Aaron could be really bad. Guess they won't bowl much if it's a square turner.

 

[cnerd123]

Very interesting.

Aaron and Yadav to be used in short pacey burst, while the spinners do the bulk of the work.

Jadeja/Mishra/Ashwin is a decent lower order, should contribute some runs.

Pujara at 3 and Rahane at 5 and no Rohit

And a debut for Rabada, with Tahir playing. Philander batting at 7 makes this a rather long tail -tho Harmer and Rabada can bat.

Should be a verrryyy interesting test.

 

[longranger]

Perfect XI. Bhuvi would generally be preferred but he seemed very jaded by the end of the ODI series. Yadav and Aaron, on the other hand, should be raring to go. The 3 spinners will be bowling the bulk of the overs, so Yadav and Aaron can bowl short, fast bursts.

I'm going for Day 4 (and Day 5 if it lasts) for this. Game on!

 

[honestbharani]

Interesting that RSA went for 5 bowlers with two spinners, an ideadat was shot down by all posters except PEWS here when I first expressed it.