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

[StephenZA]

Slowly becoming a big fan of Elgar. Gritty, ugly, troll left arm spin. Great value.

Always liked him... hoped he could take Smiths place in long run.

 

[harsh.ag]

More than artvandalay actually being correct about that being the optimal batting tactic, I think the batsmen just fall into the trap of thinking he's correct when the pitch is this favourable to bowling.

It's mostly been bad batting.. but I think a lot of the bad batting has been caused by the demons in the pitch. Vijay and have Pujara have scored runs by batting normally because they've resisted the temptation to panic.

I've got no dramas with the pitch personally, but I think just looking at the shots batsmen have been dismissed playing does overlook the factors that influence shot selection.

But the whole point is that they shouldn't influence shot selection ffs. Nowhere near to this extent atleast.

Yup. Temperament is as big a part of batting as technique. Hopefully the South African batsmen will try and learn from this series and not just go "Oh the pitches were ****all"

Show me a pitch where the SA captain is justified in bringing on Elgar in the 9th over of the first day and I will show you a **** heap

Nope, just goes to show the pitch is good for spin bowling and Amla trusts Elgar more than Tahir.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Slowly becoming a big fan of Elgar. Gritty, ugly, troll left arm spin. Great value.

Ive always loved crabby top order left handed batsmrn

 

[Gnske]

Slowly becoming a big fan of Elgar. Gritty, ugly, troll left arm spin. Great value.

Reminded me of Cowan this tour from 2013, gritting it out well without the statistics to reward the good work.

Thank heavens he isn't so terrible as van Zyl.

 

[StephenZA]

Reminded me of Cowan this tour from 2013, gritting it out well without the statistics to reward the good work.

Thank heavens he isn't so terrible as van Zyl.

I feel sorry for van Zyl, he is actually really good and talented.... but looks like a deer in the headlights, particularly vs Ashwin.

 

[indiaholic]

All the byes that Villas conceded were pretty bad. Though am not sure whether I should blame him. Keeping to spinners on these pitches can be tough.

 

[cnerd123]

They're human

In India's first innings, Vijay (a technically sound and patient test batsmen) received a ball that took a chunk out of the pitch and turned square

Couple of balls later, he ran down the pitch and had a wild slog only to be save from being stumped by feet by an inside edge AND he is apparently the poster-boy of how to bat on this pitch

One mistake. He is human. His shot in the second innings was poor too, but in the first test he was exceptional.

Batsmen not used to a tough pitch end up panicking and batting stupidly. Sure its human. They arent the first batsmen to do that. But that does not make this pitch a bad one. This is Test cricket ffs, if pitches that test a batsman's temperament and techniques are suddenly 'poor' pitches when whats the ****ing point.

Unplayable = any trundler takes wickets + nothing any batsman can do to score runs + dangerous

This pitch is none of those. India managed 215 despite some dumb batting. The first test saw lots of poor panicked batting yet scores of around 200 throughout. If they really were unplayable we'd have scorelines like 50 vs 50.

 

[StephenZA]

All the byes that Villas conceded were pretty bad. Though am not sure whether I should blame him. Keeping to spinners on these pitches can be tough.

He also conceded to the fast bowlers.... he has been very below par batting and keeping wise.

 

[indiaholic]

He also conceded to the fast bowlers.... he has been very below par batting and keeping wise.

Hmm.. Is he the best keeper in the country? QDK will probably find it very tough here too..

 

[social]

One mistake. He is human. His shot in the second innings was poor too, but in the first test he was exceptional.

Batsmen not used to a tough pitch end up panicking and batting stupidly. Sure its human. They arent the first batsmen to do that. But that does not make this pitch a bad one. This is Test cricket ffs, if pitches that test a batsman's temperament and techniques are suddenly 'poor' pitches when whats the ****ing point.

Unplayable = any trundler takes wickets + nothing any batsman can do to score runs + dangerous

This pitch is none of those. India managed 215 despite some dumb batting. The first test saw lots of poor panicked batting yet scores of around 200 throughout. If they really were unplayable we'd have scorelines like 50 vs 50.

It's not that it is unplayable, it is a poor pitch because the balance is skewed massively in the bowlers' favour

FTR, I hate the first 3 days at Adelaide for exactly the same reason where batsmen generally hold the balance of power

 

[StephenZA]

Hmm.. Is he the best keeper in the country? QDK will probably find it very tough here too..

QDK would have struggled keeping as well, but this would have given him experience. He is an x-factor batting wise..does not mean he would have scored more, but he has that something extra. Vilas was arguably the best in SA with Tsolekili...; there is reasons for Vilas to have been chosen on this tour but he always had to perform really well to stay in-front of QDK long term.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I feel sorry for van Zyl, he is actually really good and talented.... but looks like a deer in the headlights, particularly vs Ashwin.

Yeah I like him. Just doesn't know how to handle good off spin.

 

[Pratters]

It's not that it is unplayable, it is a poor pitch because the balance is skewed massively in the bowlers' favour

FTR, I hate the first 3 days at Adelaide for exactly the same reason where batsmen generally hold the balance of power

I don't understand why there is so much defending of this wicket tbh.

 

[artvandalay]

I don't understand why there is so much defending of this wicket tbh.

People will do any amount of bench pressing to defend it for some reason. A poor pitch is a poor pitch, don't know why it's wrong to say so. Elgar took 4-fer in the first test and still said it wasn't a good wicket. People here seem unwilling to even entertain that possibility.

 

[indiaholic]

Because I think Jadeja and Elgar are the greatest bowlers of all time. Whenever I see something that implies their wickets were due to dumb luck I break down and cry.

 

[Chrish]

Ahahha loving this whining more than match itself!

I would take this all day everyday over disgraceful cricket played in Australia in recent years

 

[artvandalay]

*sigh * Then why have Pujara and Vijay got runs by playing normally.

This is about the fifth time I've posted thus.

Vijay hasn't still made a huge one and both Pujara and AB have actually needed quite a bit of luck to make runs here. Not all batsmen have the same approach to getting runs, a guy like AB will always play his shots for e.g so much so that at times you can't really blame him when he does get out doing so.

If you get a half volley, hit it for a six and if it is short pull and cut with all the freedom you want but playing on the up on a pitch as slow as this is just bad batting. Not to mention the slogging and sweeping to balls that are not there to be swept.

Except it is not that simple and the occasions that batsmen attacking have gotten out is being advanced as evidence here as to why it was dumb and they should have just blocked it or played defensively.

The fact that these batsmen all feel they can't score runs playing their natural game is an indictment on them and not the pitch. Vijay, Pujara, ABDV all have scored runs this series playing their natural games. Amla and Elgar had more success grinding out runs than playing aggressively.

If no batsman was able to score consistently on these pitches and the highest scores came from batsmen throwing their bat at the ball, then you may have a point. But that clearly hasnt been the case. The pitches are tough, not unplayable.

Different batsmen have different approaches to getting their runs, batsmen like KP, AB and most of the current Indian line-up don't play conservative naturally. 20 wickets falling in a day is enough proof that the pitch isn't good enough to play test cricket and it's more an anomaly than a norm.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Awesome waaahs all around. Love it.

 

[cnerd123]

I don't understand why there is so much defending of this wicket tbh.

People will do any amount of bench pressing to defend it for some reason. A poor pitch is a poor pitch, don't know why it's wrong to say so. Elgar took 4-fer in the first test and still said it wasn't a good wicket. People here seem unwilling to even entertain that possibility.

This is so lame.

We aren't 'defending' anything. You guys are going about calling these pitches 'poor' purely based on the scoreline. That's just lazy and inaccurate analysis. The pitches have been tough to bat on, but the reason these two Tests have been short is mainly due to some very **** batting and some very good spin bowling from Ashwin and Jadeja. By labelling the pitch as 'poor' and blaming it for the short games, you are absolving the batsmen of all culpability, and ignoring the prowess of the Indian spinners. Calling these pitches 'luck dominated' is just writing off the abilities and lack thereof of all the players. It's wrong, it's unfair, and frankly very **** posting.

That's why we're arguing with you.

Personally I love good bowling tracks. I want to see more cricket like this. I hate the rhetoric being spread in the media that these pitches are sub-standard. **** off. If we can have flat pitches, we can have pitches like these. Cricket should be played in all sorts of conditions. It's only substandard if there is literally nothing a batsman can do to survive. And that wasn't the case here. So **** off with that label and just enjoy the cricket. Or if you don't enjoy cricket where the bowlers dominate, then switch off the TV and go do something else. Stop bitching about the pitch.

 

[Burner]

South Africa started the day with Amla and Elgar batting on 11/2. They've done well to not lose a wicket and get to 32/2 at the end of the day. Could have scored a bit quicker though.

That is what happened