• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

***Official*** India in South Africa 2017/18

Shri

Mr. Glass
Man Rahane would have loved to play his pulls in this pitch. He would have hit us out of trouble if we were halfway yo the target and 4 or 5 down.
 

vcs

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Facing Philander in these conditions is a ****ing nightmare.

Need heaps and heaps of luck, basically.
 

Black_Warrior

Cricketer Of The Year
This is why winning in Australia is much harder than South Africa or England. The pitches in Australia are flat as a pancake and need 140+ kph bowlers that only South Africa and Australia have (bowlers who can do that on a regular basis without sacrificing line and length). The reason India did well in the early/mid 2000s in Australia is that we had Sachin/Dravid/VVS who used to eat up the Aussie bowlers on flat tracks such that our bowlers had 500 runs to defend and even then we lost most matches winning only the odd one (Adelaide, Perth) although we were generally quite competitive.
Pitches in Australia in the period you are referring to are different to pitches in Australia 2011 on wards or more accurately post home Ashes loss of 2010. India's 2 wins in Australia came on the back of Agarkar (03) and Irfan Pathan (07). The reason it's so difficult for teams like India/Pakistan or England to win in Australia now is that their bowlers don't have the arsenal/skills for these pitches. They rely on lateral movement and swing in the air. Kookaburra doesn't swing as much, and rarely do balls swing in the air in Australia. Even reverse swing is the most difficult in Australia and this is basically what likes of Anderson, Bhuvi, Shami, Amir rely on which is why they lose their wicket taking ability in Australia and they fail to take 20 Australian wickets. Every now and then you will get a Hobart 2016 where the ball does swing and there is grass on the pitch but Australia don't play in Hobart every year.

Hold on, we have a Top Cat and a Top_Cat now?
I thought it was the same guy until I read your post and then I noticed the 'we'

This is South African equivalent of a rank turner..

Would you back SA to chase down 208 on a rank turner in India? Probably not and they did not in 2015.

The SA dressing was relaxed and smiling even when they were 160 in front with like 7 wickets down. And even towards the end of the innings, they gave the impression that were pretty confident. They probably believe (and rightly so) that India can be bowled out for less than 150, forget about 208.

If SA bowl with discipline, a couple of Indian batsmen will have to take the attack to SA although in a sensible manner to put SA under pressure. Without the runs, india xould find itself in similar kind of trouble as 1st innings. If india get caught in a defensive bubble again, it won't work out so well.
There's a difference though. Rank turners have cracks opening up and there's uneven bounce so it becomes almost impossible to chase anything over 150. This pitch does not have that. There are no signs of big cracks or uneven bounce. It will still be difficult to chase this but that's because this is just a really really good bowling attack and it's difficult to score runs against them no matter first or second innings.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
**** this is so difficult to survive. Vijay doing well now just as Philander gets in his zone. What a game.
 

Top Cat

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Dhawan was somewhat important to keep the runscoring high on this pitch. Vijay and Pujara are great in the subcontinent etc where you can grind the bowlers down and you need 150 to win matches but here a quick fire 50 would be fantastic.

South Africa are going to struggle without a 5th bowler though. There's no way 3 fast bowlers can bowl for the whole innings. Philander is generally an unfit dude as well who gets seriously less threatening in his later spells. Would be surprised if Philander lasts the whole series to be honest....
 
Last edited:

Spark

Global Moderator
Dhawan was somewhat important to keep the runscoring high on this pitch. Vijay and Pujara are great in the subcontinent etc where you can grind the bowlers down and you need 150 to win matches but here a quick fire 50 would be fantastic.

South Africa are going to struggle without a 5th bowler though. There's no way 3 fast bowlers can bowl for the whole innings. Philander is generally an unfit dude as well who gets seriously less threatening in his later spells. Would be surprised if Philander lasts the whole series to be honest....
1st Test, South Africa tour of Australia at Perth, Nov 3-7 2016 | Match Summary | ESPNCricinfo
 

Top