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

[Burgey]

That Afghanistan match will be such a moment for the game. Brilliant to see them getting a match early against a top side too. When does Ireland get their first test?

 

[S.Kennedy]

May 11-15 v Pakistan.

 

[Arachnodouche]

That Afghanistan match will be such a moment for the game. Brilliant to see them getting a match early against a top side too. When does Ireland get their first test?

I only hope India turns out a full side, if for nothing than out of respect for the game. Ha! right? But one can hope.

 

[Burgey]

It’ll be brilliant to see two new sides playing tests. Can’t wait to see it, and to see which players become legends for them as the first to throw down a marker at the top level. It’s ****ing awesome.

 

[Burgey]

May 11-15 v Pakistan.

Is that a UAE game or are they taking a risk on Ireland in May, weather-wise?

 

[S.Kennedy]

Is that a UAE game or are they taking a risk on Ireland in May, weather-wise?

Dublin. They are selling tickets now for about 30 Euros. Bring your thermal underwear.

 

[Burgey]

**** that’ll be a tough sell. Hope they get enough time for the game to be played out.

Should have played it in England in June for the obvious reasons.

 

[anaksr]

I only hope India turns out a full side, if for nothing than out of respect for the game. Ha! right? But one can hope.

Nooooooo. For god's sake. Don't want to see Dhawan, Nohit using that chance to crawl back in to contention. I'd rather pick few young guys. If you cant give them chance for this then not sure when. Last thing AFG would want is to lose badly in their first match. Let's be sportive and make it competitive.

 

[Bahnz]

South Africa really are a whole different kettle of fish with AB back in the side, huh? They'd probably be starring down the barrel of a 0-2 scoreline without him, instead they're most likely going 2-0 up.

 

[S.Kennedy]

**** that’ll be a tough sell. Hope they get enough time for the game to be played out.

Should have played it in England in June for the obvious reasons.

I think it'll sell okay for the novelty factor of it being ''Ireland's first ever test'', but whether or not they'll see much play I have my doubts. You have to feel sorry for the Pakistanis who will be playing Ireland about ten days earlier than the Sri Lankans began playing England last time, that tour everybody said, ''having the Sri Lankans play Chester-le-Street in May is not good for test cricket blah blah''. Well Pakistan are playing in Dublin earlier!!

It is a sign of things to come really that Ireland will just be used as a tune-up for English tours.

 

[Burgey]

I think it will be a good thing in the short to medium term if Ireland is used as a tune up for an England tour. It means you'll have the big test nations with their full strength sides over there, and it'll be more likely that Ireland gets regular tests rather than being an afterthought.

 

[Anil]

Seriously though, what is India's plan here... can't get the ball off the square, not scoring runs. But still 3 wickets down. Wait for tomorrow and hope Rohit does something special?

the plan would be to fold up sometime before lunch tomorrow assuming weather permits of course...

 

[oblongballs]

Afer that spell from Shami, I thought ok, India might have a sniff if their batsmen grow a spine...yet again they are crumbling in the 4th innings. SA might even get them for less than a 100.

 

[anaksr]

MS Dhoni shouldn't have quit Test cricket, reckons Sunil Gavaskar - https://www.indiatvnews.com/sports/...it-test-cricket-reckons-sunil-gavaskar-422507

Yeah I know he's overseas record is nothing to boast abt. But he is still the fittest among them and could not be properly replaced in tests. Saha keeping wise fine but not a package. Other than that we know that he commands respect in this team and even Virat takes advice from, he might have advised Virat to avoid this selection blunders.

Is there a fix rule that one should not come out of retirement. But I guess he has already moved on and has other priorities.

 

[centurymaker]

In the first match, absolutely. du Plessis the bigger performer this test though imo... he screwed us over in both innings.

The 150 parternship between AB and Elgar took the game right away from India and was largely down to AB. If AB hadn't been there, Elgar probably would've folded too under all the pressure. But AB took most of the pressure off him with his dominant play and instead put the heat on India and Ashwin and allowed Elgar to persist with his ugly innings. Don't think SA would have scored many runs without ABD. Less than 150.

Faf did his bit too but in far less demoralizing manner and from far better situations. AB took the life out of India in both games right when India was absolutely on top. SA already had decent amount of runs in both innings when Faf came along. He only drove home the relative advantage, didn't really have to rescue the team from scraps, so he could afford to play the way he did. He didn't need to take any risks because India was already behind and waited for India to tire out/ lose patience and quietly took the target from... difficult to very difficult to impossible.

 

[Daemon]

Tbf Elgar always plays this way so I doubt his knock was influenced by AB.

Faf and AB both scored a similar number of runs in the game, both equally important. But in terms of quality of batting and facing the better bowling I'd say AB was superior.

 

[Black_Warrior]

So is Parthiv Patel the nightwatchman to protect Rohit?

 

[LJMJ]

AB is far and away the difference between the 2 teams in this series. His 2 counterattacking half centuries with SA's batting in tatters in both tests completely swung both matches in their favor. And it wasn't just the fact that he scored, but how he scored. Demoralized India.

 

[vcs]

Did India lose the plot in the middle session? - ESPNcricinfo

Bizarre article. What difference would it really have made if we were chasing 250 or 280. What killed us off was losing 3 wickets upfront, just like in the first day at Cape Town. You just have to find a way to battle through these situations if you want to win games like these.

 

[Daemon]

Lol it seems to be suggesting that the most important passage of play was when SA were already 200 ahead with 5 in hand. Would've thought it was when we failed to break through the Elgar-AB partnership.