***Official*** India in South Africa 2021-22

[h_hurricane]

Read somewhere that Kohli is the only captain in history whose team bowled out opposition for under 200 on 50 occasions

 

[honestbharani]

Read somewhere that Kohli is the only captain in history whose team bowled out opposition for under 200 on 50 occasions

For all the **** he gets (and some of them are justified, tbh) for his captaincy, I honestly think this is a very real achievement of his captaincy and something he can take a lot of the credit for. He loves to back his fast bowlers, sometimes to stupid extents but he does. I have not seen an Indian captain who made fast bowlers in the side seem more important and useful than Kohli and that has definitely had an impact.

 

[Daemon]

Doesn't even average 35 though and no centuries in half a decade as a middle order bat. The question is can Bavuma be capable of more?

The answer is no btw.

I think he's a pretty limited cricketer but handy in low scoring situations because he somehow always gets starts. I think in Delhi for example he was forced to open and was the only one other than AB who showed some fight. In Maharaj's debut series as well I recall him stepping up with two really good partnerships with QdK to rescue SA. There's been a few other occasions that I can't recall, perhaps against England where he consistently made starts and failed to kick on.

Sometimes those starts can still be valuable when regularly facing 250 all out type of situations.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I think he's a pretty limited cricketer but handy in low scoring situations because he somehow always gets starts. I think in Delhi for example he was forced to open and was the only one other than AB who showed some fight. In Maharaj's debut series as well I recall him stepping up with two really good partnerships with QdK to rescue SA. There's been a few other occasions that I can't recall, perhaps against England where he consistently made starts and failed to kick on.

Sometimes those starts can still be valuable when regularly facing 250 all out type of situations.

Hobart test in 2016 where Australia got rolled he rescued SA from a dicey spot. He's very limited yeah but useful in certain situations.

 

[Shady Slim]

I think he's a pretty limited cricketer but handy in low scoring situations because he somehow always gets starts. I think in Delhi for example he was forced to open and was the only one other than AB who showed some fight. In Maharaj's debut series as well I recall him stepping up with two really good partnerships with QdK to rescue SA. There's been a few other occasions that I can't recall, perhaps against England where he consistently made starts and failed to kick on.

Sometimes those starts can still be valuable when regularly facing 250 all out type of situations.

same reason i think shane watson copped way more flack than was deserved as regards his batting

australia 2015ish to 2019ish would kill for a bloke who can regularly hit 25-40+ in games on foreign shores

 

[cnerd123]

I have not seen an Indian captain who made fast bowlers in the side seem more important and useful than Kohli and that has definitely had an impact.

I have not seen an Indian captain who had any decent fast bowlers to work with

And we've talked about this in another thread - Kohli did nothing to get those quicks in the team. All he had to do was just toss them the ball and try not to drop too many at 3rd slip.

 

[Daemon]

Let's not do this again for the love of god

 

[_00_deathscar]

I have not seen an Indian captain who had any decent fast bowlers to work with

And we've talked about this in another thread - Kohli did nothing to get those quicks in the team. All he had to do was just toss them the ball and try not to drop too many at 3rd slip.

Not this depth, but previous promising fast bowlers have been ruined by captains/the system (take your pick).

 

[sunilz]

Green Mamba

 

[karan_fromthestands]

Their current crop of batsmen are idiots. No talent whatsoever

Did you really watch the game? The wicket was too spicy, every other ball was beating the bat, the SA batsmen didn't shell up and tried to make the most of scoring opportunities on offer. The Indian bowlers were relentless, I can see a lot of teams getting folded for under 100 on that pitch.

 

[Shri]

Green Mamba

if rabada and co float balls at 130 kmph way outside off through the first day again they will lose regardless of the pitch

well except for nicking kohli off anyway

 

[Shri]

if it really is a green pitch, i'd drop shardul for chahar who swings it almost as much as bhuvi

 

[artvandalay]

if it really is a green pitch, i'd drop shardul for chahar who swings it almost as much as bhuvi

You need more batting cushion If it's a snake pit. Even 4 bowlers will be plenty for the job. This is a game vihari should play especially since none of the MO will get dropped.

 

[Shri]

just had alook at the sa team that was beaten by SL two years ago

bowling attack was

Philander
Steyn
Rabada
Olivier
Maharaj

did sa lose because they played a couple of aging bowlers who were rusty after frequent injuries or did SL play well against really threatening bowling?

a team can only beat another that is in front of them but i would have loved for our guys to beat those bowlers in a series as well

 

[artvandalay]

just had alook at the sa team that was beaten by SL two years ago

bowling attack was

Philander
Steyn
Rabada
Olivier
Maharaj

did sa lose because they played a couple of aging bowlers who were rusty after frequent injuries or did SL play well against really threatening bowling?

a team can only beat another that is in front of them but i would have loved for our guys to beat those bowlers in a series as well

I saw that series and it felt like saf didn't take it that seriously for some reason. The 2 pitches that they played on also were somewhat subcontinental.

 

[Manee]

if it really is a green pitch, i'd drop shardul for chahar who swings it almost as much as bhuvi

No way - his FC record is nowhere near strong enough to justify selection.

 

[Shri]

guy can run through sides when he gets it right on his own

plus he is not a slow trundler and is really handy with the bat

 

[StephenZA]

just had alook at the sa team that was beaten by SL two years ago

bowling attack was

Philander
Steyn
Rabada
Olivier
Maharaj

did sa lose because they played a couple of aging bowlers who were rusty after frequent injuries or did SL play well against really threatening bowling?

a team can only beat another that is in front of them but i would have loved for our guys to beat those bowlers in a series as well

It was the one and only recent time that we played 5 bowlers and 6 batsmen with Philander as an all rounder, where we had all the bowlers available. Unfortunately Steyn was just coming back from injury and soon after broke down again. And that is when our batting really started to struggle. Lots of ageing players been asked to hang on. It was very much a selection of heart over head... that I fully supported at the time. Mulder debuted next test and that was also Olivier's last test before he went kolpak.

2016 the team was heading downhill by 2018 we should have started rebuilding... now we heading into 2022 and still sitting with the same problems, and trying to rebuild from a very weak position.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

if it really is a green pitch, i'd drop shardul for chahar who swings it almost as much as bhuvi

I wish they do that, he has too much to fix when it comes to white ball cricket(excellent with the new ball but has literally nothing going on for him in death overs), he is ready for tests though with his sharp swing and ability to chip in with the bat.

 

[centurymaker]

if rabada and co float balls at 130 kmph way outside off through the first day again they will lose regardless of the pitch

well except for nicking kohli off anyway

The first day, in fact the 1st session, was the difference between the sides, where SA threw away 100+ runs.. by bowling 129 k garbage without any intensity and without threatening the stumps or the edge. It was terrible use of day 1 greenish conditions. Day 3 onwards bowling was much much better