***Official*** India in South Africa

[superkingdave]

WTF is the Witness doing? Perhaps he's more concerned with getting a decent score himself than winning the game?

though apparently the power failure in the scoreboard means the lights aren't working, but still

 

[silentstriker]

Suprised as hell here. SA can still win obviously, but why make it harder on yourself?

 

[silentstriker]

I mean I could understand if you were a couple wickets down and you wanted to save yourself today and begin to fight in the morning...but with 0 down...it makes no sense.

 

[adharcric]

The light is probably genuinely bad guys ... or Smith is a bastard.

 

[Achtung Baby]

Also played a vital role in us not winning it. May sound harsh because I love Rahul, but I think he played for the draw too long. The game was safe earlier than he thought.

May be off topic a little, but if SA do set India a total of 300 or something sporting like that (not that chasing 300 is easy), I think India should worry about saving it, but if its there to be one, don't be afraid to. I doubt SA will declare with that lead anyway, they'll want more.

Yaa i remeber Tim De Lisle criticize dravid for playing too slowly. Sometimes he gets into his shell and it is not easy to come out of such situation. It happened today to Laxman too. Whenever llaxman plays well he score at good rate but i guess there were not too many 4 balls today which generally play a big role in building his innings.

 

[Jono]

Haha dire, stupid decision to go off. If there's a draw, heads will roll (probably not, just feel like being dramatic).

Lol, you legend Passag.

Anyway, whilst play has stopped I'll pose a question. SA played Australia in 6 tests in the 2005/06 season, 5 were lost, 1 was drawn. That drawn test did not have Kallis in the SA team, whilst the 5 that were lost did.

Now Kallis has been involved in the loss in the 1st test, but was not playing in this test, and its looking like SA have at the very least prevented a loss in this test.

Coincidence? Yes, but still, he's always a controversial man to talk about when batting so I'll just put it out there.

 

[TT Boy]

The floodlights have blown out and AB nearly copped one on the head. So it’s the decision weather to give up an hours worth of play or the prospect of playing under no lights and the more than realist chance that a few wickets would fall which would kill the South African momentum completely. They still have about three hours worth of time left tomorrow to make the last 150 odd and its safe to say that if the lights did not blow out Smith would have stayed on, he indicated that as he come off.

 

[Achtung Baby]

The light is probably genuinely bad guys ... or Smith is a bastard.

Whatever it is i am happy with it. Since india now has more chance of saving this much. Rain gods where r u??

 

[adharcric]

There's a reason Dravid and Laxman have trouble coming out of that shell: everyone else in the Indian lineup. Who knows how long the lineup will last if those two fall?

 

[TT Boy]

Lol, you legend Passag.

Anyway, whilst play has stopped I'll pose a question. SA played Australia in 6 tests in the 2005/06 season, 5 were lost, 1 was drawn. That drawn test did not have Kallis in the SA team, whilst the 5 that were won did.

Now Kallis has been involved in the loss in the 1st test, but was not playing in this test, and its looking like SA have at the very least prevented a loss in this test.

Coincidence? Yes, but still, he's always a controversial man to talk about when batting so I'll just put it out there.

Only test matches South Africa have won in 2006 have featured Jacques Kallis coincidence?

 

[TT Boy]

There's a reason Dravid and Laxman have trouble coming out of that shell: everyone else in the Indian lineup. Who knows how long the lineup will last if those two fall?

What about Dada?

 

[Jono]

Yaa i remeber Tim De Lisle criticize dravid for playing too slowly. Sometimes he gets into his shell and it is not easy to come out of such situation. It happened today to Laxman too. Whenever llaxman plays well he score at good rate but i guess there were not too many 4 balls today which generally play a big role in building his innings.

Yeah I remember reading De Lisle's article, however I only accidentally came across it a few weeks back when I was searching through his archives. I never actually read it back when the series was going on.

De Lisle is a gun columnist so his criticism was fair and balanced, that was a good article.

Regarding Laxman, I reckon if you look at the way he's played in 2005 and 2006, you'll see he's not the stroke maker he once was. Whether its because he always feels he's under pressure of being dropped (dropping him during the Eng series was a dickhead move, and India losing the 3rd test served them right), or he's just not what he used to be in terms of fluency I don't know, but its been obvious for a while IMO.

 

[Jono]

Only test matches South Africa have won in 2006 have featured Jacques Kallis coincidence?

Lol.

Only test matches SA have won in 2006 involve them playing NZ. Coincidence?

 

[silentstriker]

Yeah I remember reading De Lisle's article, however I only accidentally came across it a few weeks back when I was searching through his archives. I never actually read it back when the series was going on.

De Lisle is a gun columnist so his criticism was fair and balanced, that was a good article.

Regarding Laxman, I reckon if you look at the way he's played in 2005 and 2006, you'll see he's not the stroke maker he once was. Whether its because he always feels he's under pressure of being dropped (dropping him during the Eng series was a dickhead move, and India losing the 3rd test served them right), or he's just not what he used to be in terms of fluency I don't know, but its been obvious for a while IMO.

Yea. Both Sachin and Laxman have gone from stroke makers to a more defensive type of batting. That has affected the Indian batting lineup as well, as our run rates are usually not as they used to be. But some things are inevitable.

 

[Jono]

Yea. Both Sachin and Laxman have gone from stroke makers to a more defensive type of batting. That has affected the Indian batting lineup as well, as our run rates are usually not as they used to be. But some things are inevitable.

Well this is the way I see it;

2003/04 when India were really hitting their straps in test cricket; they had Dravid and *insert opener who isn't Sehwag (or Yuvraj)* as the anchormen in the team, and then had Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly who would score at a brisk, yet natural pace. However all those (bar Sehwag) batsmen started to stop scoring fluently. However by late 2004 (first started to notice it during the SA tour of India in 2004) everyone bar Sehwag started scoring slower. As you said, it was inevitable as age had caught up with them all, but I do think Laxman is doing it deliberately as well because of his uncertainty in the team due to Yuvi and Kaif sort of pushing for spots.

 

[adharcric]

Over the past year, Laxman has been scoring at a slower rate because his place in the test side has been under threat. Now, he's still scoring at a slower rate but it's more a case of him batting responsibly against quality bowling IMO. The vice-captaincy should have eliminated any doubt in his mind regarding his place.

 

[Jono]

Yeah got not problem with him scoring at a slower rate at all, particularly in this series where the situation and conditions have called for it, its just sad to see. He IMO used to be the definition of a stroke maker.

 

[silentstriker]

Yeah got not problem with him scoring at a slower rate at all, particularly in this series where the situation and conditions have called for it, its just sad to see. He IMO used to be the definition of a stroke maker.

Yup.

 

[TT Boy]

Just looking at the weather forecast for Durban and it doesn’t look to good for the next couple of days. Will be cloudy for the best part of tomorrow meaning bad light for Indians to take anytime after 4.00pm and then on Saturday earlier morning thunderstorms. Big ask for South Africa to get the win, even a drawn series might not be enough for both Arthur and Smith.

Edit- Great result for the Indians though a draw would be a fantastic achievement. Hugely more significant then the win in the West Indies. Which may have been historic to them but lets face it the West Indies suck, this is a proper result.

 

[Jono]

Just looking at the weather forecast for Durban and it doesn’t look to good for the next couple of days. Will be cloudy for the best part of tomorrow meaning bad light for Indians to take anytime after 4.00pm and then on Saturday earlier morning thunderstorms. Big ask for South Africa to get the win, even a drawn series might not be enough for both Arthur and Smith.

If SA lose this series, that'd make it 3 home series losses in 24 months, is that correct?