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

[indiaholic]

Swing at least you can predict by the direction of the seam. With seam bowling you really have no clue till the ball pitches and deviates.

 

[social]

Issue with pitches isn't seam or turn. It's uneven turn which this pitch saw from day 1. Usually pitches have that from day 4 or 5. If there was a pitch offering uneven seam movement off the surface from day 1, it would come under lot of criticism too. It's not a west v east issue ffs.

Yup

Roadelaide spun (and seamed) on Day 1 last week and no-one could accuse it of being a poor pitch

The issue was that Nagpur delivered a very average day 5 pitch on day 1 and it was only ever going to get worse

 

[indiaholic]

Did not get worse though.

 

[harsh.ag]

Yup

Roadelaide spun (and seamed) on Day 1 last week and no-one could accuse it of being a poor pitch

The issue was that Nagpur delivered a) a very average day 5 pitch on day 1 and b) it was only ever going to get worse

a) Nope. Inaccurate use of the word average
b) Nope. It didn't.

 

[Black_Warrior]

South African fans (the ones left anyway),

Any thoughts on selection for the final test? Do you play Steyn given that it's a dead rubber and try to lose 2-1 or just keep him fresh for the very important home series against England? Morkel and Rabada have done an excellent job though.

 

[longranger]

Not to bring up the pitch argument again, but the fact of the matter is that it was an even pitch for both and India defeated South Africa fair and square. It's not India's fault that South African batsmen can't play Ashwin on a turning track. I think people should focus more on the shortcomings of Amla, ABDV and Faf shown in the series. India have definitely benefitted from South Africa not having a quality spinner and also not having Steyn for the last couple of tests.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah but it makes them saltier than the Pacific Ocean so i'll eat that up gladly.

Well technically I think even the Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific. "Saltier than the Dead Sea " would've worked better.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

South African fans (the ones left anyway),

Any thoughts on selection for the final test? Do you play Steyn given that it's a dead rubber and try to lose 2-1 or just keep him fresh for the very important home series against England? Morkel and Rabada have done an excellent job though.

Dead rubber but I think SA will try their best to store some pride from here

 

[Furball]

Yup

Roadelaide spun (and seamed) on Day 1 last week and no-one could accuse it of being a poor pitch

The issue was that Nagpur delivered a very average day 5 pitch on day 1 and it was only ever going to get worse

And yet the "sporting" Adelaide pitch saw a lower 1st innings score than Nagpur.

 

[indiaholic]

South African fans (the ones left anyway),

Any thoughts on selection for the final test? Do you play Steyn given that it's a dead rubber and try to lose 2-1 or just keep him fresh for the very important home series against England? Morkel and Rabada have done an excellent job though.

Would just play with Morkel and Rabada.. Maybe he can work with Morkel on reverse swing? Will be an important tool for him in conditions like these. I think he has already sorted out the length to bowl.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Feroz Shah Kotla pitch

 

[weldone]

Feroz Shah Kotla pitch

Will the grass stay there till tomorrow?

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Will the grass stay there till tomorrow?

that's what i am wondering too

 

[Black_Warrior]

If the grass stays, expect Morkel, Rabada and Ishant to bowl well.

 

[Daemon]

That looks like it'll turn into a bit of a road but there'll be turn from the rough later on at least

 

[Contra]

I hope Delhi doesn't turn into a flat deck just because of the way the series has gone, Delhi is one of my fav pitches in India.

 

[Contra]

BATTING FIRST AGAIN YES, SAFFAS MUST BE PISSED lol

 

[Daemon]

Yadav in for Mishra. Was hoping for some Bhuvi action but this will do too.

 

[Contra]

Yadav in for Mishra. Was hoping for some Bhuvi action but this will do too.

Was hoping Bhuvi in for Rohit too, actually anyone in for Rohit lol. I think India might just be overestimating themselves bowling wise a bit, 4 bowlers is always ehh..

 

[Contra]

Bharath Seervi [who is now part of our stats team]: "In all 33 Tests played at Kotla (including this match), the team winning the toss has elected to BAT FIRST; toss-winning team has won only 5 times though!"

In India all you gotta do is win the toss, bat first and win the game guys!


Oh wait....