**Official** South Africa in India Thread

[Arjun]

As Dileep Premachandran pointed out in his Wisden article, Ntini is a pretty average bowler away from the high veldt.

Take it with a pinch of salt....

 

[Arjun]

i find it hard to believe that so many people think that gambhir is already the real deal, we all know how many players india has had in the past that have failed miserably away from home and we all know that this is just about as dead a track as we'll ever see. dont get your hopes up too early.....

1. He has played quite well, and a lot better than the next three.
2. He's a lot better than all the other openers tried so far.
3. They have to stick with an opening partnership for a long time, say 20 Tests, if they want good starts.
4. Fans are not responsile for hasty decisions taken by the selectors or the captain.

 

[indie2]

Can anyone tell me why Kallis hasn't been given a bowl -- 114 overs bowled so far and no Kallis?

 

[Arjun]

Can anyone tell me why Kallis hasn't been given a bowl -- 114 overs bowled so far and no Kallis?

He's still injured, and they need his batting more than bowling.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Why haven't Smith or Rudolph bowled at all?

 

[honestbharani]

I could understand that Ganguly needed to play himself in. His place always seems to be under some doubt (inspite of him having been reasonably consistent since last season in test cricket) and he is coming back from injury. Plus, he picked up the pace as he went on with his innings.



Could someone explain me why Dravid is playing like this? This is not the style that made him the player of the year. Throught the BG trophy in India, he was one guy who was hitting the ball pretty well and yet, he wasted all that good hitting nick by just eating up deliveries. He is taking us nowhere. I think, at the least, he should be demoted in the order. There could have been some excuse if he had picked up the pace as his innings progressed, but he is still crawling.


And BTW, a result, anyone?

 

[masterblaster]

1. He has played quite well, and a lot better than the next three.
2. He's a lot better than all the other openers tried so far.
3. They have to stick with an opening partnership for a long time, say 20 Tests, if they want good starts.
4. Fans are not responsile for hasty decisions taken by the selectors or the captain.

Agreed mate. Spot on.

 

[Sanz]

Goodness !! what was Dravid trying there. 50 runs in 169 balls ??

 

[Neil Pickup]

Doesn't appear either team wants to win. Hardly worth coming back tomorrow.

 

[tooextracool]

1. He has played quite well, and a lot better than the next three.

1. 
   
   so did devang gandhi, tell me wheres hes at again? top scored in the indian side in one of the innings too.
   
   

   He's a lot better than all the other openers tried so far.[*]

   why?because scoring an 85 on a pitch that competes with the one in antigua for the flattest wicket this year makes him?
   while we're at it, lets talk about his 2 failures against australia too shall we?
   
   

   They have to stick with an opening partnership for a long time, say 20 Tests, if they want good starts.

   20 tests, are you out of your mind? unless the partnership shows some sort of potential, theres no way anyone gets 20 tests.
   and who said that the partnership should be broken up ITFP?
   
   
   

   [*]Fans are not responsile for hasty decisions taken by the selectors or the captain.

did i say they were?

 

[tooextracool]

Everyone is just happy for him, and has said they hope (key word here hope) that he has a good career ahead of him as opener.

Indian pessism and optimism is apparently both a no-no on this board.

ok then perhaps i was a little harsh on the optimism, but i just want to say that that innings doesnt prove anything in my book, on that wicket it doesnt take much skill to score runs.

 

[Sanz]

You and your Book Take it easy man. the guy has just started his career and played his part in the second biggest opening partnership for India(after that record 413). One has to be optimistic about him.

 

[tooextracool]

You and your Book Take it easy man. the guy has just started his career and played his part in the second biggest opening partnership for India(after that record 413). One has to be optimistic about him.

personally when i look at his record, i would look at it sans the 85, given the nature of that wicket. it proves just about as much about his batting abilities as the 115 did of ratras....

 

[Sanz]

So when you look at a bowlers record do you discard the no. of wickets taken on bowler friendly wickets ?? I am not claiming that Gambhir is the new genius on the block but I will give the guy credit for going out there under pressure and batting well in front of Nitni, Pollock etc. If nothing else the the least I could do is be positive about him and his effort.

 

[Choora]

I wonder if there is any point in playing pitches where both teams piles up 500 + runs.4 days are gone, what is left in this test match now?

Interestingly in this test match, even after 5 days all 4 innings won't be played out, while in the test match which was played before the current one (against Australia) all 4 innings were over in less than 2 and half days!

 

[Jono]

Sehwag was SOOOO entertaining. I was disappointed when he got out. He was just great out there, what a knock. Gave the South Africans one mighty headache. I was also disappointed with Gambhir missing out his maiden test 100. I really felt for him, because he was so obviously nervous in the 90s.

Dravid has dug himself in a hole. He isnt willing to whip anything off the pads because he went out to that shot many times in Australia in both ODIs and some tests (and probably else where in the world) and it has now effected his scoring rate. I hope he gets back to the player he was 8-10 months ago, because he is very entertaining to watch when he's playing all round the wicket.

IMO India should declare overnight, and try and bowl South Africa out for as little as possible as soon as possible. Who knows, they may be able to roll them for 100 on a 5th day wicket, and then only have to chase down 200 in about 2 sessions. Not out of the question, and at least it would make a game of it.

Oh well, even if the game goes to a boring draw Virender Sehwag provided me with some top notch entertainment.

 

[Sanz]

After playing out 30 overs and scoring only 54 runs Dravid gets out, really great way of trying to get a decision. I dont understand why people are still telling that SA played -ve cricket, even Sehwag said that. I wonder if he watched his Vice Captain's innings ??

 

[JustTool]

After playing out 30 overs and scoring only 54 runs Dravid gets out, really great way of trying to get a decision. I dont understand why people are still telling that SA played -ve cricket, even Sehwag said that. I wonder if he watched his Vice Captain's innings ??

Agreed. Good thing he got out - I was starting to cry of boredom watching him. He has reverted to the old, worthless Dravid. Quite pathetic. Playing like this on flat pitch at home. This whole Indian team looks like it is in a funk. Drop Tendulkar and Ganguly to start with, I say.

 

[Sanz]

Great batting by Laxman Not. Takes a single first ball of the over and allows the tailender to face the entire over(and Kumble is out), Same thing two overs before that he gets four balls to play, basically takes no run and Kumble gets to face the entire over from Pollock.

 

[JustTool]

So, first Gangs, Tendulkar (the 2 Restauranters on the team) Laxman and Dravid all explained to us that they lost the one-day games because they had too long a layoff. Same guys who complained about too much cricket previously. Then they said, well, Australia would bring out the best in us and Test Cricket is different. Then they complained about injuries and pitches. Then they said they would take SA easily and they wanted to guard against complacency.

Send all these morons home - they are more interested in endorsments, restaurants and dating film stars than they are in playing cricket. Sack 'em all, I say. The passionate Indian fans deserve better application