**Official** South Africa in India Thread

[Tim]

I still believe that Application is a quality & that is a vital ingridient missing from alot of Indian & Pakistani batsmen at times (and also NZ for that matter too)

 

[honestbharani]

I still believe that Application is a quality & that is a vital ingridient missing from alot of Indian & Pakistani batsmen at times (and also NZ for that matter too)

I don't think NZ lack discipline. I think they make up for their lack of natural talent with the discipline they show. Perhaps, a NZ side with the talent like India or Pak,or an Indian or Pak side with the discipline of NZ, now they will give Australia a hard time.

 

[Tim]

I think NZ have lacked discipline though in recent times. When Stumper Rixon & David Trist were coaching, our discipline was top-notch but it has been slipping for awhile now.

Still...I believe when it comes to trying & battling it out, NZ are still quite far ahead of India & Pakistan in particular.

 

[Bapu Rao Swami]

The action shifts to the Green Park, Kanpur in the Eastern Uttar Pradesh for the first test against South Africa.
India should start as the favourties on a pitch, which is as shabby as the city, itself. South African team bus has broken down in the highway between Lucknow and Kanpur. Sachin Tendulkar had to wait in the airport infinitely before getting a "hitch-hike" from someone to get into Kanpur. The toilets didn't flush at the Green Park dressing rooms. The dressing rooms were not even ready when the South Africans arrived. Kudos to Jyoti Bajpai and Jagmohan Dalmiya to take cricket to such places which has no sense of history (though it is hosting test cricket for the last 50 years or so!!) while all the money is lying in the bank accounts for BCCI.

Hopefully India should come back to its winning ways against the South African side lacking class and confidence. If India goes to the test overconfidently, they might be in for a rude shock. But one gets the feeling that this might be a low-key series after the huge series against the all-conquering Aussies.

Kanpur must be the worst place in India to play test cricket. The crowds might not turn up in big numbers. Even the ones who turn up will shout "Pakistan hai hai" (a derogatory chant) after 5 overs though the opponents are South Africans. That shows the knowledge level of Kanpur public about test cricket.

The sad thing is that despite my numerous letters to the BCCI no one ever listens. What to do? There is no point in writing about BCCI anymore since they just won't listen. But as an Indian my blood boils when you read such things in the press when we try to portray ourselves as an IT Super power and a potential economic super power.
UPCA officials didn't know the arrival timings of the flights which has led Sachin to travel by a Tata Indica, Rahul Dravid by a Mercedes Benz from Sahara and so on. Ghoolam Raja and co have pushed that South African bus towards Kanpur from Lucknow

 

[viktor]

SAF to bat first. India go in with the same side that played at mumbai exceptfor ganguly.. strengthens our bowling but weakens the batting

 

[JustTool]

The action shifts to the Green Park, Kanpur in the Eastern Uttar Pradesh for the first test against South Africa.
India should start as the favourties on a pitch, which is as shabby as the city, itself. South African team bus has broken down in the highway between Lucknow and Kanpur. Sachin Tendulkar had to wait in the airport infinitely before getting a "hitch-hike" from someone to get into Kanpur. The toilets didn't flush at the Green Park dressing rooms. The dressing rooms were not even ready when the South Africans arrived. Kudos to Jyoti Bajpai and Jagmohan Dalmiya to take cricket to such places which has no sense of history (though it is hosting test cricket for the last 50 years or so!!) while all the money is lying in the bank accounts for BCCI.

Hopefully India should come back to its winning ways against the South African side lacking class and confidence. If India goes to the test overconfidently, they might be in for a rude shock. But one gets the feeling that this might be a low-key series after the huge series against the all-conquering Aussies.

Kanpur must be the worst place in India to play test cricket. The crowds might not turn up in big numbers. Even the ones who turn up will shout "Pakistan hai hai" (a derogatory chant) after 5 overs though the opponents are South Africans. That shows the knowledge level of Kanpur public about test cricket.

The sad thing is that despite my numerous letters to the BCCI no one ever listens. What to do? There is no point in writing about BCCI anymore since they just won't listen. But as an Indian my blood boils when you read such things in the press when we try to portray ourselves as an IT Super power and a potential economic super power.
UPCA officials didn't know the arrival timings of the flights which has led Sachin to travel by a Tata Indica, Rahul Dravid by a Mercedes Benz from Sahara and so on. Ghoolam Raja and co have pushed that South African bus towards Kanpur from Lucknow

Great post. Kanpur is definitely the armpit of Test Venues - probably closely followed by Nagpur. Shame on the corrupt Indian government for having neglected the infrastructure in India for so long - while the people have worked so hard to put India on the IT and high-tech world map. The government has done it's best to prevent progress in India. Let this be an example to all those who vote for socialism and big government - it's the death knell ultimately.

 

[JustTool]

Match off to a ho-hum blah start - as expected. Will we ever see any energy and excitement in this series ? The best thing for Indian cricket would be if India loses - they probably desrve to, the way they have played the last 8 months or so...

 

[Arjun]

There are not enough fielders around the bat...

 

[Arjun]

Murali "no-ball" Karthik, needs to overstep a lot less...he makes a habit of overstepping.

 

[Arjun]

The best thing for Indian cricket would be if India loses

And how will that help, if nothing changes? It may take them as many as 8 series defeats to realise it!

 

[Sanz]

Murali Karthik bowling crap, I hope Ganguly haters dont blame it on Ganguly.

 

[viktor]

4 no balls, and each bigger than the previous one

 

[Arjun]

They are not making the batsmen play......Zaheer's wide balls won't get wickets.

 

[Arjun]

I agree that the specialists need to be decent in the other departments but to pick guys who do a bit of batting, a bit of bowling and some good fielding (Sodhi) is just wasting a player position

Sodhi is a very talented batsman and a decent bowler, but has not shown much application. However, if Intikhab Alam can fix things- he is an intelligent coach- he can score a lot more than he is scoring now. He had started quite well, with a batting average of 46 and bowling average of 24, but application is always found wanting, and he cannot do far worse than the current Indian bowling lineup, save Kumble, and those runs are vital.

One player who got the cold shoulder for all the wrong reasons was JP Yadav. A hard-hitting batsman and a steady bowler of Chris Harris' pace, he could easily make an Indian team. However, he got dropped after just getting one innings in two matches and 6 overs, which were not good, but some batsmen and bowlers, who got more chances, but were terrible throughout that series, still stayed on, and still do! He still performs well with bat and ball- 93 runs and 5 wickets in an innings in the last Ranji match- and he can play in place of one of the pace bowlers. That would reduce the strain on Rahul Dravid, asked to do a job he doen't want to do.

Same for Ramesh Powar. Rated highly by former India players (Ajit wadekar says he's the best offie in India), he is an aggressive batsman and a bowler who makes the batsmen play. Yet he just got 10 overs in two matches, and as a batsman, hardly got to bat and still did quite well. Strangely, he does not find a place in the team, even though he's better for ODI's than Harbhajan, and more positive.

 

[Arjun]

Why is Sehwag not bowling? For a change...

 

[Jono]

There are not enough fielders around the bat...

How about on Kumble's hat trick ball?

Kumble has brought India back into the match after dropping Hall off Harbhajan's bowling. I feel sorry for Bhajji though, two dropped catches on his bowling.

LMAO @ both Smith and Rudolph playing on. What are the odds of that?

 

[Mister Wright]

Kumble 10 wickets again, anyone?

 

[Jono]

So that's why Kumble dropped Hall. He wants 10 wickets

 

[Dasa]

Kumble's on track this year to break the record for number of Test wickets in a calendar year by an Indian, current record being 75 by Kapil Dev. He's on 58 now, with a couple of Tests agains Bangladesh to come and the 2nd SA Test.

 

[Dydl]

It would be a nice landmark especially as Bangladesh are particularly weak. He should on a spinners wicket pick up bagfulls of wickets.