*Official* South Africa in India

[honestbharani]

Did it Aus, smacked the crap out of Siddle (?) late in the day and turned the match on its head.

yeah.. that is what I am saying.. He has been capable of these all his life and yet he realizes it when he is on the wrong side of his 30s!!!

 

[Days of Grace]

Better late then never, I suppose.

 

[wfdu_ben91]

I really hope Kallis gets his double-hundred. Just imagine the reaction if he gets out for 199...

 

[Jono]

Well... fair to say we got our ass kicked on day 1.

Going to be interesting how we react.

Amla I love you

 

[Shri]

Need a big one from Sehwag when India bat if things continue to get worse.

 

[ret]

The selectors acted like a bunch of housewives when selecting a squad. There was no clear thinking from what I see.

Why have someone like Laxman in the squad as one of the specialist bat when he is a doubtful starter. Either you are fit to play or not. You don't include doubtful starters in the squad and if you do, you select him as if he could miss out with sufficient cover and not as if he would play and if he doesn't then. This hindered our selection process

Then having Saha in stead of Karthik now looks like a blunder esp when Karthik could have been a better choice as a specialist bat. Though nothing against Saha, he may still hit a ton on debut

Another option was to consider 5 bowlers, looking at how things have gone may be that could have helped

Coming back to the game, SA have set themselves well. But I get a feeling that may be they could have scored a little quicker. They could have scored at close to 4 an over. We have seen that getting runs is not an issue when playing in Ind, it is how quickly you get them

Let's not forget, it's SA playing to get to #1 and they are playing a comparatively inexperienced Ind side so they could have tried to force the play a bit more

 

[ret]

If SA take almost 2 days to get to 550-600 and if Ind scores 400+ then they game is heading for a dull draw. By trying to play safely, SA is putting pressure on its bowlers rather than making it easier for them

That's the difference b/w teams like SA and Ind/Aus, who look to go for the win from ball one. SA on the other hand looks to secure its position first and then look for opportunity to win (which means it is also difficult to beat them and it's the other team that has to create chance) or bank on some exceptional performance from its bowlers to pull it off

 

[SeamUp]

If SA take almost 2 days to get to 550-600 and if Ind scores 400+ then they game is heading for a dull draw. By trying to play safely, SA is putting pressure on its bowlers rather than making it easier for them

That's the difference b/w teams like SA and Ind/Aus, who look to go for the win from ball one. SA on the other hand looks to secure its position first and then look for opportunity to win (which means it is also difficult to beat them and it's the other team that has to create chance) or bank on some exceptional performance from its bowlers to pull it off

I love how you include India with Australia there while over the last 20 years only South Africa have got close to Australia in results.

Then secondly India need to get themselves more often into winning positions before thinking about run rate. Sure maybe in recent seasons Sehwag has got them off to decent starts but still aren't consistent enough against qaulity pace attacks all around the world. So sure they've scored at 4 + an over in India when Sehwags got off to flyers against some attacks.

Therefore its a rephrase in that only Australia push forward games in winning positions because they're in winning positions more often and SA are in winning positions more often than India and have won more tests and test series than India in the recent 5-10 years.

 

[SeamUp]

3.2 runs an over is also very good on a pitch that had no pace in it as well considering Amla and Kallis got lots of runs off deflections down to 3rd man and fine-leg using the pace of the ball. Where it was very difficult to time the ball in front of the wicket unless it was a long-half-volley or rank-long-hop.

Plus two of our most aggressive batsman in De Villiers and Boucher are still to come.

 

[social]

Inda needed to win this toss and bat with the eleven that they've chosen - batsmen arent good enough and bowlers will never take 20 wickets against a decent lineup in even conditions

Order up a spinner's paradise for game 2 or say bye-bye to the no.1 ranking

 

[ret]

I love how you include India with Australia there while over the last 20 years only South Africa have got close to Australia in results.

Then secondly India need to get themselves more often into winning positions before thinking about run rate. Sure maybe in recent seasons Sehwag has got them off to decent starts but still aren't consistent enough against qaulity pace attacks all around the world. So sure they've scored at 4 + an over in India when Sehwags got off to flyers against some attacks.

Therefore its a rephrase in that only Australia push forward games in winning positions because they're in winning positions more often and SA are in winning positions more often than India and have won more tests and test series than India in the recent 5-10 years.

I thought it was quite obvious that I am talking about the intent to get in to winning position from ball one. You could even lose in the process of trying to get in to a winning position. The intent to get in to that position does not imply winning results. In short, it's the approach that I am taking about

I think I clearly specified that I am talking abt playing in Ind when I talked abt RR. And it's not like one stroke for all folks. You may have to show a different approach to try to get in to a winning position in different conditions, for example if the pitch is doing something then obviously it's keeping wkts in hand and playing with caution that is going to get you in to a winning position then throwing your bat around as time is not a factor on helpful pitches but the game lasting five days is!

 

[silentstriker]

Scoring 300 runs in a day is not too slow...you have a crapload of barring still to come.

Match has started as well as SA would have wished - they are in an absolute dominating position.

 

[pasag]

Didn't get to watch much, but only two wickets on the first day of the much awaited 1 vs 2 is a bit of a disappointment from a neutrals perspective.

 

[SeamUp]

Theres something called playing each ball on its merits and as I said in the next post going at 3.2 RPO on a slow pitch like that and only losing 2 wickets has got us into a winning position.

Not everyone is a Virender Sehwag and you've only got one of him in your line up.

So to talk about us not pressing on when a Gambhir, Tendulkar or a Laxman wouldn't have batted any differently to how we batted today against our attack doesn't weigh up.

Sehwag is a unique freak of nature as a batsman on 'Indian pitches'.

 

[R_D]

Only watched the morning session and will only be able to watch morning session tomorrow as well... what was the pitch like?... from what i saw in the morning... Mishra was getting plenty of spin while Harbhjan was his usual self... he'll be probaly come good in second innings i guess. This definately the best opportunity for South Africa to win... 2 for 300.. they can put up a big score and put pressure on this inexperienced Indian middle order ( wow.. first time in 10 years ).. better get used to it.. thats whats its going to be in couple years time... We are getting a little glimpse of the future.. lets hope Badri and co so good resolve.

Really need the openers fire up tomorrow for India when they eventually bat.

Great knock by Amla and Kallis... will you 2 go out now plz.

 

[silentstriker]

I obviously don't want SA to do well, but I'm hoping Kallis gets a double in the middle of an SA collapse tomorrow. A batsman of his caliber should have a double.

 

[Jono]

Inda needed to win this toss and bat with the eleven that they've chosen - batsmen arent good enough and bowlers will never take 20 wickets against a decent lineup in even conditions

Order up a spinner's paradise for game 2 or say bye-bye to the no.1 ranking

Love how people still pretend like they know what's going to happen and make calls after day 1.

Surely the Sri Lankan series would have tought everyone a lesson FFS.

 

[Jono]

Theres something called playing each ball on its merits and as I said in the next post going at 3.2 RPO on a slow pitch like that and only losing 2 wickets has got us into a winning position.

Not everyone is a Virender Sehwag and you've only got one of him in your line up.

So to talk about us not pressing on when a Gambhir, Tendulkar or a Laxman wouldn't have batted any differently to how we batted today against our attack doesn't weigh up.

Sehwag is a unique freak of nature as a batsman on 'Indian pitches'.

Pretty ****ing good on Australian pitches too, thanks.

 

[SeamUp]

To the Indian supporters....

With your brilliant middle order getting very aged and potentially looking for greenhorns for the future...how would you rank these batsman to you yourself and not what the selectors have selected.

Raina is an ODI player only really so therefore...

1. Sub Badrinath
2. Murali Vijay
3. Rohit Sharma
4. Virat Kohli
5. Manish Pandey
6. Cheteshwar Pujara

 

[SeamUp]

Pretty ****ing good on Australian pitches too, thanks.