*Official* South Africa in India

[Xuhaib]

Cullinan makes Ian Smith and Ian Healy look unbiased.

 

[Xuhaib]

must admit sehwag has displayed fairly good patience in this 50 so far, even though his usual technical flaws still are obivously still there.

I would definately say he has made a genuine effort at times to get himself into line againts the quicks (although its not natural to him), which is something i personally have not seen him really do in the past.

 

[aussie]

What are you giving me the rolleyes for.

 

[social]

Badrinath is going to have to learn to play the short ball if he is to have a future as a test cricketer

 

[Xuhaib]

What are you giving me the rolleyes for.

the knock has been quality you have to take a dig at him regardless how he bats.

 

[Xuhaib]

Yes he is.

Go Badri. Knock Yuvi out forever please!

but he hit six sixes in one over he's da best.

 

[honestbharani]

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.

The point is not about how many times India have been in winning positions.. The point is that whenever there has been a chance to push for a win, India have gone for it. Therefore, they are like Australia in that regard.. But RSA have almost always been safety first and that is something that has been holding them back, IMHO at least, from the sort of results a team of their talent deserves.


So many times during the late 90s and the early 00s, I felt the way Kallis approached his batting epitomized SA's approach to cricket... A real fear of failure...

 

[honestbharani]

Haha my head temporarily exploded when I read it. It's the COMPLETE opposite of what's actually the case!

It'll be epic if South Africa manage to get 20 wickets out of this pitch though. Did anyone notice at the start of the evening session when Amla tried to smash two full-length balls through cover, got an edge, and both landed a few feet short of the slip cordon? That kind of thing just shouldn't happen in international cricket IMO.

low bounce is part of cricket.. Cricket is not defined by what you like, FFS...

 

[NUFAN]

The point is not about how many times India have been in winning positions.. The point is that whenever there has been a chance to push for a win, India have gone for it. Therefore, they are like Australia in that regard.. But RSA have almost always been safety first and that is something that has been holding them back, IMHO at least, from the sort of results a team of their talent deserves.


So many times during the late 90s and the early 00s, I felt the way Kallis approached his batting epitomized SA's approach to cricket... A real fear of failure...

Yeah I agree about the first paragraph completely. I find it funny that for all of the critisism for Kallis's slow scoring he still has the 5th best Strike Rate in his team. Both Duminy and Prince from the top 6 bat slower and so do numbers 8 to 11 (excluding Parnell who hasn't batted yet).

 

[aussie]

the knock has been quality you have to take a dig at him regardless how he bats.

Yes he has looked good i clearly praised him in my post. Highligting his technical flaws i saw iof him in the past is not a dig, its a proven fact based on the tons of times i've seen him bat in test. Steyn almost bowled in a de ja vu moment earlier. See here:

Today:

16.4Steyn to Sehwag, no run, 89.9 mph, outside off stump, from a length, Sehwag tries to cut it away and edges it to his pad. Steyn smiles.

Ahemdabad 2008:

Steyn to Sehwag, OUT, what an important wicket for South Africa! Steyn pitches it outside off and gets it to come back inwards, Sehwag shapes to cut but is cramped for room and he manages a thick inside edge onto his offstump

Too bad you cant show video on CW & I dont know if you are watching this live ATM. But at that moment it was Deja vu 08 & Steyn didn't smile for no reason..

 

[JBH001]

I find it difficult to understand how Sachin getting out to a beauty early in his innings constitutes a "failure".

 

[honestbharani]

It's the complete opposite of the truth! The team that wins the cricket match is the team that scores more runs, not the team that is adjudged to have scored their runs more prettily!

U can draw games by scoring lesser than your opposition.. or by scoring more..

 

[wfdu_ben91]

So many times during the late 90s and the early 00s, I felt the way Kallis approached his batting epitomized SA's approach to cricket... A real fear of failure...

What about Sunil Gavaskar? Once I saw him hit a six in the World Series ODI's of the 1980's and Gavaskar jumped up and down like an idiot that had just won the lottery.

 

[honestbharani]

So the solution is to lose more wickets early by trying to play more aggressively than you feel comfortable. Makes sense.

lol.. SS... do you think it would have been a crime for RSA to bat at 3.5 instead of 3???? Are you seriously telling me you don't get his point or are you just picking on him for one line?

 

[SJS]

I find it difficult to understand how Sachin getting out to a beauty early in his innings constitutes a "failure".

Spot on !!

Whenever such a comment pops up I am reminded of Barrington who once was in a spell of very low scores all with very short stays at the wicket. A Journalist asked him if he was in the worst form of his life (or words to that effect). Barrington replied, "I cant tell you because I haven't stayed long enough at the crease to find out whether I am in good form or bad!"

 

[honestbharani]

What about Sunil Gavaskar? Once I saw him hit a six in the World Series ODI's of the 1980's and Gavaskar jumped up and down like an idiot that had just won the lottery.

well, I didn't watch him, at least not at his best... But if he was capable of batting aggressively and never did, that is a bit of a shame too, just like with Kallis.


Although, the batting strength of the late 90s and early 00s RSA and India of those days in the 70s and 80s is hardly comparable.. When you have got good batsmen around you, esp. the anchor types, you gotta do the team a favor and play the role that the rest of the batting line up cannot play. AT least, Kallis was more suitable for that positive game set up/breaker role than the rest of the line up at that time.


AT times, you could understand him batting that way coz he had Klusener and Pollock to follow but honestly, they were never in the same league and most teams need a positive batsmen in their top 4/5 to become a real great side.. They were always very, very good.. very safe and hence they could never take the step up and challenge Australia who were not so good at the safety game but were amazing when on the attack...

 

[wfdu_ben91]

well, I didn't watch him, at least not at his best... But if he was capable of batting aggressively and never did, that is a bit of a shame too, just like with Kallis.


Although, the batting strength of the late 90s and early 00s RSA and India of those days in the 70s and 80s is hardly comparable.. When you have got good batsmen around you, esp. the anchor types, you gotta do the team a favor and play the role that the rest of the batting line up cannot play. AT least, Kallis was more suitable for that positive game set up/breaker role than the rest of the line up at that time.


AT times, you could understand him batting that way coz he had Klusener and Pollock to follow but honestly, they were never in the same league and most teams need a positive batsmen in their top 4/5 to become a real great side.. They were always very, very good.. very safe and hence they could never take the step up and challenge Australia who were not so good at the safety game but were amazing when on the attack...

I seen him try play more expansive the last 2 series between South Africa and Australia. He got out playing loose strokes. His allot better suited to his defensive style. The fact that he has batted the majority of his career on seaming South Africa wickets doesn't help either.

 

[Xuhaib]

where is Raina or Kohli.

 

[honestbharani]

Plenty of time to up the tempo tomorrow. De Villiers and Boucher in particular certainly won't have to leave their comfort zones to up the run rate.

yeah.. what a great job of it they did too.. Same run rates on day 1 and day 2.. Some acceleration that!!!

 

[honestbharani]

I completely disagree with Ret that SA should have done better but I can see his overall point even if it is exaggerated.

A core concept of cricket was, and still is to a certain extent, 'winning time'. The idea that players who score quickly and bowlers that have a high strike rate are more important that those that dont as they give the team more time to force a victory. Cricket isnt played in a bubble. Every innings is framed by the game situation. 'How much' sometimes isnt as important as 'how' depending on the game situation. If SA crawl at 2 rpo in the first session today then this is an example of how 'winning time' is being eaten despite the score progressing.

lol, Goughy.. why let sense come in the way of adolescent group bullying of a post(er) that these guys never even understood in the first place?