Indian tour of South Africa, December-January 2010/11

[sohum]

Anyways, ZAK is fit for the next test match. And well, Smith's been talking too much recently, trying to have a go at India. This was just the wake up call India needed. Predict India to win the next test match.

Wasn't it you who was mocking me earlier for claiming India would lose the first game and win the second?

 

[Cricketman]

India have always been slow starters in away games. Not anything new. I still have hope for this series...

 

[sohum]

--

Well so far there is no need for India to panic, imo. Looks like our batsmen were finally coming to terms with the pitch and the bowlers, with good knocks from Sehwag, Gambhir, Dhoni and Sachin in the second innings. Laxman and Raina deserve to be called out--they managed 22 runs between them through the whole Test--Ishant had 23 as the nightwatchman in the second innings.

India always were on the backfoot when they were asked to bat on a juicy pitch with overcast conditions. I think if we'd won the toss things could have been a bit different, but that's not to say that the South African bowlers are several heads and shoulders better than our bowling unit.

I expect the Indian team to pick up the intensity in Game 2 (boxing day Test, right?). We need Sehwag to last more than like 10 minutes this time in the first innings, when the pitch will be truer and the ball new. It would also be nice to win a toss for once so that we aren't always chasing the game. Our bowling is certainly worrying. Hopefully ZaK coming back will help the other guys pick up their performance. Durban should be helpful to the faster bowlers as well.

---------- Post added at 12:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------

India have always been slow starters in away games. Not anything new. I still have hope for this series...

Yep, as Cricinfo posted today, India have lost the first Test in four of their last five away tours. So it is nothing new.

It's going as I had expected thus far--maybe apart from the bowlers looking completely inept. I had expected us to bowl the Saffers out for maybe 450-550 in their first innings.

Anyways, there's no replacement for actual match practice.

---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:00 PM ----------

India will get mauled in the first test, South Africa in the second. Last test South Africa will win fairly comfortably but India will have an outside chance in it. 2-1 to South Africa with South Africa winning the first and the third. Same as sohum.

So far you've been right. Let's hope it continues like that.

 

[War]

Although it is indeed a recent trend on Indian tours in the last couple years to start slowly/poorly then bounce back. Theirfore i can understand why you Indian fans will still be optimistic.

Somehow though i dont see that happening this time to be honest, once SA continue play to potential. If IND step up their game, id back the saffies to step up their game & counter whatever IND throw @ them.

So for me the whitewash or 2-0 to SA is still on the cards.

 

[TruSachFan]

Wasn't it you who was mocking me earlier for claiming India would lose the first game and win the second?

ZAK missing was a big key in my opinion. Although, credit to the way SAF played. When was the last time they scored so fast? I think someone on this board criticized SAF run rate before was one of the reasons they lost games to Australia, I think. Scoring 620 runs at 4.7 was pretty good against any bowling attack. I mean, SAF has played the indian attack without ZAK and has never managed to score runs at such a fast rate. Also, if you're gonna call out Laxman and raina, then you should also criticize harbhajan. If he hadn't picked up Peterson or Smith, then SAF would have never scored at 4.7

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 PM ----------

Anyways, this is my team for the second test.

Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Sachin
Laxman
Pujara
Dhoni
harbhajan
ZAK
Ishant
Sree

 

[sohum]

Somehow though i dont see that happening this time to be honest, once SA continue play to potential. If IND step up their game, id back the saffies to step up their game & counter whatever IND throw @ them.

The thing is, I don't think India even played up to potential until the last couple of days of the game, where we batted. That showed to me that we would have been able to handle the bowling if we hadn't been unlucky to be put in when the pitch was juicy and the weather cloudy.

In the past we've also come back from situations where everyone had written us off, especially in Australia in 08/09 and England last time we toured. The seam/swing/bounce was supposed to be enough to cause us to suck but our bowlers grew and were able to use the conditions to their advantage.

Our bowling has a longer way to go this time, but I'm still hoping for the best.

 

[pcfan123]

I don't see how India will miraculously take 20 wickets in the 2nd Test.

 

[sohum]

I don't see how India will miraculously take 20 wickets in the 2nd Test.

The BCCI will bribe CSA.

 

[pcfan123]

If that was an attempt at humor, it's pretty weak.

Unless Zak takes 7-8 in the match, I don't see India taking 20. The Saffer batting line at home will need a very testing bowling attack to take them down.

 

[mohit_dude10]

I would like to see Dravid and Laxman swap places. Dravid has been finding it difficult lately facing the newish ball(the way he has been getting out). If he could come down at 5, facing a fairly old ball with less swing he could provide stability down the order.

Raina is totally out of form, he should be replaced by pujara.

Sehwag
Gambhir
Laxman
Sachin
Dravid
Pujara
Dhoni
Singh
Khan
Ishant
Sree

 

[sohum]

Well first things first:

1. We need to win the toss. Someone posted that we've won one toss out of 13 Tests this year. The toss could have been quite vital in the first Test--at least putting us in line for a draw if not a win.

2. We will have our spearhead back. Even if he doesn't take 8 wickets, he's got the experience of playing in South Africa and although doesn't have great numbers, will at least know what to do when we are getting pummeled.

3. We will hopefully be off to a better start. Being inferior bowlers is one thing, it certainly doesn't help the pressure when your batting scores about 140. Our batting, now that it is somewhat acclimatized to the pace/bounce of the Saffer bowlers, should hopefully manage to put up decent totals to bowl at (at least in the 250-300 range minimum).

4. The pitch in Durban is probably going to assist bowlers more. While India lost 9 wickets on Day 1, the rest of the days in the Test read like this (in chronological order): 3 wickets, 4 wickets, 6 wickets, 2 wickets. If Dhoni had managed to stick in for another 20 minutes, only 4 wickets would have fallen on Day 4. Having not seen any live footage, I think it is fair to say that the pitch in and of itself was pretty flat and the match could have been a draw if India hadn't crumbled on Day 1.

5. We will need to get lucky. Every batsman that played for South Africa scored at least a half-century. We will definitely need some luck for them to make mistakes. But that is the special thing about cricket and indeed all sports. If things just happened based on what the bookies expected, no one would watch sport any more.

 

[stefan]

The thing is, I don't think India even played up to potential until the last couple of days of the game, where we batted. That showed to me that we would have been able to handle the bowling if we hadn't been unlucky to be put in when the pitch was juicy and the weather cloudy.

Could one of you indian fans please enlighten me where you keep getting this cloudy weather from?? By the time the game started the clouds had all melted away and it was the same as the last 4 days of the test, bright sunshine.

Also if india start slowly but get better the same can be said for SA at home in our last few series. England,Aus,India,ect.

 

[ARay]

i think there was a hidden message(s) here given by sachin to the tailenders / bowlers by taking those 1st ball singles.

"This is how a batsmen has to fear and feel when you run in to bowl"

"This is how 145Kph feels like!"

"Look at the amount of pace and movement generated even on a 5th day wicket"

"That Steyn and Morkel are world class bowlers and you guys are nothing but
useless motherflinging pie-chuckers.""

This has made my day!

 

[McLOVIN]

Wow they couldn't even avoid a innings defeat? I thought Sachin would be capable of doing at least that. But you can't expect better from him.

Better fight needed from India in the next game. Or else it'd be very zZing.

---------- Post added at 01:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 PM ----------

If that was an attempt at humor, it's pretty weak.

Unless Zak takes 7-8 in the match, I don't see India taking 20. The Saffer batting line at home will need a very testing bowling attack to take them down.

And in that case the toss shouldn't matter. One 19 years old debutant, one clueless weirdo, and one lost form bowler won't pick up 20 wickets, even if they bowled first in this match. May be they wouldn't have gone for 500+ runs, but I can't see them bowling SA out for 139 runs.

 

[subversive]

We remember how well Laxman played when he saved the match for us against SL. But, what we do not remember is he constantly gave the strike to Sharma whenever there was a chance. It was just the luck that Sharma survived and played a solid knock. Had he got out earlier and other wicket(s) would have fallen, we would have said same about Laxman.

You should watch the test against SL or AUS where Laxman won it for India, again. He didn't blindly give the strike to Sharma off the first or second ball that too against their best bowlers. Plus he shields all the tailenders in the beginning and only starts giving them the strike after they've been at the crease for 20-30 minutes.

I've never seen him give the strike to any tailender off the very first ball, especially when the tailender has just arrived at the crease...

Anyway, sad to see Imran Tahir won't be playing for SA until 2012...