India in South Africa

[surendar]

SA are going well here.... So far,21 overs have been bowled by fast bowlers while Kumble bowled only 5 overs so far!

As sai said, Kumble shd have been given more opportunity.... Two more quick wickets can turn the game! Com'on Jumbo... Get them!

 

[aussie_ben91]

I wanna see Amla go out soon mainly because I want to see Kallis bat.

Smith looks to be in for a big one. If he gets to a hundred I don't think he'll pack it in either, he'll try and grind out a double or maybe triple century and make the Indians grovel.

He might also look to damage the stats and confidence of that arrogant young bowler, Sreesanth.

 

[BigCrickNan]

India need to do something about Smith quite quickly, he is murdering them at a good rate

 

[SaiSrini]

I wanna see Amla go out soon mainly because I want to see Kallis bat.

Smith looks to be in for a big one. If he gets to a hundred I don't think he'll pack it in either, he'll try and grind out a double or maybe triple century and make the Indians grovel.

He might also look to damage the stats and confidence of that arrogant young bowler, Sreesanth.

Sreesanth is arrogant? Your 'McGrath' has been a master at such arrogance and has become an all time great bowler!

Dravid has been trying Kumble now, but why is he persisting with that 'awfully poor' Munaf Patel??? Munaf Patel has so far been horrible in this innings. Poor pace, looks terribly slack and surely looks the 124 year old that Akram so famously said! Dravid is not trying Sehwag or Sachin so far. He had probably thought that its enough for the day!

 

[harishankar]

Simply pathetic bowling effort by India after Tea. No intensity and except for Sreesanth no bowler looked like picking a wicket.

As for Kumble, he got some encouragement but is too inconsistent. I think SA may have a good 3rd day and really pressurize India if they play out the first session tomorrow.

 

[surendar]

Well that was a nice reply from SA to the huge total. Actually bit suprised to see Smith scoring vital runs! Anyways Day is over.

Its now upto the bowlers to start fresh tomrw. Fast bowlers, either Munaf,Sree or Zaheer have to get the starting wickets tmrw! First session is crucial. If bowlers can get Two or three wkts quickly in first session, then India can bounce back well with Kumble!

But SA's main man Kallis is still yet to come. So lots of tough task for the bowlers tmrw like breaking this vital partnership, sending Kallis early... etc etc! Totally its going to be tough for Dravid to manage the team but, all the players need is, the confidence to bowl the opposition out

So the first session is going to be crucial for both the teams tmrw!

 

[aussie1st]

Smith has started to find so form of late, good time to find it with this series on the line right here.

 

[SaiSrini]

I think India are in for a very hard grind tomorrow. Even if they nail Smith and Amla early, they have to contend with Kallis, Gibbs, Prince, Pollock, etc. I sense that South Africa will get to the total of 414 and probably might take a small lead too.

The way India scored slowly yesterday is most probably going to come back to haunt them!

India needs to turn in to Tendulkar early tomorrow. Kumble is not spinning it too much. Tendulkar has had success on such turning wickets before, and turns the ball much more than Kumble. He, Sehwag and Kumble should be used a lot tomorrow. Dravid has got to be a lot more pro-active tomorrow. He was letting the game drift today and was waiting for Smith to act!

 

[Gunner786]

india need to get a lead to haveany chance of winning this match

 

[aditya123]

Smith has started to find so form of late, good time to find it with this series on the line right here.

That is bad news for th Pakistanis who go to SA next.

I still believe that we have a real good chance of getting the SAffers out quickly.
Munaf , actually was beginning to find rhythm towards the end of the day.
He was reverse singing it big.

As for Kumble, it was a bad day for him and he`ll look to make amends today.
I cannot believe that Dravid has`nt tried out Sachin`s leggies as of yet.
He must turn to Sachin first thing in the morning.

 

[harishankar]

Dravid's captaincy throughout this tour has been... well, ordinary. To say the least.

He's nowhere near as adaptible as Sourav Ganguly was and his victories so far have been more due to individual player brilliances and performances than any real strategic moves.

For instance, India's win at Joh'burg was purely due to Sreesanth's brilliant spell in the 1st innings. Nowhere does Dravid every seem to take control of a situation as a captain on the field. His field placements are very poor on occasions and his stupid insistence on leaving the gap at Third Man is infuriating for an Indian fan. The way they leak runs in that region is criminal and probably contributes to SA's quick scoring which led to their win in Durban. I mean you're 200+ runs in the deficit and you still attack the opposition batting? He should have gone on the defensive very early in that match and slowed down SA's scoring rate. Same here at Cape Town.

If you cannot take wickets, the best thing to do is to slow down the opposition scoring rate and Dravid seems to be totally oblivious to this simple cricketing fact.

Tactically India have been poor in this series and it's just one brilliant spell of bowling which got them the first win at Johannesburg. I wouldn't be surprised if India indeed do lose the series 2-1 and they would fully deserve it if they do.

 

[gaurav_indian]

Dravid's captaincy throughout this tour has been... well, ordinary. To say the least.

He's nowhere near as adaptible as Sourav Ganguly was and his victories so far have been more due to individual player brilliances and performances than any real strategic moves.

For instance, India's win at Joh'burg was purely due to Sreesanth's brilliant spell in the 1st innings. Nowhere does Dravid every seem to take control of a situation as a captain on the field. His field placements are very poor on occasions and his stupid insistence on leaving the gap at Third Man is infuriating for an Indian fan. The way they leak runs in that region is criminal and probably contributes to SA's quick scoring which led to their win in Durban. I mean you're 200+ runs in the deficit and you still attack the opposition batting? He should have gone on the defensive very early in that match and slowed down SA's scoring rate. Same here at Cape Town.

If you cannot take wickets, the best thing to do is to slow down the opposition scoring rate and Dravid seems to be totally oblivious to this simple cricketing fact.

Tactically India have been poor in this series and it's just one brilliant spell of bowling which got them the first win at Johannesburg. I wouldn't be surprised if India indeed do lose the series 2-1 and they would fully deserve it if they do.

Yes and Dravid himself has done nothing.His bad form continues.Ganguly was dropped from the team when he wasn't scoring runs and his captaincy wasn't bad at that time.

 

[aussie1st]

Good start for India grabbing the two overnight batsmen. Still a fair bit of batting left for SA including their stone wall in Kallis.

 

[aditya123]

Prince gone now, bowled by Kumble !!
Tendulkar getting the big wicket of Kallis .
Did we members on the forums get it right !
Most of us had called for Sachin to have a crucial role today.

More often than not, when Tendulkar gets the big wickets, we win test matches.
The best examples being the Adelaide test and the Kolkata test against Australia.

 

[SaiSrini]

Dravid's captaincy throughout this tour has been... well, ordinary. To say the least.

Tactically India have been poor in this series and it's just one brilliant spell of bowling which got them the first win at Johannesburg. I wouldn't be surprised if India indeed do lose the series 2-1 and they would fully deserve it if they do.

What nonsense? India have played quite well overall in this series, and certainly deserve a 2-1 victory. On the contrary, South Africa have played poorly in this series and totally deserve a 2-1 defeat!

Prince gone now, bowled by Kumble !!
Tendulkar getting the big wicket of Kallis .
Did we members on the forums get it right !
Most of us had called for Sachin to have a crucial role today.

More often than not, when Tendulkar gets the big wickets, we win test matches.The best examples being the Adelaide test and the Kolkata test against Australia.

Yes Yes! Sachin is a good asset for us as a bowler....

India have done quite well today. I would ideally want us to wipe up South Africa for a lead of more than 50 runs. On this pitch, any lead is going to be a big one. The wicket is still very good for batting. If we can get SA all out by today (or at least one hour into tomorrow morning), we can then score quickly and look to set a target of 350 odd for South Africa to chase on the final day.

But I think a draw seems the most likely option. The wicket is not helping the bowlers much!