India in South Africa

[harishankar]

SA bowlers have one great disadvantage: their attack is too one-paced. Kallis could probably be the only SA bowler who can genuinely swing the ball. All others are good seamers when the conditions are right, but this pitch won't offer too much seam movement.

Again, their spinner is a debutant and there would be enormous pressure on him to contain the Indian batting today if the seamers don't pick up wickets early.

 

[sohum]

I fear the occasion may get to a few of the Indian batsmen (experienced as they are). This is a real opportunity to bounce back after a lackluster few months of cricket and it would not be wrong to say that we have shown our lack of backbone in the face of opportunity, in the past.

I want to wake up tomorrow to a Cricinfo headline positively tilted the Indian way. Perhaps something like "Sehwag blitz makes way for Sreesanth hat-trick". Yes, that would be great.

 

[SaiSrini]

Ok guys, this is showing signs of an "all too familiar" collapse!

Both Sehwag and Jaffer OUT with the score on 6! India 6/2

Cant blame Sehwag anymore. We've blamed him enough and we have exhausted of all our blame words. Its now upto the selectors. This guy needs a bl**dy break.

 

[gamerkid22]

Big Confusion

Ganguly walked in after 5 min . The reason was Sachin was off the field yesterday so accordingly Sachin had to come to bat at 10:48am and when Jaffer got out it was 10:44am .So Sachin was not allowed to bat as the wicket fell at 10:44 am. It was quite a confusion there no one was coming to bat and finally Ganguly came in to bat. Luckily Smith didn't appeal for Timed Out or else India would have lost 1 more wicket for some confusion.

Ganlugy 1st ball four . Lucky to be out there.

 

[surendar]

Ok guys, this is showing signs of an "all too familiar" collapse!

Both Sehwag and Jaffer OUT with the score on 6! India 6/2

Cant blame Sehwag anymore. We've blamed him enough and we have exhausted of all our blame words. Its now upto the selectors. This guy needs a bl**dy break.

This is what i mentioned earlier, " If batters do something silly thinking to accelerate the score, it wud turn other way! "

Also, thats y i felt Sehwag shd come down the order in this innings to fill the role of Dhoni...& thats y said earlier, " Let the openers( i meant Kaartik n Jaffer ) get the start, then Sourav,Sachin and Sehwag have the capacity to accelerate by fast scoring with solid support of Dravid and Laxman! "


Anyways, its over for the openers! Its upto Dravid,Sourav, Sachin and Laxman! They have to play a rescue role!

 

[SaiSrini]

The going is really tight. Tense moments! SA are right back into the match!

Why didnt Laxman come out? Why was Saurav sent in??? Or was it Saurav's effort to rectify the confusion that was going on in the middle?

 

[gamerkid22]

The going is really tight. Tense moments! SA are right back into the match!

Why didnt Laxman come out?

Well the camera was showing the dressing room for that 5 min when no batsmen came to bat .There were no signs of Sachin and Laxman. I think even Guru Greg was clueless of what was going on so he also went in to check and then Ganguly came in padded up and was ready to bat. When Ganguly came in to bat camera once again showed the dressing room and Sachin was there but still no signs of Laxman . May be he was also in the changing room.

 

[aussie1st]

Thats quite a promotion of Ganguly but really all this messing around with the order is stuffing up India. First they have Karthik opening the batting with Sehwag down the order then expect him to perform in the 2nd dig and now the Great Tendulkar has been depromoted.

 

[m_vaughan]

Would India actually lose a wicket if Smith appealed for a time out? If yes who would be the man dismissed? Ganguly or Tendulkar?

 

[gamerkid22]

Would India actually lose a wicket if Smith appealed for a time out? If yes who would be the man dismissed? Ganguly or Tendulkar?

Yes Ravi Shastri was telling that its 3 minutes for a batsman to come in and take strike or reach the non-strikers end depending on the situation on where to take gaurd . But its 3 minutes . So according to me if Smith had appealed then the person who walks in would have been out so in this case it would have been Ganguly . But now he is playing nicely.

 

[surendar]

Would India actually lose a wicket if Smith appealed for a time out? If yes who would be the man dismissed? Ganguly or Tendulkar?

Regarding this big confusion,

Tendulkar was padded up and ready to emerge when Jaffer's wicket fell at 10:43am, but Murray Brown, the fourth umpire, informed him that he wasn't supposed to be out there till after 10:48.

Also,

In the spirit of the game, he(Harper) requested Smith not to appeal for a Timed-Out dismissal. Smith agreed.

Here is the full report from cric info,

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/rsavind/content/current/story/275283.html


I am bit confused now why Tendulkar was asked not to go till that time by the fourth umpire? :what

Atm, Sourav and Dravid are nicely going and hope they build a big partnership!

 

[cricket_lover]

good partnership this, interesting but good decision to send Ganguly. It was as if "stick there and play, or pack your bags and leave" and he responded very well. A big knock and he's into ODI's schemes, as far as India is concerned.

 

[SaiSrini]

Thats quite a promotion of Ganguly but really all this messing around with the order is stuffing up India. First they have Karthik opening the batting with Sehwag down the order then expect him to perform in the 2nd dig and now the Great Tendulkar has been depromoted.

Tendulkar wasnt depromoted. He was forced to come down. I agree, its a promotion for Ganguly over Laxman, but that doesnt matter much. Thats not a major batting order change for India! Bringing Sehwag back to open was not a bad idea. Its just that it didnt work out. We thought tha 40 in the first would work to Sehwag's advantage. Little did we know that the 40 was a flash in the pan for Sehwag!

Yes Ravi Shastri was telling that its 3 minutes for a batsman to come in and take strike or reach the non-strikers end depending on the situation on where to take gaurd . But its 3 minutes . So according to me if Smith had appealed then the person who walks in would have been out so in this case it would have been Ganguly . But now he is playing nicely.

Yeah, it would have been Ganguly, and that would have been really bad on him. Good that Smith didnt appeal (he was asked not to, by the umpire).

 

[m_vaughan]

It was not a decision, it was the quickest solution possible. But its working well for India so far.

 

[SaiSrini]

good partnership this, interesting but good decision to send Ganguly. It was as if "stick there and play, or pack your bags and leave" and he responded very well. A big knock and he's into ODI's schemes, as far as India is concerned.

Not quite true. Even if Ganguly got out for 0 in this innings, he would be in as good a position to come back into the ODI team. He is already being talked about to be a certainty for the upcoming ODI series and the following mega event - World Cup. One failure here wont rule him out just like that! Overall, this has been a really successful series for Dada. It surely has been close to an emphatic comeback for the Bengal Tiger!

India 114/2 (with the lead)

Great partnership this from Rahu-Gangu ! I luv them as a pair! In a way, Ganguly coming out here is helping Dravid play his natural game and is helping him stay at the wicket for long. Ganguly is ticking the scoreboard at the other end, and it helps Dravid not try anything silly. Thats what Shastri said too. If these two can stay for another 70-80 runs, India would be in a great position/

Ideal situation for Dada to make it a big score (touchwood!). c'mon dad!

P.s: Dada is the highest run getter for India this series! Hail the comeback man!