India in South Africa

[surendar]

Unless we get 3 early wickets tomorrow morning!

Sreesanth's hat trick? Unfortunately one of ur headlines is ruled out ( Of sehwag ) and lets see whether Sreesanth's one comes true

But 160 is very short margin and bowlers need to work very hard tmrw if India needs to win this! " 3 wickets in 7 balls " happened in first innings's end. It wud be nice to see some situations like that tmrw also... but its too much a optimistic view i guess

 

[ZoraxDoom]

We have no fighters. All that crap about our team being fighters who don't give up is...well...crap. SS, Jumbo, Zaheer, DDK and Dada. The only fighters. Dravid tries and tries, but sometimes you feel he has no passion or something, no aggression. He needs classes from SS. Sachin has been very quiet, but useful in the field. Just not the same with the bat. Everything looks more laboured, I feel bad watching him. How can we put our master through such pain? Age is catching up. VVS, again, seems very timid with no passion. Jaffer is timid too, but those eyes show real determination. Viru is lost, Munaf has suddenly gained 50 years and seems he would like to be elsewhere.
Us Indians are too poliet. We play cheeky shots, have a little giggle, then surrender when they get angry at us. Just like when we were (Well, I still am) kids. We laugh and be naughty behind their backs, going great domestically, but when we face the elders, we are scared. We need more DDKs and SSs. We need more Dadas too.
I wasn't so critical about not choosing Bhajji, but that seems to be where we have lost this.

 

[Adarsh]

Btw, I didn't say drop Sachin altogether. I said a rest from one ODI series may do him good. It's clear his fitness is not up to the mark.

The Indian team in general is unfit! The fielding is feeble, or should I say abysmal . The only guys who are par for the course are Karthik (he's young, when he gets older lets see...) and I'm struggling to come up with more names!! Sreesanth looked good but has already injured his ankle. Youngsters shouldn't be so unfit. But then, neither should the seniors as this is international cricket. Something needs to be done. I think guys like Gambhir, Harbhajan, Kaif and Yuvraj should perhaps be given a chance again as the fielding and running between the wickets here cost us at least 50 runs in the whole game. India should be leading by 210 here, not 160.

 

[aussie1st]

Well not much to write home about for the Indians. Karthik has been a standout with his batting this match too bad he had no batters to bat with. SA surely should get this total but if India pick up Kallis who knows what could happen.

 

[evertonfan]

India will win this one. India need to get Smith and Kallis out early and the rest will fall like a line of dominoes in my opinion.

 

[SaiSrini]

Its for every body



Uthappa is a front foot player he will struggle on the short ball he need sto develop his backfoot play and how can you forget gambhir

When Yuvi is fit, he will come back in place of Sehwag in the test matches. But we dont have to worry about tests in the recent future!

I don't think so.

If its spin from both ends, its for EVERYBODY as rightly said by Cricket_god. Spinners are extracting lot of turn from this wicket at both ends. Its very difficult to play the spinner. A positive attitude is required to tackle the spinner, but Tendulkar and Dravid failed to do it.

When will someone say to Tendulkar that his defensive tactics dont work at all? Its hurting the team. He has to play his natural game, and if he gets out, well thats fine! But he is making a mortal out of himself!

Well, a nice stage is set up for the thriller tmrw! I feel its going to be a close game... SA loosing by 10 runs or Winning by 2 Wickets

How can SA lose by 'wickets' when they are chasing?

What do you mean unfair? I agree though that they'll have to wait another year before dropping him, but his performance in 2006 was appalling. Maybe he needs a rest. It's clear that he isn't very fit, and taking off from an ODI series may do him some good.

There is no question of rest.. He has been out of the game in the recent times for long, due to injuries. He has had enough rest. Its just that he has changed his game so much and just refuses to listen to others. When he says "everyone seems to advice me on how to bat", he doesnt understand that all those advice are because people want to see him bat like he usually does.

he cant play defensive cricket. he is that sort of player, for whom attack is the best form of defence anywhere in the world. if he attacks, he will score runs sometime and will fail at times. but his success ratio will be high!

India will win this one. India need to get Smith and Kallis out early and the rest will fall like a line of dominoes in my opinion.

well, thats one message that I luv reading....

You deserve a gift if what you say, happens!

 

[Adarsh]

When Yuvi is fit, he will come back in place of Sehwag in the test matches. But we dont have to worry about tests in the recent future!

Recent future : ?!

/pedant

 

[prarara]

Whatever happens, our bowling attack has fighters; Zaheer, Sree, Jumbo, and even Tendulkar and Sehwag. I think we should give them a fight for the total; WATCH OUT!

 

[nightprowler10]

Disappointing display by the Indians. I really expected them to put up at least 250. Either way, this match is heading towards an exciting finish.

 

[surendar]

How can SA lose by 'wickets' when they are chasing?
!

Well, a nice stage is set up for the thriller tmrw! I feel its going to be a close game... SA loosing by 10 runs or Winning by 2 Wickets

I said, SA loosing by 10 runs ( 200 All Out ) or Winning by 2 Wickets ( 211/8 )

Anyways, really waiting for the thriller to get started! As evo told, Kallis n Smith shd be taken off early and importantly the bowlers shd never allow any batsmen, not even Pollock, to get settle in becos we have only 160 runs more as deadline!

Zaheer/Sreesanth shd tried for few overs initially and then straight away Jumbo shd take the responsibility with either Zaheer or Sreesanth or Sehwag in other end! 5th day pitch... Jumbo is the main man for India!

Lot and lots of work to do for Indians today on the field!

he cant play defensive cricket. he is that sort of player, for whom attack is the best form of defence anywhere in the world. if he attacks, he will score runs sometime and will fail at times. but his success ratio will be high!

There u are... This is what the problem occured in ODIs too especially in Champions Trophy where he tried to be defensive ( i can never forget this approach against Aussies game in particular) He needs to get his mental confidence back.. then we might see the Tendulkar what we wanted to see!

 

[puddleduck]

Is it not possible that like many batsman who were not as good and in some cases as good as him in the past, he is maybe on the decline and can't play in that way anymore? Maybe his eyes are not as good as they once were, certainly seems to be the case that when it's quick and short he doesn't look comfortable.

 

[SaiSrini]

Is it not possible that like many batsman who were not as good and in some cases as good as him in the past, he is maybe on the decline and can't play in that way anymore? Maybe his eyes are not as good as they once were, certainly seems to be the case that when it's quick and short he doesn't look comfortable.

Well, Sachin says he cant play like how he used to before, as his body has to adapt. But he has to choose what he wants - more money by staying with the team and getting down from the immortal legendary status, or continue to score runs at a fast clip even if it comes quitting early. He seems to be going on the first path right now. The occasional hundred is coming, but he seems to think he has turned the corner, only to get even deeper into it.

Now see, he's going to have another injury and is going to go out for another few months. Hope I'm proved wrong!

I said, SA loosing by 10 runs ( 200 All Out ) or Winning by 2 Wickets ( 211/8 )

Zaheer/Sreesanth shd tried for few overs initially and then straight away Jumbo shd take the responsibility with either Zaheer or Sreesanth or Sehwag in other end! 5th day pitch... Jumbo is the main man for India!

Lot and lots of work to do for Indians today on the field!

One more thing, there is 30% chances of rain being forecast tomorrow. It would be such a dampener for either team. India still believe they can do it, South Africa are right on the threshold. But the cloud cover (if it is there) could help some early movement for the seamers. So India should start off with Sreesanth and Kumble.

Also if it rains early and we lose few hours of play, it will be all the more difficult for South Africa to get to the total. So the pressure is on South Africa as much as it is on India.

 

[aussie1st]

Rain would definitely help India, it means the draw comes back into play and of course as mentioned it will be harder for SA to chase the total. They have enough good batters to come in Boucher, Gibbs and Pollock but they will be pushing it after them.

 

[Cricket_god]

I think munaf will be the trump card for india because of his hieght and some uneven bounce he might be a handful and also reverse swing.I thing he will
probably win it or lose it.

 

[SaiSrini]

Rain would definitely help India, it means the draw comes back into play and of course as mentioned it will be harder for SA to chase the total. They have enough good batters to come in Boucher, Gibbs and Pollock but they will be pushing it after them.

but its predicted at only 30%. if south africa could win on a rain curtailed day at durban, anything can happen here. both teams will be looking to win here. india will be trying to win. ganguly has issued the statement of the "game on".

so india will look to win. South Africa too. the remaining runs are so low that even with rain, both teams will look to win!

I think munaf will be the trump card for india because of his hieght and some uneven bounce he might be a handful and also reverse swing.I thing he will
probably win it or lose it.

the "old man"? well he has to do something tomorrow.. but will he get a bowl? kumble, sachin, sehwag will bowl a lot with sreesanth and zaheer chipping in.