India in South Africa

[SaiSrini]

what the heck are you upto???

sachin made a 44 today, and hadnt he scored that, india would have been in an embarassing situation today and if people say india and south africa share even honours, its because of the efforts of sachin.

embarassing wut the hell do u mean by that we're terrible if lanka can make 278 in 1 day y cant we

havent we made more than 278 before in a single day? we have made scores like 356 in a day and so on...

this wicket wasnt the type where you can make that score. also we played only 56.5 overs today out of a total possible 90 overs per day (we lost more than a full session).

156/5 isnt a great score, but definitely not a bad one at all. it could have been worse had our batters continued in the same vein as in the ODI's. they applied much better today but couldnt just last the distance!

 

[irottev]

If you makes you feel any better about Sri Lanka it was only one player who scored all their runs. I don't think their overall performance was much better.

 

[sohum]

To be honest, I expected India to be all out under 200 and South Africa to have lost one wicket for plenty of runs, when I woke up. As it happens, that could have been the case had a full day's play been in store.

 

[CricMaster]

I can't believe how people are reacting at the end of Day 1 and saying it is in favour of SA. I have to side with the commentators and say it is very much even at this point. Had Laxman not been out, IMO, this would've been India's day! Our score right now is not bad at all judging by the type of pitch it is. IMO, India batted quite well overall. If Dhoni and Ganguly can put up a solid partnership of 50-80 runs, India can be well on their way to 300, which IMO is a very firm total on this pitch.

 

[s2sschan]

I hope this is a low-scoring game. But something tells me that South Africa will make the pitch look far different. Also, VRV's selection is doubtful in my mind--although he has performed in the practice games, he always seems miles short in the real deal.

India played with a lot of grit and determination on a very difficult wicket. I am proud of them. I mean the bowl never stopped seaming around.

VRV, Sreesanth, and Zaheer need to show the same grit.

 

[Cricketman]

Ganguly still there on 14. Hopefully dhoni can give him support for at least half of a day.

we should have gone in with Kaarthick...man make me selector!

oh, belated 1800 posts btw

I can't believe how people are reacting at the end of Day 1 and saying it is in favour of SA. I have to side with the commentators and say it is very much even at this point. Had Laxman not been out, IMO, this would've been India's day! Our score right now is not bad at all judging by the type of pitch it is. IMO, India batted quite well overall. If Dhoni and Ganguly can put up a solid partnership of 50-80 runs, India can be well on their way to 300, which IMO is a very firm total on this pitch.

Sorry but what is IMO?
Perfect opportunity for Ganguly to get a big 'un. A century here=World Cup walk-in.

156/5 isnt a great score, but definitely not a bad one at all. it could have been worse had our batters continued in the same vein as in the ODI's. they applied much better today but couldnt just last the distance!

Think of it this way: When u look at 156/5 u think: ooh, bad score. But add just 42 runs to that, probably 10 overs if Dhoni can tick it along, its 200/5 and we're like=Its not a bad score, its decent! Add another 50 to that, and its a good score!!

We're just 42 runs short of where i think is a decent score for amount of wickets lost. If we can get another 50-60 on top of that with this pair still in, then we have the upper hand.

 

[CricMaster]

^ Sorry about that. IMO = In my opinion.

 

[cricket_lover]

Dhoni can contribute, so will the tailenders (hopefully) with Kumble, and Zaheer very capable of scoring runs...so its a matter of spending time in the middle.

Lets see if India can get to a good total.

 

[Cricketman]

Dhoni can contribute, so will the tailenders (hopefully) with Kumble, and Zaheer very capable of scoring runs...so its a matter of spending time in the middle.

Lets see if India can get to a good total.

Zaheer, one of the most entertaining batsman to watch. I remember when he hit 20 runs off the last over of a TVS cup match off Jacob Oram, pure awesomeness!
His attitude is good though, he hits straight, none of that crossbatted stuff, and plays the slower ball and yorker better than bhajji.

Zaheer for Opening!

 

[aditya123]

Ganguly still there on 14. Hopefully dhoni can give him support for at least half of a day.

we should have gone in with Kaarthick...man make me selector!

oh, belated 1800 posts btw



Sorry but what is IMO?
Perfect opportunity for Ganguly to get a big 'un. A century here=World Cup walk-in.



Think of it this way: When u look at 156/5 u think: ooh, bad score. But add just 42 runs to that, probably 10 overs if Dhoni can tick it along, its 200/5 and we're like=Its not a bad score, its decent! Add another 50 to that, and its a good score!!

We're just 42 runs short of where i think is a decent score for amount of wickets lost. If we can get another 50-60 on top of that with this pair still in, then we have the upper hand.

and a pessimistic view would be that add 2 wickets to 156/5 , it would be 160/7 ! a bad score.

But Iam an eternal optimist.
I was pleased to see the grit shown by our batsmen yesterday . If only one of them had gone on to make a big one, we would have been looking at a big score.

I can tell you one thing for sure. If we can come out of this test series with a few positives (irrespective of the results), we will find the series to come a lot easier bcause we`ll be playing in th familiar conditions at home and in the Carribean.
This is an acid test which will surely help the batsmen get better.
It happens to teams which tour Australia a lot.
Once they come out of the Aussie tour after playing on the fast bouncy tracks, once they get back home to the subcontinent , invariably they crush their opposition on familiar tracks.
Iam sure that`ll happen with India as well.

The batting was finally showing signs of getting b ack some form yesterday.
SAchin and Laxman looked in glorious touch.
I expect at least one big score from Sachin in this series

 

[sohum]

You can only talk about a pitch after two sides have batted on it. So there's no point claiming that India have batted brilliantly on a bad pitch if South Africa come in tomorrow and steamroll us with the bat. Now, we need a big partnership. 200/5 isn't a great position, in my opinion, especially if you won the toss and chose to bat. But given that our tail has (possibly) outscored our top order in recent times, this may be good.

I think VRV needs to finally come good in the international stage. I'm looking forward to him because he looks to have a lot of potential, coupled together with a LOT of laziness.

 

[aditya123]

You can only talk about a pitch after two sides have batted on it. So there's no point claiming that India have batted brilliantly on a bad pitch if South Africa come in tomorrow and steamroll us with the bat. Now, we need a big partnership. 200/5 isn't a great position, in my opinion, especially if you won the toss and chose to bat. But given that our tail has (possibly) outscored our top order in recent times, this may be good.

I think VRV needs to finally come good in the international stage. I'm looking forward to him because he looks to have a lot of potential, coupled together with a LOT of laziness.

I think nobody used the word `bad` to describe the pitch.
It was a `tough` pitch to bat on for sure , especially for a subcontinental side who have had a wretched ODI series.

SA may have a great first innings but that does not take anything away from the way we showed some grit against Ntini,Pollock,Nel and Steyn who are far better than our fast bowling attack.

and our views had much to do with the way we batted rather than the score or result.
Sometimes , you bat well but do not ahve that bit of luck to score big.
Sometimes even when you bat only reasonably well, you get to score big runs.

Its all part of the game.
We`ll have better days on this tour for sure.
At the moment, at least the intent is looking good.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

We need Karthik! I am pretty sure one of the following will happen with Dhoni:
1) Bogged down, rash shots, gets away with a few, out. 20 off about 34-45 balls.
2) Plays his shots, gets out. 11 off 14.
3) Gets really bogged down, settles in, but runs out of partners. 11* off about 60 balls.
4) Blasts a fifty, 50 off 60 balls.
Hope it is the last one.
We need Karthik!

And VRV should be fun. He ruled the roost in the series here in Abu Dhabi...

 

[kodos]

Just saw some highlights and I must say it is a piss poor crowd. Barely even anyone at the ground. This is a growing trend around the world and I feel test cricket may be extinct within the next decade if these are the sorts of crowd that are being produced.
Appears that cricket is currently in a recession throughout the whole world.

Back to the game, Ganguly has shown good resilience and has backed up the selectors decision to include him in the lineup. Hopefully for his sake to make a 50 at least.

 

[manee]

Appears that cricket is currently in a recession throughout the whole world.

I see you have not been watching the Ashes

Well done Ganguly, a gutsy knock and it is a shame that India have not expanded on the starts that helf their batsman got.