India tour of South Africa

[Ashutosh.]

Am I the only one who feel weird to see Bumrah in white jersey?

Me too
Selecting Bumrah in top 11 of first test over Ishant and Umesh is a very shocking and surprising decision

 

[Gaurav_7]

So much drama around Dhawan. He was unfit one day, fit another! Kumble as coach would'nt have taken all this crap. This is going to be a terrible year for Indian cricket. Did they really feel that we could go in with one batsman short, especially with how we struggled against a lowly SL lineup at Kolkata and Dharamsala?

And that is why Kumble was shown the door. I was heartbroken when Kumble was ousted the way he was. Seriously it was Kohli who had a major role in it. I hope this innings and this series brings him down to Earth somewhat.

 

[Aalay]

There is one thing about Kohli and Shastri that I will never understand is their attack at all cost mindset. It's all about attack attack attack. All the three decisions that they made today were attacking. Firstly bringing in Dhawan at the opening who edged basically everything. Bringing in Rohit at the expense of Rahane because Rohit is more of an "impact" player than Rahane.

I thought Bhuvi gave us a really good start but after those early 3 wickets, the bowling kind of faded away. too many poor deliveries on offer but South Africa helped us by gifting some of the wickets. We still would have taken 286 on day 1 of the tour after losing the toss. However, we came out with similar approach as South Africa where we just went at everything. Murli Vijay who is supposed to be the best at leaving balls, poked at one outside the off stump. Dhawan edging anything and everything. Kohli will always be susceptible to the deliveries outside the off stump especially at the start of is inning.

Pujara and Ashwin are the two guys who we have to rely on for us to get anywhere near South Africa's total.

 

[Velocity]

Very poor selections today for India. Rahane should never be dropped at the expense of Rohit Sharma, who is going to quickly get out tomorrow. I believe Rahane would have been perfect in this situation and just play out the deliveries. Bumrah ahead of Umesh was also another ridiculous decision as well. It would have been nice to have someone who is very capable of hitting 140+ consistently. Bumrah bowled okay but Umesh was definitely needed to support Bhuvi. I don't understand how Rohit smoking 125 kmph Sri Lankan bowlers warrants selection in SA, where it is a totally different ball game with bowlers who bowl 140 and faster pitches. The "Friends XI" are never going to win overseas if we keep on persisting with these players at the expense of others who have performed great previously overseas

286 is par in my opinion. Bhuvi gave us an excellent start but we bowled too many bad balls. Shami looked decent, he was unlucky as batsmen kept flashing at balls he was bowling and couldn't support Bhuvi well enough. It would've been great to Inida at 28/0, but those 3 wickets were just gifted to SA. This attacking strategy proposed from Shastri and co will not win us matches in SA. Extremely disappointed in our batting performance and management.

Hopefully, a couple of good partnerships are built with Pujara so we can at least approach 286 with a lead or trail by very little. I hope Rohit plays responsibly with Pujara, even though he's bound to get out in the first hour of play.

 

[SaiSrini]

I actually have some hopes in Saha to battle it out with Pujara. Pujara will be the key here. If he is the first one to leave tomorrow morning, it will be pack up. If Pujara stays and gets some support from Saha and Ashwin, there could be still a chance India can recover and fight it out in this test match.

 

[namin96]

This test series will gonna be a major thing to gauge India test team strength. I predict South Africa to win this test series.

I'm thinking a 3-0 whitewash, that's the only "history" that will be made and this includes whitewashes now in Aus, Eng, and SA. There's no way we're winning this.

 

[namin96]

Yeah agreed. It is just that Kohli's overall record is so unreal, people including us tend to ignore the fact that he too has to prove himself in testing conditions like these. And tbh from reading cricbuzz it seems as if the ball hasn't been doing much, it is just some hesitant batting from the Indians. Nervousness maybe?

No there is no nervousness, before it started Kohli was talking all this crap about having a balanced side and being ready for Jan 5th. Shastri also said no excuses this time. What excuses will they be readying right now? What happened? Why did he flop? That's a stupid shot to play especially when you've just came in and you have yet to face Morkel and you just try to raise the bat and guide him past the 4 slips and a gully, what the hell? This guy can never come close to Tendulkar. Tendulkar nor Dravid would play such stupid shots early on. And the issue is he doesn't have a technical issue, it's 100% mental with all his aggression crap, why can't he learn from watching Pujara? Also, the main goal was to survive the day after losing two wickets, you weren't going to gain a lead anyways in about 10-15 overs. Stupid "aggression". I'm thinking this is going to be a whitewash now. This has been the same pattern, we lose the first test, we don't have the quality and character to keep fighting till the end. We saw this on the away tours in Eng and Aus 2011-12.

 

[namin96]

There you go! Both openers in the hut. And Kohli comes out without sending a nightwatchman. If one of Kohli and Pujara get out today, I would say we will be bundled out for below 100 tomorrow. We don't have the batting to do rearguard stuff like what South Africa did today.

On paper, I'd say we have the better batting line up definitely. Possibly the best, but the issue is the bowling attacks our batting line up has to put up with. South Africa didn't really have to work as we were offering boundary balls in each over after getting a wicket.

 

[Satan666]

Didnt get a chance to monitor the match today but from what I read it seems SA are clearly ahead.

India should make under 200 from here!

 

[namin96]

I actually have some hopes in Saha to battle it out with Pujara. Pujara will be the key here. If he is the first one to leave tomorrow morning, it will be pack up. If Pujara stays and gets some support from Saha and Ashwin, there could be still a chance India can recover and fight it out in this test match.

You are too optimistic!

 

[asprin]

<pessimistic but probable prediction>
India all out between 80-100 in the first innings.
</pessimistic but probable prediction>

 

[Gaurav_7]

I would say that is a practical prediction.

 

[Gopal123]

I am hoping that pujara scores a 50+ while Rohit scores 30+. Dont have a hope for pandya, he is not a ideal test player.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Ashwin has not done badly at all. 2 wickets in the 7 overs that he was bowled for the innings. One of those wickets was of Rababa who was threatening to take SA to a bigger score.

Oh ya! What a spell! I have seen biased, but this one takes the cake. Rabada and Morkel.. what test wickets. He did what he does best. Take inconsequential wickets and boost his stats with zero contribution to the cause. Heck, even Maharaj took a liking to him.

Ashwin had no role to play. He neither did badly, nor well. But, please yourself.

Just to add- I will put my hand up and eat my words if he does well. In fact, I want him to. It won't make India's achievements look hollow. Don't expect him to take fifers but render lots and lots of control. So far, Kohli hardly shows confidence in him. I don't see why Pandya was bowling a lot of the overs he should have been bowling. It seemed a desperate attempt to validate Pandya the all rounder.

 

[zwarrior]

Oh ya! What a spell! I have seen biased, but this one takes the cake. Rabada and Morkel.. what test wickets. He did what he does best. Take inconsequential wickets and boost his stats with zero contribution to the cause. Heck, even Maharaj took a liking to him.

Ashwin had no role to play. He neither did badly, nor well. But, please yourself.

Rabada batted 60 odd deliveries. Ashwin came and picked up his wicket. He bowled well yesterday even if it's to a tail ender who was not dismissed by our pace bowlers. I am no fan of Ashwin but credit where it's due.