Indian tour of South Africa, December-January 2010/11

[Mike23]

Time to send some scouts to SAF to search fast bowlers and import them. Thats the only way we can get quality fast bowlers

Just get a good pace bowling coach.

 

[icyman]

Bowlers won't be a problem on this tour. I expect Zaheer, Sree to be back in the team then. South African wickets have that spunk which Sri Lankan/ Sub continental wickets lack.

Our batsmen will definitely have a torrid time in SAF

 

[War]

The biggest thing about this series is Sehwag vs the Saffies pacers. If Sehwag fails, his legacy as great opener will be severly dented.

 

[Gaurav_7]

The biggest thing about this series is Sehwag vs the Saffies pacers. If Sehwag fails, his legacy as great opener will be severly dented.

If we go by his track record against SA, he has done fairly well against them.

In 20 innings, 1162 runs @ 58.10 with 5 centuries shows exactly that. S/R has always been good against all the teams.

However, if we see him in SA then -

In 9 innings, 238 runs @ 26.44 with a lone century says about his short-comings facing Saffer pacers on lively tracks.

That record in SA is till 2007 and after that in past 2-3 years, we should keep in mind that he has been very consistent in tests. I won't be surprised if he does well this time round.

 

[AkshayS]

This will be the test for Indian batsmen surely but I do have high hopes from them. Will be very interesting to see.

 

[Ollie_H]

Do the South African Cricket Board have to pay the BCCI to retain Kallis and let him play?

 

[Gaurav_7]

Do the South African Cricket Board have to pay the BCCI to retain Kallis and let him play?

Oh Ollie, I know you are fed up of some nonsense in the other thread so relax mate. No point in trying to make people understand when they surely can't.

 

[War]

If we go by his track record against SA, he has done fairly well against them.

In 20 innings, 1162 runs @ 58.10 with 5 centuries shows exactly that. S/R has always been good against all the teams.

However, if we see him in SA then -

In 9 innings, 238 runs @ 26.44 with a lone century says about his short-comings facing Saffer pacers on lively tracks.

That record in SA is till 2007 and after that in past 2-3 years, we should keep in mind that he has been very consistent in tests. I won't be surprised if he does well this time round.

He hasn't faced much quality pace attacks on lively decks much in this time. So its unreasonable to expect him to do well in SA this year. Its very much up in the air how he will perform - that why i saw its career defining series for him.

 

[ARay]

Well, I think this Test Series will be real struggle for India. I will actually quite happy if they mange to Draw their test matches. I am pretty sure all the batsmen will face a lot of bouncers! Especially with the ball swing all around, we might see a complete India collapse is Tendulkar/Laxman fail to hold it together for the team.
The bowling also looks rather lacklustre. The lack of good bowling options for India is a real concern!

 

[icyman]

Sehwag is unlikely to fail in SAF. He loves that place. In fact he got his first century out there. However, if India do badly, this could have a negative impact upon their World Cup preparations.

 

[SaiSrini]

I am pretty optimistic of India's chances in SA this time. Sehwag and Gambhir can bat in tough conditions, and our trio of Dravid/Tendulkar/Laxman need no scrutiny. Its Raina and Dhoni who will be severely tested in SA as far as batting is concerned.

Our bowlers should enjoy the life in the pitches of SA. Ishant has shown that he can be a handful if the pitch offers life. If Zaheer is fit for that tour and if Sree also joins in, we have a pretty good pace attack for the test matches. We should also take Abhimanyu Mithun whose type of bowling (hit the deck kind of bowler) will suit the pitches of SA. Ojha and Harbhajan should be enough for the spin (no need to take Mishra on tour). Hope we have enough warmup games before the real test starts.

Team
V Sehwag, G Gambhir, R Dravid, S Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Raina, C Pujara, MS Dhoni, H Singh, I Pathan, P Ojha, Z Khan, A Mithun, I Sharma, S Sreesanth

 

[War]

Sehwag is unlikely to fail in SAF. He loves that place. In fact he got his first century out there. However, if India do badly, this could have a negative impact upon their World Cup preparations.

That 1st test century he scored vs SA in 2001 was againts a average SA attack on a flat pitch. In his last test tour to SA in 2006/07, he averaged 14, so i'm not sure how he could "love that place" as you suggested.

I am pretty optimistic of India's chances in SA this time. Sehwag and Gambhir can bat in tough conditions, and our trio of Dravid/Tendulkar/Laxman need no scrutiny. Its Raina and Dhoni who will be severely tested in SA as far as batting is concerned.

I have seen no evidence that Gambhir & Sehwag can bat well in tough conditons in their test careers to date. By Tough conditons i mean pace-bowler friendly conditons similar to recent AUS vs PAK series in England.

Plus although Dravid/Tendy/Laxman are obviously proven in such conditions. Dravid recent form has been a bit worrying. Badrinath should really be in that team IMO.

 

[SaiSrini]

Sehwag has batted well in SA before, and he also batted well during the Australia tour. Gambhir played really well during our tour to NZ. Also, I dont expect entirely bowler friendly conditions in SA as it was during the Eng vs PAK series. I am confident that the wickets will have pace and bounce but not much of movement (they will be good batting wickets with life in it).

 

[Dare]

Sehwag has batted well in SA before, and he also batted well during the Australia tour.

Wickets are different in those 2 countries. As records show Sehwag hasn't batted well at all in South Africa. An average of 26 in South Africa is really poor.

 

[Params7]

I'm pretty optimistic for this tour as long as we go with our full strength. Can't wait for this one.