TruSachFan
Club Cricketer
I think we should send Gambhir or Sehwag for the toss. They can't be any worse than Dhoni is
. It's funny though( or not), in IPL, he wins the majority of the tosses, but for India, he barely wins one.
Indian tour of South Africa, December-January 2010/11
- Thread starter GloryX
- Start date
I think we should send Gambhir or Sehwag for the toss. They can't be any worse than Dhoni is
. It's funny though( or not), in IPL, he wins the majority of the tosses, but for India, he barely wins one.
Dare
Chairman of Selectors
Even if South Africa had lost the toss and were put in to bowl they wouldn't have struggled as much as India. This is their home, their pitches, their conditions they know how to play at home. There is a reason that Kallis averages 50+ at home, he knows whats required at home.
sohum
Executive member
Maybe not cloudy weather but the pitch was most definitely juicy as it had soaked up all the moisture.
I think it is fairly obvious that the pitch got better for batting as the match went on. If India managed to put up 450 runs over the course of Day 3 and 4 then I would gamble that had there been no rain one could conceivably claim that there was a good chance that this match would have been drawn.
---------- Post added at 08:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:02 PM ----------
I think the toss did matter. For one, it would have definitely helped the inexperienced guys if they had some help from pitch.
On a decent pitch with some help for the bowlers, yes they could. From Day 2, Centurion was a perfect batting beauty (in fact a flat wicket). SA scored 620 and India scored 459. Even a difference of 50 runs in India's first innings might have made a good difference.
On a flat wicket, SA can do better than India because they have the pace to force wickets. On a helpful wicket, it peculiarly gets better for India because India's bowlers can look much more different even without the express pace.
TruSachFan
Club Cricketer
Actually, the pitch was pretty flat ever since Harbhajan came out to bat on the first day. Fortunately, the wicket at Durban stays true for all five days, so the team losing the toss shouldn't be hard done if they lose the toss. With ZAK back, our bowling will be much stronger and our batting too, with Pujara, most likely, replacing Raina.
Dare
Chairman of Selectors
On a helpful wicket wit this bowling and a half fit Zaheer (or even full fit) India still doesn't have what it takes to take 20 South African wickets.
Even on that flat wicket South Africa managed to take 10 Indian wickets while India only took 4 South Africa wickets.
sohum
Executive member
South Africa managed to take 10 wickets over the course of 130 overs (a day and a half) in the second innings of a Test match (meaning all the wear and tear on the pitch has been accounted for). While their bowlers are far better than India's, giving up 460-odd runs in the second day of the Test is definitely above average--which is why I think the pitch was pretty good for batting and the game would have been a draw if India had played better on the first day and the pitch wasn't as juicy.
Yes, India on average doesn't have the ability to consistently take 20 wickets. But matches are never played on average. You will always have performances that are below and above average. One such performance was Sreesanth's five-for in India's last tour. I can pretty much guarantee that no one, before the match, would have gone in saying Sree would take 5 wickets and that the Saffers would fold for 84 to set the match up nicely. But it happened.
The fact is that we don't know what's going to happen. All it took in this game was one solid spell of bowling on the first session of the game to set the game up perfectly for South Africa. Similarly, we may see a good session from one of the Indian bowlers completely out of the blue. It's not likely, but it's what makes the game worth watching.
There'd be no reason to watch the game, otherwise. If we knew the Saffers would be rolling us over easily 15 straight days of cricket then I wouldn't have watched the series (ignoring the fact that I didn't catch a single day of live action since the timings are so horrid). South Africa is very clearly the stronger team--I think anyone who doubted they were favorites were being delusional.
---------- Post added at 12:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 AM ----------
Yeah, this is my argument for why I thought we'd win in Durban before the series got started.
However, I have doubted my pre-series prediction because from the looks of it India were pretty damn toothless throughout the first Test. I would've at least expected them to fight back and bowl well for one session--maybe bowling the Saffers out between 550 and 650. As it was, wickets were impossibly hard to come by.
Just got to lift their games and perform better. This is Test cricket after all. If Australia had given up and gone home after their loss in The Ashes then they wouldn't have ever come back to win the next game. You've got to life your head up and keep believing.
stefan
International Coach
Big difference between cloudy conditions and just a moist pitch.
As I have said, bowling is not all about pace. Its also rhythm and control. Also with Indian team (as we have countlessly said before), the factor of starting slowly and then pressing the accelerator big is always there. You guys go on saying the same thing, we will say our same thing. Lets wait and watch.
mohit_dude10
County Cricketer
India at full strength for South Africa ODIs
Sir Ravindra jadeja finally ignored from one day squad.
Sir Ravindra jadeja finally ignored from one day squad.
AkshayS
Chairman of Selectors
Finally, Ravinder Jadeja is not in the team but what Chawla is doing there, he is no good and should not get a chance ahead of Ashwin.
And It's been nearly 1 whole year (last time also against SA) since we're seeing a full strengthened ODI team.
And It's been nearly 1 whole year (last time also against SA) since we're seeing a full strengthened ODI team.
South Africa: Kallis involved in car accident | South Africa Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo
Stuffed his Audi R8 into someone's gate. No major damage to the car, just a dent and some flat tyres. Guess he'll have to pay to get the gate fixed. Pretty sure if you can afford an R8 you can afford to fix someone's gate.
Oh and Kallis was fine.
Stuffed his Audi R8 into someone's gate. No major damage to the car, just a dent and some flat tyres. Guess he'll have to pay to get the gate fixed. Pretty sure if you can afford an R8 you can afford to fix someone's gate.
Oh and Kallis was fine.
stefan
International Coach
Guess he was so happy about finally getting the 200.
shravi
National Board President
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2005
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- India
Chawla is great. He just took a 5 wicket haul and scored a 100 in the same match and has been bowling well consistently well for quite some time now. I think he deserves a break in the national team. He has got a bit of talent and he's worked on his game for quite a while now, both in England and in India. He may not be a huge turner of the ball, but he's still a very effective wicket.
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