South Africa in India

[Maxkarter]

I'd have to say, Indias performance aside. Smith batted almost perfectly today, and his 133* will stay with him for a very long time, especially because he got it at Eden Gradens.

 

[Indiangod]

Eden gardens as always been a special place to play cricket, with the emotional cricket atmosphere.

Vibs 89 and Pal, it was just a bad day for India, South africa won the toss on the green pitch and rightly put the Indians first in, I thought it was bad tactics putting Pathan first in on a green pitch, you dont even know yet if Pathan is a allrounder yet.
Dont blame anyone, it was just another bad day, India dont always play like this, the Indian team is much much better then that. South africa as always had world class bowlers, and south africa are the 2nd best odi team in the world today, and dont expect Tendulkar, dravid etc..... to score evreygame.

I predict India to win in Mumbai to sqaure the series 2-2.

 

[Cricketman]

Looking at the scorecard...looks like india played under their best today. Over confidence, perhaps? Sending pathan opening was a blunder, let alon pushing greats like Sachin and Viru down the order. And Dhoni at 8?? Its not going to work out. Kaif at 7 was let alone a dumb idea....
It was a crappy line-up and batting order today. That's why we lost. Gambhir should be dropped, not because he did anything wrong, just because it would benifit the team.

 

[SaiSrini]

I expected this from vibs89 but didnt expect it from pal...

This is one bad day at the office and coupled with alien conditions. we are not used to playing under such alien seaming conditions. even the south africans would have played the same way had they batted first (or been inserted to bat first!). ON the top 3, apart from Pathan, the rest two wickets were due to the conditions. Sachin received a peach of a delivery and Pollock got extravagant seam movement to pick Gambhir!

Not making excuses but it was a mixture of unrealistic conditions coupled with an ordinary performance! Yuvraj came close to bringing us back but his relaxation spelt doom for us. Again, the dew has raised its ugly head. But again, no excuse.. Bad performance today. But I wont say the team sucks just because of this!

This team has performed superbly over the past 9 games and one game cant make them suck! But one thing, Sachin needs some dose. He has to perform. Chappell is should have a long talk with Sehwag. He is utter senseless. With such a seaming wicket, it was an utter useless and senseless stroke and I dont like his natural game! He wont last long enough with such a game! What makes Chappell feel he is a future captain?

Salutes to Graeme Smith for his brilliant innings! Somehow, he is starting to become one of my favorite players! He has an interesting attitude, has loads of aggression and has a good reading of the game too! He wil surely be one among the greatest captains!

 

[m_vaughan]

South Africa are a really good ODI side. They are much better than India, because of the near perfect balance in their line-up. I can only dream having players like Kemp, Kallis and Pollock in the same team.

I am really beginning to believe that SA can beat Australia when they meet down under later this year.

 

[aussie1st]

Looking at the scorecard...looks like india played under their best today. Over confidence, perhaps? Sending pathan opening was a blunder, let alon pushing greats like Sachin and Viru down the order. And Dhoni at 8?? Its not going to work out. Kaif at 7 was let alone a dumb idea....
It was a crappy line-up and batting order today. That's why we lost. Gambhir should be dropped, not because he did anything wrong, just because it would benifit the team.

As I said Pathan was way too high. He had never opened before and this game was a cruical one. Yet India send Pathan to open. Stupid move that one.

And of course I still don't understand why India is producing all these green pitches. You go to India to play on flat spinning wickets. You go to England to play on green pitches.

 

[Shevchenko]

Even though South Africa had to play this series without two of their biggest names (Gibbs and Boje) South Africa's line-up still remained a strong one. India in my part really stuffed up, Greg Chappell chose a pretty weird batting line-up, but in all honesty I still believe that should not judge the outcome of this match, South Africa outplayed India, the situation could have been otherwise, if India won, everyone would have forgot about Pathan opening!! Graeme Smith now proved his critics wrong in South Africa, every time I open a SA Newspaper it's always people lashing out at him. But my thought of the day was when Ravi Shastri asked Mike Haysman " why did South Africa keep the one the Pieterson and left out the other Pietersen?" now I know that's beyond us now, but just think about it, what if he joined the likes as Kallis, Kemp, Pollock, Smith, Gibbs in one side?

 

[aussie1st]

I would still be going on about Pathan opening and getting out for a duck. Its clearly shown on the scorecard!

As for SA, they are a very good side now. I await to see how they go in Aus where the toss isn't as crucial.
And for SA keeping Pietersen, they would have one dam good team and one that would have been hard to beat.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Matchwise: Horrible. What were they doing. They need to bring Yadav in. A green wicket? And Pathan opening? They need to balance the lineup a little better.

And mainly: Dew and the pitch should not be such a huge factor!

Overall: Good in the big picture actually. Seaming wickets allow our batters to get used to such situations. Situations available in abundance in West Indies....

 

[s2sschan]

Bowling

Yap you're right. They can do ****. India couldn't even manage to pick one wicket that's obvious. I mean comeon. India should be shame on their self. A huge patnership of 189 Runs!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!.

India's bowling yesterday was what it has usually been, the words "Pedestrian" and "Third Class" come to mind.
As far as the batting goes, I mean seven big names on a half-ass green pitch, not one big innings. God forbid what will happen to them on a genuine green.
This has happened to India's batting a million times before, put them on something which has half a blade of grass and watch them crumble.

 

[aussie1st]

The signs were there from the the SL series. Their bowling wasn't great and only their great batting got them home. Sadly now neither is happening although if India were bowling first it would have been a different story. But if you want to be the best you have to be able to win from any position.

 

[SaiSrini]

As I said Pathan was way too high. He had never opened before and this game was a cruical one. Yet India send Pathan to open. Stupid move that one.

And of course I still don't understand why India is producing all these green pitches. You go to India to play on flat spinning wickets. You go to England to play on green pitches.

India should produce sporting pitches that provide good bounce and carry, but not this type of a pitch which assists so much of seam movement! Pollock and Nel got some really huge movement that surprised the commentators!

No team can play that easily on grassy wickets! All India needs to learn is not to crumble on such grassy wickets! India needs competent specialist openers as back up in ODI's if the wicket behaves like this. Only they can play out the initial overs well. Pathan was a stupid option as we saw today! May be Dravid or Kaif can do the opener's job on these wickets! You just need to see the first 15 overs off without much damage!

I dont think West Indies World Cup would have these type of wickets. I mean, come on, if the World Cup has to be a success, then it has to produce high scoring games that sees boundaries and sixes raining from the batsman! West Indies wickets have slowed down greatly over the years and wont be of this type for most part!

 

[aussie1st]

India should produce sporting pitches that provide good bounce and carry, but not this type of a pitch which assists so much of seam movement! Pollock and Nel got some really huge movement that surprised the commentators!

No team can play that easily on grassy wickets! All India needs to learn is not to crumble on such grassy wickets! India needs competent specialist openers as back up in ODI's if the wicket behaves like this. Only they can play out the initial overs well. Pathan was a stupid option as we saw today! May be Dravid or Kaif can do the opener's job on these wickets! You just need to see the first 15 overs off without much damage!

I dont think West Indies World Cup would have these type of wickets. I mean, come on, if the World Cup has to be a success, then it has to produce high scoring games that sees boundaries and sixes raining from the batsman! West Indies wickets have slowed down greatly over the years and wont be of this type for most part!

Usually flat pitches are the way to go for ODI games. If your bowlers are good enough they will restrict the batsmen to a lowish score. Then your batsmen can chase down the runs. Thats how it should be. From the looks of the current Indian wickets, the team that bats first has the worst of the conditions then when the 2nd team bats it perfect batting conditions.

 

[Indiangod]

Usually flat pitches are the way to go for ODI games. If your bowlers are good enough they will restrict the batsmen to a lowish score. Then your batsmen can chase down the runs. Thats how it should be. From the looks of the current Indian wickets, the team that bats first has the worst of the conditions then when the 2nd team bats it perfect batting conditions.

Exactly mate!.

 

[vibs89]

I must say Smith is just awesome man. What an agrresive starting he played till the end 134 Runs!!! Congratzz to Smith. Even I too have the same feeling SA will beat Aus. I have some feeling. Well I just hope it's just an intreting series and after that VB Series will be played. SA-Aus definately in final. As about Sri Lanka they only performs in home ground not in overseas. Well can't wait for the sereis and ofcause India Pak series toooo.