South Africa in India

[King Pietersen]

Sharma's last over was really slow, the first and 2nd balls were late 70's with the wicket ball being early 80's, I thought he was rapid ?

 

[vaibhav mehta]

Its 39+ Degree temperature there. He was in his 13th over of the day. And at last he has just recovered from injury.

 

[TruSachFan]

oh man cant wait to see ishant bowl next yr in NZ

 

[manee]

Sharma's last over was really slow, the first and 2nd balls were late 70's with the wicket ball being early 80's, I thought he was rapid ?

He hadn't bowled for a pretty long time in the day, his muscles probably began to stiffen up.

He is far from rapid though, he operates with an average pace of around 136kph with faster balls at 145kph. In Australia on Channel 9 coverage, he was timed at 150kph, but these readings were inconsistent with those of the Star Sports (IIRC) speed gun which had him closer to topping at 145kph.

 

[SaiSrini]

Not bad. The way SA started, I thought they would romp to 350+ or even 400+ on this wicket, but India have pulled things back down. Good bowling from Harbhajan (yaay!), Ishant and Chawla. I thought Ishant was too expensive to start with, but it seems the reverse swing worked too well for him.

SA still have the advantage, but India know that if they will bat on Day 2 and possibly Day 3 which are the best days for batting in any test. Added to it, the new ball which will be fresh for 30 odd overs will come on much easier to the bat than the old ball. No lateral movement, and no bounce at all means Sehwag and Jaffer have to make the first 30 overs count big. The first session will set the tone to the test. Coz SA might not take the 2nd new ball at all to try and bowl out India.

Could be an interesting test match if India apply themselves. Saurav and Rahul should just stick it out there as much as they can. They are the two senior pros. Same with Laxman too.

Sharma's last over was really slow, the first and 2nd balls were late 70's with the wicket ball being early 80's, I thought he was rapid ?

More pace on this wicket, and its more easy for the batsman to hit it. The ball really slows down after hitting the pitch making it easy if you bowl at big pace. Thats why Sreesanth was not going full throttle. Same with Ishant.

Sree bowled pretty well, and was unlucky not to get McKenzie (it was a goner!).

 

[.Mob]

Yeah, finally my prayers have been answered by Harbhajan, now he needs to keep this speed and loop.

I felt that if Sree got McKenzie, it would have been a huge morale boost for him and we could have seen a different Sreesanth.

 

[manee]

I am watching the highlights and Sreesanth is certainly once again showing himself to have potential with the new ball. But as far as I am concerned, it is merely potential and nothing more until he can begin to bowl fuller lengths at a more consistently high pace. Another thing I have noted about Sreesanth is that his jump differs in length and his load up differs in appearance almost every ball - I am not sure if the TV screen exaggerates minor differences, but I doubt he will ever gain consistency unless he bowls with the same action each delivery.

 

[SaiSrini]

Yeah, finally my prayers have been answered by Harbhajan, now he needs to keep this speed and loop.

I felt that if Sree got McKenzie, it would have been a huge morale boost for him and we could have seen a different Sreesanth.

I feel that Bhajji is back, and he should now keep this up. He has bowled well this series with good varying speed and loop.

 

[Cricketman]

I am watching the highlights and Sreesanth is certainly once again showing himself to have potential with the new ball. But as far as I am concerned, it is merely potential and nothing more until he can begin to bowl fuller lengths at a more consistently high pace. Another thing I have noted about Sreesanth is that his jump differs in length and his load up differs in appearance almost every ball - I am not sure if the TV screen exaggerates minor differences, but I doubt he will ever gain consistency unless he bowls with the same action each delivery.

He needs a stint back in the pace acadamy, to gain some confidence. There are alot of differences in his action for each of his variations. And he bowls something different every ball!

Cross seam, slower ball, yorker, out swing, in swing, down the leg side....

It just shows that he's getting frustrated and wants things to happen too fast.

We need Zaheer back as quick as possible.

 

[SaiSrini]

He needs a stint back in the pace acadamy, to gain some confidence. There are alot of differences in his action for each of his variations. And he bowls something different every ball!

Cross seam, slower ball, yorker, out swing, in swing, down the leg side....

It just shows that he's getting frustrated and wants things to happen too fast.

We need Zaheer back as quick as possible.

Quite true. Sree's impatience is causing him problems.

Zaheer? Let him show that he can last two series without getting injured. I am fed up of him breaking down too often thereby hurting the team.

 

[Cricketman]

He's the best fast bowler we have.

He didn't injure himself, he just wasn't 100%. He didn't want to keep injuring himself, so this break is to fix it for once and for all.

 

[vaibhav mehta]

But Zaheer is running out of Age. If He would have been batsman then no problem with age but We know Indian fast Bowler.
Srinath was in 120s in last 4 years of his career. I still no what happened to Zahir?
Even Fracture can be completely treated within 6 Months.

 

[Leggie]

Good Stuff from India, really pleased with them especially Ishant, Chawla and Harbhajan - Ishant really gettin that reverse swing going . I left the house at SA 100-1 and thinking, 'It's gonna one of them Test's where the its a boring run fest...'. It was not be though, but obviously the most crucial day will be tomottow, we need to score 400 at least to stay ahead of SA because anything underneath that SA can easily stamp the defecit out...

 

[vaibhav mehta]

I think Everything depend now on How India will bat tomorrow.Just little bit of Patience and Sehwag can score well. I think South Africa also like to bowl here. Uneven bounce is annoying me. Ishant presence has already made difference.

 

[Leggie]

Well you can see Jaffer easily struggling here, as he can't be bothered to move his feet, (BTW a lot of players don't like Sehwag but it works for them), he will get out early me reckons, you can just imagine him edging it straight to Graeme Smith at 1st Slip, sorry for being pessimistic but its so true...

And sorry to say but Chawla looked better than Kumble has all series, I am not judging him on one match compared to Kumble's millions and the fact that it is a spinning wickets but I think we have missed a trick by not playing him earlier on...