South Africa's tour of India - October/December 2015

[PokerAce]

Tomorrow is the perfect day to get up early. Aus vs NZ starts at 5:30 leading directly into India SA.

 

[Fenil]

He could be considered to be the big hitting allrounder.Of course he needs to be tested but he should not be made to compromise his attacking batting.Remember his 61* in IPL?

I was the first man to bring forward Pandya's name during last IPL. Since he's from my state I've seen a lot more than most of the people here so I know how good he is but currently he's nothing more than a pinch hitter as a batsman. If he matures as a batsman, say someone like Irfan Pathan when he was promoted to #3, he will be a lot more useful for the team. That said, I wouldn't want him to be promoted to #3. #7 will be his place.

 

[RUDI]

^Umesh vs Amla, I see only one winner there :P

I think Vijay vs Steyn will be interesting, I would give Steyn the edge, but Vijay has improved by a country mile on the foreign tours. So I think it will be a good contest. The other two duels will be interesting. Mishra's mental state after his brush with the law will be key.

It will most definitely be an interesting match! RSA Vs India has and always will be one of the most anticipated Test series. Most South Africans see it as a sort of Ashes series when this two countries meet. And as a South African, we are always vary off the spinners in the India team... because as we all know.... South Africa is not genuinely good at playing spin .

 

[grkrama]

Sidharth Monga talks to Jimmy Cook about his international career | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

nice read

 

[PokerAce]

On an unrelated note, watching Ram Slam on Six, and boy almost no one at the ground. For a T20 league/event, this is kind of a new low. I still believe that T20 cricket will become stale soon now. T20 was great when it was new, and people couldn't get enough of 8 runs per over chases every night. However now 8 runs per over is stale. This fast scoring cricket was THE key reason for T20s popularity, and ofcourse the 20 overs that finished quickly. However that fast scoring was the key aspect of T20s. With the charm of this now gone, T20 has nothing to offer in cricketing terms. FInancially yes, but as cricket goes nothing more to add. Fans can take it only for so long. T20 is on the way out I feel, or will be on the way out soon.

 

[PokerAce]

India players uneasy about 'umpire's call' | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[aditya123]

This will be a cracking series. The ODIs were very close and I expect the tests to be closer, if anything. Unfortunately, the venues for the tests are poor choices. Mohali does`nt even get crowds for the IPL. Ahmedabad and Nagpur are not centers with test match following either. So, we will most likely see UAE-like crowds for such a marquee series. Add to that the fact that you will have early morning fog in Mohali and early sunset (4.30 pm) with winter setting in. How foolish can the scheduling get? Ahmedabad, Mohali and Nagpur should`ve hosted the ODIs and Mumbai, Chennai the tests.

The BCCI can do all the rotation they like for the ODIs and T20s. Tests should be restricted to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and possibly Delhi. The scheduling for this series has been a bit like England hosting Australia for the Ashes at Bristol, Hove, Chester-le-Street, Cardiff and Grace Road followed by an ODI series played at the Oval, Lords, Trent Bridge, Old Trafford.

Nowhere except India would you see this happening. Its quite shitty. Its high time common sense prevails. Test cricket in India at the traditional venues is well alive. Its just that we rarely play tests in those venues and keep allotting test matches to these venues which have no liking for it. Imagine if the iconic 2001 Ind-Australia series had been played at Mohali, Nagpur and Ahmedabad in front of empty crowds. The most iconic test match images in India, be it the 2001 series or even the 2010 SA test at the Eden Gardens all involve the crowd roaring the side back to action. Sadly, for a series of this magnitude, we will have 100 men and their dogs watching.

Thats how stupid the BCCI are.

 

[PokerAce]

I think I do see Rohit missing out on the final XI. Kohli has shown that 5 bowlers is his thing, and if 5 bowlers play, with Jadeja being one of the 5, then Rohit just has to miss out. The worst thing they could do is put him in ahead of Pujara.

Rohit has his abilities, I will give him that. If I had to draw a parallel from another sport, then Rohit is a lot similar to Berbatov. He has that Lazy elegance about him that on his day he clicks he is unstoppable, but then he is mostly lazy and doesnt do his talent justice. He will play a great 25 and then a lazy shot lobs straight to mid off and out.

Pujara is clearly the more consistant. I think its the only real question that the team have to answer going in. SL series win was great, and India should build on that against SA.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Having just agreed that LOI form should not be a criteria for test selection you want Dhawan dropped from the tests because of his LOI form despite Dhawan having back to back 100s in his last two Tests !!

I'm a huge supporter of performances outside the sub continent. I feel Rahul and Pujara should play ahead of Dhawan. I just don't see Dhawan ever improving. Yes, he's got a couple of hundreds but Puj and Rahul have done the same. It's just my opinion mate. And in India, I would play Rohit. He is in sparkling form and he can win tests. But, I think you're going to get your wish tomorrow by the look of it. Rohit will be dropped. I can't argue against it, but I think benching Rahul for Dhawan will be a bit disgusting although Dhawan is better to watch.

@stefan- Well, if India play to half their potential Philander will be carted around. He may get a 5/150 or 6/170 but he won't win SA a test. Will he do a job? Expect him to go at atlas 3 an over and may be a few cheap tailender wickets.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

This will be a cracking series. The ODIs were very close and I expect the tests to be closer, if anything. Unfortunately, the venues for the tests are poor choices. Mohali does`nt even get crowds for the IPL. Ahmedabad and Nagpur are not centers with test match following either. So, we will most likely see UAE-like crowds for such a marquee series. Add to that the fact that you will have early morning fog in Mohali and early sunset (4.30 pm) with winter setting in. How foolish can the scheduling get? Ahmedabad, Mohali and Nagpur should`ve hosted the ODIs and Mumbai, Chennai the tests.

The BCCI can do all the rotation they like for the ODIs and T20s. Tests should be restricted to Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and possibly Delhi. The scheduling for this series has been a bit like England hosting Australia for the Ashes at Bristol, Hove, Chester-le-Street, Cardiff and Grace Road followed by an ODI series played at the Oval, Lords, Trent Bridge, Old Trafford.

Nowhere except India would you see this happening. Its quite shitty. Its high time common sense prevails. Test cricket in India at the traditional venues is well alive. Its just that we rarely play tests in those venues and keep allotting test matches to these venues which have no liking for it. Imagine if the iconic 2001 Ind-Australia series had been played at Mohali, Nagpur and Ahmedabad in front of empty crowds. The most iconic test match images in India, be it the 2001 series or even the 2010 SA test at the Eden Gardens all involve the crowd roaring the side back to action. Sadly, for a series of this magnitude, we will have 100 men and their dogs watching.

Thats how stupid the BCCI are.

Fantastic post! If there was a post of the year award, I would have nominated this one. The only thing I disagree slightly with is the ODI series being close. Msd's second ODI masterclass made it look like it was close if you ask me.[DOUBLEPOST=1446669097][/DOUBLEPOST]I just realised that I'm going to have to tolerate Manjrekar again in this festive mood.

 

[PokerAce]

I'm a huge supporter of performances outside the sub continent. I feel Rahul and Pujara should play ahead of Dhawan. I just don't see Dhawan ever improving. Yes, he's got a couple of hundreds but Puj and Rahul have done the same. It's just my opinion mate. And in India, I would play Rohit. He is in sparkling form and he can win tests. But, I think you're going to get your wish tomorrow by the look of it. Rohit will be dropped. I can't argue against it, but I think benching Rahul for Dhawan will be a bit disgusting although Dhawan is better to watch.

Performances outside sub-continent is all well and good, but a) we are not outside the subcontinent and b) Dhawan has 2 100s in his last two tests. Rahul has to find some consistency, and while he did get a 100 in SL, he was terrible in the other outings. He had no clue where his off stump was and kept losing his off stump while leaving the ball. Rahul for me gets in ahead of Rohit, but not ahead of Dhawan right now.

What wrong has the guy done, not performed in LOIs okay fine, but he does have back to back test 100s and you want to drop him !!

 

[Satan666]

SA to complete a whitewash

 

[Gaurav_7]

Good to see Pujara in. I would have had Rahul in for Dhawan. But maybe Dhawan has his one last chance. XI looks good. 3 spinners and 2 pacers in Yadav and Aaron are a good. All our spinners are very handy with the bat too. Hopefully day 1 we get a solid start.

 

[zwarrior]

India should have picked Rahul instead of Dhawan. Clearly he is out of form and the first game is always a pressure match. Rahul might have done a better job than Dhawan. And instead of Aaron they should have picked an extra batsman like Rohit or even Binny would have been better than Aaron. He leaks runs and doesn't pick up wickets.

 

[aditya123]

Fantastic post! If there was a post of the year award, I would have nominated this one. The only thing I disagree slightly with is the ODI series being close. Msd's second ODI masterclass made it look like it was close if you ask me.[DOUBLEPOST=1446669097][/DOUBLEPOST]I just realised that I'm going to have to tolerate Manjrekar again in this festive mood.

I disagree. The ODI series was really close except the last game. India could`ve easily won the Kanpur and Rajkot ODIs. The result could`ve shifted to the other side with a few good overs for India or with Ashwin bowling his quota at Kanpur. It was that fine a margin.