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

[aditya123]

What excuse for the Indian batsman then? As they have also struggled. Not 1 batsman has gotten a 100 in this series. Going to put all down to bad batting?

The current Indian lot is`nt the best against spin. We have lost more wickets to spin than pace in recent times, and that includes a lot of cricket overseas. Its come down to which side has the better spin bowlers and Ashwin/Jadeja on these tracks are unplayable whereas the SA spinners bowl a lot of lose deliveries. I still do not subscribe to this track. That is not to say that SA are great against spin. The one at Bangalore was a fair wicket and SA were poor there as well.

 

[grkrama]

What excuse for the Indian batsman then? As they have also struggled. Not 1 batsman has gotten a 100 in this series. Going to put all down to bad batting?

Truth be said we havnt exactly batted well too despite the pitch especially at mohali it wasnt a wkt were a gritty hundred coulnot have been scored vijay nad pujara did come close just that same application wasnt shown by others! IN blore the two openers and ABD did look more than good enough for a century!




Apart form the nagpur wkt others arent really demons by any stretch! Its just SA have batted worse!

 

[PokerAce]

What excuse for the Indian batsman then? As they have also struggled. Not 1 batsman has gotten a 100 in this series. Going to put all down to bad batting?

This is not the old Tendulkar generation who could play spin. Hell they struggled again Moenn Ali in England of all places !! This Indian side is quite vulnerable to its own medicine.

Even so on the same pitch India score 215, SA 79. Does that not in itself point out the difference between application. Thats all this is about. SA did not suddenly come unstuck because this wicket spins a lot. They have consistantly played spin poorly.

Its like if India toured SA and got a green wicket and complained about the wicket. Its not about one wicket, India have consistently played poorly on away pitches. Its the same with SA. Its not about this one pitch, SA have consistently played spin poorly. This one pitch has completely exposed that.

 

[RUDI]

Disaster of a day for South African cricket.. South Africa really can't play spin.... back to the drawing board for SA cricket... we should really learn how to play spin well on grassroots level ... and possibly create a couple of unplayable wickets back home to train on before touring Asia again

 

[PokerAce]

Shame about the Pujara dismissal, he was looking good. But thats the kind of pitch this is. A wicket where you are never 'in'.

 

[PokerAce]

Vilas has struggled with the bat sure, but as a Keeper he has been a big disappointment. Too many balls spinning and going past him. A good keeper has to be able to take those. More than the bat he has disappointed with the gloves, which given his form with the bat is saying something.

 

[PokerAce]

Dhawan and Kohli both got out to strange shots. I think the game plan for India is clear. No point just sticking around and not scoring. As sooner or later they will get out and the score card would barely have moved. SO may as well play the shots. Pujara before them was doing the same thing.

100/4, now, I think everyone knows about 250 target starts to get into improbable territory on this wicket. India's lead almost there.

 

[PokerAce]

Tahir now running through the side. Kinda makes you wonder why he was held back for so long.

 

[stefan]

This is not the old Tendulkar generation who could play spin. Hell they struggled again Moenn Ali in England of all places !! This Indian side is quite vulnerable to its own medicine.

Even so on the same pitch India score 215, SA 79. Does that not in itself point out the difference between application. Thats all this is about. SA did not suddenly come unstuck because this wicket spins a lot. They have consistantly played spin poorly.

Its like if India toured SA and got a green wicket and complained about the wicket. Its not about one wicket, India have consistently played poorly on away pitches. Its the same with SA. Its not about this one pitch, SA have consistently played spin poorly. This one pitch has completely exposed that.

Not disputing that India have been better then SA. My dispute is about the wickets being good enough for test cricket. Neither the mohali nor nagpur is capable of lasting 5 days even if some of the batsman applied themselves. Pitches whether they are spin friendly or seam friendly should be capable of lasting the intended 5 days.

Vilas has struggled with the bat sure, but as a Keeper he has been a big disappointment. Too many balls spinning and going past him. A good keeper has to be able to take those. More than the bat he has disappointed with the gloves, which given his form with the bat is saying something.

Nothing surprising said from the start that QDK should have been the keeper, class is permanent and form temporary. Hopefully this is the end of that experiment and he will be restored for the england series.

 

[grkrama]

Neither the mohali nor nagpur is capable of lasting 5 days

Mohali was a 5 day wkt this one is not! Mohali at no point of time was it coming out, a curator can only prepare wkts to make sure it holds for 5 days, he cant judge whether batsman will last for 5 days!

 

[grkrama]

on this pitch tahir is the trump card for SA, he may bowl the loose ones but can bowl the wkt taking ones more than harmer or elgar

 

[grkrama]

ALso i would still say this test is in the cards if SA can apply themselves when batting !

 

[PokerAce]

Not disputing that India have been better then SA. My dispute is about the wickets being good enough for test cricket. Neither the mohali nor nagpur is capable of lasting 5 days even if some of the batsman applied themselves. Pitches whether they are spin friendly or seam friendly should be capable of lasting the intended 5 days.

Actually I will disagree about that. I for one have been happy with the series being dominated by the ball instead of the bat, for a change. However had the dominance of the ball been on green tops with fast bowlers taking the wickets, no one would have complained. The same things happening only this time spinner taking wickets on spinning track, people seem to have issues.

There is seeming unwritten rule that a pitch must only turn on the 4th and 5th day. Why? Where does that rule come from? No one says the ball must swing only on the 5th day !

Also I think has more to with the fact that a dusty wicket gives the illusion of being an under-prepared wicket, what with all the dust and all. But a spinning track requires preparation as much as a green top.

That ball is spinning so much and the pitch coming apart, because it was made to be that way, and not because the curator forgot to work on it. The Curator made it a dusty spinner, and its not as if the pitch was not worked on, and instead the curator found a patch of ground, chucked some dirt on it and said, there ... thats your pitch.

A pitch regardless of whether its a spinner of a green top, requires work. Yet because of the dirt people think that pitch seems odd.

Either that or somehow its more fun to watch seamers take wickets than spinners, I dont know. However the same thing happening on a green top, no one would have said a word.

 

[PokerAce]

I think people in India have been obsessed with Dhawan's form that they have forgotten to take a look at Rahane. He seems out of sorts, more than Dhawan. India could have a decision to make about Rahane.

I personally would go with the same line up for the final test. The only change would be perhaps, the extra seamer instead of Rohit/Mishra depending on the pitch.

 

[Aravind.]

Actually I will disagree about that. I for one have been happy with the series being dominated by the ball instead of the bat, for a change. However had the dominance of the ball been on green tops with fast bowlers taking the wickets, no one would have complained. The same things happening only this time spinner taking wickets on spinning track, people seem to have issues.

There is seeming unwritten rule that a pitch must only turn on the 4th and 5th day. Why? Where does that rule come from? No one says the ball must swing only on the 5th day !

Also I think has more to with the fact that a dusty wicket gives the illusion of being an under-prepared wicket, what with all the dust and all. But a spinning track requires preparation as much as a green top.

That ball is spinning so much and the pitch coming apart, because it was made to be that way, and not because the curator forgot to work on it. The Curator made it a dusty spinner, and its not as if the pitch was not worked on, and instead the curator found a patch of ground, chucked some dirt on it and said, there ... thats your pitch.

A pitch regardless of whether its a spinner of a green top, requires work. Yet because of the dirt people think that pitch seems odd.

Either that or somehow its more fun to watch seamers take wickets than spinners, I dont know. However the same thing happening on a green top, no one would have said a word.

Mass reply.