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

[zwarrior]

Ashwin finishes with career best. 7/66

 

[PokerAce]

And thats it. Just like India stopped the Steve Waugh's Australian side's run, India have now put an end to one of the finest unbeaten away series runs cricket has seen.

I think a lot has been said about the wicket, and in conclusion I will like to say this -

The pitch was what it was, but two teams played on it, and one performed miles better than the other, and deservingly won comprehensively.

#'Nuffsaid

 

[stefan]

Grats to india on the series win.

SA didn't apply themselves and could have done better, that doesn't change the fact that the series was played under terrible conditions. Not 100 scored in the series and not even a 50 in this match should tell it all...

 

[PokerAce]

^ Thx was for the congrats. If you want to fool yourself and continue to use the 'terrible conditions' excuse instead of facing up to the 'terrible application' by SA batsmen, then be my guest.

 

[stefan]

^ Thx was for the congrats. If you want to fool yourself about the 'terrible conditions' part, then be my guest.

No 100's in the series, no 50's in this match from two of the top teams in world cricket. Unless you want to tell me all of them are in terrible form...I will concede bangalore was a good wicket that was ruined by the weather and the batsman there got out to mental issues but both mohali and nagpur were poor pitches...

 

[zwarrior]

Grats to india on the series win.

SA didn't apply themselves and could have done better, that doesn't change the fact that the series was played under terrible conditions. Not 100 scored in the series and not even a 50 in this match should tell it all...

SA played horribly bad in Bangalore. The pitch was not to blame. Atleast that pitch if not for others. They were all out for 200 odd runs while India batted firmly and were 80/0. Comparatively, their batting performance was not upto the mark even if you argue that pitch/conditions were bad.

 

[PokerAce]

No 100's in the series, no 50's in this match from two of the top teams in world cricket. Unless you want to tell me all of them are in terrible form...I will concede bangalore was a good wicket that was ruined by the weather and the batsman there got out to mental issues but both mohali and nagpur were poor pitches...

Yeah so it was a series dominated by the bowlers ... whats wrong with that. Why should every test contrive to follow some stereotypical narrative of batsmen scoring x runs and spin happening on day 5, and what not.

Tests are dominated by bowlers sometimes, when its seamers doing it on a green top, its okay, but spinners doing it on a turner is considered bad.

Ultimately I will repeat what I wrote earlier - the pitch was what it was, but two sides played this test, both on the same surface, one side applied themselves much better than the other, and deservingly won comprehensively.

Pitch cannot possibly have been the differentiating factor between the side winning and the side losing, as both sides batted on the same pitch. So reason then says the difference was clearly better application.

If you want to continue to ignore that then what is to be done.

Look I am not saying this was the greatest pitch to bat on. Of course it wasn't. However narrative from SA perspective made no sense. Its one thing to say oh this is too bad, and we can't possibly play on this, or alternatively SA could have said, okay this pitch is the same for both sides, lets back ourselves, we are the #1 side in the world, and lets apply ourselves better than the other side and win.

SA never seemed up for the challenge, they were negative in the mindset, played rash shots, which is why they finished so far behind India.

Its something that India fans expect from Indian players abroad. Like the Lord's test in England as green a wicket as it comes, but no one in India said, thats too green. No the point was its what you have been given, both sides play on the same surface, so go out and perform, and they did, and won. However winning was not a factor, and even if India had lost the narrative would have been the same.

India don't expect friendly conditions or conditions within a range, when they travel abroad. This much swing is fine, swing beyond that is too much etc. The pitch will be what it will be, the side where you are touring is free to serve up any pitch they want however extreme, but if you fail to perform, its on you not the pitch.

Teams come to India fearing extreme spinners, whereas when India tours abroad, we want the home side to give us the worst they have to offer, and then we want our batsmen perform on that. If they do it great, it they can't we don't blame the pitch or the conditions, we blame the batsman (or bowlers). If its Perth, then make it the bounciest and the fastest you can, if its England bring on all the swing you can. We want our batsmen tested on the extreme. Teams however come to India, thinking jee I hope it doesn't turn too much and sadly that is the attitude I see in the fans as well.

After all two sides play on the wicket, so why can't you play better than the other side. I think thats a much better attitude to take.

 

[aditya123]

Its a good win but that is about it. We might have stalled a 9 year streak for SA but for some reason it does`nt feel as special as the 2001 series against Australia or even the 1-1 draw against SA at home. Its not been good viewing. When I tune in to watch a test match, I want to see a bit of everything and that includes batting, spin, wickets to seamers etc. That is why the moment of the series so far was Aaron`s delivery to Amla at Bangalore. Pity that the B`lore game did`nt happen.

If the Indian setup asks itself whether this series has been satisfying, we`d be lying if the answer said yes. Go back to the 2013 home series against Australia. Even in that whitewash of Australia, the wickets were not anything like this Nagpur/Mohali track. Hyderabad, Mohali, Chennai were all fair wickets and we beat the Aussies 4-0 on them. I think this side can win on tracks better than these. I need the crappy Ravi Shastri to get out of that dressing room. All the pitch doctoring smells of the after effect of Shastri`s rant post the Mumbai ODI.

Congrats to India but nothing to be too happy about. The series has been about the team that had better spinners. We already knew the answer to that before the series began. Had SA possessed someone of the pedigree of Nathan Lyon, this series would have read different. That is all this series tells us.

 

[PokerAce]

Its a good win but that is about it. We might have stalled a 9 year streak for SA but for some reason it does`nt feel as special as the 2001 series against Australia or even the 1-1 draw against SA at home. Its not been good viewing. When I tune in to watch a test match, I want to see a bit of everything and that includes batting, spin, wickets to seamers etc. That is why the moment of the series so far was Aaron`s delivery to Amla at Bangalore. Pity that the B`lore game did`nt happen.

Congrats to India but nothing to be too happy about. The series has been about the team that had better spinners. We already knew the answer to that before the series began. Had SA possessed someone of the pedigree of Nathan Lyon, this series would have read different. That is all this series tells us.

Of course it doesn't as there was no contest here, between Ind and SA. India were miles ahead of SA right through the series. It never felt like we were facing the same side that was on that long a run. SA saw turn in Mohali and gave up. The series was a no contest from then on. Against Austrlia India had to mount one of, if not the greatest comeback ever in any cricketing series to win. So of course that felt more special.

At what point did you really think okay that is the #1 test side India are up against. I can almost understand the disappointment England must have had when India toured there and lost 4-0.

 

[grkrama]

Had SA possessed someone of the pedigree of Nathan Lyon,

OMG

If we are talking of moeen ali i would have understood but lyon ?

 

[PokerAce]

^ Now Moenn Ali, thats a whole different matter :P India batsmen will be shivering in their boots

 

[zwarrior]

Coming to the batting performance, you said no one scored century. Is there any hardcore rule that a batsmen should score century in a series and if he doesn't the pitch is bad? 'Pitch is bad' is premature statement. Pitch favours spin is the right way to put. Between, what's the fuss? Even India played in the same pitch. But India was miles better than SA. They deserved to win.
Apart from ABD, FAF, Amla no one had it in them in the South African side to score a century in an away series. Amla's form was poor since they came to India. Faf never played good cricket in test in this tour. Only today, he showed some improvement. Coming to Indian side, apart from Vijay and Pujara I did not expect anyone else to score a ton in their current form. Dhawan, like Amla is not in form. Rahane never plays well in home. Kohli is not being himself nowadays, and don't get me started on Rohit. So, ya. The 3 main batsmen failed to score a century in 3 matches. Not rare. This series was about bowling. For once it is good that bowlers excel batsmen. And ABD almost scored a century in Bangalore if not for Saha's awesome catch. And I am sure Vijay would have got a ton in Bangalore, but can't prove.
Let's wait and see how the next match goes.

 

[RUDI]

Congratulations India! Well bowled Aswin..

 

[stefan]

SA played horribly bad in Bangalore. The pitch was not to blame. Atleast that pitch if not for others. They were all out for 200 odd runs while India batted firmly and were 80/0. Comparatively, their batting performance was not upto the mark even if you argue that pitch/conditions were bad.

Already conceded bangalore was a good wicket and we didn't bat well there in the first innings but we have no way to know what would have happened in that game as the rest of the match was lost to rain.

Yeah so it was a series dominated by the bowlers ... whats wrong with that. Why should every test contrive to follow some stereotypical narrative of batsmen scoring x runs and spin happening on day 5, and what not.

Tests are dominated by bowlers sometimes, when its seamers doing it on a green top, its okay, but spinners doing it on a turner is considered bad.

Ultimately I will repeat what I wrote earlier - the pitch was what it was, but two sides played this test, both on the same surface, one side applied themselves much better than the other, and deservingly won comprehensively.

Pitch cannot possibly have been the differentiating factor between the side winning and the side losing, as both sides batted on the same pitch. So reason then says the difference was clearly better application.

If you want to continue to ignore that then what is to be done.

Look I am not saying this was the greatest pitch to bat on. Of course it wasn't. However narrative from SA perspective made no sense. Its one thing to say oh this is too bad, and we can't possibly play on this, or alternatively SA could have said, okay this pitch is the same for both sides, lets back ourselves, we are the #1 side in the world, and lets apply ourselves better than the other side and win.

SA never seemed up for the challenge, they were negative in the mindset, played rash shots, which is why they finished so far behind India.

Its something that India fans expect from Indian players abroad. Like the Lord's test in England as green a wicket as it comes, but no one in India said, thats too green. No the point was its what you have been given, both sides play on the same surface, so go out and perform, and they did, and won. However winning was not a factor, and even if India had lost the narrative would have been the same.

India don't expect friendly conditions or conditions within a range, when they travel abroad. This much swing is fine, swing beyond that is too much etc. The pitch will be what it will be, the side where you are touring is free to serve up any pitch they want however extreme, but if you fail to perform, its on you not the pitch.

Teams come to India fearing extreme spinners, whereas when India tours abroad, we want the home side to give us the worst they have to offer, and then we want our batsmen perform on that. If they do it great, it they can't we don't blame the pitch or the conditions, we blame the batsman (or bowlers). If its Perth, then make it the bounciest and the fastest you can, if its England bring on all the swing you can. We want our batsmen tested on the extreme. Teams however come to India, thinking jee I hope it doesn't turn too much and sadly that is the attitude I see in the fans as well.

After all two sides play on the wicket, so why can't you play better than the other side. I think thats a much better attitude to take.

There are degrees. When coming to india we expect to deal with spin and that is all fair is that is India's strenght. But the wickets at mohali and nagpur went too far imho. Just like the green tops india had to face in england went too far.

Another factor in the series was that SA had to bat last at both mohali and nagpur, may have been totally different if we had won either toss.

Some changes will be made for england. Can't see van zyl or villas surviving the axe.

 

[zwarrior]

Why was Villas chosen over Quinton ?