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

[War]

From a neutral perspective as others have said in media, I like the look of S Africa T20 set-up with De Villiers opening and A Morkel back. Maybe if Morkel was showing good enough form before 50 overs world cup this year, his recall then would have given them the proper 5th bowler balance they were missing ,that might just have brought them world cup glory.

In so many tournaments over the years once has looked at S Africa over the years at thought they were tournament favourites, but i think they might have again stumbled on a XI that could go all the way in T20 world-cup, not withstanding what sort of team West Indies pick for example.

Also looking ahead to the main course, the test series - its well known history that since India became a force at home in the 70s the few teams that have won series IND - WI 74, 84, AUS 2004, S Africa 2000, ENG 76, 85, 2012 - all except ENG 2012 did so with the fast bowlers playing a leading role.

Early clues from the T20 tells me when Steyn/Morkel/Philander come back, S Africa have artillery to replicate what Hansie Cronje's 2000 team did.

 

[SaiSrini]

Dhoni continues to stoke the "Rahane not fit for limited overs" controversy. Currently there is no necessity for Dhoni to bat at No.4 with Rahane available. And Rahane can be accomodated at No.3 with Kohli dropping one spot below to No.4 and then Dhoni and Raina can come in. Rahane is miles ahead of Rayudu. My batting order will be

Rohit
Dhawan
Rahane
Kohli
Dhoni
Raina
Ashwin

 

[Aalay]

Ashwin's bowling keeps me awake at night.

 

[AliB]

Ashwin's bowling keeps me awake at night.

9:40 AM?
--
Great bowling by Ashwin, getting a set batsman in the very first over of his innings. Great bowling Ash.

 

[Aalay]

9:40 AM?

Unfortunately, not everyone is living in India.[DOUBLEPOST=1444537187][/DOUBLEPOST]Bhuvi bowling at 142 Km/h but missing that swing.

 

[SaiSrini]

Not sure WTF Dhoni is doing here not bowling Ashwin after he bowled that one beautiful over picking up the lone wicket to fall. Hope Dhoni's gamble (of keeping Ashwin for later) here pays off.

 

[aditya123]

I just hope this doesn`t mean losing Ashwin for the series or something. We need him for the tests more than anything. 250+ on this track won`t be easy against a good SA attack. Despite of Nohit`s 100 in that inconsequential T20, I would stick my neck out and say Rahane and Dhawan should be our openers with Nohit coming in at 4.

That is a far more balanced lineup. No.4, 5 and 6 would be Nohit, Dhoni and Raina. The top 3 a would then be batsmen who can bat through while the rest are all capable of big hitting. Nohit at the top takes too much time to settle down and does`nt inspire confidence against the genuinely good attacks which Rahane does.

Rahane`s best innings have come against the superior attacks in world cricket in tough conditions. Nohit, on the other hand just cashes in against ordinary attacks.

 

[grkrama]

unnoticed amidst all the rahane dhoni debate bunny has yet again bagged a spot in the playing eleven

 

[AliB]

Who the hell chose Binny in the squad? Conceding 21 of a single over, worst! I still think if Ashwin would've have bowled his full quota the SA would have been a 25-40 run short of this. With a strong-strong bowling line-up SA are 75-25 in the game. Let's hope for a cracker.

 

[grkrama]

really hope rahanae makes a quickfire 50 or something also who is playing up rahane or MSD ?

 

[PokerAce]

Missed the SA innings, thought it would be a day nighter, and also was sleeping in late on the Sunday anyway. Kanpur is a very small ground, barely 60 mtr boundaries, so with that into account 303 seems like a below par total.

AB got a 100 on this ground no surprises there. Good to see Rahane finally getting a game and all the silliness finished.

This should be a good chase.

 

[PokerAce]

These conditions are not ideal, but in conditions that help fast bowling the trio of Steyn Morkel and Rabada would be quite a handful for any batsman.

 

[PokerAce]

India falling away a little bit, Virat needs to get hitting, India would hate to lose Rohit at this point.

 

[PokerAce]

Things in cricket that sound dirty -

"He (Rabada) has struggled to get it up" - Sunil Gavaskar

 

[Markkkkk]

All I need is Sturt Binny to play a heroric knock to win the match and I would be delighted, that would assure that him and Rohit are in the test side...