India in South Africa 2013

First topic message reminder :

The BCCI have picked the test squad for South Africa well in advance, so the debates can also start well in time.

Advantage marginally with South Africa at the minute.

Massive applause to Kohli who's kept India fighting for the large part though - calamitous run-out aside.

Think more like 330 or more is par on this deck. There isn't much happening. A few have bounced a bit out of the cracks and there is a little bit in the pitch with the new ball, but it's reasonably placid.

As for India have the bowling to exploit the conditions... We will see. Lot will depend on how Zaheer bowls and whether there will be anything for Ashwin come 4th innings.

India will want at least 350 here, particularly after winning the toss.

Duty281 wrote:India will want at least 350 here, particularly after winning the toss.

India should be pleased that they did not roll over for 180 odd on a pacy bouncy pitch...that they are very much capable off...and it would have neither surprised nor worried most ...if that had happned...give the "foreign-ness" of conditions and lack of practice.

350 would be the target if winning was the objective......here not being blown away was the objective and .....and with that in mind they have done credibly

Bit of a negative mindset surely?

South Africa are far from invincible.

Morne Morkel will be bowling the last over of the day. India 255-5. The Indian skipper on strike.

Dhoni survives and India survive, 255-5 at stumps.
An even day I'd say. And an even day through the 3 sessions.

Duty281 wrote:Bit of a negative mindset surely?

South Africa are far from invincible.

would be a good idea if Duty could turn an Indian supporter for this series, we are seriously lacking in the optimism department!.

Its end of the day's play with India at a decent total 255-5.
Indian openers once again failed to put a mark, though if I leave Dhawan for he is playing his first test outside, Vijay failure can't be accepted. Last time also he was a failure till the time he was dropped. Pujara, though played a small inning of 25 runs, but his 98 ball knock reflects the temperament of the young lad from Saurastra. Again only one word for Kohli. SUPERB!!!
I always remember Dravid when I see Rahane batting. He played some of best backward punch and front-foot drive.
At the end of Day Dhoni* 14 and Rahane 43.

msp83 wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Bit of a negative mindset surely?

South Africa are far from invincible.

would be a good idea if Duty could turn an Indian supporter for this series, we are seriously lacking in the optimism department!.

 Yup I agree with you msp. What you say DUTY.  

Dhawan has to find a better way to deal with the short ball. Can't take it on all the time, he has to have a better defensive technique against the likes of Steyn when they target him with the short stuff. Vijay's eventual score was certainly disappointing, but I'd give him a bit of credit for seeing the opening spells from Steyn and Philander through. He was leaving very well up to the point when he went fishing after Morkel. Hopefully he'll be able to sustain his discipline for greater periods and score some substantial runs.

Dhoni looked in decent nick, even in that short time he was in this evening..if he stays in for a few hours tomorrow, then india will have a very good first innings total.

msp83 wrote:Dhawan has to find a better way to deal with the short ball. Can't take it on all the time, he has to have a better defensive technique against the likes of Steyn when they target him with the short stuff. Vijay's eventual score was certainly disappointing, but I'd give him a bit of credit for seeing the opening spells from Steyn and Philander through. He was leaving very well up to the point when he went fishing after Morkel. Hopefully he'll be able to sustain his discipline for greater periods and score some substantial runs.

I think Vijay should be dropped from the next match. Remember in 2010 also he was given chance but he failed.
I think it's right time to bring Rayadu to the squad, with Rahane opening the batting.

Don't think the selectors see Rahane as opening material any more. Vijay if fit, would certainly get the next test, he had a fabulous test series against Australia early this year and what stood out then was his ability to take his time at the top, see the new ball off and then build a big score. He did the first half of that pretty well today, and if Kohli was able to take guard against Morkel and Kallis and not Steyn or Philander in the 4th or 5th over, some of the credit is that of Vijay. Vijay of course didn't do his job properly, but if my opener is going to get out for 6, I would prefer it to be the Vijay way after spending an hour at the wicket rather than the Sehwag way of getting out in the first over.......
I hope Vijay would come good in this series and earn his ticket to New Zealand. His position is not safe by any means, but he should get this series to prove himself one way or the other.

May be msp, but still I feel India need a strong opener and Vijay for a while, I don't find reliable up the order outside India. His temperament and technique though fits better in India but on the bouncy track, ummmm, I don't find any answer from his side.

Well done to the Indians, the day was split even, I thought. Herschille Gibbs said bat first score 400 on this deck, that's still a little way away.

I thought the bowling line-up had one of those brain fade days. Quite simple allowed the Indians to leave far too many balls, because they were inviting them to go one the drive. Once the Indians decided against driving, we didn't have a plan B. It's a slower than normal Wanderers deck, as Chris Scott didn't leave as much grass as he normally does - this could be seen by the amount of times AB was picking it up of his calves, In my time as a season ticket holder at the bullring, this is one of the slowest day 1 decks put up. I think it may have to do with the Test vs Pakistan, where they were bowled out for 49, and beaten inside four days. Groundsmen take these things personally, and sometimes they over compensate. With all that said, I'm happy with the way day 1 went. anytime you lose the toss and keep the batting team under 3 an over and get to the wickey is a good day.

Kumar, I think Vijay has a good temperament, but his technique is a bit suspect.
But Ajinkya Rahane is viewed as a middle order player now, and Gautam Gambhir, despite skipper Dhoni's hint about remaining the 3rd opener regardless of selection decisions for the tour, hasn't done enough to earn a comeback to the national side. Sehwag has given on opening and looks an imposter of the trend setting openers of a few years ago and anyways I feel he's done as an international cricketer. Not sure young Jiwanjot is ready for international cricket, Unmukt Chand has to first find his feet in First Class cricket and Abhinav Mukund also has some major technical issues that need to be worked on and he has been in poor form in the Ranji Trophy this year. So give Vijay a chance to succeed or fail, give a fair crack, and then take a call. Think his performances against Australia have earned him enough credit for that consideration.

kingraf wrote:Well done to the Indians, the day was split even, I thought. Herschille Gibbs said bat first score 400 on this deck, that's still a little way away.

I thought the bowling line-up had one of those brain fade days. Quite simple allowed the Indians to leave far too many balls, because they were inviting them to go one the drive. Once the Indians decided against driving, we didn't have a plan B. It's a slower than normal Wanderers deck, as Chris Scott didn't leave as much grass as he normally does - this could be seen by the amount of times AB was picking it up of his calves, In my time as a season ticket holder at the bullring, this is one of the slowest day 1 decks put up. I think it may have to do with the Test vs Pakistan, where they were bowled out for 49, and beaten inside four days. Groundsmen take these things personally, and sometimes they over compensate. With all that said, I'm happy with the way day 1 went. anytime you lose the toss and keep the batting team under 3 an over and get to the wickey is a good day.

Yeah, despite the South African seamers bowling well, they didn't seem to be at their best. As you rightly said, too many balls that the batsmen could leave along. The strategy was a fair one, the Indians usually like to feel the ball on bat and keep the scoreboard moving to play on that was fair enough game plan. But the lines had to be a bit more closer to the off stump so that the batsmen would have more to think about leaving the ball alone. And I think they overdid the short stuff to Pujara. After he was in, Pujara wasn't really troubled by the short stuff really. He's a bit compulsive when it comes to the hook shot, but the way to work on that was to use the short ball intelligently.
The return of Imran Tahir to his rather profligate and club standard levels didn't help them either. It would have been to prefer Robin Peterson over Tahir after their respective shows in the Pakistan test series, but if Tahir had any fitness concerns as you had hinted earlier, they should certainly have brought Peterson in. Perhaps the Indians would have taken Peterson on as well, but he would have at least made them work for that, with Tahir it was all too easy as he was serving up a lot of utter garbage that the batsman had no problem whatsoever dealing with.

india need to cross 300 for this to continue to be an even game.
india need to bat one more session and i would consider india nose ahead

I only had the opportunity to watch the first hour.

I thought the Indian batsmen did very well in curbing their natural instincts of swinging the bat at everything.

The big issue for me was the number of balls not being played at, it was clear to see that it was an obvious ploy from the Indians not to play if they didn't have too.

I thought Morkel's first spell was very high in quality.

Unfortunately I didn't see the rest of the day's play.

India can be very well satisfied with their efforts for the day.

There was heavy rain overnight, but we have a start on time. India have moved along to 261-5.

well India could have done with some lost time.......improves the chance of a draw which with all the real match conditions practise I would take...and go into the second test practised and prepared

Morne strikes for South Africa. The Indians were leaving as much as possible, but Morkel has at last induced an edge from the Indian skipper and AB took the catch. MS gone for 19, India 264-6.

India falling apart, Rahane goes now, he's gone edging Philander behind for 47. India 264-7. 300 looking far away now. South Africa finally taking charge in the game.

Zaheer Khan in at 9. With no Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the lower order can't be expected to hold on much.

And Zaheer gone first ball, Big Vern gets him LBW!.

wheel coming off this morning....SA refocussed....choked runs....and have plucked out Dhoni and Rahne...and on this pitch against this quality of attack...300 is looking so far way.

and now other posters will realize why I was barely targetting 300 yesterday

Ishant Sharma to face the hat trick ball.
Sharma survives. India 264-8.

Philander has cleaned up Ishant, and India are 278-9.

Now Shami is bowled by Morkel and its all over for India, bowled out for 280. Ashwin remained nout out on 11, after refusing the single for the first 3 balls, Ashwin took the single of the 4th, Shami was beaten by the 5th, missed the next one also but it was a no-ball, and when the re-ball came, Shami lost his stumps.
South Africa's morning, but India have a decent total on hand, if Zaheer and co could take a few early wickets, then India can come back into the game, but at the moment its South Africa in charge.

I don't think 280 is a good score, although it is quite cloudy. I'm at the stadia now and it's damn chilly and damn overcast. Being the highveld, the sun should come out in a few hours, and flatten the deck. India need to strike before that happens, or they could be in for a long fielding innings

Look I know every nerve and pulse of my team ....and hence am not entirely astonished that they fell short of 300.

But Knowing India over the years...this is one of the best pace attacks we have had ( with good resrves in Yadav and Kumar sitting in the pavillion)

I believe if we bowl tight.....there is enouhg in our attack and the pitch to limit SA for 330ish.....
and then bat again and get close to 300 and set up a 4th inning chase of 250ish....and hope under good bowling...some vagaries in the pitch and pressure SA would crack.

But first target....restrict SA to 330ish

Big series for Alviro. He hasn't scored for a while now, and his Lions teammates are all circling in on that openers role. Stephen Cook is scoring big tons in the domestic scene, and Quinton de Kock's supreme start to international cricket means that Petersen is under serious pressure.

Consistent line and length from Zaheer in his first over, he beat Alviro with a good one and had one keeping so low and hitting Smith on the shin outside off. But Mohammed Shami couldn't maintain consistency in line and length. But he was hitting the 140 KPH mark right away.
SA 7 without loss.

Well that's any possible advantage tamely surrendered to South Africa.

England-esque lower-order batting!

South Africa 21 without loss. Zaheer and Shami produced a few good balls, Zaheer even struck Smith on the knee and for a moment it looked Smith may not be able to carry on, but The South African skipper has a very high pain threshold and Smith resumed after a bit of attention from the physio. He's on 10, Petersen on 11.

First bowling change from Dhoni, Ishant Sharma on now. And Smith plays a bit of an airy shot first ball but its away from the fielder.

The sun's out, and it looks likely that India will have a long day in the field.

South Africa go to lunch at 22 without los with both Smith and Petersen batting on 11 each.
South Africa's session, and they are in charge of the game now. It will take a massive effort from someone to bring india back into the game.

Ishant Sharma pulling India back into the game by picking up Amla and Kallis in consecutive balls.

Smith gone in Zaheer's next over, LBW.   

Game's been turned on it's head! Great cricket!

You know something's not right when Ishant Sharma is looking half decent...

I have no idea why the groundsman decided against leaving the grass on the deck. it's like their bowling medium off-breaks!

The Staffers appear to be doing their best England batting impersonation

Shocking, is all I can say. 130/1 to 146/6? We are miles behind the eight ball right now.

Wouldn't say miles, always the chance that you can roll the Indians cheaply. If SA can get upwards of 230 they are still very much in the game, despite India being favourites.

Yeah J - we've had four innings where we've dismissed teams for less than' 100 in the last two years, so we aren't out of it, but we really are up against it.

*awaits kp_fan to come on and blame the south African bowlers...*

When I left the game for a couple of hours, South Africa were 59-1 with Graeme Smith weathering the early spell from Zaheer and Hashim Amla for company. When I came back, South Africa are 152-6. England are not alone in playing Collapso Cricket!!. From 130-1 to 146-6. And to top it all, Ishant Sharma has taken half of those wickets!!.
Zaheer gets Smith again, for the 7th time in test cricket on top of 6 ODI dismissals!. But this time Smith had a score a determined 68 but Faf du Plessis and Vernon Philander need to produce a partnership to get the innings back on track. Faf is due a good score after his recent struggles, and Philander can bat and he always makes runs when South Africa badly need them from him.

First port of call - get the deficit down to single digits

second port of call - get the deficit don to 50
third port of call - summon the spirit of Newlands and dismiss India for > 50.