India VS South Africa

First topic message reminder :

Though am posting here bit late.

Indian team for South Africa has a bit of surprise with the coming of Jasprit Bumrah. He has not bowled with the red ball since January 2017. Indian team rarely go with a backup WK. Yeah this is a welcome call for Parthiv Patel, but I hardly see any chance of him padding up.

Rest the team is quite similar with Vijay, Rahul, Dhawan, Virat(c), Pujara, Rahane, Rohit, Saha, Parthiv, Ashwin, Jadeja, Hardik, Bhubhneshwar, Shami, Ishant, Umesh, Bumrah.

The final 11 selection would be tricky for Kohli, as he might go for only one spinner and this time its difficult to chose between Jadeja and Ashwin. I think Dhawan will be carrying drinks and Rahul will bat. The probable 11 would be

Vijay
Rahul
Pujara
Kohli(c)
Rahane
Hardik
Ashwin
Saha
Bhubhneshwar
Shami
Umesh/Bumrah

India 8 down with a lead of 233. Ishant in with Bhuvi. Valuable 27 well slogged runs from Shami ended by the underbowled Ngidi.
Now Bhuvneshwar gone, Morkel with his 3rd. The end is near. Neither Bumra nor Ishant are known for their slogging skills, not much more to expect.
Hashim Amla said SA is confident of chasing 270...

Shaun Pollock and Michael Holding both think India shouldn't risk Ishant and Bumrah, should just declare and have a go at the South Africans. They are unlikely to add anything much, no point getting them injured. Call them in  Virat, call them in!!
Seems Ishant has other ideas, decided to show us an unseen side of his batting, backing away and smashing it! And for ones he has connected one!

Has the pitch eased up at last? Or is it the ball getting old? Or the South Africans bowling badly? Or Indians, including 10 and 11 batting out of their skins?

Ishant really trying to go for it! I mean he's no Chris Martin, has hung around for many important partnerships with capable batsmen, but he proactively trying to play his shots and middling more than 1 is brilliant to watch!!

I think the pitch has been better today than on the first two, when there was extreme levels of swing and seam. Now, you get the odd ball that rears up, an even more occasional one that shoots low, but nowhere near the same levels of swing or seam. Today has, so far, seen the fewest number of wickets fall and the highest RR of the test. Of course, how much of this is down to the pitch v the respective teams is up for discussion!

I favour India, but South Africa have the capacity to chase this down. They need at least one outstanding contribution from their batting order; they can’t rely on a real team effort like India have done. No more than two down at stumps and they’ll be feeling confident. India have to make the new ball count.

And no way were India going to declare, as some of the commentators suggested. Imagine if they did and ended up losing by one or two wickets!

The new ball does the job with the first delivery. Bumrah dismissed, and India bowled out for 247. South Africa need 241 to win.
The commentators feel it'll be a bit too much for South Africa...
If one of Amla Faf, and most importantly AB can produce a truly special innings, it is possible I feel. India should bowl really well. Should not get carried away, should not give too many hit-me stuff, Shami in particular as been doing that a bit too often in the series. Perhaps the funn with the bat would his confidence, and hopefully Bhuvi would be Bhuvi, and Ishant and Bumrah can continue their impressive work and Hardik, if needed, can support them well.

Getting through the new ball is crucial - I think we saw in that Indian innings, the pitch becomes easier to play on against the softer older ball

5/1. Great start for India. Markram plays a nothing shot to a very short and very wide delivery.

Early wicket for Shami! Good move to give him the new ball alongside Bhuvi and he struck in the first over. Poor shot from Markram though, playing at a short and wide one that he could have left alone...

Elgar gets a nasty one on his thumb...
Holding's on fire, he is having a go at the umpires for letting play go on on this track? He wonders whether they think if they keep looking at the pitch from time to time, it'll get afraid and calm down?

Shami still not bowling the required line here, bowling the more subcontinent lines, on the stumps rather than just outside. He did that in the first 2 games, in fact even the last Australia tour, he made the same mistake. Why doesn't he learn? What is Bharat Arun and Bigmouth Shastri doing?

The ball certainly isn't moving as big as it did on the firs 2 days here. It is the uneven bounce that is going to be the problem for batsmen more than the movement. Said that, it still is moving around, but not like on the first 2 days.
South Africa certainly not out of it by any means.

Think its time to bring Bumrah on. Even on regular tracks, his bounce may creae problems for batsmen, on this one he might be even more effective...

There could be another 6 overs or so remaining at the most today. India would want at least 2 more before that.
If South Africa can go back in 1 down, they'll fancy their chances tomorrow, and if they are 2 down, both sides should be in with an even chance going into day 4.

Even Bhuvi isn't looking that sharp...
Remember, of course on a much better track, the last test between the 2 sides saw both sides doing much better in their respective 2nd innings... Have a feeling India are going to seriously miss Ashwin here...

Elgar in pure survival mode. Wearing a few deliveries on the body and the hand. Vicious pitch.

Elgar is really getting it, now takes one right on the helmet.

Seems Andy Pycroft the match referee might get involved pretty soon. Seems there is going to be a discussion on the safety of the pitch...

The one that hit Elgar, was a short delivery
If the home team cannot bat on their own made pitch in the 4th inning.....then they must forfeit the match
Else they must carry on

Yes they are off!!
Kohli isn't happy at all!

So that could be game over. Match abandoned as a draw, possibly.

The conditions will surely be less vicious when the new ball gets softer?

It would be  a farce if if in the 4th inning of a test .........the home team wants to go off on a pitch that they made
after the visiting team team has played 2 innings on the same pitch

SA must concede defeat and then its OK to call the game off

The one that Elgar got hit on the helmet, it did bounce extra, but it was of a shortish length. India was allowed to go through their innings, they took many a body blow. Will the umpires now call it off? Would it be fair?

Who cares about fairness if the pitch is now dangerous and could cause injury they shouldn't play on

KP_fan wrote:It would be  a farce if if in the 4th inning of a test .........the home team wants to go off on a pitch that they made
after the visiting team team has played 2 innings on the same pitch

SA must concede defeat and then its OK to call the game off

South Africa won’t concede defeat. That’s not how the rules work, otherwise England would have been awarded wins over the Windies in 98/2009.

Old Gavasakr standing up and making the points appropriately

Duty281 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:It would be  a farce if if in the 4th inning of a test .........the home team wants to go off on a pitch that they made
after the visiting team team has played 2 innings on the same pitch

SA must concede defeat and then its OK to call the game off

South Africa won’t concede defeat. That’s not how the rules work, otherwise England would have been awarded wins over the Windies in 98/2009.

which day of the test were those tests in 98/2009 abandoned

Anyway it’s raining now, so that’s the end of the day no matter what.

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

KP_fan wrote:It would be  a farce if if in the 4th inning of a test .........the home team wants to go off on a pitch that they made
after the visiting team team has played 2 innings on the same pitch

SA must concede defeat and then its OK to call the game off

South Africa won’t concede defeat. That’s not how the rules work, otherwise England would have been awarded wins over the Windies in 98/2009.

which day of the test were those tests in 98/2009 abandoned

The first day, which is irrelevant. 

India aren’t massively ahead in this game, it’s a 50/50 encounter.

With just about 5 minutes to go, think it certainly over for the day. Lets see how things would unfold.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Who cares about fairness if the pitch is now dangerous and could cause injury they shouldn't play on

Has it become more dangerous than how it was when India were batting? When those batsmen were also getting hit every 3rd or 4th over?
And this wasn't even a pitch related hit that Elgar got on his helmet.

msp83 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Who cares about fairness if the pitch is now dangerous and could cause injury they shouldn't play on

Has it become more dangerous than how it was when India were batting? When those batsmen were also getting hit every 3rd or 4th over?
And this wasn't even a pitch related hit that Elgar got on his helmet.

It’s the accumulation, I imagine, that the umpires are taking into account.

Elgar has been hit about five or six times in his short innings so far, and twice in the last three balls.

Hmm playing out like I suggested earlier.

For me play should continue tomorrow. Has the pitch got any worse since India had to bat on it? No. So if it was deemed safe enough then it is safe enough now.

There is difference between caling off a game on D1 and in 4th inning
SA weigh host must stand up and fight
OR declare the inning


This is the one time I would advocate BCCI flexing it's muscle and ensuring that if SA does not continue to bat, their board asks their captain to declare
And overnight break has accorded opportunities for behind the scene acts

If they were going to abandon the match for the pitch being dangerous it had to be during the Indian innings for me. The pitch has not suddenly got so much worse. To abandon it now would appear grossly unfair to the Indian batsmen who had to guts it out - and did. The umpires should be punished if they abandon the game now in my opinion.

In the press conference, both teams have signalled an intention to carry on. If I were an umpire in this game, I would give the game a chance by resuming play tomorrow morning.

If that does happen, India should limit the number of balls they bowl that are short, lest they hit an batsman again and cause the umpires to consider the safety of play.

The show will go on!

Should be a great day four.

--Good to hear captains are inclined to play on tomm
It was a storm in a tea-cup created by One umpire & Holding going on and on about dangeorus pitch....using refrences that weren't analogous .....and then Smith and Pollock sensed and escape window and took the baton of "ohh so dangerous"

Calling off a game on D1 is different from 4th inning of a game when the host side is batting....and also the one that prepared the pitch.

--And the immediate delivery that kicked up was a short pitch bouncer......and bumrah's 90mph+ skiddy pace is too hard to pick
In all of 8.3 overs there was just one ball that jumped from a length from Buvi that hit Elgar's gloves......whereas in the India inning I remarked we were seeing one jumping every 4 to 5 overs.
With protective gear a lot of batsman were getting knocked in the ribs and fingers..

--Indian batsmen did very well....were anticipating the bounce of the length and were staying legside of the ball...half ready to get away from the line of ball...if it jumped....and hence Vijay & Kohli were clean bowled as they were trying to steap away from the line of the ball and could't adjust to cover thir stumps....Vijay more so than kohli

---Bumrah will be a very hard customer to handle.....he's really quick....consistently going 144+ and skiddy pace of a very short run up...he's made strides very quickly in test cricket

--All's not lost......if SA see off the first 30 overs......the balls misbehave much less....Vijay, rahul and Kohli did a great job, seeing off those difficult overs.....Kohli even scored runs in that difficult phase....
Rahane onward batsmen did not face as many challenging balls rising off the length

--If SA is smart, they will hold back ABDV until after 35th over.....he can do real damage if he lasts 70 odd deliveries the chance of which is more if he comes after over 35

--Bhuvi has scored 25, 13*, 33 and 30 in this series...and has been a real bowling allrounder ( like he was in seaming conditions in Eng)
Kohli was crazy to drop Rahane, Rahul.... and in such low scoring series not take into account bhuvi's skill with the bat, when leaving him out.

And ashwin has scored 12, 37, 38 and 3
you can't leave out top these two class bowlers who are so useful with the bat ....for marginally better perceived bowlers who are absolute tailenders

--The game tommorow, India should win, barring a 120 runs from ABDV+ QDK put together ......against old ball.... if they are not consumed in the first 35 overs

8 byes this morning and loose cricket

no misbehavior from the pitch so far....India has bee loose....they won't juts win by appearing....they have to play serious and disciplined cricket

I think a massive factor will be for incoming batsmen being able to adjust to the variances. Just one wicket could trigger a mini-collapse.

Criminal waste of the new ball. Too short and too far outside off stump by India’s bowlers. Clueless tactics.

31/0 so far this morning and, perhaps crucially, the middle order will be batting with a softer ball.

SA looking good
India lacking intensity....came in thinking SA will roll over in fear of the ptich

i have a feeling though 15 minutes of rolling at the strat of the day keeps the pitch settled a bit for an hour

Perfect session for South Africa - 52/0.

India too negative; seemingly hoping on a lack of patience and/or a loose shot from two brilliantly patient batsmen.

Amla and Elgar have batted perfectly so far given the conditions and match situation.

79/1 now...long way to go though.

Game could well go to the fifth day , if there isn't a collapse - they won't get 241 today at this rate.

Second new ball may decide this.

Better lengths from India at the start of this session. But the batsmen are defiant and starting to score.

Only 150 left. Bumrah in danger of being overbowled.

These two put on another 50 runs Kohli might change his mind about ending the match...

I think it has been a case of two things today. Erratic bowling from the Indians with not enough balls in the right place and the pitch calming down a bit.

100 up. Sunshine out.

Bookmakers think this is a done deal - South Africa 1/8. I’m not so sure just yet, wickets have a habit of falling in clusters in this test, though I would make the Saffers favourites.