India v South Africa

[GOALden Hawk]

Anyone catch any of the India v South Africa test series so far? Over 700 runs scored in 2 days!! I watched a bit of Tendulkar's innings on Saturday night...was pure magic...one of the best Test innings I have seen. The other guy batted very well on debut as well.

But India's bowling attack proved useless as usual, the Proteas have piled on 3/327 with nearly all the batsmen getting runs. I have a feeling this series will finish 1-0 to South Africa...both sides are lacking a strike bowler.

 

[Briedis]

Both teams bowled extremely badly. Hayward was lucky to get any wickets at all...the Indians got themselves out more than him bowling any descent balls. Ntini was crap.

India set really ordinary fields and did not bowl to them. For instance, they did not have a third man all day, yet 100+ runs were scored through there at least. Ganguly doesn't seem to understand that stopping the runs and putting pressure on a batsman is as good as having another strike bowler. Mind you Khan and Nehra bowled so wide or down leg that you could have had 30 fieldmen and they still would have scored runs off them....Kumble the pick easily and even he didn't bowl that well...

If SA bowl like that over here, I think we could be in for a very easy series win. I'm sure they will improve....

What's happened to Kluseners bowling? He looks like he's dropped 10 yards of pace!

 

[Briedis]

I love FOXTEL!

BTW.

How much cricket is coming up on FOXTEL? Bloody brilliant.

Sth Africa vs India (3 tests)
India vs England (3 tests and ODIs)
Sth Africa vs Australia (In S. Africa - 3 Tests and ODIs)

Add channel nines coverage and it would have to be the best cricket summer for TV coverage ever!!

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Couldn't agree more...the coming series all look great, especially South Africa v Australia over there. The 7:30PM starts are perfect really...I for one am hoping the South African attack continues to stay like that....the likes of Waugh and Martyn will eat that for breakfast!

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Well it's all over...in less than 4 days!!! The Indian batsmen crumbled last night...only Das put up any resistance. Pollock was the first bowler to bowl a decent line and length the whole match, and was rewarded with 6 wickets.

But India's frailities away from home were once again exposed.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

The commentary was also highly entertaining, with the two Indians (names escaped me) discussing vegetarianism between deliveries. One, a longtime vego, was giving the other one heaps because he'd only been eating vegetarian food for 7 days. The first one said, "I'm a vegetarian, not because I love animals, but because I hate plants!"

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Originally posted by Dogs_R_Us
The commentary was also highly entertaining, with the two Indians (names escaped me) discussing vegetarianism between deliveries. One, a longtime vego, was giving the other one heaps because he'd only been eating vegetarian food for 7 days. The first one said, "I'm a vegetarian, not because I love animals, but because I hate plants!"

One of them was probably Hashe Boghle.....definitely the most entertaining commentator in world cricket!

 

[Briedis]

Harsha is really good...I saw a lot of him commentating when I was over there and enjoyed him.

Singh is a very funny fellow, I am enjoying his humour...not too sure on his opinions on the game yet...haven't heard that many!!

Gavaskar is USELESS!! He is probably the worst commentator going around. His comments yesterday that they should drop Das to bring in Agarkar is ridiculous beyond belief. They are struggling to find an opening pair, why drop the only one they've got. And that was just one of many comments he made that astounded me with his stupidity...great player, but.....

On the actual game, someone should tell India about batting in a test match. I was going to scream if I saw another top-order batsmen get out trying to run it through gully or slashing at wide deliveries....they have not got the patience and temperament at the moment to compete in tests. This is why they are inconsistent, when it comes off, they bat the whole day and score 400 runs, but more often than not they get bowled out like they did yesterday.

Pollock was the only standout bowler in the match, although I though Srinath bowled very well.

 

[The Hippie]

The biggest problem with India's batsmen, and not just them either, is the amount of One Day cricket affects their techniques and also shot selection. Gibbs admitted as much himself when he got out so soon after making a ton. It also doesn't teach a young batsman about being patient on a difficult wicket. A lot of batsmen are getting out playing one day shots to test match fields, especially trying to glide away through gully/slips. How many Indians lost their wicket like that in that test?, would have been a few, I'll bet.

Steve Waugh is one of the few batsmen around who is capable of building an innings on a dodgy track. I know he isn't the only one, I'm just using him as an example.

 

[GoEagles]

Anyone know why Harbhajan Singh isn't playing in this test? Is it because Kumble is back from injury?

 

[Dipper]

I agree with you Hippie regarding too much 1 day cricket eroding these blokes techniques as well as there mental approach to building an innings but I also think that there's a few Indian batsmen around who are happy enough making a bucket full of runs in India on those slow pitches but put them on a quickish bouncy track against good fast bowlers & they don't fancy it at all.Rahul Dravid is the most obvious example I think he averages about 53-55 in Test cricket but I've seen him over here (& I've followed his scores in Australia also) & he doesn't fancy it at all, his technique can't deal with the well directed short stuff.