[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

Slightly off topic. Capetown faces water crisis and Indian team is asked not to shower more than two minutes.

On a lighter note, if they had not watered the pitch instead, we would have had Ashwin and Jadeja in the act.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Dream start to the series. SA 12/3. Hope we atleast compete well.

What followed was also a dream start for SA with India wobbling at 28/3 at stumps. Just hope Pujara doesn't run out of partners, that's the only hope.
Dhawan's technique was always suspect on such tracks and he proved me right, just tried to hit his way out.

[jbpanda]

Originally Posted by NPV

Dhawan's technique was always suspect on such tracks and he proved me right, just tried to hit his way out.

With Dhawan around it's just a matter of time that he gets out, particularly when we are playing abroad. Rahul/ Rahane were any day better choices, merely on the basis of playing technique. Possibly, he got the benefit of being a left hander. It's also high time Rohit really proves himself in Test and converts his one day scores in Test as well with Pujara hanging around as a wall. Let's hope that we don't suffer a follow on tomorrow.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by NPV

What followed was also a dream start for SA with India wobbling at 28/3 at stumps. Dhawan's technique was always suspect on such tracks and he proved me right, just tried to hit his way out.

What was the turning point in the end was the amount of runs the SA lower order batsman got! The tail always somehow manage to get runs against India. And its quite a strong tail with Morkel at 11. Just hope our Indian tail learns from their opposition and contribute something.

Bhuvi bowled well, but SA were scoring at over 4 runs per over. If India is meted out similar pitches in the next 2 Tests, we may have to play 6 batsman, with Pandya as 4th seamer & drop Ashwin.

With regard to Dhawan, i think everyone's technique is suspect on such pitches. Earlier in the day, when the ball was doing a bit, AB DeVilliers hit his way out & got a few runs. Dhawan is in similar mode, just that he played a bad shot. Virat's dismissal today reminded me of his previous England tour where kept fishing outside the off stump.
I know its only Day 1 of the series, but things are looking quite ominous. By end of 1st session of Day 2 we should have a fair bit of idea as to which way the match is heading.

[Sawyer]

It is merely back to business as usual in challenging circumstances. All it took for the usual weaknesses to be seen is one day of Test Match Cricket on a pitch that did not overtly favour either bat or ball.

Slip fielders with butter fingers, lots of fielders only able to escort the ball to the boundary on fast outfields, "fast" bowlers not able to clean up the tail, batsmen shot selection not up to the mark when reaction times are reduced with the usual prodding outside the off to get oneself out.

Bring on day 2. And all the rest in this tour and two more to follow. The men will be sorted from the boys, always a good thing. It takes more than beards.

[vibbs]

I didn't watch India bowl. But saw last one hour of the match. Frankly neither the bowling not the conditions looked threatening.

Dhawan did exactly what I feared of him and Kohli is back to being out the way he is in such conditions. I was surprised by Vijay's dismissal though. Expected him to wear it through.

India missed a trick by keeping both KL Rahul and Rahane out. Rahane is skillful in these conditions and Rahul has it in him to fight it out. We will miss them.

We need more application from our batsmen if we are to win. It's not the bowlers but the batsmen who are going to make the difference this time.

[Sawyer]

I disagree; the failure will be down to batsmen, bowlers and fielders. It isn't the batting that allowed SA to cross 200/225. It takes a combined effort.

BK bowled a sharp spell, but Shami was not backing him up at the other end. Bumrah was a bad selection, the man does not know how to bowl out batsmen that have no pressure of scoring runs. Plus, I don't know when he has bowled more than ten overs in a day. And because he was selected, both Ishant and Yadav were on the sidelines. Or maybe one of the two should have come in for Pandya - that would have been a bold selection.

And the fielding was dismal. No more words. Ashwin, Shami and Pujara are ball escorts. Slips catches...same old, same old. Only Saha did his job well.

[Chetan_Rao]

It would serve Indian batsmen well to get some 'leave good balls alone' practice sessions. For somene of Kohli's calibre, his continued affinity to go fishing is surprising.

[naveenvenkatesh]

Another thing everyone is ignoring is the preparation (or the lack of) before such a challenging tour. The team arrived 5 days prior to the test match. They lost 2 days of practice to rain. There was no conditioning camp also to prior to the team's departure.

With no practice matches to acclimatize to the conditions, this sort of mini-collapse is bound to happen. Physical adaptation might be quicker but mental setup needs couple of weeks to change.

Remember that the same team ( most of the players at least) played mediocre (read bad) Sri lankan team on dead as do do pitches with hardly any bounce (except the first day of Kolkata test match)

So without due respect and preparation ( at least 2 first class matches prior to the first test), we cannot expect the team to fire right from get go.

I am still cautiously optimistic but if the team gets onto the back foot from the first test, no amount of Kohli's chest thumping will get the spirits up.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

I disagree; .

Well, I did not see indians bowl yesterday. I saw them bat and I seriously do not think whatever south African bowlers and the pitch is dishing out is unplayable the way it is made out to be. All that was needed was sensible test match batting and India could well have started with a good game after getting South Africa for under 280 runs. All three wickets yesterday were due to shots you would never play when you have just 13 overs to see off the day.
Unfortunately our batsmen fed of limited over matches do not seem to understand this. Two who could actually do the needful are not playing!

[Sawyer]

The thing is that with 4 quicks on surfaces like in SA and all our batsman other than Pujara not having a lot of patience to first get these 4 fellows tired, big hundreds are not going to be easy to come by. So if India is going to win, it will be by figuring out how to win with just 400-500 runs scored in two innings, and that itself is a stretch. Getting 20 wickets for less than that will be down to bowling + fielding. There isn't the usual leeway for leaked runs and dropped catches to be made up on flat tracks as in India.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Pandya is playing as the all-rounder...

Originally Posted by autospeaker

But Pandya as a Test all-rounder? I really can't digest. Hope he proves me wrong...

Pandya's batting has put to rest at least half the questions over his selection. He is the only Indian batsman to have survived and flourished. A hundred would have been the icing on the cake. Hope he keeps on playing well. And irrespective of the result, this will be a match to remember for Bhuvaneswar Kumar.

[Sawyer]

It is far to early to call Pandya a test match all rounder. Consistent replicable batting success overseas can only come with sound technique - even Sehwag who rewrote the coaching manual in some ways did not play in the hit and giggle manner of Pandya that is better suited for hit and giggle cricket.

[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

It is far to early to call Pandya a test match all rounder. Consistent replicable batting success overseas can only come with sound technique - even Sehwag who rewrote the coaching manual in some ways did not play in the hit and giggle manner of Pandya that is better suited for hit and giggle cricket.

Let us give it to him. He has one hundred, 2 fifties(93 today) and a 20 in the 4 innings he has played. Not to miss his contribution with the ball(he has just picked 2 South African wickets in the 2nd innings). This is mordern day test cricket, and if we had scored at 4 runs an over we would have been close to the South Africans. I remember Kapil Dev used to play like this. It's always nice to have someone in the lower order who will counter attack and take it to the opposition.

[NPV]

I think this test is tilted more in South Africa's favour now.
80 odd runs first innings lead and add to that 65 odd for 2 wickets, they're already 140 odd ahead.

Unless India can first do a miracle with the ball and then follow it with another miracle with the bat, this test is a goner.