[KPR]

Dear TBHP cricket fans SA should win today. Else Rahane can come back in next series squad. Things are under very good control.

[NPV]

Keegan Petersen is a great batting talent and South Africa's batting find in this series (along with Jansen their bowling find).

He scored a brilliant 82 and has taken the game and series away from India, he deserves not just the man of the match but also the man of the series

[selfdrive]

Sad that such a golden opportunity for a first series win in SA is gone. Now to wait for the next series.

Indian teams have always been the go-to for establishing fledgling careers or reviving/ sustaining fading ones. The review articles will show that Indian bowlers induced way more false responses than the SA bowlers. But Indian batsmen just ended up getting dismissed. How often/ for how long can these losses be attributed to poor luck? I would like to squarely put the blame on the batsmen but it is now the second consecutive match we have failed to dismiss the opposition in the fourth innings.

I just hope the chat doesnt go down to the level of "see you in Kanpur". Especially as SA / NZ usually dont seem to get many tests in the metros.
Or that these losses will be forgotten when pyjama cricket takes over.

Elsewhere England have managed to let Australia get to 240 odd/6 from 12/3. Except for the NZ win over BD (and Rosco's last ball wicket) all other results in 2022 have already been disappointing for me.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Sad that such a golden opportunity for a first series win in SA is gone. Now to wait for the next series.

For too long now, India's test team has been bailed out with outstanding performances by the bowlers, some times with their amazing tailend batting performances too. Most losses in the last few years can directly be attributed to batting failures.

I know this is speculation, but even in this game if the team had played someone else instead of Rahane and that batsman had gotten 100 runs in the 2 innings, things could have been different. It is indeed ironic that Karun Nair lost his place and his career destroyed by replacing him with Rahane.

So near, yet so far for a series win in South Africa!

[landcruiser123]

Congratulations RSA. They've chased down consecutive 200+ targets in the 4th innings.

This series has exposed the passengers in the Indian side- Kohli, Rahane, Pujara. All our recent wins have been due to bowlers, openers, Pant, and whatever contributions we've got from the lower order.

Kohli has done well a few times this series. The RSA pace battery was too much for our lower order and our passengers. Rahane, Pujara, Agarwal have to make way for Rohit, Gill (or Shreyas Iyer), and Vihari.

[redCherry]

Losing series 1-2 after starting it with 1- 0.
The wait continues....
May be we'll blame the camera man for the loss
All will be forgotten when IPL returns or when we beat Windies and SRI Lanka at home

[RoadTiger]

Numbers don't lie.

Batting averages this series :
- The decent performers : Kohli tops at 40 with KL & Pant around 37-38
- The non-performers : Pujara, Rahane and Agarwal all at 20-22
- The bowling allrounders : Ashwin 14, Thakur 9

I mean honestly other than the top 3 guys in the list here who put up an acceptable sort of performance, everyone else simply didnt perform with the bat. For a change, our tail didnt wag too - and there was too much left for the bowling to do.

When you look at the dismissals - while some were to very difficult balls to navigate, most were to low quality shots that repeated the same mistakes from previous series in SENA countries.

Silver lining - a series loss will force selectors to tweak the squad

[ABHI_1512]

Well deserved win for South Africa. I always thought that this is the weakest South African team ever and this was our great chance to win a series there and how wrong I was. The way the South African batsmen rose to the occasion when needed and the way bowlers took advantage of their heights to extract bounce and pace from the pitches tell us how much we lack when it comes to preparing for red ball cricket.

Too much has been said about Rahane and Pujara. I don’t see any reason of not dropping them but it is also true that Pujara specially is not the same player ever since he was dropped for slow batting. Rahane never recovered from his removal from the one dayers.
The problem is, when the next test team will be selected, that team will play on the Indian pitches and may be, the new middle order will make runs in heaps. So everything will be forgotten until the next series abroad !!

Anyways, it has always been like that so it’s okay. Also, Pant getting a century was wonderful but sadly didn’t work for India. Let’s see how he goes from here on. And regarding Captain Kohli’s atrocious behaviour, he has always been like that. He is a modern day great as far as batting is concerned but an abysmal sportsman and role model which is a shame really. His antics on the field have given rise to these new gen players who think swearing on the field is cool. Even the otherwise affable KL Rahul is also seen joining the chorus now. All in all, the sore loser tag will stick to Kohli like an albatross !!

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

I don’t see any reason of not dropping them but it is also true that Pujara specially is not the same player ever since he was dropped for slow batting. Rahane never recovered from his removal from the one dayers.

The word being used for this was "intent" I think
I am glad that the erstwhile "manager/ motivator" has moved on and I hope the team has a chance to move on from his idiosyncrasies too. Apparently Pant played well in Australia because he looked away when Pant returned after playing a poor shot. My answer was: No sir. Pant played well because he is a good player. Not because some guy chose to give him the silent treatment.

The sad part is the wait for a test series win in SA continues...

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Well deserved win for South Africa. I always thought that this is the weakest South African team ever and this was our great chance to win a series there and how wrong I was.

This is a young South African team in transition with some great talent, India just ended up becoming their launchpad Hats off to Elgar, Petersen, Bavuma, Dussen for keeping the top order stable and Jansen, Rabada, Ngidi for bowling consistently. After India's win in the opening test, South Africa came back strongly in the next 2 tests, not easy to chase down 200+ in fourth innings and they did it twice consecutively!

Feel sorry for the Indian bowlers who were let down by the batting. If they had 50-100 more runs to defend, results could have been different in both tests.

[searacer932]

Few comments/observations/point of view from me

• If Ravi Shastri had been the coach and if the Indian team did what they did for the Elgar non-dismissal then BHPians would have blamed Shastri/Kohli combo
• If Ravi Shastri had been the coach and if the Indian team did what they did i.e. retaining Rahane and Pujara then BHPians would have blamed Shastri/Kohli combo
• If Ravi Shastri had been the coach and if the Indian team did what they did i.e. lost the series after winning the first test BHPians would have blamed Shastri/Kohli combo
• Rahul Dravid is being treated with kid gloves by BHPians . He was never a great captain. Remember 2007 world cup. I know BHPians will blame Greg Chappell but surely the captain is the captain :-)
• Time to move on from Mayank and Rahane. Both of them are consistently inconsistent.
• Pujara is also at the edge of non-selection. At max I think he might get one more series in my opinion if selectors decide they want to retain a bit of non-performing experience.
• Kohli's performance over the past 2 years has made me to appreciate Sachin Tendulkar a lot more. SRT was incredible over a period of 20 years.
• Indian team was distracted by Dean Elgar's non-dismissal and did not keep their emotions at check.
• Bumrah was distracted by Jansen in 2nd test and didn't keep his emotions at check.
• In elite sports emotions have to be controlled and with absolute focus on target. It's not gully cricket to fight with opposition!

[Bhalla]

1 thing for sure, Mayank will not be playing after the return of Rohit. Maybe 1 more series can be given to Pujara. But Rahane should go. Enough now. He should make way for Gill or Iyer.
But on the other hand, I’m enjoying the Hobart Test. What a great contest going on between bat and ball in fifth Ashes test. Marnus Labuschagne dismissed in very unusual way. Travis Head scored a brilliant 100 in different batting conditions. And, what a beautiful Setup in Hobart. Derwent river on 1 side, Mt. Wellington on other side of Bellerive Oval.

[petrogeek]

South Africa was the better team. Period. Their upcoming batting talent has the ability to be world beaters soon. Their bowling with Rabada at the pack is pretty solid.

Warning signs for India. Not getting enough runs on the board means the batting is shaky. Looks like the end of the road for Pujara and Rahane. Rahul has had decent starts but not consistent, Mayank Agarwal's technique is in question, Kohli is nowhere near his flawless form, Pant has redeemed with a hundred but his shot selection in the second test will haunt him.

I personally do not like Kohli's over aggressive always ready to get into a scrap with anyone umpires, stump mic etc. Is this what he wants the kids who idolise him to behave when they grow up as well?. Its fine to be aggressive but he needs to draw the line. Just take a look at the drawing room and the legend who is the Head Coach. Mr. Dependable was aggressive in his playing days but in a different way. Would i want my kid to be like Kohli or Dravid?. That is the question for me.

[harry10]

First of all I am really happy for SA. Their cricket has been a struggle since sometime with board issues and Elite players retiring one after other. This was a brilliant spirited performance after being 1 down in series.

We can blame players but the real Villain remains the selectors, Coach and Captain for selecting non performing players since ages denying the upcoming talent opportunities. Until they grow a spine and take hard decisions this will keep happening.

I am not the one for comparing players from different era but this comparison between Kohli and Sachin should not be done. In the words of Brian Lara, Sachin is the most complete batsman world has seen. It's not like he didn't had failures or drop in form. Remember the Australia tour where he was consistently getting out due to his cover drives. Then he decided to play the entire Sydney double century without hitting a single cover drive. And here we have Kohli who time and again keeps getting out fiddling outside the off stump and refuses to learn from it. This match itself he got out to the same. Good Technique without solid temperament is nothing.

However, Virat is still the best of this lot and showed glimpses of some return to form this series. There are quite a few issues with the team but all will be forgotten as soon as we destroy SL in next series.

[vibbs]

Just shared on Wisden facebook page - Kohli steps down from Test Captaincy!!

For all his follies, I still think he is the best captain for us. KL Rahul is not even a patch

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