[vibbs]

Hats off to SA for the way they turned this match around.

AB and Faf!! You beauties!!

[hemanth.anand]

A wonderful test match...
Both teams will be saying "disappointed that we didn't win but hey we didn't loose either!"
This is where I like the australian team. In the last 3 overs If they were in a position similar to that of the South Africans, they would still have gone for a win and they would probably have won it.

Taking nothing away from ABD and Faf, I would say its a very bad year for indian bowling. 10 instances of 300+ scores by the oppositions in ODIs and a nearly world record chase in tests!

[AltoLXI]

Words fail to describe - what a classic test match it turned out to be !!! Reminded me of the tied match between India / Australia in 1986. Though a draw proved to be disappointing in the end, test cricket is the winner

Felt sad for AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. It was a delight watching them during the magnificent partnership. SA should have won but could understand what was going on in Philander and Steyn's minds with injured Morkel coming in next.

[PPS]

Wow, this has to be the greatest draw ever!
Indian team would have heaved a huge sigh of relief today & they should be thankful to the South African's for that as it saved them some embarrassment. There is a reason why the South African team are called 'Chokers' & they showed it today & also the reason they have never won a World Cup.
The match was there to be won. Their tactics were baffling, Du Plessis leaving deliveries outside the off stump with 5 overs to spare. He was batting on a 100 plus. That was shocking.
As someone said it was more of a contest between India's talent of snatching defeat from jaws of victory and South African's choking capabilities.

And Rahane deserves an award for those 2 run out's which had a huge impact on the game.
And it was smart on Dhoni's part to not give the ball to Ishant in the last 3 overs, else who knows what would have happened!

[PPS]

So Kallis has decided to retire from tests & that means Tendulkar's record is now safe!

I guess the humiliation of getting out to Sir Ishant Sharma & that too for a duck must have forced him to retire.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafr...ry/703801.html

[yatrik]

Boxing Day Tests are finally here !!

Has to be one of the best boxing day in recent years.. Top 4 teams battling out at the highest level on the same day !! Makes it even more special as King Kallis, arguably the best allrounder in recent teams will play his last test !

Aus v Eng 4th Ashes test @ 5:00AM IST
and
Ind v SAF 2nd test @ 2:00PM IST

[Mr_Bean]

India vs South Africa, 2nd Test

A disastrous start to begin the 5th day. It will be tough for Indian team to save this match, only rain or bad light can come to their rescue.

The team hasn't had its luck during this test match, they were doing pretty good on Day 1 when bad light stopped them & were greeted by cloudy conditions on day 2.

[yatrik]

Yes,moreover certain decisions had they gone India's way, like Steyn's lbw 2nd ball yesterday, Peterson's stumping and today Kohli's dismissal, things would have been different, can't really complain as we ourselves are shying away from the technology available... Will be hard to save this, unless someone plays a Faf/Abdv esque knock.

[hemanth.anand]

While Sachin's Farewell was blown out of proportion, Kallis's farewell is such a low key affair...empty stands for this legend's last day in Whites!

As a cricket fan, I felt so happy that he succeeded in scoring a century in his last match.
But as a selfish Indian cricket fan , I felt sad that he overtook Dravid by just 1 run!
It was nice to see that Rahul was the commentator when Kallis broke his record

[hemanth.anand]

Rohit's Cycle continues to roll



To his credit, this year he has improved!



Oh yes, did I forget to mention...this guy oozes talent!

[PPS]

Our team is on the brink of another overseas series loss! We continue to face the same old problems as we did before:

- We badly need a good 'hit the deck' kind of bowler! We have Ishant currently but he isn't consistent.
- Ashwin, India'a frontline spinner's ineffectiveness abroad.
- Zaheer being ineffective, although he's anyday better than Umesh Yadav,etc.
- Lack of application shown by our tailenders to hang in there & contribute. Just look at Zaheer today, if he would have shown such application in the 1st innings we would have reached 400.
- Lack of a big innings by our skipper in foreign conditions. He gives ideal slip catching practice.

Only good thing we can take from this tour is Rahane. He's been consistent & looks like he will make no.5 position his own. Vijay had one good innings & he's assured of his place for the next 4 games atleast. Shami has done alright.

[Mr_Bean]

Problem with our selectors is that they are clearly not able to differentiate players who are capable of playing in the 20/50 overs format (vs) longer version (test match)..

The moment a player (Rohit Sharma) scores 200 in one day format, he is automatically selected for the test team.

Take the case of Yuvraj Singh, who after a string of failures in test cricket was dropped from the team. The same is happening with Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, they miss the most vital element called patience.

[subs]

Guys,

chill out!! Before this series, if we were told that we would put up a performance like this, we would have taken it with both hands!! Remember, we went into the 2 test matches with little or no match practise, except the ODIs. Playing test cricket without any preparation is not an easy thing to do and I think we have done remarkably well in the 2 games. Lots and lots of positives to take home. Remember SA is the no.1 team in the world and this is why test cricket is the pinnacle of cricket, its not an easy format!! So to put up a display like this is remarkable.

Lets not go on and on about winning overseas and give it undue importance. Remember, every team plays around 70% of its cricket at home, so every loss overseas seem to be a big deal.

Well played India.

Subs

[carboy]

Originally Posted by subs

Remember, every team plays around 70% of its cricket at home

How is that even possible?

[mahesh_sn]

Originally Posted by subs

Guys,

chill out!! Before this series, if we were told that we would put up a performance like this, we would have taken it with both hands!! Remember, we went into the 2 test matches with little or no match practise, except the ODIs. Playing test cricket without any preparation is not an easy thing to do and I think we have done remarkably well in the 2 games. Lots and lots of positives to take home. Remember SA is the no.1 team in the world and this is why test cricket is the pinnacle of cricket, its not an easy format!! So to put up a display like this is remarkable.

Subs

+1 to that. I was expecting a 0-2 thrashing before the tour started. To come out with a 0-1 result is commendable for this majorly under-30 team.

Rahane ,for me, is a find of this tour. I believe we have a fab-3 in making in Kohli, Pujara and Rahane. Rohit and Dhawan are flat track masters. Bowling was never our forte. We badly need a bowler who can consistently bowl in what they call the corridor of uncertainty, making life difficult for the batsman on even the unresponsive pitches.

Nevertheless, it was a better than expected performance from the Indian team. Let's give this team some more time before writing them off as far as foreign tours are concerned.