[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by msdivy

I think it's 60:40 in favor of India. The key is Elgar. It will be very difficult for him to start over again on a new day. If he goes early then it's 80:20.

Both of them could have done just enough to stay on for another series.

Now I believe you would say 60:40 in favour of SA. Elgar is proving to be an able captain especially in the 4th innings. He reminds of a young G Smith. Long way to go for Elgar to be compared with Smith however he is showing a lot of fight and technique.
There were some tactical errors from KL Rahul however I guess everything must be pre planned in the dressing room with Kohli been part of it.
Very difficult typing this but its true - Miss jumping jack Kohli who would have kept the moral high with his antics. K L Rahul looks confused and lost

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Both of them could have done just enough to stay on for another series.

Would have been the case had india won this match which looks unlikely now. But they have surely done enough to secure spot for next match. If they come good, next series maybe.

Kudos to Elgar for playing a wonderful knock under pressure. 3rd test just got more interesting

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Wriddhiman Saha is beyond consideration for the national team now. He lost his prime when Dhoni was the default keeper for the country. !

Yes. Which is why I say, looking at the future we cant talk about Pant robbing Saha who is already 37 now.

If we say no Pant, we should also say who else (not Saha pls).

I agree as a number 6 Pant will fall woefully short more often than not with his daredevil aproach. So who other than him?

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

240 to win...34-0...7 sessions to go...I think SA will take this match mking the 3rd match the series decider.

I definitely had expected this but SA won it way more easily! The way they won would hurt the Indian team more. Cape Town will now be really interesting

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

SA winning this easy by 6 wickets

Spot on, they won by 7 wickets. I would definitely say Kohli's absence was a huge blow for India, especially with such a record :
Kohli's record as captain - in 27 tests when India has set a fourth innings target > 150 for the opposition, India has won 25 times and drawn 2 games, not a single loss!

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Yes. Which is why I say, looking at the future we cant talk about Pant robbing Saha who is already 37 now.

If we say no Pant, we should also say who else (not Saha pls).

I agree as a number 6 Pant will fall woefully short more often than not with his daredevil aproach. So who other than him?

Why not a KS Bharat who is a proven player in the first class circuit with a triple century to boot ? I would even pick an Ishan Kishan or a Sanju Samson over Pant anyday. Ishan Kishan has been a good enough IPL player as well and is a consistent player for Jharkhand.

One has to look and there are competent wicket keeper batsmen around. We all know Sanju Samson is a better keeper batsman than Pant but then if powers to be prefer him, there is no way he can be kept out !!

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Very difficult typing this but its true - Miss jumping jack Kohli who would have kept the moral high with his antics. K L Rahul looks confused and lost

Even though Rahane doesn't deserve a place in the side on current form, there was no need to look past him for a stop gap captain's role. Why was Rahul given the job is puzzling.

[redCherry]

Congrats to South Africa & their captain for the hard-fought win

This is getting interesting.
1. India beat SA at SA's most-favourite test ground
2. SA beat India to square the series at their least-favourite ground.

Now we are heading to Newlands, where India has lost 3 tests, drew 2.
Also, it seems it's back to square one as far as Vihari is concerned....poor fellow.

[harry10]

Bowling can't bail out the rubbish batting every time. SA outplayed them in every department. They deserved to level the series.

Pujara comments were so ridiculous and i really want selectors and Dravid to grow a spine and drop both of them.

I hope Kohli returns for last game. The intensity he brings in the field was missing all match. I said it before, I will say it again, Rahul is a rubbish captain in any format and should be no where near a captaincy role. If these guys are hell bent on playing Rahane for another 2 years then make him VC again. Atleast he has the brain to win matches as captain.

Pant shot was absolutely ridiculous and disappointing. He let emotions get to him with sledging from Van dur dussen. However, he still averages 39 in tests so far. More than decent and among the best from a wicket keeper bat since sometime. We should stop comparing players. His keeping has grown so much off late and just the need to get better with temperament is missing. But, he is 24. He is a rare wicketkeeping talent who can change matches with bat just like Gilchrist. Let's give him some more time and see what gives. If we can keep chugging Pujara and Rahane alone then Pant deserves more chances anyways.

I feel for Vihari. He was the best bat in my opinion from Indian team this match. But, if Kohli is back next match he will be dropped cos management is hell bent on playing Purane who score 1 fifty in 10 innings and keep their place. Same is with Iyer, scores a century and 50 on debut and now carrying drinks for people who don't deserve a place in playing 11.

Anyways, hopefully we make some runs in last game and bowlers are back to their best. Ishant will be back for Siraj.

[antz.bin]

Let's just stop comparing Rishabh Pant with Adam Gilchrist.

Most of Pant's success has been flukes. If his rash shot at the start of the innings pays off, he is good.. if it does not, he perishes. Saha may average less, but he was more reliable as a batsman.

There has been a clearly identified technical flaw which makes him vulnerable against right arm over fast bowlers bowling the ball across him. He has been averaging 13.5 runs to the wicket against them. It is something he needs to fix outside of the test team.

More details on this here: Why did Rishabh Pant play that shot?
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/s...t-shot-1295577

Adam Gilchrist was a class apart when compared to the slogger Pant. Gilly averaged 47 runs per dismissal while striking @ 82. That is across 94 test matches. Pant averages 37 and strikes at 67 in test cricket. Those numbers are not even in the same zip code.

Gilly's numbers are Sehwag territory, Pant can't match those numbers even if we include all First Class (which includes Ranji Trophy).

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by antz.bin

Let's just stop comparing Rishabh Pant with Adam Gilchrist.
Most of Pant's success has been flukes.

Absolutely! I Agree, especially the 'fluke' part

I think most teams now realize how to tame him.
Dravid has already conceded there would be a 'talk' with him

He's still young, hopefully he'll realize cricket is a team game, so need to bat according to team's requirement, not like batting in last 5 overs of a T-20 game.

[hemanth.anand]

I was watching Ashes for a while today and saw this...

https://youtu.be/P2NsRuIbT3o

One can't be more lucky than this in cricket

Finally...good to see some fight by England in an otherwise boring one-way series this year

[NPV]

Originally Posted by redCherry

He's still young, hopefully he'll realize cricket is a team game, so need to bat according to team's requirement, not like batting in last 5 overs of a T-20 game.

Pant seems to think that "aggression" will always work, even his banter/sledging behind the stumps was uncalled for in this test against a calm team like South Africa - and yes it did work and was needed to tame the excessively chirpy Aussies and Englishmen in the past series.

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

One can't be more lucky than this in cricket

Despite this luck, England seem to be heading towards 0-4
Another interesting thing in this test - England took more than 10 overs (70 consecutive dots) to score a run, from 36/1 to 37/4 ...

[PPS]

Brilliant effort by SA to chase down the score. Seeing the overcast conditions, was expecting the ball to be given to Shardul who can swing it a bit but it was a surprise to see KL throwing the ball to Ashwin. Our bowlers were not disciplined & leaked runs which doesn't happen often. A rare off day for them, not sure if the wet ball affected them. If one sees the match overall, its the lack of runs in the 1st innings which came back to bite the Indian team! There is nothing much to do for Ashwin on these pitches, so you might as well play 4 pacers + 6 batsman + Pant in the series decider.

Originally Posted by harry10

I said it before, I will say it again, Rahul is a rubbish captain in any format and should be no where near a captaincy role. If these guys are hell bent on playing Rahane for another 2 years then make him VC again. Atleast he has the brain to win matches as captain.

Completely agree about KL's captaincy! Selectors were forced to appoint KL as vice-captain due to lack of options I feel. Rohit was the originally announced vice-captain but as soon as he got injured selectors couldn't go back to Rahane so they had to search for other options.