South Africa vs India

[zing]

3 tests, 5 ODIs and a solitary T20 sandwiched between the two.

India Squad for the Tests:

India Test Squad | India in South Africa Test Series, 2010/11 | Cricket Squads | ESPN Cricinfo

First test starts on December 16th.

 

[KM]

Excited for this series and finally good to see that we have send some senior players there already for preparation. Not expecting us to win but we should be giving them a good competitive series.

 

[zing]

Could've done with a few warm-ups, but this is the next best thing, I guess. Well planned out by Kirsten.

 

[zing]

Zaheer possibly injured and out. Ffs

 

[KM]

Their goes our chance of winning the series than.

 

[zing]

We should pack up and come home if he's injured, honestly

 

[KM]

We should pack up and come home if he's injured, honestly

Yup, its scary how much our bowling is dependent on him
Not only he is a great bowler but he also acts as a good mentor for Ishant.

 

[Neutral]

What's wrong with him? stomach muscles or leg injury?

 

[zing]

Hamstring
South Africa v India: Doubts remain over Zaheer Khan's fitness | Cricket News | South Africa v India | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[zing]

Harbhajan's going to be vital, if he turns up. He's far superior to Harris.

 

[KM]

Today's TOI saying that Pujara might come instead of Raina and that left aem bowler Unadkat might make his debut. I haven't ever seen Unadkat bowl so I don't know what to expect from him.

 

[zing]

Pujara instead of Raina would be a good move, IMO. Raina needs a break from cricket, and I think Pujara's a better test cricketer than Raina.

I saw Unadkat bowl about 5 overs.. in a T20 for KKR and for the u-19s once. He looked pretty ordinary, but he's very young. He's a very skinny guy, though. I don't understand why they've taken 2 people who haven't made their debut yet as back-up seamers.

I would prefer seeing Yadav over Unadkat, but whenever I see him, he bowls like a guy who doesn't use his brain. Pretty quick for an Indian, though.

 

[KM]

I don't understand it either, they should have chosen Munaf also, he is very good when he is on form. Still think that Unadkat wil be picked purely because he is a left armer, also he resembles Venkatpathy Raju.

 

[zing]

Cricinfo saying day 1 might be washed off.

 

[Neutral]

Probably a good thing for India, without Zaheer, your pace attack is semi shit.

 

[wr8_utd]

Probably a good thing for India, without Zaheer, your pace attack is semi shit.

Only semi shit?

 

[Desert Eagle]

All india cares about right now is the world cup. They will not risk Zaheer in this series because without him they have no chance at the world cup.

 

[KM]

South africa bowl first. Forty eight overs expected today. Play starts in half hour.

 

[zing]

Match started, I don't have the channel yet. Bloody cable operators.. hope I get it soon

 

[KM]

And sehwag gone, very loose shot. 1 for 1

 

[Neutral]

Decision not to want URDS already paying dividends for India, Gambhir was out.

 

[KM]

We are fecked.

 

[Neutral]

Two class batsmen in now...both have played pace and bounce all over the world, against the very best in their prime.

I think they'll be fine, but a good contest to watch hopefully now.

EDIT: Dravid gone - Morkel

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Make that 3

 

[Neutral]

55/3 at Tea.

Safe to say that session belonged to the Saffers...This pair need to fight and fight hard for India, or else things could get out of hand very quickly.

I don't Morkel for some strange reason, but he's bowled well so far.

Tendulkar already looking very good.

 

[Neutral]

67/5

India in deep deep trouble, Dhoni needs to step up, and support Tendulkar here.

They need to get to 200 somehow.

 

[Desert Eagle]

Tendulkar out

 

[Neutral]

This batting display isn't doing anything so far to dispel the notion India can't play pace away from home.

But a better reflection will be after RSA have also batted.

 

[KM]

This batting display isn't doing anything so far to dispel the notion India can't play pace away from home.

But a better reflection will be after RSA have also batted.

Oh common, the pitch is great for the bowlers, when Pollock did the pitch report there was shit loads of grass on it, plus there is gonna be moisture on it due to rain. Not easy for any batting lineup. I hope we can get around 200, that would be good considering the start we've got.

 

[Neutral]

Hey, that's why I didn't truly lay into the batting, and we'll be able to judge a bit better once the Indian bowlers also get to bowl here.

 

[Neutral]

Harbhajan swinging away and scoring some vital runs for India here.

Never boring when he's into bat.

EDIT: Shambolic run out.

 

[wr8_utd]

This is so embarrassing! Would be huge if we could somehow get to 200 but I doubt it.

 

[The Taurean]

Considering previous visits here, i expected the first test to be a bit of trouble for us but this is definitely worse than I thought. Hope we can score close to 200 which should provide with enough cushion for the bowlers.

 

[wr8_utd]

Bad light stops play. Pheew. Time to call out the gods for some rain!

 

[zing]

wow, feck..

Insanely good bowling from Steyn and Morkel

 

[zing]

This batting display isn't doing anything so far to dispel the notion India can't play pace away from home.

But a better reflection will be after RSA have also batted.

I don't think so, our bowling's just not good enough to trouble anyone without Zaheer.

 

[wr8_utd]

I don't think so, our bowling's just not good enough to trouble anyone without Zaheer.

Exactly. This match will end pretty quick...unless rain intervenes.

 

[zing]

Gotta say, how good was that from Sachin? He scored only 36, but he was middling everything.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

This batting display isn't doing anything so far to dispel the notion India can't play pace away from home.

But a better reflection will be after RSA have also batted.

No it was an awful display. SA with win this game easily. We have improved a lot away from home. We've won so many series away from in recent years. But I reckon we'll struggle here, we've played so many series' at home before this.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I'll tell you what's really fecked up. We had after so many years become pretty good away from home on fast tracks. So many memorable performances this decade. And the last half a year we've played in India on nothing pitches. It's as if we've decided to focus everything on the world cup and feck all that focus on being able to play all round good cricket. And that's why this series is going to be a Ruud awakening for us.