South Africa v India tests - Jan 2018

[Dr Cricket]

2 fifties for pujara, Kohli.
Could be match winning innings this.
Par is about 175-200 here.
Be intresting to see how the India tail bat here, the tail scored more runs than sa so far in this series.

Wouldn’t surprise me if India get a winning draw here considering the weather around.

[meninblue]

Virat bows to media and fans pressure. Selection blunders reversed. Ajinkya back in squad. Bhuvi back as well. Another bad start. 19/2 with openers flopping pathetically again. Need to play much better than this to avoid whitewash. But there's not much selectors can do. Pick any batsman apart form Virat and Chet, nobody is capable of batting in conditions we have seen on this tour.

Might have been worth bowling first with no spinner and five pace bowlers.

Not terrible from India. I thought they could be all out by lunch given the early exchanges.

Yes, it's a bad decision to bat first. The pictures of wicket showed there was grass on it. Moreover our batters until the second test were not able to adapt to these conditions. Whereas our in form bowling attack should have bowled first on this wicket.

144/6 is another terrible batting performance. No 1 team or minnows like batting. Minnow like batting in my opinion this series. Another false rating that companies get by credit rating companies. totally skewed rating this of No. 1. We are into the final test and still unable to bat.Not surprised though as i expected this would be a whitewash due to a bad batting lineup for these conditions and i think it is indeed going to be a whitewash.

[meninblue]

I just laugh at these ratings. India No1. - cant bat in pace friendly conditions in South Africa. South Africa No. 2 - cant bat in spin friendly conditions in India.

[meninblue]

Hardik practicing for IPL. Could practice for only 5 balls. 144/7. Looks like Zimbabwe's score or Kenya's.

[mikesiva]

Phehlukwayo gets his second too. Pandya out for a duck!

[mikesiva]

I just laugh at these ratings. India No1. - cant bat in pace friendly conditions in South Africa. South Africa No. 2 - cant bat in spin friendly conditions in India.

So many teams in test cricket today are little more than home bullies.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Two fifties and otherwise single figures. So most of the top order overawed by the challenge, difficult though it was. Someone in the tail should be able to biff a twenty though.

[meninblue]

I just laugh at these ratings. India No1. - cant bat in pace friendly conditions in South Africa. South Africa No. 2 - cant bat in spin friendly conditions in India.

So many teams in test cricket today are little more than home bullies.

But that is an excuse, because other teams are flop away, No 1 and No 2 ranked are justified to flop like those ranked below them. There is a clear lack of batters who can play in all conditions. Virat is one for sure, Chet another, Steven Smith is another. He played well in India. Amla has done well in India , Cook has done well in different conditions. There are some other batters too but i am busy watching this match.

[meninblue]

Hope Bhuvi can take us to 200. Missing Ashwin. Another Virat's blunder.

[meninblue]

Philly gets Shami caught out. 163/8. 200 looks impossible now.

[meninblue]

The ball is still moving. Not sure why Virat wanted to bat first in this test. Doe she thinks this is India. Almost never to bat last except in some matches in some cities in winter.

[Dr Cricket]

TBH 163 or what ever India get can still be a winning score, sa batting hasn’t really been getting runs either and on this deck looks tricky to get 50.
Only pujara looked secure, Kohli had 3 or 4 chances for 50.

Kohli took a massive gamble to bat first though.

[meninblue]

Good to see Bhuvi fighting it out again to get us past a T20 score.

[yuppie]

Hope Bhuvi can take us to 200. Missing Ashwin. Another Virat's blunder.

Why is he not playing?

[meninblue]

Hope Bhuvi can take us to 200. Missing Ashwin. Another Virat's blunder.

Why is he not playing?

Virat probably wanted to play all pace attack. Thats the only reason i see. But i think Ashwin should have been there.

One reason could be rain making it tough to spin it. But then if 5 pacers are in team and it rained overnight, then why he did not win toss and bowl first. Crazy really.