South Africa v India tests - Jan 2018

[Dr Cricket]

today probably the difference between kohli and Dhoni today.
Dhoni would have gotten fed up with the easy 4 and the high run rate.
kohli didn't really mind too much of it because the bowlers were getting wickets if anything he was encouraging the attacking bowling, he even had more catchers in place than dhoni would as well.

[mikesiva]

South africa 230-7 at tea.

Maharaj 23 not out

Rabada one not out

[meninblue]

231/7. Seems that our bowlers could not maintain pressure of those 3 early wickets. South Africa are back in the match. Anything over 250 would be a task in itself for our batters as we are facing a quality bowling lineup and this will be our very first batting innings. I don't think SA would ask India to bowl again and risk another top order collapse. This was our best chance to make most of the blunder they made, but unfortunately our bowlers could not make most of it.

[Dr Cricket]

lol if you think 236/7 is a bad position.

[Dr Cricket]

231/7. Seems that our bowlers could not maintain pressure of those 3 early wickets. South Africa are back in the match. Anything over 250 would be a task in itself for our batters as we are facing a quality bowling lineup and this will be our very first batting innings. I don't think SA would ask India to bowl again and risk another top order collapse. This was our best chance to make most of the blunder they made, but unfortunately our bowlers could not make most of it.

is this a wind up or are you being serious.

Also think india will do ok with the bat, they are right in the game since I think 350 is about par.
if they bat well they should be able to get a lead.
it should be noted pujara and kohli both got big hundreds last time out in SA and pace generally don't trouble them so not really sure where the believe india batting would fail without them even facing a ball is coming from especially when india bowlers have bowled well today and have SA 240/7 and yet you think india have given the game back to SA lol.

[Dr Cricket]

End of the day looking at this pitch any indian would have taken this position.
bhuvi taking 3 early wickets doesn't mean india has to get SA all out for less than 150 if anything him taking 3 early wickets was a good thing since india made the best use of the limited time the new ball and the pitch having the most life in the morning.
the pitch was always going to get flatter and run scoring easier, if anything those 3 wickets meant SA don't get 400 + which would have definately made india lose this test match with the quality SA pace attack.

india have done really well to likely dismiss SA for a below par total and now it is up to the batsman to get a total in board so their bowlers can win the match.
but don't get the negativity of it considering india hasn't batted yet and will probably not have the run pressure because the bowlers have bowled well so far.

[Dr Cricket]

Although saying that if SA score another 60-80 runs then india would have loss the advantage Bhuvi gave them earlier in the innings.
Although I would still be happy since India would be batting in the most batting friendly part of the test match and SA didn't make good use of batting first.

[Dr Cricket]

also think with the depth of india batting bhuvi at 9, shami 10.
that any total that is below par or around par will give india a good chance since with the older ball, india could score some runs and they could get a very decent lead.
at the moment batting looks easier but SA haven't really got much batting left to take advantage of it, hopefully india would have batsman available when SA are bowling with the old ball.

[mikesiva]

Is right fast medium faster than right medium fast? The difference between Shami and Pandya.

[Dr Cricket]

Is right fast medium faster than right medium fast? The difference between Shami and Pandya.

Right fast medium meant to be faster than right medium fast.

in normal terms Shami is quicker than pandya.
but think pandya is quicker at the moment because he bowls less overs and doesn't really bowl much overs normally.
Shami looks slower today, only few balls nudging 140, even bhuvi looks slower today.
only Bumrah and pandya are bowling the pace expected of them,
actually pandya is bowling quicker than normal.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes.

Medium fast is a bit of an insult for a pace bowler. Probably 75-80mph.

[Dr Cricket]

boom bonus wicket for india.
nice to take a bonus wicket when the pitch is flatter and the bowlers struggling to get anything.
perfect day for india so far.

[backfootpunch]

Rohit over Rahane seems an odd selection to me

Given rohit averages in the 20s away from home and Rahane 53

Very odd one

[Dr Cricket]

they went with form.
I don't really mind that selection.
the one that is insane is dhawan for rahul.
it is quite possible rahane is shot and low in confidence and didn't do well in the nets.
averages 25 odd in the last 14 test rahane.
so that decision is understandable.

picking dhawan is idiotic though.

[Dr Cricket]

plus at the moment pandya been justifying his spot with the ball.
if he failed with the ball I think not picking rahane would be stupid since it was really rahane or pandya for position 6 or 7 in the team.

think what I seen from pandya today, I find it hard to get Rahane in the team again, the only way he is getting in the team now is if Rohit fails with the bat.
either way india should be happy that no one really guranteed a spot in the team barring Kohli and Saha.
all the rest have to keep on scoring runs or taking wickets to be in the team because someone could easily take their spot.

Jadeja could easily come in for Ashwin.
Yadav and ishant can come in easily.
Rahul and rahane can obviously play as well.