South Africa v India tests - Jan 2018

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Testing over that. When the two change bowlers are so good, the pressure can be maintained throughout the innings.

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4 more. Chet has played all marvelous flicks, along the ground. He has cut off the off-side as scoring option so far. Very selective.

[Dr Cricket]

rohit gone, good ball from rabada.

[Dr Cricket]

Andy was right Ashwin batting at 6.
surprised pandya or Saha not batting at 6.
Ashwin feel high for a 6 on a pacy deck.
he doesn't really like quick bowling either, not really a great short ball player either.

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Rabada strikes Rohit LBW for 11. But good to see he batted 56 balls at least, second most balls played after Chet.

621/4. The large lead situation looms strongly now with that wicket. Not sure Ashwin and others can play like these two played in first half of this session.

[Dr Cricket]

doesn't look the greatest decision to put Ashwin at 6, injured finger first ball and 2nd ball nearly got out to a short ball.
in pacy conditions Ashwin should bat at 8 where he is unlikely to face fresh fast bowlers and it becomes a bit easier for him to face the short ball.
surprised pandya not at 6, from what I have seen from him he is a far better batsman than Saha and Ashwin.

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Still 3 slip fielders cordon. Wondering why the short leg is not there in spite of being in such a dominating position.

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Still 3 slip fielders cordon. Wondering why the short leg is not there in spite of being in such a dominating position.

Good captaincy this. Short leg bought into attack immediately.

[Dr Cricket]

doesn't look like Ashwin wants much of the strike, running quickly so he doesn't have to take strike.
I hope he fights it out though.
50-60 runs partnership at least his required here.

[Dr Cricket]

As expected Rabada was the most dangerous bowler today.

[Dr Cricket]

agree with this tweet.
Some of the decision making by the Indian think tank has been baffling in this match. Why would you risk your front line spinner against this type of heat? Saha & Pandya are the batsmen. #SAvIND

Is it more likely that Ashwin is going to take the attack against this pace quartet or that he’ll hurt himself and get dismissed cheaply? This isn’t Rajkot and he’s not facing Thisera Perera! #SAvIND

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76 balls wasted by Chet. What a performance. Shows how the county stint has helped him.

Hope he gets past Faf (104) and ABD (84).

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4

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Steyn in attack. Liking Faf's captaincy. Either he is reading my mind or i am reading it.

[Dr Cricket]

With Ashwin at 6 it is clear india see him as the all rounder and not pandya.
if he is the All rounder in the team he proabably needs to work on his all round batting, not sure he can bat at 6 in all conditions at the moment.
personally would have pandya as the all rounder slot with Ashwin concentrating on his bowling and only really being the all rounder in Asian/spinning condition where he can score big runs and take wickets.
not really sure Ashwin can be a Stokes for india.