South Africa v India tests - Jan 2018

[Arthur Crabtree]

Average pace of Rabada is remarkable. That's sustained pace.

[Dr Cricket]

Also the ironic point of that post was that indian fans and media were bragging last week that india got 5 proper fast bowlers in a tour.
TBH to answer the post above of why they went with Bumrah was because of his ability to bowl good pace and is a known bowler in white ball cricket think they preferred picking the 5th bowler on someone they know that can bowl to international players and got a good pace and not be 80 mph bowler.

india bowling not express but quick enough to succeed in Test matches and all can at times bowl above 90 mph, even Bhuvi can reach 90 sometime rarely but can do it if he pushes himself for it.
but sometimes Test cricket isn't all about pace either you need accuracy/ bowl the right area you can bowl 90 mph and be a scatter gun like Umesh yadav and couple of NZ bowlers at the moment.
if it was all about pace then NZ would pick their 2 90 mph bowlers over Boult, Southee and Wagner.

Although saying that think pace bowler need to have minimum speed though in test matches generally I would say fast bowlers should be bowling around 85 mph to be a success in Test cricket, anything lower than that and your bowling becomes one dimensional and you become dependent on the new ball or the pitch.
one reason why england are struggling in test now, on flatter decks most of their pace men bowl around 80 mph.

[Dr Cricket]

Average pace of Rabada is remarkable. That's sustained pace.

Yeah he looked seriously quick today.
effortless as well.
some talent the kid got.

[Dr Cricket]

Average pace of Rabada is remarkable. That's sustained pace.

Wonder when the last time india had a quicker bowling attack than England and pakistan not sure that happened before.

[meninblue]

Only few minutes away. Will be exciting.

[meninblue]

Raining, delayed start.

[mikesiva]

Good to see south Africa are not too macho to use the night watchman. Unlike England and India.

Rabada protected de Villiers or du Plessis from a tricky period.

[meninblue]

Almost half hour wasted due to rain. That's the only way this match can go in day 5.

[alfie]

Wonder if he's got any Test cricket left in him.

(referring to Steyn , of course )

To be honest I was surprised to see he made it back into the team for this match. He has had a rotten run with injury for the last couple of years and I frankly can't see any great prospect for him getting back on a regular basis . The fact that he battled back this time shows he still wants it , I guess ; but how often can you come back at an advanced age for a fast bowler ? It is sad to see a great bowler limping out of the game in this way ; but I wouldn't place bets on seeing him again.

Mind you , Australia will be touring next. Perhaps he'd like to bow out with a series against them ? So I can hope I'm wrong and he gets to do so...would be nice to see him (if fit) squaring off against Smith ...

[mikesiva]

Watching the highlights on Sky Sports mix. I take back my criticism of lack of pace from the Indian pacers.

Kumar bowled low 130s but got a lot of movement. Like Philander. Nothing wrong with that.

Shami was high 130s occasionally clocking 140 kph.

Bumrah surprised me. Regularly in the 140s.

Pandya was faster than I thought too. High 130s and occasionally over 140 kph.

The Indian pace attack in South Africa seemed faster than England in Australia.

[meninblue]

Watching the highlights on Sky Sports mix. I take back my criticism of lack of pace from the Indian pacers.

Kumar bowled low 130s but got a lot of movement. Like Philander. Nothing wrong with that.

Shami was high 130s occasionally clocking 140 kph.

Bumrah surprised me. Regularly in the 140s.

Pandya was faster than I thought too. High 130s and occasionally over 140 kph.

The Indian pace attack in South Africa seemed faster than England in Australia.

Mike, the pace bowling options in India are much better now at international level as well at in Ranji format.

Credit goes to MRF Pace Academy, NCA, the coaches.

Even Bhuvi has improved his pace slightly.

Shami,Jasprit and Hardik are all around 140's.

Has consistently was above 140 since last series.His fastest was 144.

Shami has actually dropped some pace this test. He bowled faster versus Lanka mostly above 137 and his fastest was 142 and that too on Indian wickets. He is not fully fit yet. He struggled a bit in the series versus Lanka with some niggle. Shami has hit 147 before when he was in rhythm.


Umesh Uadav too is very fast, however the erratic line and length is the reason why he has flopped at this level.

The approx bowling speeds of our Pacers in this test is as follows


BK Avg 83 MPH Max 87 MPH
Shami  Avg 84.5 MPH Max 88.8 MPH
Bumrah Avg 86.6 MPH Max 89.4 MPH
Pandya Avg 83.2 MPH Max 88.9 MPH

In Ranji evel there are many Pacers bowling real quick.

There is dramatic improvement in pace department. actually we have turned the situation which existed years before. What I would like to see is if these fast Pacers can maintain a decent line and length at these speeds.

[meninblue]

First sesssion almost wasted. Good that Big Bash was live.

Lucky for us. Will get to bowl in overcast conditions today. Hope sun will come out tomorrow when we bat. Maybe that is a way we can draw or win with such luck and timings of rain.

[meninblue]

Covers still on. One session already lost, second may be lost as well. Saffers must be frustrated.

[meninblue]

Rain has wasted 2nd session as well today.

[meninblue]

No play today. Entire Day 3 is washed out. Timely rain for Team India. South Africa can still go for a win if there is no rain in next two days.