South Africa v India tests - Jan 2018

[sussexpob]

takes some balls to bat first on this deck, considering you can be 40-60 all out here on day 1.
Especially for a captain under pressure for his tactics in this series.

The balls behind the decision was acknowledged by Sunny G and Holding earlier on commentary. Both said that people were horrified by the decision and thought it was crazy, but its been proved right.

[Dr Cricket]

looks like Kohli might be the only man to get century in this series.

[sussexpob]

Just get the feeling the ball is starting to do a bit less as this session goes on. Bowling change needed

[sussexpob]

That last ball to Philander from Sharma bounced very low. Gone unnoticed seemingly, but if the ball is going to start keeping low too, 2nd innings might see under 100 scores if bowling is good.

Two balls later, one kicks up from a length into Amla's gloves....

Tough to be batting

[Dr Cricket]

wouldn't surprise me if this deck get reported by the umpires, it seems the umpires are concerned about a small area on the deck getting uneven bounce, if anything this deck probably not got the greatest attributes for a cricket wicket.
very green at the start, so a lot of seam movement.
very dry and cracked in the start- both captain said it would be very dry at the end, surprising both teams didn't go for the spinner in the end.
plus johannesburg tends to swing a lot as well so it made it a very good wicket for the seam bowlers.


although for me flatter decks should get reported ahead of decks like these.
although wouldn't mind this one getting reported considering this series been very bowler dominated.

[Dr Cricket]

Saying that wouldn't want to face Morkel or Ngidi on this.
ishant getting the ball to jump and keep low imagine what these two will be doing, india would need a lead here.

[mikesiva]

Kohli decision to bat first looking like a good one now.

South Africa 143-6 at tea.

Amla 54 not out

Philander 11 not out

[Dr Cricket]

TBH reckon india deserve a win here anyway for the bowling in this series.
Not really sure Kohli deserves the total humiliation and criticism he would get if india lose 3-0.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Great match this, gently edging towards SA now.

From description above sounds like unpredictable bounce is due to cracks rather than uneven grass or ridges. So they should get worse as the ball crumbles the edges of the cracks. If this is happening with a 60 over ball, it should be very tough to bat against a new one.

[mikesiva]

Amla out for an important 61 to bumrah.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Great match this, gently edging towards SA now.
.

Hmm. Hamish departs with scores roughly par. Nothing much in it.

[meninblue]

SA trail by just 12 runs.Any lead will be dangerous. Even 25 runs lead will work in favor of SA imo. This is not a wicket where 150 runs is decisive. Here there is struggle to score each and every run. We need to get the last three wickets without conceding any lead.

[meninblue]

This is similar to first test. Victory by 72 runs was like victory with 200 runs on other grounds. Chet has said that it is more difficult to bat on this wicket than it was at Cape Town. So there is nothing to jump about for me by our performance. Some perspective has to be considered. Currently i feel it is all advantage SA to win this test.

[mikesiva]

Philander out for a useful 35 to shami.

[meninblue]

Lead has started. 2 runs. Enough to get wicket of one of our openers in 2 runs lead.