India vs South Africa

Welcome to the forums Titan, it should be an enthralling series with both sides on a roll, and I'd agree with you, a close win for South Africa.

India will win - 4 reasons for that.....

   1) Home advantage and slow pitches.

   2) SA's spin options are non-existant.

   3) Indian batsmen are on fire , SA's are hit and miss.

   4) No Hershelle Gibbs , the talisman in the field for SA. They'll also miss his batting and Boye's bowling.

SA performed adequately against a desparately disappointing New Zealand. NZ losing Orum and not selecting Cairns left them short of firepower and yet SA stuttered when winning the first 3 matches. 4-0 it was , but it was a close 4-0.

Indian won the 1st 4 games against Sri Lanka convincingly , even when the Lankans set a decent target.

No, with South Africa on an 18 match unbeaten streak I find it very hard to believe that India will waltz to victory over SA.

I am picking a 3-2 series, with the result uncertain at this stage.

Well, I'm not sure they can get that record now saad, as their last match was rained off so it wasn't a win but the unbeaten record is still impressive.

Yeah, as the last match was a 'no-result'. A pity for them as they looked well set to win I thought.

Friday's game was a no-result JP , SA won Sunday's game on Duckworth-Lewis.

Originally posted by -JP- That would be it; I was in France, after all!

I was just a tad closer !!!

i expect tendulker and dravid to be the spine of the indian batting.

and as for SA, i think Kallis will be their big gun.

pathan is a good bowler, now only if he had some more support from the others. the fast bowler really don't seem to pitching in to the bowling but harbajan certainly seems to be in good form. and i think pathan and harbajan will be india's main bowling ammunition against SA.

I thought that Bond and Mills were very dissapointing from a NZ point of view against SA. Before the tour there was such hype over Bond but, he turned out to be expensive and wayward. On the Indian wickets the ball will come much slower on to the bat, so SA batsmen will have to wait longer for the ball. The bowlers will also have to bowl fuller as there is no pace in the wickets, the Indian batsmen will easily despatch short pitch bowling.

You will not believe it, but Smith as never played a ODI in India, he has only payed a test series in India at the end of last year. He has played against India in four ODI's 3 times in Dhaka and once in Colombo. His batting average a "brilliant" 2.33. We will have to take in account that he is inexperienced in Indian conditions, hopefully the senior players(Kallis,Pollock and Boucher) will assist him.

2.33, and i thought smith was almost an allrounder, but this proves he isn't. He can still bat good down the order sometimes and sometimes those innings are very crucial.

Sledger, what do you think about the current SA team? I think this team could became a great team. We still lack in the spin department. I thought J.Rudolph should have gone to India, he is a better spin bowler than Peterson and Ontong, he bowled very good in the recent tour of SA A to Sri Lanka. Rudolph is also one of the most talented batsmen, and we need him badly for the tour of Australia!

What about Kruger and Steyn? Will you give them a change against Aus?

SA are improving with every game Heinrich. Smith's captaincy is more effective too and the buzz in the team is very positive. Rudolph is difficult to access , Jennings had plans for him to bowl his leggies against the English and we saw little of him. Maybe that was Smith's call , but for whatever reason he had a poor series. Dippenaar did well in the West Indies , so Rudolph just has to make a lot of runs in the domestic competitions to get back - England identified his batting flaws and exposed him easily. He was caught behind the wicket or bowled with relative ease.

Peterson and Ontong aren't good enough - they've both been tried numerous times and been found wanting. It's tough on the captain too , having to bowl someone who's going to go for plenty. Young Botha must be given a go , but I'm unsure if India is the right place to try him! yes , he'll get assistance from the pitches , but their batsmen are pretty handy against tweakers!

I'm a big Steyn fan and firmly believe that he is SA's best chance of ruffing up the Australians later this year. He's quick and aggressive and must be given 1st use of the new ball. Maybe it's time for Pollock to bowl 1st change , along with Nel and let Ntini and Steyn go up front. I'm convinced the ONLY way to play Australia effectively is to attack - sit back with defensive fields and they'll destroy you....ask England's captains , they did it for 18 years!

In summary , the outlook is bright and the side is young. They'll make mistakes , maybe lose the odd test that they shoudln't (Wanderers 2005!) - but they're learning with each match. They've still got class in the ranks too , seasoned pros like Pollock , Kallis and Gibbs - the next 6 months are going to be very important to the development of the side.

i feel indians hav prepared hard with respect to the south africa series than lankans..   becoz soon after they won series by 4-0.. they began full experimentation.All batting orders started changing! seniors rested..bowlers replaced .. captain too rested..Its amazing to see that this all worked..hats off  to chapel. i feel indians  hav a better edge over SA considering home advantage..