India in South Africa

The series gets underway on Thursday at Centurion , the World's top rated side against the 2nd placed team.  India haven't had any warm up matches , but they've been practising hard at Gary Kirsten's Cricket Academy here in Cape Town.  The facilities are top notch with quick , bouncy wickets , just what the doctor ordered.  The players not involved in the one day side arrived early last week , they should be ready , come Thursday.
            On the downside , the summer thunderstorms have arrived on the highveld and it's bucketed down in the afternoons for over a week.  Centurion is right in the middle of these storms and whilst it has fine drainage it must be a certainty that considerable time will be lost in the match.  SA have a fine record at the ground , so a draw will suit the Indians just fine.
           The 2nd test is in Durban from 26th December and is home to a very large Indian community. Support for the tourists will be terrific and a result is highly likely here , with SA slight favourites.  The ball swings here and Steyn could be the match winner , but Khan will cause problems as well. 
             The 3rd and final test is here in Cape Town from 2nd January. The weather here is fantastic , with little chance of rain until about June !  It's been very hot lately and that should mean we've a pitch with some pace and carry. In recent years Newlands has been a little flat , resulting in a lot of draws - the curator has worked hard in livening it up - I hope he's been successful!
           The quicker the pitches , the more I think SA will win. If they're flat they'll really battle to get through this Indian line up.  Without doubt , this is the best side that India have brought to these shores and if they were to leave with a series win it wouldn't be that surprising.  Sehwag and Gambhir against Steyn and Morkel holds the key for me. If they get through the new ball India will make very big scores. Sehwag won't change the way he plays and I think we'll see seesaw scores from him - very low scores and very big ones. Gambhir is underrated and I see him having a good tour. Dravid and Tendulkar know the conditions and are going to be targeted. Quality shines through though and I can see Sachin getting a standing ovation here at Newlands for a century in his last test in this country.


Edited by Sledger - 13 December 2010 at 6:13am

My gut feeling is instead of more steady Parnell or Tsotsobe, they'll go for a raw pace in 3rd seamer to unsettle batsmen. L & L stuff will be done by Kallis IMO. If I was the SAF management, I'd pick the quickest bloke in the country and ask him to go berserk on the Indians.

Parnell has been left out, so it will be either Tsotsobe or McLaren, I think they might as well opt for Tsotsobe given his impressive performances against pakistan.

It should be a very good series, although I'll edge it in favor of South Africa.

I'm getting a refund ! According to a site not a million miles from here , the series starts on 16th January !!  

Originally posted by Sledger I'm getting a refund ! According to a site not a million miles from here , the series starts on 16th January !!

Sorted that now...I also had that well-known left-arm spinner Ryan Harris potentially playing for South Africa in that piece.

Originally posted by spin wizard the Ashes!!

Sorry, you've lost me.

South Africa are the definite favorites in my opinion. The Indian batting is very experienced but the pressure and their lack of success on South African soil is going to be key. As Harsha Bhogle and Sanjay Mangrekar said, the Indians are over prepared and are over planning their strategies. If they go in normally and look in th epast they will see that the Aussies and England have succeeded here before and a little hard work should be good enough. Still, at the moment they can't be ruled out.

SA look very strong. Their fielding is brilliant and most of the batsman are in great form. The bowlers know their condition very well. India would hope that Zaheer remainds fit for the tour.

If SA have an achilles heel it's Smith's opening partner , Peterson. He's not a natural opener , much like Shane Watson , but has done a decent enough job since getting in the side.  He replaced Ashwell Prince at the top , who . after making a century against Australia , found new ball bowling on fresh pitches just too much to handle. He made it plain that he saw himself as a number 6 and only went with the change because Duminy was doing so well (Prince had suffered a broken hand).That all changed quickly and Duminy got dropped , Prince returned to 6 and Peterson got the opening role.We know that Dumini hasn't done enough to displace Prince and he hasn't been considered for the opening birth.   If India get Peterson cheaply in the first test and expose Amla early , they might make inroads. Zaheer Khan is vital for that to materialise , although Sreesanth has his moments. Ishant is erratic , but conditions here should suit him - he might shine.  As seam attacks go , it's as good as any that India have brought to these shores and they must have a chance.    Smith's recovery has been slow and he hasn't played any cricket since the injury - he's SA's leader in more ways than one and if he has a bad series they might well get beaten.
               Having said all that , Amla , Kallis and de Villiers are quality players and well capable of posting huge totals.
                 The talk is of grassy pitches , but Centurion has been very wet and I think it'll play well - decent carry , but nothing to worry about. Durban and Newlands won't be any different to what the Indians saw last time they were here , no matter how much guff the curators come out with.
                  I don't think either side will have won the series before Newlands , that could well be the decider.


Edited by Sledger - 15 December 2010 at 5:33am

Zaheer is not playing which means Sreesanth and Ishant need to both bowl at 100%. Sreesanth has an amazing seam position and bowls a great line once he is in rhythm. Ishant tends to keep it a bit short. So, both have the advantage on a wicket like this if they can be accurate. Still, once the ball is old, the RSA batsmen might just cruise along but I'm not sure how South African pitches behave after the first session.

Short bowling isn't such a good recipe to dish out in SA, the square boundaries are usually short and very easy to clear.  Nonetheless though, this is India and bounce is their greatest nemesis so SA have a lot to go for in bowling options.

This was always expected, I am not at all surprised. There is a good reason why I said RSA are favorites.

In fact on my facebook page I said RSA are CLEAR Favts which received a lot of criticism from my Indian friends... I hope they'll respect my opinion now.


Edited by sam_ahmed - 16 December 2010 at 5:56pm

Brilliant stuff from the opening bowlers, especially Morkel. Lovely to see such a good pitch. Nothing better than watching two fasts rushing world class batsmen. More wickets such as these should be made. It really brings out the best in everyone (on most occasions).

Sehwag was rash. Gambhir struggled very badly against the bounce. Dravid looked good and rode the bounce very well until Morkel got him with a peach. Tendulkar looked to attack and did so very well until he too was taken out with a great delivery from Morkel. Laxman had no foot movement, Dhoni managed to survive while Harbhajan was a little unlucky (not that he was going to score too much anyways). So the old guns of India Dravid and Tendulkar looked good for India which is important for the future of this series but for now the Indian bowlers have to get it right against a strong, in-form and very confident South African batting line-up.

Edited by DRAVID FAN - 17 December 2010 at 5:48am

RSA off to a very good start at 64/0. Morne and Steyn have to be the best opening bowling pair in the world at the moment (given Asif and Aamer are no longer in the frame).

Quite right, the way SA are going at the moment, India already seem out of the game and to be honest, I can't see them winning at Durban, I think that's a prolific seamers haven.  Without Zaheer khan, the bowling attack is really out of it.  Harbhajan deserves a good beating, he just seems to get more and more toothless as he ages, when actually, a spinner usually gets better with age.  We saw it with Kumble and Warne.  The way Warnie bowled after his comeback from his banned was tremendous, hardly had to use anything other than his leg break and sliders!

India's batting will come good, without Zaheer, don't think the bowling will ever show up.  Sreesanth and co have potential but it seems to only come on display sporadically.  SA way into the driver seat at the moment and kallis has been silently building runs upon runs that people probably don't even recognize how much he's achieved!