Series Thread - South Africa vs India

[Cooldude]

Just can't believe they lost one wicket and then decided enough's enough we'll block it out

 

[Cooldude]

Yes Dravid's gone!

Hallelujah!

 

[BigCat2]

With Tendulkar and Laxman still to come, draw still the only likely result.

 

[whats_at_stake]

I think expecting India to chase 300 plus on a day five pitch with Steyn there is a bit too much.

For India to do this they needed a quick 50 from Sehwag and promoted Pujara like they did against Australia.

 

[Kim Hagdorn]

Geez another wicket has got to come soon surely.

 

[Romeo]

No wonder India doesn't go with the technology.

 

[Fastback]

call it off, time for a beer.

 

[Jolldo87]

call it off, time for a beer.

Couldn't do any worse than Harris is atm.

 

[Heeney2Franklin]

No wonder India doesn't go with the technology.

Should just refuse to play them, BCCI has to much power and influence its bullshit.

 

[Alpha1]

Well done to India, the pitch was a minefield on the last day a dud like Harris was getting the ball to spin and bounce like a cobra. Considering after the first test when every man and his dog was having a laugh at India they have done brilliantly.

Shown a lot of guts to bounce back like they did and level the series, great series, the last three series between these teams has ended 1-1. India showing why they are the number 1 team in the world.

Doubt the Aussies would have lasted till tea on that pitch, India have some big tours ahead, England in England and Australia here in Australia.

Can't wait for the England v India tour going to be massive, India have done well in England in the past, so doubt they would be that worried, or as worried as they would have been going to SA.

 

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

I would've thought it's a failure any time a #1 team doesn't win a series. Still no series win in South Africa after being all over them on day 4. Bad luck.

 

[Santana]

Not sure why India would be happy with a drawn series. They’ve never won in SA before and this was the best chance they’ve had in years going into it.

Can’t see Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman being around for the next tour. Khan and Sehwag should be close to their mid-30’s by then. It’s going to be awhile before they win in SA.

A truly great team they are not.

 

[Cousin Jed]

They may well rue deciding to play that craptacular ODI series against NZ. If they went and played a warmup game in SA first it could have made all the difference.

 

[damochandler]

i thought they had moved on from the gangully ways. you know the, we have already retained the trophy lets just play for the draw. i thought they would have had a red hot crack at the total

 

[krisholio14]

i thought they had moved on from the gangully ways. you know the, we have already retained the trophy lets just play for the draw. i thought they would have had a red hot crack at the total

It was always going to be a tough total to get against the SA attack.

Yes, they survived easily, but setting yourself to survive, and chasing down a tricky total are two different things.

Where India ****ed up was letting the Jaapies get cheap runs in the last session on day 4, not deciding to play for the draw.

 

[Alpha1]

India ****ed up on on two counts, Dhoni went too defensive too early when they had them at 6/120 that and the bowling from the quicks was woeful. That pitch yesterday was like a bed of snakes and there was no way they were going to chase down 344 on that pitch.

Would have loved to have seen any other team bat on that pitch yesterday and not get smashed, India only lost 3 wickets which shows the quality of the batting line up.

 

[Jolldo87]

Where India ****ed up was letting the Jaapies get cheap runs in the last session on day 4, not deciding to play for the draw.

Exactly. Chasing 344 on the final day of a test match is pretty much impossible.

With the benefit of hindsight Smith could have been more aggressive with his captaincy by declaring but that's what the Sehwag factor will do.

 

[apollo_creed]

Exactly. Chasing 344 on the final day of a test match is pretty much impossible.

With the benefit of hindsight Smith could have been more aggressive with his captaincy by declaring but that's what the Sehwag factor will do.

Exactly mate.

How many teams score 344 in a day, let alone on a fifth day South African pitch spinning and bouncing against a team with Dale Steyn in the attack.

No side in the history of test cricket could've chased those runs down.

India were only ever going to lose or draw.

 

[krisholio14]

Exactly mate.

How many teams score 344 in a day, let alone on a fifth day South African pitch spinning and bouncing against a team with Dale Steyn in the attack.

No side in the history of test cricket could've chased those runs down.

India were only ever going to lose or draw.

And I think in the end Smith was happy to walk away 1-1 from the position they were in.

I think it's a mark of both sides abilities and their respect for each other, that Smith didn't want to risk declaring too early, and the Indians decided not to chase the runs

 

[Alpha1]

Smith would be disappointed I think, after all the cockiness before the series started and especially after the first test.

 

[glenferry23]

i think the 1-1 scoreline is a fair result at the end....i agree with earlier comments, india really never had much chance of scoring 340 odd on a day 5 pitch with steyn, morkel etc...

they blew their chances of victory on the 4th day with poor bowling and of course an amazing innings from kallis. they needed to show heart on the 5th day and bat it out...and guys like ghambir, dravid, sachin laxman etc are perfect for jobs like that

if only our boys knew how to show some toughness and grind out a result, and learn what balls to leave etc...

overall, a great test match series, and its ridiculous we only get a 3 match series between the best teams in the world

in fact, the last 3 times these teams have met, everytime its ended 1-1 (twice in india and now this series)...shows how evenly they are matched. but surely this warrants a 5 game series, scrap some of these meaningless one dayers (like they did in india last yr when they reduced the 7 match ODI series to allow 2 tests) and give us more test matches please, im going to miss games of this quality...next series to look forward to is england and india mid year

 

[Alpha1]

Well CSA just announced that the India v SA Test series is now going to become a Icon series which means that 4 - 5 test matches in each country from now on. Which is great news for all, after the quality of cricket in this last series it's great news.

 

[glenferry23]

Well CSA just announced that the India v SA Test series is now going to become a Icon series which means that 4 - 5 test matches in each country from now on. Which is great news for all, after the quality of cricket in this last series it's great news.

brilliant

given they've just played each other in two test series over the past 12 months, i assume the next scheduled series would be another 2-3 years away? by that stage possibly many of the great indian may have retired...dravid, laxman, maybe sachin and perhaps even kallis

was a great series though, fantastic hard cricket from both teams, and the only slight positive that the 3 game series has ended is that at least i can get back to some normal sleep patterns lol

 

[damochandler]

Well CSA just announced that the India v SA Test series is now going to become a Icon series which means that 4 - 5 test matches in each country from now on. Which is great news for all, after the quality of cricket in this last series it's great news.

it's about time it should be like that for all the top teams facing each other. india and australia play 4 tests every series they play against each other. i think should have that for the top 5 nations at the moment

 

[Alpha1]

Well I think the new test champisonship will be promising, by then Australia will start the climb back up, but India will be on the way down.