This is India's best chance to win a series overseas.

[sourab10forever]

*Good set of players with every position having a good back up and all players getting in some good match practice.

 

*Settled side.

 

*No major injury concerns..atleast for now.

 

*Confidence is high.

 

*Captain is aggressive.

 

*Players have geled well as a team.

 

This is India's best chance of winning in SA with SA not being the best that they can be. They are vulnerable and a 3 match series is also in our favour. Series victory is definitely on.

[beetle]

I will be happy with a 1-1 result.

[Laaloo]

I'm pretty sure we have said this before and only to be a big letdown. 

[Laaloo]

2011 was our best chance. We had a great team. We were in a great position to win the series before captain cool decided to piss on our parade. 

[Vilander]

We should do well in SA this time.  Have the fast bowlers, their batters wont bat us out. Test is for our batters to not f it up.

[Rasgulla]

11 minutes ago, Laaloo said:

2011 was our best chance. We had a great team. We were in a great position to win the series before captain cool decided to piss on our parade. 

What to do... when he got grandpa like sachin who could barely move and put ball to bat... he is like 12th men for opposition

 

So 10 vs 12 isn't fair 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Rasgulla

[Vilander]

9 minutes ago, Laaloo said:

2011 was our best chance. We had a great team. We were in a great position to win the series before captain cool decided to piss on our parade. 

lol you mean the creaking terminators over the hill at that time sachin/dravid/vvs were our best chance overseas, Zak was still bowling 130's, Umesh and Ishant were toothless ( Shami Bhuv are major upgrade) ?

[Rasgulla]

8 minutes ago, Vilander said:

lol you mean the creaking terminators over the hill at that time sachin/dravid/vvs were our best chance overseas, Zak was still bowling 130's, Umesh and Ishant were toothless ( Shami Bhuv are major upgrade) ?

They score 620/4and declare.. We get out for 160 supposed to be "our best chance"  

[Laaloo]

7 minutes ago, Vilander said:

lol you mean the creaking terminators over the hill at that time sachin/dravid/vvs were our best chance overseas, Zak was still bowling 130's, Umesh and Ishant were toothless ( Shami Bhuv are major upgrade) ?

Well considering the fact that one of the terminators over the hill at that time was our highest scorer and another terminator scored 96 in the 2nd test to set up a test victory. And don't forget we had South africa on the ropes at Cape Town and especially in the 2nd innings where they were 6 down with a 100 lead and a injured kallis before captain cool decided to have a pep talk with a bowler who was giving his all. Even while bowling 130s, Zaheer was very effective. We went toe to toe with south Africa despite being blown out in the first test due to lack of match practice and we were awfully close to winning the series. 

 

And where did Umesh come from? Maybe you are confusing with the 2014 tour?

[speedheat]

Agree with op this is our best chance to win as this time we actually have a captain who wants to win it unlike that ex captain who used to put personal things before country 

[Gollum]

All the positives OP highlighted can be negated by 1 word- CATCHING

 

[Laaloo]

3 minutes ago, Gollum said:

All the positives OP highlighted can be negated by 1 word- CATCHING

 

Kohli looks to have improved his catching somewhat so that's a positive sign. We have lost/drawn a couple of test matches in recent times because we dropped dollies. Too many to count for my liking.  

[Gollum]

2007-10 test team had excellent catchers, this team is nowhere close in that department. If we drop Amla&Kock thrice, Elgar&ABDV twice and Du Plessis 5 times in the 3 tests what hope is there? And I am being very liberal in assessment, the ball flies in SA and if we take our present catching form there we will drop min 5 catches per innings, ab socho agar Saha ko koi chot lag gayee or Parthiv ko waapas bulaya jayee to? 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Gollum

[Vilander]

12 minutes ago, Laaloo said:

Well considering the fact that one of the terminators over the hill at that time was our highest scorer and another terminator scored 96 in the 2nd test to set up a test victory. And don't forget we had South africa on the ropes at Cape Town and especially in the 2nd innings where they were 6 down with a 100 lead and a injured kallis before captain cool decided to have a pep talk with a bowler who was giving his all. Even while bowling 130s, Zaheer was very effective. We went toe to toe with south Africa despite being blown out in the first test due to lack of match practice and we were awfully close to winning the series. 

 

And where did Umesh come from? Maybe you are confusing with the 2014 tour?

ok you mean 2010 SA not overseas in 2011 then Sachin/VVS/Harbhajan that was a good tour, almost had them in the last test.

[bowl_out]

We we close to winning a match each Johannesburg and Melbourne in 2013-14. We could have at least tied those two series.

J'burg was close until Ab and Faf stole the match from us... and Melbourne was close until Vijay got out..

 

The key is to not lose out on important moments and seize the advantage when we have it.. Easier said than done though

[Vilander]

5 minutes ago, Gollum said:

2007-10 test team had excellent catchers, this team is nowhere close in that department. If we drop Amla&Kock thrice, Elgar&ABDV twice and Du Plessis 5 times in the 3 tests what hope is there? 

I think Shami/Bhuv will create a bit more chances than Zak/Ishant/Sreesanth. But yeah catches might get dropped more this time, but ground fielding will be markedly better. And Steyn has declined. Can Amla/ABDV do a Kallis in batting highly suspect it. We also have good bowling alrounder option this time to keep strike bowlers fresh. 

 

But things can go south if batsmen screw up or Ashwin/or his replacement does not cut it there ( Harbhajan has a great series in 2010 if not for kallis we would have won it)

[Gollum]

2 minutes ago, Vilander said:

I think Shami/Bhuv will create a bit more chances than Zak/Ishant/Sreesanth. But yeah catches might get dropped more this time, but ground fielding will be markedly better. And Steyn has declined. Can Amla/ABDV do a Kallis in batting highly suspect it. We also have good bowling alrounder option this time to keep strike bowlers fresh. 

 

But things can go south if batsmen screw up or Ashwin/or his replacement does not cut it there ( Harbhajan has a great series in 2010 if not for kallis we would have won it)

Bhai excellent cheetah like era defining groundfielding will save max 20-30 runs in a day's play. Dropping a Du Plessis or ABDV can cost anywhere between 0 to 300 runs. Ground fielding is the least important aspect in test cricket, catching is absolutely vital.

 

Regarding Harbhajan Singh's performance in Cape Town, I couldn't care less because I have had enough of these chuckers. I would rather have us win tests based on honest, upright sportsmanship than cheating. 

[rtmohanlal]

Effective use of spinners is a very important factor.Think Kuldeep can play the role of  'Warne vs  SAF'   to highly effective  extends.Jadeja being a left hander and having proven some thing there too can be quite effective.Ashwin has yet to prove a lot there.

Similarly Rahane needs to find form soon.Then we have a chance.

 

[Shunya]

Well we say the same thing every time and still come up short. Supposedly greatest players in Indian history - Sachin,Dravid,VVS,Sehwag,Kumble,Zak,etc were all outperformed in previous tours. However, chances are very bright this time, SA is supposedly very weak with Kallis gone and Steyn, AB all old and weaker. 

Will take 2-1 with the form that we are in. 

[sandeep]

16 minutes ago, rtmohanlal said:

Effective use of spinners is a very important factor.Think Kuldeep can play the role of  'Warne vs  SAF'   to highly effective  extends.Jadeja being a left hander and having proven some thing there too can be quite effective.Ashwin has yet to prove a lot there.

Similarly Rahane needs to find form soon.Then we have a chance.

 

The Kuldeep gamble has potential, but the problem is that the downside risk of playing him is quite high.  Especially given we have the 'safe' option of someone like Jadeja in the side.  I only see Kuldeep having an outside chance of playing a test in SA if the track is a proper flat track, and we are behind in the series.