Ami i the only one who thinks Philander played Sensibly?

[maniac]

I mean he seems to be getting a lot of hate from S.A fans and Padosis(:giggle:)....Keppler Wessels was pissed.... but After Faf's run out,it looked like the customary(not so much in tests) S.A Choke was on. I mean wouldn't the smartest thing to do would be to take a loss out of equation? Also Why was Steyn Pissed,He played out a maiden too...the only thing Philander did was Decline the singles but again that was a responsible thing to do as the more accomplished batsman. Am i missing something?

[maniac]

The fact that a lot of Indians are calling him phattu and pu$$y is baffling....If anything i was annoyed that he didn't have a brainfart and get himself out going for glory.

[Cricketics]

NO. Phlander was still playing as a bowler more than all rounder, so he shouldn't get the slack. BUt, the answer to your question is that - He and Steyn together should have talked more and gone for victory. They both didn't try to go fo victory until Steyn try to hit that 2nd last ball for four which he got beaten by and then later he hit for a six. They should have both try to hit before when he first came. India were bowling to it's field and keeping most on off side. So they should have tried. This is where South African team camp failed. They should have done some balcony dance like how Miandad used to do as Pakistan coach and should have signalled them to go for a hit or should have sent message through steyn that it's fine if you lose a wicket while going for a hit. Not every day 3 wickets fall in one over. They should have gone for a hit, because even if they had lost a wicket more, they still had 2 more in hand. Even though it was MOrkel left, but they all had to do was block it later. They missed an opportunity.

[Cricketics]

The fact that a lot of Indians are calling him phattu and pu$ is baffling....If anything i was annoyed that he didn't have a brainfart and get himself out going for glory.

Who called him phattu? It was a miscommunication for me and lack of messages being transfered to batsman. Should have shown confidence in him and told Steyn when he was going to bat that they both should go for the victory.

[maniac]

NO. Phlander was still playing as a bowler more than all rounder, so he shouldn't get the slack. BUt, the answer to your question is that - He and Steyn together should have talked more and gone for victory. They both didn't try to go fo victory until Steyn try to hit that 2nd last ball for four which he got beaten by and then later he hit for a six. They should have both try to hit before when he first came. India were bowling to it's field and keeping most on off side. So they should have tried. This is where South African team camp failed. They should have done some balcony dance like how Miandad used to do as Pakistan coach and should have signalled them to go for a hit or should have sent message through steyn that it's fine if you lose a wicket while going for a hit. Not every day 3 wickets fall in one over. They should have gone for a hit, because even if they had lost a wicket more, they still had 2 more in hand. Even though it was MOrkel left, but they all had to do was block it later. They missed an opportunity.

There were 3 overs to go when Steyn came to bat....1 of them from Zak who was the main bowler.......There was an uneccesary run out,Steyn might be ok with the bat but can you imagine if he was caught slogging? SMith hates the Chokers tag and is one guy from day 1 has tried to get S.A rid of that title....Can you imagine if S.A had lost from there?Atleast now they are being called negative and defensive....they would take that over being called chokers for sure. As an Indian fan I am happy,saved us the blushes but I kind of felt that there will be a mini collapse with the tail going for the shots. I don't blame Smith,If I was him,I would have done the same and I think Philander did the right thing.

[fineleg]

This post from a Proteas fan summarizes it accurately. They should have gone for a win in 3 overs, 16 runs to win with 3 wickets in hand

http://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/IndiaInSA/Proteas-India-in-thrilling-draw-20131222 South African fans are pissed off

They did well to get close, but to not bother attempting to deliver the KO blow is pathetic. Had they won, they would have secured the series, delivered a massive message to the cricketing world, made history, and shattered the Indians confidence going into the Durban Test. They could have "shut shop" if Steyn or Philander got out. Had we (somehow?) lost trying for the win at the end, we would at least have taken pride in getting that close in the first place.

[fineleg]

Had they won it would have dented and painted (thank you arnab and mukerjee) the indian team confidence to some extent going into durban. And their own SA confidence would have been sky high.

[maniac]

This post from a Proteas fan summarizes it accurately. They should have gone for a win in 3 overs' date= 16 runs to win with 3 wickets in hand

As a fan it's very easy to make such claims......If S.A had lost as I said above,the focus would have been on the 'C' word for getting so close and throwing it away rather than how well they played to get there in the first place. From a purely S.A's point of view it was the right thing to do and at the end of the day they still didn't lose.

[CG]

Yup Most guys are thinking it is odis.when u are 7 down with walking wicket tahir and injured morne, It was a huge risk as all fielders to on boundary and chances of getting out were more and the line was far outside off stump

[gaurav92]

Yes, you are the only one I guess. I think its a shame SAF didn't go for a win they deserved so badly.

[urbestfriend]

No, Philander and Steyn didn't play sensibly at the end...If it was Ashwin or Zaheer khan , I would be cursing them forever...If I were a south African fan, I'd have been gutted by this performance of not going for victory, all he would have done is take the single available in Zak's over and ask steyn to hit Zak.. Anyway I am sure Dhoni would have sent same message 1 hour before, they tried till Faf was there is only consolation..

[Scarves]

Nope I said several times that they did the right thing.

[Haarkarjeetgaye]

avoiding singles was a mistake. they were there for the taking. philander made a mistake there..

[vvvslaxman]

They did the right thing. Having done all the hard work you can,t make silly mistake with one injured batsman to come. This is a match there were atleast four collapses. One more collapse they would have lost

[vvvslaxman]

Imagine the nerves of a taillender

[saneindian]

Sydney Test 2008, 3 wickets in one over.

[youngindia]

considering history was at hand and it would mean a huge inspiration and stuff of legends for decades,they should have gone for it. they could have lost. but its a shortsighted approach. a win like this could have meant a lot for their cricket for the next decade. the prize was too big to be ignored.but knowing their past record, I expected it.

[Sidhoni]

Our guys were shocked as well. But it was a pleasant surprise. :) Shami should've been attacking the stumps against Steyn rather than bowling wide bouncers.

[Lord]

we escaped.simple as that.Had they gone for it,its very likely they'd have won. they didnt need to slog too,just take singles on offer

[goose]

Rubbish. Playing normal risk free cricket is what got them close. Then inexplicably they (including FAF) decided not to lay bat on ball. This was worse than a standard choke. It seemed to me that there was a plan for the well set batsman to shun all risk while the other went for his shots. When FAF got out that man became Philander. Somewhere along the way shun all risk became leave the ball at all costs and that was that.