Strength to Strength comparison of India vs South Africa

[maniac]

This is based on potential squad of both teams and the South African conditions

 

Wicketkeepers 

Saha vs Dekock-

This is a no brainer though.... Dekock is one of the fastest rising superstars stars of world cricket...even though Saha’s glove work may be on par with him,Dekock is on an other level with the bat. 

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-5

 

Spinners

Ashwin/Jadeja/Kuldeep vs Tahir/Maharaj. Indian spinner’s reputation speaks for itself.The top 2 ranked bowlers in the world.However,they have not delivered overseas. While saying Tahir and Maharaj are a huge upgrade over the kind of spinners South Africa used to produce is an understatement,but they shouldn’t be a threat to the Indian batting line up.However given the conditions the effectiveness of the Indian spinners is also under the scanner

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-2

 

Star batsman

 

Kohli vs Devillers.

2 megastars of cricket. Both have great records. They are Match winners on their day and their reputation precedes them obviously.However at the test level they are still looking for that defining innings to put them at the next level. Nothing much to chose here. Conditions give AB the advantage,However Kohli has been in great form and has done well before and also AB has been out of action for a while.so tie.

 

Score out of 5- India-4 South Africa-4

 

Pace Attack

Shami/Bhuvi/Yadav/Ishant/(Bumrah/Thakur) vs Steyn/Philander/Morkel/Rabada/Wayne Parnell/Duanne Oliver

This might be the best well rounded Indian attack to tour South Africa in a while. There is pace, A bit of experience  and some variety. Only thing missing is a left arm quick. The South African attack on the other hand is very experienced and also have a lot more variety. However apart from Rabada rest have been injury prone and a little 

on the aging side atleast from a cricketing scheme of things.Advantage South Africa but surprisingly not by a huge margin.

 

Score out of 5- India-3.5 South Africa-4

 

Openers

Cook/Elgar/Markham vs Rahul/Vijay/Dhawan

Even though South African batsmen are very formidable in home conditions, I think the good mix of youth,reputation,variety and experience,has to give India a slight edge here.

 

Score out of 5- India-3.5 South Africa-3

 

No 3

Pujara vs Amla 

Pujara has shown good form and is one of the best test bats out there in the world right now but his overseas record is not very flattering.On the other hand Amla has everything going for him- He is playing at home,He is a proven top level performer and also he has a good record against India(hope this changes this series). Surprisingly easier pick than I thought

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-4.5

 

Middle order

Faf/Bavuma  vs Rohit/Rahane

 

Faf is a good player, Bavuma seems a solid upcoming cricketer. On the other hand Rahane has been a match winner at the test level even though has had consistency problems and Rohit has the reputation and the skill but has not lived up to his talents.He will be under pressure as this is going to be a big test for him. Faf and Bavuma are followed by Dekock in the line up where as Rohit/Rahane are followed by Saha and lower order so they have a lot more pressure on them even though on skill level they are ahead. I still think it is a close contest.

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-3

 

Allrounders(seam)

Pandya/(Shankar) vs Morris/Phehlukwayo

Phehlukwayo is a mediocre cricketer and Shankar is an unknown commodity. On the other hand Morris is a destructive bat and Is good enough to be the 3rd seamer for his team and on the other hand Pandya too is a lot like Morris but is unproven at the test level with both bat and ball  especially in a series like this.

 

Advantage South Africa.

Score out of 5- India-2 South Africa-3

 

 

Overall score-India-3 South Africa-4

 

 

Uphill task ahead for India...I don’t know where this bravado is coming from. I would say a scoreline of 2-0 or 2-1 in South Africa’s favor .

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2017 by maniac

[GolGappe]

RSA have a huge advantage in fast bowling.

RSA have a slight advantage in batting due to home conditions 

India have a slight advantage in spin but pitches will negate that.

India has a technically superior wicketkeeper but their wicketkeeper is capable of flipping the test match in one session with bat.

 

India's best bet is to bat first on a green mamba and put up a competitive first innings score based on past results in RSA.

[SK_IH]

thanks for some realism ,there is some out of place optimism here and even your rating is somewhat generous

[rkt.india]

Our bowling is going to struggle.

[sandeep]

I can't be bothered to copy paste my list of reasons why South Africa are a bit vulnerable from the other thread.   Injuries have wreaked havoc on their optimal bowling lineup, and apart from QdK, the rest of the batting lineup is not that much stronger than ours.   That gives us a puncher's chance - good enough for me.   

 

Obviously, if you look at history, then you are bound to feel pessimistic.  But I've said it before and I will say it again - the last time I felt this optimistic was before the start of India's 2003 tour to Australia - another country where we had a history of being pummeled constantly and consistently.   That tour turned out pretty good, and I hope, so will this one.  

[maniac]

22 minutes ago, SK_IH said:

thanks for some realism ,there is some out of place optimism here and even your rating is somewhat generous

I think going by most posts we are over rating our batting here and slightly under rating our bowling.This is obviously ignoring the ones who think “we will smaaaash them”

 

the biggest problem this team is a serious lack of consistency....We can win games where all

odds are stacked against us and fold hopelessly in the easiest of surfaces...very much possible.

 

 

 

 

[maniac]

15 minutes ago, sandeep said:

I can't be bothered to copy paste my list of reasons why South Africa are a bit vulnerable from the other thread.   Injuries have wreaked havoc on their optimal bowling lineup, and apart from QdK, the rest of the batting lineup is not that much stronger than ours.   That gives us a puncher's chance - good enough for me.   

 

Obviously, if you look at history, then you are bound to feel pessimistic.  But I've said it before and I will say it again - the last time I felt this optimistic was before the start of India's 2003 tour to Australia - another country where we had a history of being pummeled constantly and consistently.   That tour turned out pretty good, and I hope, so will this one.  

You are going by Pujara,Rahane and Vijay’s heroics at the test level so fair enough but let us not forget that both Vijay and Rahane have consistency issues...they can perform in impossible conditions but also go missing in the next few games.

 

Pujara will survive,fight it out and still add max 20-30 runs in these conditions which will be of no use.

 

Dhawan and Rohit are carrying a question mark on their heads and for obvious reasons.

 

Rahul used to be boom or bust but now he is done a 180 degree turn by hitting a sweetspot of hitting a 50 and throwing it away.

 

Kohli is the only reliable one.

 

Our  lower order in these conditions is not encouraging.

 

Our fast bowling too looks like a million bucks one second and like paupers the next.

 

Now you might say how did we reach no 1 with all these flaws so I will come to that-our spinners who are the top 2 bowlers in the world for a reason because they have literally decimated every opposition at home and other favorable conditions but they again rightfully carry the stigma of HTB ‘s 

 

So unless it is an instinct thing or a superstition thing don’t know where you are getting this confidence from??? Is there any tangible argument for this???

Edited November 30, 2017 by maniac

[SK_IH]

16 minutes ago, maniac said:

I think going by most posts we are over rating our batting here and slightly under rating our bowling.This is obviously ignoring the ones who think “we will smaaaash them”

 

the biggest problem this team is a serious lack of consistency....We can win games where all

odds are stacked against us and fold hopelessly in the easiest of surfaces...very much possible.

 

 

 

 

yes i have my doubts about the batting scoring par scores everytime and actually giving bowlers the chance to actually come into play

also i am not liking this idea of pandya ashwin playing pivotal roles in batting,i fear lower half being blown away 

[Trichromatic]

30 minutes ago, rkt.india said:

Our bowling is going to struggle.

That's why batsmen have to score big and ensure that team is always in the game. At least in position to save matches.

[fineleg]

1 hour ago, Trichromatic said:

That's why batsmen have to score big and ensure that team is always in the game. At least in position to save matches.

Easier said than done @Trichromatic

[Trichromatic]

3 minutes ago, fineleg said:

Easier said than done @Trichromatic

Yes, no matter how much we talk about bowling, that has been template of our better overseas tours that we just stay in game and hope for a good spell or session from bowlers to win a match. Winning more than 1 match is unlikely. So it's all on batsmen to save other games.

[Gollum]

@maniac, now that you put it this way I too have become somewhat pessimistic. Only silver lining for me is that last 15 years or so we have reserved our best overseas form for SA while SA are somewhat inexplicably vulnerable against us in their backyard. Whilst we haven't won a series there margins have generally been too close to call. On paper SA are clear favorites but like @sandeep pointed out they are vulnerable at this stage and our biggest nemesis Kallis is out of the picture, so hurray for that. I am predicting a very tight series, 2-1 either way or 1-1 draw........this deserved a 4 test series . I am more worried about our catching than any SA player now tbh, if we continue our present catching form there also, we are getting pummeled no matter what.

[chewy]

Batting is still an issue, Rohit is a walking wicket, don’t expect anything more than 5 runs per inning from him, Rahane looks low on confidence, and Pujara will be under pressure to keep score ticking

 

SA’s biggest threat will be Rabada, on song can run through top order in one spell and if Steyn hits his groove straight away then, India will be facing the best pace pair bowling attack in a generation 

[King Tendulkar]

Glover work Saha better then de kock . De kock standing up is mediocre .

 

I said it before I make india favs . We will create history 

[King Tendulkar]

Massive key is pujara . Monster at home . If can become this away then easy win . Otherwise down to skipepr all the time 

[Vk1]

I am expecting flat pitches. High scoring draws or results dependent on who wins the toss. If ABD wasn't there India would have had a much better chance of winning. Shami , bhuvi , Ishant will probably outbowl the proteas bowlers. I'm optimistic.

[CommonMan]

Hope some one in our bowling line up replicate Sreesanth's performance in SA.

[SUMO]

Don't worry pujara and rohit will do much better this time.
dhawan/rahul will be atleast better than old-dhawan again.
ash/jaddu will improve for sure.
kohli is stronger than ever.

only vijay might not be able to replicate his performances in the last tour.
our pacers are same and more experienced but still young.

their stalwarts - amla abd steyn morkel are all 33-34 and struggling with form and fitness.
Elgar KG and faf will definitely trouble us they are on top of their game.

On paper they may look stronger but most of our players are in their peak probably that may be the difference.

I feel pujara vs amla will be series defining battle, who shield their middle order better and do bulk of scoring, his team will win.

[jalebi_bhai]

6 hours ago, maniac said:

This is based on potential squad of both teams and the South African conditions

 

Wicketkeepers 

Saha vs Dekock-

This is a no brainer though.... Dekock is one of the fastest rising superstars stars of world cricket...even though Saha’s glove work may be on par with him,Dekock is on an other level with the bat. 

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-5

 

Spinners

Ashwin/Jadeja/Kuldeep vs Tahir/Maharaj. Indian spinner’s reputation speaks for itself.The top 2 ranked bowlers in the world.However,they have not delivered overseas. While saying Tahir and Maharaj are a huge upgrade over the kind of spinners South Africa used to produce is an understatement,but they shouldn’t be a threat to the Indian batting line up.However given the conditions the effectiveness of the Indian spinners is also under the scanner

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-2

 

Star batsman

 

Kohli vs Devillers.

2 megastars of cricket. Both have great records. They are Match winners on their day and their reputation precedes them obviously.However at the test level they are still looking for that defining innings to put them at the next level. Nothing much to chose here. Conditions give AB the advantage,However Kohli has been in great form and has done well before and also AB has been out of action for a while.so tie.

 

Score out of 5- India-4 South Africa-4

 

Pace Attack

Shami/Bhuvi/Yadav/Ishant/(Bumrah/Thakur) vs Steyn/Philander/Morkel/Rabada/Wayne Parnell/Duanne Oliver

This might be the best well rounded Indian attack to tour South Africa in a while. There is pace, A bit of experience  and some variety. Only thing missing is a left arm quick. The South African attack on the other hand is very experienced and also have a lot more variety. However apart from Rabada rest have been injury prone and a little 

on the aging side atleast from a cricketing scheme of things.Advantage South Africa but surprisingly not by a huge margin.

 

Score out of 5- India-3.5 South Africa-4

 

Openers

Cook/Elgar/Markham vs Rahul/Vijay/Dhawan

Even though South African batsmen are very formidable in home conditions, I think the good mix of youth,reputation,variety and experience,has to give India a slight edge here.

 

Score out of 5- India-3.5 South Africa-3

 

No 3

Pujara vs Amla 

Pujara has shown good form and is one of the best test bats out there in the world right now but his overseas record is not very flattering.On the other hand Amla has everything going for him- He is playing at home,He is a proven top level performer and also he has a good record against India(hope this changes this series). Surprisingly easier pick than I thought

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-4.5

 

Middle order

Faf/Bavuma  vs Rohit/Rahane

 

Faf is a good player, Bavuma seems a solid upcoming cricketer. On the other hand Rahane has been a match winner at the test level even though has had consistency problems and Rohit has the reputation and the skill but has not lived up to his talents.He will be under pressure as this is going to be a big test for him. Faf and Bavuma are followed by Dekock in the line up where as Rohit/Rahane are followed by Saha and lower order so they have a lot more pressure on them even though on skill level they are ahead. I still think it is a close contest.

 

Score out of 5- India-3 South Africa-3

 

Allrounders(seam)

Pandya/(Shankar) vs Morris/Phehlukwayo

Phehlukwayo is a mediocre cricketer and Shankar is an unknown commodity. On the other hand Morris is a destructive bat and Is good enough to be the 3rd seamer for his team and on the other hand Pandya too is a lot like Morris but is unproven at the test level with both bat and ball  especially in a series like this.

 

Advantage South Africa.

Score out of 5- India-2 South Africa-3

 

 

Overall score-India-3 South Africa-4

 

 

Uphill task ahead for India...I don’t know where this bravado is coming from. I would say a scoreline of 2-0 or 2-1 in South Africa’s favor .

 

 

 

The major problem wrt to this tour is our lack of preparation. We're playing 1 warm-up match, 1 BLOODY WARM-UP MATCH. I'd be delighted if we manage to draw this series. 

 

The team is not bad. Our lack of preparation will potentially be the cause of our downfall. 

[MCcricket]

Lets beat this Lograts team n political, aparthied, racist quota team.