India appear to be dangerously undercooked for the SA series.

[Vijy]

4 hours ago, sensible-indian said:

Womt be surprised if we get whitewashed.

 

Which will be a shame cos our team is really good if we remove the dead weights.

A whitewash is definitely a possibility. In home conditions, Rabada and Olivier are beasts. Nortje is pretty good on most pitches, including at home. And Stuurman, if he plays, has a higher ceiling than Phil-trundler. Last, but not least, Maharaj can (and probably will) make Kohli his bunny.

[figo6762]

2 minutes ago, Vijy said:

A whitewash is definitely a possibility. In home conditions, Rabada and Olivier are beasts. Nortje is pretty good on most pitches, including at home. And Stuurman, if he plays, has a higher ceiling than Phil-trundler. Last, but not least, Maharaj can (and probably will) make Kohli his bunny.

How's the weather ? Cant see this team surviving against Rabada, Oliver , Norte , Stuurman and Maharaj.... Just hope Ashwin and the tail can stick around for 50 runs each innings. 

[Vijy]

Just now, figo6762 said:

How's the weather ? Cant see this team surviving against Rabada, Oliver , Norte , Stuurman and Maharaj.... Just hope Ashwin and the tail can stick around for 50 runs each innings. 

more than weather, the real question: how is Omicron? if one person on either side gets it, this strain is likely to spread thru the rest like wildfire.

[Jay]

2 hours ago, Vijy said:

A whitewash is definitely a possibility. In home conditions, Rabada and Olivier are beasts. Nortje is pretty good on most pitches, including at home. And Stuurman, if he plays, has a higher ceiling than Phil-trundler. Last, but not least, Maharaj can (and probably will) make Kohli his bunny.

Even under cooked we are good enough to win a game I reckon. Question is can we win 2? I have my doubts but whenever I have been doubtful, India end up surprising me. So.....let's hope for the best lol..

[Vijy]

4 hours ago, Jay said:

Even under cooked we are good enough to win a game I reckon. Question is can we win 2? I have my doubts but whenever I have been doubtful, India end up surprising me. So.....let's hope for the best lol..

we will find out. our batting does not inspire confidence and even our pacers have seemed a bit down on intensity.

[Jay]

9 minutes ago, Vijy said:

we will find out. our batting does not inspire confidence and even our pacers have seemed a bit down on intensity.

Eww our batting is horrible. Unless you are talking about our young guns 

[Vijy]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Eww our batting is horrible. Unless you are talking about our young guns 

there are no "true" young guns on the tour. KLR is hardly young. Gill has regressed this yr. Iyer has issues with pace/bounce. Agarwal likewise - moreover he is not young.

 

sometimes, I feel that the Indian batting cupboard is as bare of Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard.

[diga]

11 minutes ago, Vijy said:

there are no "true" young guns on the tour. KLR is hardly young. Gill has regressed this yr. Iyer has issues with pace/bounce. Agarwal likewise - moreover he is not young.

 

sometimes, I feel that the Indian batting cupboard is as bare of Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard.

Legacy of Kohli... never allowed anyone to develop.  Hopefully Prithvi Shah & Gill sort out their deficiencies and come back. We hardly have 1-2 years before Pujara/Kohli/Rahane need to be replaced 

[Jay]

36 minutes ago, Vijy said:

there are no "true" young guns on the tour. KLR is hardly young. Gill has regressed this yr. Iyer has issues with pace/bounce. Agarwal likewise - moreover he is not young.

 

sometimes, I feel that the Indian batting cupboard is as bare of Old Mother Hubbard's cupboard.

Yea agreed. Sundar Gill pant Shaw eeshwaran. That's our future I guess. Gaikwad maybe 

[Lone Wolf]

Saffers themselves haven't played a lot of red ball cricket lately..  So that's a positive.  Instead of Capetown we get Centurion as opening test which is slightly favorable in terms of conditions.  Even though SA has never lost to any Asian team over there & has a impressive record vs all teams. 

 

We played a 3 day warm up vs Kiwis before NZ tour but didn't matter sh*** they gave us a flat bed & in actual game a mamba.   Centre wicket practice is best in this case & match simulation. 

[AKane]

14 hours ago, gattaca said:

 Our batting has been bailed by lower order multiple times except England series where openers scored runs. Signs don’t look good.

 

England series too in the 4th test - the 2 50's by Thakur helped a lot esp in the first innings when it was 127/7.

[cowboysfan]

this is an understatement,it will be a miracle if we competitive in the first test.

[SRT100]

12 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

 

Already there are 18 + 4 = 22 players in the squad.

 

So, 11 vs 11 is still possible.

 

I just wanted 2 extra quick bowlers in Prasidh and Umran. 

 

Not much difference between 22 and 24 players.

 

The astute tactic would be to play in form India A players. I did see some good batting performances and bowling by our players. Even if its just one batsmen and one bowler it would be enough.

At least for the 1st Test.

 

Problem with India, they will pick the same old team and lose the 1st Test.

[AKane]

13 hours ago, express bowling said:

 

 

It would have been nice if the Indian batters got to face Saini, Prasidh and Umran Malik in a practice game or two. (  This is the kind of pace and bounce we will face in SA )

 

And these 3 fast bowlers would have got priceless bowling practice against top class batters in red ball matches.

 

Win win situation for both Indian batters and upcoming young Indian quicks.

 

 

 

 

 

Man - There is no way Indian mgt is going to play KL, Kohli, Rahane, Pujara vs Saini, Prasidh and co.... Imagine India A winning the match and Saini/Prasidh and co. showing up the three princes of Indian pace... Bumrah/Shami/Ishant. As the line in Scarface when Tony Montana says to Sosa - "Thirteen five ??!!!.................You can forget about 13 - 5"  You can forget about matches where the A team might humiliate the favoured team.

[ravishingravi]

17 hours ago, G_B_ said:

I dont see any warm ups or anything...

 

not blaming CSA but we have seen in the Ashes that England looked totally off the boil vs Aus.

 

Its a shame India have to face these circumstances as in the WTC final too we went in against Nz with hardly any warm ups and NZ had played a series in England just prior.

 

Typical Virat Kohli panauti in a way. India have a squad to beat SA in SA. But things just dont appear to happen for him. Watch India lose all the tosses.

I think India will do well. Not because India are good. But because SA is very mediocre. 

[Jay]

7 minutes ago, ravishingravi said:

I think India will do well. Not because India are good. But because SA is very mediocre. 

S.africa is far far from mediocre at home. I fact they re very good now. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Jay

[Jay]

34 minutes ago, AKane said:

 

Man - There is no way Indian mgt is going to play KL, Kohli, Rahane, Pujara vs Saini, Prasidh and co.... Imagine India A winning the match and Saini/Prasidh and co. showing up the three princes of Indian pace... Bumrah/Shami/Ishant. As the line in Scarface when Tony Montana says to Sosa - "Thirteen five ??!!!.................You can forget about 13 - 5"  You can forget about matches where the A team might humiliate the favoured team.

Believe it or not kohli being g the bitch that he is refused to play a practice gne vs India A before the England series m. He was scared to get wrecked by India A

[Lone Wolf]

India needs to start well in Boxing day Test..  If we lose first test I don't see a comeback happening.  But if we win the first one...  We would probably sweep them 3-0 as well.  It all boils down to the first one.  Our bowlers need to be on target.  No warm up pies of Pissant please..  Keep him away. 

Not sure on batting but we need 2-3 players to mildly click & score 270+

[LordPrabhzy]

Kohli always refuses to play warm up matches anyway so no point- I really hope we get whitewashed and he is chucked out as Test captain too 

[Vijy]

7 minutes ago, LordPrabhzy said:

Kohli always refuses to play warm up matches anyway so no point- I really hope we get whitewashed and he is chucked out as Test captain too 

even with a whitewash and even if he fails as a batsman, he will not be booted from captaincy soon unless he pisses off BCCI further (which is possible).