Handling SA seamers would be very tough...

[vvvslaxman]

As i said Indian pitches don't retain their juice more than one session. They just die after that.

[Ram]

Dude, what happened last time was that we chose to bat on the surface which had lots of grass, and by the time we were rolled over for 76, the pitch had eased up because the grass was gone. Thats what happens in most Indian pitches if you leave grass and it is sunny. But I am not at all saying we should do that, rather I am talking about making pitches bouncy and have more life in them. There's a difference. and we have better pacers now than we had during that series. I absolutely think we should not shy away from making the pitches sporting. or else we should shut up forever about indian pacers breaking down or not being good enough.

No, we dont have to anything of that sort. Zak and Ishant (hopefully, he's back to at least a portion of previous best by the time the Saffie series starts) are VERY good at outbowling visiting team pacers, when there's very little natural assistance for seam movement from the pitch. What do you think helped us win the Aussies series in 2008? It has been categorically acknowledged by Aussies themselves that one of the main reasons why India won back then was because our pacers were able to extract a lot more reverse swing a lot earlier than their quicks. What has reverse swing got anything to do with 'bouncy pitches with life'? Same for the Lankan series - Our pacers were able to do far more damange with the moving ball early on in the first sessions of all days, when compared to theirs. That was one of major differences b/w the two teams. Now, if we dont recognize these FACTS and deliberately prepare a fast, bouncy pitch, it would be a disastrous strategy that will play right into the Saffie hands.

[Laaloo]

PHAAAST BOUNCY PITCH? :woot: In India? :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[achilles]

We are too busy patting our backs thinking line and length is all a fast bowler needs, to realize that even Bangladesh has a 138ks+ consistent bowler. And talking about pacers, Pakistan has Aamir, SA has Dale & Morne, Aus has Brett & Mitch, WI has Roach, Taylor & Edwards. We seriously need to come out of our conservative "Sirf 135 daalega, aur kitna tez dalega" mindset

[Texan]

Sehwag has scored a triple hundred against almost the same attack, so I wouldn't worry too much about this. All players get out to short-pitched balls. Only when Indian players get out, it is treated as a weakness. Even Ponting was troubled by the short pitched delivery in the last 2 series.

[graphic23]

A lot will depend on Viru and Gambo. Yuvraj may cost us. Sachin will have a gud series. If Dravid can handle late swing and if he plays, i can see India doing well. This series will tell us whether we belong at the top or not.

I dont know whether to laugh or cry at this post. You're taking one of the best players of swing bowling in the world and then putting a condition on him. :WTF: Sigh.

[patriot]

Dude, what happened last time was that we chose to bat on the surface which had lots of grass, and by the time we were rolled over for 76, the pitch had eased up because the grass was gone. Thats what happens in most Indian pitches if you leave grass and it is sunny. But I am not at all saying we should do that, rather I am talking about making pitches bouncy and have more life in them. There's a difference. and we have better pacers now than we had during that series. I absolutely think we should not shy away from making the pitches sporting. or else we should shut up forever about indian pacers breaking down or not being good enough.

Umm...South Africa has more than held their own in India in their last 3 tours here. Steyn and co will wipe the floor with us if we prepare bouncy pitches. Our strength in phassst bowling is reverse swing. The reverse swing that made Zakky and Ishant more potent than Johnson and Lee and helped us trounce Aussies 2-0. We need to prepare flat and dust dry pitches that aids reverse swing . The same dryness in pitch helped the reverse swing that allowed us to beat Eng and Eng in late summer in 2007 when the pitches were really really dry.

[vvvslaxman]

No. India's problem is not the bounce. india's problem has always been movement off the pitch. How many Indians have got out to bouncers in the last decade or so in Tests from the Indian side. Not many. It troubles us at times much the same way it troubles any player in the world. But we don't lose much wickets to bouncers. We always had problem against bowlers like Mcgrath, Pollock who hits the seam and moves both ways. In Ahmedabad both against Srilanka and SA we lost our plot on day one in the first hour because of movement. We just didn't bide our time. I do not think we had Gambhir or Tendulkar against SA in that match to bide our time. Most of the batsmen were clean bowled. None of them got out fending the ball. Do not leave grass on Indian pitches. It can be disasterous for team batting first.

[Andy]

I dont know whether to laugh or cry at this post. You're taking one of the best players of swing bowling in the world and then putting a condition on him. :WTF: Sigh.

Well i have expressed my Opinion, which i am entitled to. And i guess this is a Public Forum. And BTW, I have seen Dravid knocked out by deliveries, that swung late,. Particularly frm Saffies. I hope am clear with this post now. So the concusion, A lot will depend on Viru and Gambo. Yuvraj may cost us. Sachin will have a gud series. If Dravid can handle late swing and if he plays, i can see India doing well. This series will tell us whether we belong at the top or not.

[patriot]

We need patta, DRY PITCHES that naturally works on scuffing the ball. I think Zakky is the best exponent of reverse swing among current world pacers. If we produce lively pitches we will lose the tests. We we can't effing beat Saffies at home, we don't deserve to be No.1 , because that is one team we have not held a series against for quite some time.

[cowboysfan]

Umm...South Africa has more than held their own in India in their last 3 tours here. Steyn and co will wipe the floor with us if we prepare bouncy pitches. Our strength in phassst bowling is reverse swing. The reverse swing that made Zakky and Ishant more potent than Johnson and Lee and helped us trounce Aussies 2-0. We need to prepare flat and dust dry pitches that aids reverse swing . The same dryness in pitch helped the reverse swing that allowed us to beat Eng and Eng in late summer in 2007 when the pitches were really really dry.

i agree with this.

[achilles]

We need patta, DRY PITCHES that naturally works on scuffing the ball. I think Zakky is the best exponent of reverse swing among current world pacers. If we produce lively pitches we will lose the tests. We we can't effing beat Saffies at home, we don't deserve to be No.1 , because that is one team we have not held a series against for quite some time.

Or maybe produce sporty pitches and a decent paceman :two_thumbs_up:

[cowboysfan]

Or maybe produce sporty pitches and a decent paceman :two_thumbs_up:

wth is a sporty pitch?.if we prepare a sporty pitch the match will be over in 3 days and the saffers will go crying to the ICC.

[gult]

Don't underestimate our fast bowlers. They aren't easy to face when the pitch has something in it.

[nballa]

Don't underestimate our fast bowlers. They aren't easy to face when the pitch has something in it.

agreed, we should water the pitch overnight, leave it uncovered and let it soak it all up, then throw some pebbles 3-5 ft from the crease for good measure and watch our bowlers explode, esp ishanth.

[Texan]

we should prepare dust bowls! :--D If foreign teams want to win in India, they'd better learn to play on dust bowls.

[vvvslaxman]

agreed, we should water the pitch overnight, leave it uncovered and let it soak it all up, then throw some pebbles 3-5 ft from the crease for good measure and watch our bowlers explode, esp ishanth.

Ask services of Afridi to dance on it

[satishg]

i think we have a batting lineup that can handle any kind of attack and if the pitch is being responsive to the fast bowlers and if we struggle then i am sure the opposition batters will also struggle in that pitch. The Ahmedabad test match was a one off because of the decision to bat first when there was so much juice in the pitch, i dont see that happening again.

[jusarrived]

SA has a very over rated pace attack , too one dimensional for my liking

[Dravid]

the pitch had uneven bounce, some didnt get up and some did..that wont happen on indian pitches, hopefully.. i say prepare dust bowls and rape rsa.. lets c if they ***** about it