Discussing the 2nd test between India and SA at Kolkata, 2010

[patriot]

theres no way SA winning this one unless we screw up badly , our series to loose if you ask me . Steyn and morked on unhelpful pitches will get tonked around by our batsmen & their bowling otherwise is very one dimensional ..just dont give them ealry wickets . & you should give more credit to our bowling , in tests their contribution to our wins arguably has been greater than our batsmen ...Harbajan an exception though !

Our batsmen have had a great run. It is not beyond Steyn to have a great 5fer spell. Our batters make our bowler look better than they are by posting MASSIVE runs. Our bowlers have to be prepared to perform when our batters post match total of between 500- 600. One poor batting session / great bowling spell by Steyn could cost us a test and then the best we can do is draw the series. So a 2 match series is dangerous that way . I would have backed our team to take the series 100 % if it were 3 match or more. I know we have Zakky and Bhajji too. But Bhajji has been a defensive leg stump darter for a while now. But just look at Styens strike rate and average. None of our bowlers are even close. I am sure he is going to have atleast one awesome spell. Hopefully our bowlers can retaliate collectively to counter that.

[Karan114]

Yeah agree with Patriot here. That 76 all out at Ahmedabad still gives me nightmares, I don't worry about any other team because our current Test side is good enough to cope with them home or away, but SA is a different matter. Yes, we stupidly gave them a seaming track at Motera, but even so, it was a disgraceful performance where we were blown away in a session by the SA pacers. Steyn's record can't be argued with, he just keeps taking wickets wherever he plays. I would hope there is no stupidity of giving them a seaming pitch again (yes Zak and Ishant are brilliant with reverse swing so keep the pitches like in the Aussie series in 2008) but our batting may still completely get destroyed in one innings by Steyn - the bowlers will have to step up if/when that happens.

[dr_tooley]

This is what we've all been waiting for. The Best with the bat vs the Best with the Ball. It was like that magical moment during the Ind vs SL series when Murali was bowling to Sachin. The greatest wicket taker of all time vs the greatest run getter. I just hope it doesn't rain.

[Fontaine]

It would be foolish to label it as our opening bats versus their opening bowlers. We should not expect our team to score 400+ all the time. Sometimes the bowlers must make up for the batters. If our spinners do a below par job, Saffies will take the series, which will be a shame because this is one team we have not held a rubber against for a long time.

I couldn't have said it better myself. 1. Already the grass have been shaven off the pitch and the curators are going to prepare a spinning surface for both matches. 2. Our two spinners will get the most amount of overs out of all the bowlers on both teams. 3. It's time for our spinners to put up or shut up. If Graeme Swann can do what he did against SA them it's completely reasonable to expect Mishra/Bhajji/Ojha to do it on spinning tracks. Ultimately this series WILL be decided by our spinners.

[hari504504]

Playing XI for the second test ? We all know how our batting is going to go, and we just saw how the bowling went. :--D Looks like we'll only see India and SA bat once each in the first test. So for the second test ? :hmmm: G Gambhir V Sehwag M Vijay SR Tendulkar S Badrinath/Laxman R.Sharma/ any of the Pathan brothers MS Dhoni Ojha/Tyagi Z Khan A Mishra A.Mithun

[Gunner_Mania]

GG, Viru, MV,SRT,VVS,Badri,MSD,Bhajji,Zak,Mishra/ojha,Ishant Don't dream of any major changes - especially if this ends in a draw. I don't see a major shakeup even if we lose this. I would still continue with Mishra and no Bhaji isn't going to be dropped.

[saneindian]

Unless Eden doesnt roll out a flat road again, any bowling combo isnt going to help us. Maybe we need to pray for Sreesanth to get fit for the 2nd test as he has the knack of producing some magic deliveries from nowhere.

[vvvslaxman]

Get in Yusuf Pathan and Dinesh Karthik along with Dhawal Kulkarni.

[Lord]

VS GG Vijay SRT VVS/Badri Nayar Dhoni Bhajji Mishra Zak Ishant

[thevortex]

Are you really picking Mishra for the next Test? He needs to be sat out - no questions asked. He was absolutely mediocre throughout this first innings.

[Lord]

Are you really picking Mishra for the next Test? He needs to be sat out - no questions asked. He was absolutely mediocre throughout this first innings.

i dont have too much confidence in Ojha either.Mishra bowled better than his figures looked. he beat the bat a no. of times.he could have easily got atleast 2 wickets. plus Kolkata wicket has bounce,so a leggie will always be handy

[vvvslaxman]

If Mishra continues this form , Chawla will find a spot ahead of him. Not that he is good. But he can occasionally bowl a peach. We need such bowlers. Bowlers who can slip a real good one.

[Desi Cartman]

GC Smith* AG Prince HM Amla JH Kallis AB de Villiers JP Duminy MV Boucher† DW Steyn WD Parnell M Morkel PL Harris

[cowboysfan]

i would rather play karthik as a batsman than play the new guys in such a important test match.

[thevortex]

i dont have too much confidence in Ojha either.Mishra bowled better than his figures looked. he beat the bat a no. of times.he could have easily got atleast 2 wickets. plus Kolkata wicket has bounce,so a leggie will always be handy

If only beating the bat were as good as taking a wicket! Believe me, I sat through the entire day's play cursing at Mishra. As a club leggie myself I have just one impression of Mishra. An average leg spinner, through and through. As a leg spinner you just cant keep attacking the off stump of a right hander and expect to pick wickets. No, sir. Not at any level. He is one of the most defensive leg spinners I have seen. Forget his statistics. They are actually halfway decent - better than Harbhajan's. But if you saw him bowling, you would never pick him for the next Test. That is not to say that he cannot become better. He does have the basics. But he needs a major rethink of his line, trajectory and bowling speed to become a wicket taking force as a leg spinner. The way he currently is, his only major chance of getting a wicket would be with his googly if a batsman misread it. That is a sorry state to be in as a legspinner really.

[thevortex]

In my mind - we dont have a choice. It has to be Ojha or Mithun. That is how bad it is.

[Jersey #10]

This would be my XI G Gambhir V Sehwag M Vijay SR Tendulkar S Badrinath/ A Nayar IK Pathan MS Dhoni A Nehra Z Khan A Mishra Harbhajan

[dr_tooley]

There's mine. Basically the same as all of your except with major change. Sehwag Gambhir Vijay Sachin Manish Panday - Highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy. Excellent fielder...boy could we have done with him on the first day of Nagpur with all those missed catches. Badrinath/VVS Dhoni Zaheer Mithun - needs to play especially as Ishant can't seem to take a wicket Bhajji Mishra - need 2 spiners and so Yuvraj. Especially as the major weakness of SA is against spinn.

[Jersey #10]

Bring back ganguly :omg:

[Lord]

If only beating the bat were as good as taking a wicket! Believe me, I sat through the entire day's play cursing at Mishra. As a club leggie myself I have just one impression of Mishra. An average leg spinner, through and through. As a leg spinner you just cant keep attacking the off stump of a right hander and expect to pick wickets. No, sir. Not at any level. He is one of the most defensive leg spinners I have seen. Forget his statistics. They are actually halfway decent - better than Harbhajan's. But if you saw him bowling, you would never pick him for the next Test. That is not to say that he cannot become better. He does have the basics. But he needs a major rethink of his line, trajectory and bowling speed to become a wicket taking force as a leg spinner. The way he currently is, his only major chance of getting a wicket would be with his googly if a batsman misread it. That is a sorry state to be in as a legspinner really.

I see ur point.i was myself dissapointing with his line.but if u read Dhoni's interview yesterday,Dhoni said Mishra was doing a holding job.so it may well be the role given him to him to which line he is bowling.also after tea today,he changed his line to middle n off forced the batsman to play n beat.he even troubled Amla who was batting on 200.he needed a bit of luck which didnt go his way