India has raised the bar in the last few games: De Villiers

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South Africa’s stand-in captain Jacques Kallis is hoping lessons gleaned from the Indian Premier League will help his team in the one-day series against India, which starts in Jaipur on Sunday. More... India no longer a mystery - Kallis 20 February 2010 Injuries to frontline bowlers means the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Praveen Kumar could figure heavily South Africa stand-in captain Jacques Kallis is hoping lessons gleaned from stints in the Indian Premier League will help his team in the three-match one-day series against India, which starts in Jaipur on Sunday. The two teams shared a two-Test series 1-1, India emerging winners in a brilliant second Test at Kolkata to retain their position at the top of the International Cricket Council Test rankings. India, however, have struggled to translate the superiority they have shown in Tests into the shorter formats of the game and Kallis hopes knowledge gained from association with India’s players during the IPL will give his team the edge. “A lot of teams are adapting to the conditions in the sub-continent a lot better because of spending more time here,” said Kallis. “You end up playing with a lot of Indian players during the IPL, so you see how they do things and how their mentality works. “All of that does help and players all around the world are learning how to adapt better here now.” Kallis was appointed skipper after Graeme Smith was ruled out due to a finger injury. He leads a slightly different team from the one on duty in the Test series, with the likes of opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs, off-spinner Roelof van der Merwe and all-rounder Albie Morkel – all of whom have IPL contracts - back in the ranks. South Africa will be bolstered by the return of wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who missed the second Test due to a back injury. “Boucher is on track with his recovery, and we are confident he will play on Sunday,” said Michael Owen-Smith, South Africa’s media manager. Hashim Amla, top-scorer in the Test series with centuries in both innings at the Eden Gardens and a double century in the first Test in Nagpur, was originally not part of the one-day squad, but is now in for Smith. The home side, still euphoric over the victory in Kolkata, will field a team considerably weakened due to injuries. Batsman Gautam Gambhir, prolific hitter Yuvraj Singh and strike bowler Zaheer Khan have been ruled out, while off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been granted leave to attend his sister’s wedding. Their absence offers several fringe players such as Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik and Praveen Kumar a chance to shine. The series presents another battle for position in the ICC one-day rankings as South Africa can dislodge India from second place should they secure a series victory. Australia sit atop the rankings.

[The Outsider]

He is right. Regardless of the tracks that India prepares in any format of the game, the days of Chauhan, Raju, and Hirwani running through the opposition are well and truly over. It's time India realizes that it's strength does not lie in mediocre spinners but in adequate fast bowlers who can become world class in helpful conditions. Our batting is good enough to tide through anything the opposition throws at us. Tracks like Nagpur where Kumble, Chauhan, and Raju could run through fumbling oppositions should be consigned to the dustbin. The strategy to success is always to preempt the opposition, slow dustbowls are not a threat to most quality opposition anymore, new avenues must be explored.

[saneindian]

Though Kallis is quite right about a number of things, how I wish, Kallis and Steyn go missing when we tour SA (like RD and VVS werent there for the 1st test here)! On a serious note, I hope BCCI gives our team enough time to adapt to the conditions in SA(minimum 2 3-day practice matches) before the all important test series later this year.

[straighttalk]

He is right. Regardless of the tracks that India prepares in any format of the game, the days of Chauhan, Raju, and Hirwani running through the opposition are well and truly over. It's time India realizes that it's strength does not lie in mediocre spinners but in adequate fast bowlers who can become world class in helpful conditions. Our batting is good enough to tide through anything the opposition throws at us. Tracks like Nagpur where Kumble, Chauhan, and Raju could run through fumbling oppositions should be consigned to the dustbin. The strategy to success is always to preempt the opposition, slow dustbowls are not a threat to most quality opposition anymore, new avenues must be explored.

Both Kallis and you are wrong. India produces average spinners but we no longer produce spinning track. and that is the reason the likes of SA are making claims of decoding India. Tracks like Nagpur aren't spin friendly. IN days of Azhar-Wadekar, pitch used to crack in 3 days, and Kumble used to run through. Nowadays India is easier because we produce flat tracks where out spinners and slow pacers can do jack ****. but the visiing pacers, can crack through. Either produce seaming track to help the seamers and hope the much vaunted batting lineup sees us through or produce slow turning track to decimate the opposition. Slow dustbowls are and was a threat and will also be a threat. only thing is we do not produce them anymore, we produce patta flat tracks.

[The Outsider]

^ There has been a perceptible change of pitches in India over the last few years - I agree with that. However, talking just about the Nagpur track, it was one where our spin trio of the 90s would have caused mayhem in the opposition and not because they were any better bowlers but simply because the opposition has become much more adept at playing spin in India. Even if you look back into the 90s, there was hardly a match in which the opposition would rack up such huge totals.

[Texan]

We need to produce few dustbowls so that teams today can see what teams in the past experienced in India. I don't understand why dustbowls are treated as bad wickets for test matches. Teams visiting India these days are not tested enough against a spinning wicket. In their own countries, they will produce seaming wickets and will consider it as a perfectly good pitch.

[Texan]

Kallis should look no further than what happened to SA in the 2nd innings on a dustbowl in Kanpur SA couldn't even play Sehwag!

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Jacques Kallis: We were unlucky SA captain Jacques Kallis said his side simply did not have the winner's luck even though they managed to show their character. More... Monday 22nd February 2010 Jacques Kallis: We were unlucky SA captain Jacques Kallis said his side simply did not have the winner's luck even though they managed to show their character. "After the Kolkata Test, here too we came close before losing the match. This is heart-breaking but I think we have showed our never-say-die attitude. Wayne (Parnell) and Dale (Steyn) played unbelievably good to get that close," he said. "Luck was not in our side. Things could have been different had the boundary (which was referred to TV umpire after Sachin Tendulkar cut short to save one run) been given. But it was third umpire's call and not ours. We have got to accept it and get on. "We simply did not have luck. You saw a (Charl) Langeveldt delivery hitting the stump and going for a four (without dislodging the bail) and you know we didn't have luck," he said with a wry smile. Insisting 299 was gettable, Kallis said, "We thought so. I think we did well to restrict them to 298 when, at one stage, they looked like getting 320-330. We came back well and took vital wickets. I think it was a good effort by the bowlers," said Kallis, who led from the front both with the bat and the ball. Showering praise on Parnell, whose 47-ball 49 nearly won the match for South Africa, Kallis said, "He is a talented cricketer and would take a lot from today's match. He would learn from his experience of playing in the sub-continent and has got a bright future ahead of him." Kallis was irritated with the final over confusions and made no bones of the fact. "We thought that was a four. We didn't know what was happening and when learnt it was not a boundary, sent the message. The scoreboard confused us as well," he said. On the decision to keep back Hashim Amla, South Africa's run-machine in the recent Test series against India, Kallis said, "He is not part of the original ODI squad for whatever reasons. But most guys will get a chance in the series and he is in good form.

[azanian]

I personally that S.A was very lucky to come so close

[Cricket Passion]

they were lucky enough to get those juicy deliveries as always from Keralite! but our bowling at death was just horrible...

[vvvslaxman]

He was not satisfied with Veeru's run out i suppose. He needed more luck.

[Pak_Forever]

Parnell and Steyn did bring the game back for SA out of no where. There was more than just luck to be blamed Kallis as you guys didn't get the obvious boundary in the end. :winky:

[Sachinism]

^^ Obvious boundary? You're broadcaster must've had more camera angles than mine

[dial_100]

Yup. You always were..... West Indies, Australia...Hiro Cup...etc..etcc.. the list goes on.

[goose]

South Africa are justified in feeling a tad unlucky just now. Eng's 10th wicket held out not once but twice to deny SA test wins at home, India grabbed the final wicket in the dying minutes at Kolkata, and now this 1 run defeat.

[acharya]

nothing but choke artists - kallis the most overrated

[Serani]

nothing but choke artists - kallis the most overrated

Pretty harsh, Kallis is statistically one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Shame he is a boring mofo.

[acharya]

Pretty harsh' date=' Kallis is statistically one of the greatest cricketers of all time. Shame he is a boring mofo.[/quote'] what has he done against aus when warne and macgrath were in team?

[Serani]

what has he done against aus when warne and macgrath were in team?

He has a decent record against them, why? Its not like the yardstick for greatness is performing against particular bowlers. He plays on SA pitches which are among the most difficult batting conditions in the world too. Kallis is probably under rated if anything, dont forget he has 260 test wickets at an average similar to Flintoff who is considered a much better bowler.

[Texan]

Kallis and SA were lucky that Dhoni picked Appam in the team and gave him 9 overs! They were unlucky that Sree didn't bowl his full quota of overs; otherwise they would have definitely won.