How to go about this HISTORIC CHASE

[Cricketics]

How you think we should be doing this. First session 28/29 overs are bowled perhaps with steyn bowling 10 or 12 overs, we score about 95 runs. Second sesion, South africa unleash the legend on the leg delivery master, Paul Harris on us and we pile around 115 runs in 2nd session.. our score around 220 in 2 session leaving the amount of wickets fallen as a guess or prediction for you guys. 3rd session, We chase down history or south africa defend historical indian chase by being negative in last sesssion.

[Zelig]

See-whack should play one bloody innings.

[coffee_rules]

Heart says : At lunch - 129/1 - Gambhir out At tea - 240/3 - Dravid and Tendulkar our At close of play - 341/7 - Laxman and Zaheer finish it out. Head says: We will lose Sehwag and Dravid by lunch - 80/2. At tea - 178/3 - Gambhir out At close of play - 260/8 - Hang on for a draw

[Asoka]

Pray that a few Indian bookies pay the SA hotel rooms a visit:pray:

[Andy]

I'll take a Draw over a Loss anyday.

[cowboysfan]

i pray that out "think tank" are not thinking about a win or we are toast,discretion is the better part of valor.

[Andy]

If we Go by Playing Out overs irrespective of How many Wickets we have and who is Playing we'll lose this Much before the close of Day 5. Doesnt matter who is batting at Both ends.

[pensionplan]

I'll take a Draw over a Loss anyday.

That would be the most realistic thing to expect at this stage.

[yoda]

I'll take a Draw over a Loss anyday.

And you are not alone. :giggle:

[Manny_Pacquiao]

**** u guys draws arent worth a ****. i want india to go for it. if they play with a safety first approach, they won't survive the day, thats for sure. the only way to approach this is through a counterattack. respect good bowling, but take your chances whenever u can. if morkel bowls a crappy half volley, smash that bastard for 4. thats what good batting is all about. indian teams in the past were psyching themselves out instead of treating the ball on merit, i hope they don't go back to those ways in the name of 'safety first'

[ViruRulez]

I would still say that plan future action only after Veeru's innings. Veeru will only play his natural game as we know but we should check how long he will stay on crease. If he lasts long then go for the kill or else play safe and go for a draw.

[goose]

If Steyn repeats his pitching on leg missing off antics there's not going to be much to hit.

[WeStMiDz]

Most likely we will lose the match but does anyone remember when England were in India (Nagpur I think?) and we were set an unlikely total. We had wickets in hand in the final session and we had a little dart at them, lost a few wickets and then played out the draw. I would like to see something similar. Ideally approach the first session cautiously, reaching something like 90-1. Similar strategy in the second session perhaps getting to 200-3. Leaving 140 odd in the last session. Highly unlikely but worth a shot.

[Anakin]

Just play a little bit defensively and try not to lose any wkt in the morning session.

[vvvslaxman]

Play like you play normally. See off the new ball. Don't lose more than 1 wicket in the first session. Blunt the attack in the 2nd session. Go for runs in the 3rd.

[zen]

Try to get to 200 w/o losing too many wkts and then take it from there! .... Sehwag should play his natural game and if he clicks then Ind could be on its way to a historic win!

[Bumper]

There is a balance between playing positive and shutting shop. Win is simply not an option here. You need to cut out the shots that you can avoid. We dont want batsmen driving and getting caught in the slips. With the ball swinging, if you keep playing shots, it is just a matter of time before Steyn gets you. On current form, only SRT & Laxman are capable of playing positively without getting out. Sehwag is an exception, he just does not know how else to play. Other top order batsmen are better off preserving their wickets. Even if Pujara scores a duck, I want him to consume 10 overs in the process. My success metric: 200/7 type total to finish the day. A 1-1 draw is a great result considering our past record.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Play out for the draw..Smith will spread the field even if there is a slight chance that he will lost and most of our batsman havent scored anything significant on this tour.

[nballa]

100/2 in the first session 100/2 in the second session 140/2 in the third session i don't understand what's so difficult about this. 340 is a par total in odi's these days.

[The Outsider]

There is no chase, LOL, forget about anything historic. The only realistic option is to get a historic draw. But playing for a draw does not necessarily equate to shutting shop and defending everything. Bad balls will still have to be put away and Smith should not be allowed to set completely attacking fields. The longer Sehwag stays, the better our chances of a draw since Smith won't be able to go a complete offensive. It is time for Dravid to justify his spot in the team. It is for these kind of difficult situations, tough conditions, and top class bowling that he is being preferred to some future batting potential. A huge problem for India is going to be the 2nd new ball 10 overs before close. India needs to have around 5 wickets in hand at that point, so that the tail does not fold up in face of an inspired spell towards the close. My prediction is that we should be able to play out a draw comfortably with 4-5 wickets left. Just don't see much happening on the pitch with the older ball, which gives us a very safe zone between 30-80 overs. How effective Steyn and Morkel will be is also a question. They have done a lot of bowling in the series and in the absence of Kallis how they will cope with the workload.