India's Tour to South Africa, 2013

[Iconoclast]

Dhoni had the nerve to complain about bad decisions in the post match ceremony ... as we say across the border Indians phir ro rahe hain :giggle:

[vvvslaxman]

Reactinos from SA fans Richard Barnes - December 30, 2013 at 07:30Report commentComments Policy And this is why we don't need greentop wickets. There was enough in the Durban pitch for Dale to find something, not enough for India's seamers. That is the perfect balance you want. Anybody can extract movement on a greentop. This wicket separated the excellent fast bowlers from the ordinary ones. Richard Barnes - December 30, 2013 at 08:24Report commentComments Policy He heard people moaning about the pitch not being a greentop. Which I heard as well. And hence my post now explaining why we don't need greentops. It's ironic that some of those posters who consider themselves "Test purists" are the first to moan that it's a "road" when 15 wickets don't fall on day one. The game is designed to last for five days, not two. So a bowler SHOULD have the occasional 30 or 40 fruitless overs, the occasional 0 for 100 innings. They should have to work for their success. The 6 for 20 spells should be the rare exception, not the norm. 180 avatar Richard Barnes - December 30, 2013 at 08:35Report commentComments Policy We saw the same thing at The Oval in last year's tour of England. Eng lost only 3 wickets on day one, the Proteas only lost two wickets total in the match. Yet there was still a result. And it was because we had Dale, Vern, Morne who were willing to bend their backs and graft for their wickets, England had Anderson, Broad, Bresnan who couldn't extract anything from the pitch. It's in such situations that our attack excels, and why the Proteas have such a good away record. The belief that we're "greentop bullies" who can only win when the ball is jagging eight inches off the seam is complete rubbish.

[Silva]

Reactinos from SA fans Richard Barnes - December 30, 2013 at 07:30Report commentComments Policy And this is why we don't need greentop wickets. There was enough in the Durban pitch for Dale to find something, not enough for India's seamers. That is the perfect balance you want. Anybody can extract movement on a greentop. This wicket separated the excellent fast bowlers from the ordinary ones. Richard Barnes - December 30, 2013 at 08:24Report commentComments Policy He heard people moaning about the pitch not being a greentop. Which I heard as well. And hence my post now explaining why we don't need greentops. It's ironic that some of those posters who consider themselves "Test purists" are the first to moan that it's a "road" when 15 wickets don't fall on day one. The game is designed to last for five days, not two. So a bowler SHOULD have the occasional 30 or 40 fruitless overs, the occasional 0 for 100 innings. They should have to work for their success. The 6 for 20 spells should be the rare exception, not the norm. 180 avatar Richard Barnes - December 30, 2013 at 08:35Report commentComments Policy We saw the same thing at The Oval in last year's tour of England. Eng lost only 3 wickets on day one, the Proteas only lost two wickets total in the match. Yet there was still a result. And it was because we had Dale, Vern, Morne who were willing to bend their backs and graft for their wickets, England had Anderson, Broad, Bresnan who couldn't extract anything from the pitch. It's in such situations that our attack excels, and why the Proteas have such a good away record. The belief that we're "greentop bullies" who can only win when the ball is jagging eight inches off the seam is complete rubbish.

True, our guys don't have the pace or the accuracy to do well on these pitches. SA bowlers showed how much better they are.

[fineleg]

Hope BCCI and physios/coaches handle Mohd. Shami well over next few years? We have lost countless bowlers - who have lost their way. Coaching staff, physios and BCCI + Captain have a role in grooming and preserving bowlers. Selectors too - rotation / rest policies. Will BCCI ensure Shami doesnt go the route of irfan pathan, nehra, L Balaji, Munaf Patel......... Please take care of the bowlers. And dont grind them to dust on ODI pattas too.

[Cricketics]

Kohli's poor decision on the first ball of the day. I know series is over and we lost today, but I won't forget mentioning that India should have saved this game had Kohli not been given out by a poor decision on the first ball of the day. TO be honest, apart from few early overs of Steyn when he got Pujara out, the bowling today wasn't really that hostile. Rahane and Kohli together would have made sure to play till past lunch and trail would have been cleared right there. I know it's all in vain, but I know most of the guys won't know what happend early this morning. First ball of the day, and Kohli was given out wrongly. Just want to mention so that mere dil ko shaanti pad jaye. India were robbed today.

[vvvslaxman]

Justifiable vent :) Can happen. UDRS is good now that they have included snicko.

[saneindian]

I hope Sachin asks the BCCI to consider UDRS now that snicko is a part of it too. Don't think Srini will have the guts to say no to him now.

[Cricketics]

I hope Sachin asks the BCCI to consider UDRS now that snicko is a part of it too. Don't think Srini will have the guts to say no to him now.

Not Sachin, but Dravid. Dravid seem to be more involved in Indian Cricket for now. May be he might become the voice of INdian Cricket, or even ICC and hopefully make it mandatory.

[The Outsider]

These things are unavoidable without DRS. Giving 4 wickets to Robin Peterson was where the match was lost. Not even in his wildest dream would Smith imagined Indians making things so easy for him after the tough fight shown in the series till today.

[mancalledsting]

I know series is over and we lost today, but I won't forget mentioning that India should have saved this game had Kohli not been given out by a poor decision on the first ball of the day. TO be honest, apart from few early overs of Steyn when he got Pujara out, the bowling today wasn't really that hostile. Rahane and Kohli together would have made sure to play till past lunch and trail would have been cleared right there. I know it's all in vain, but I know most of the guys won't know what happend early this morning. First ball of the day, and Kohli was given out wrongly. Just want to mention so that mere dil ko shaanti pad jaye. India were robbed today.

Couldn't agree more. Umpiring was bad in this match. Day 1 India 181/1, Vijay and Pujara grinding tired South African bowlers into the ground and getting ready to cash in on inevitable loose balls...umpires end play for bad light allowing South Africa to regroup and refresh w/o further scoreboard damage enabling them to come back hard in the next mornings and forcing Indians to rebuild their innings. Day 4, robin petersen blatantly was lbw to Shami, given not out and allowed to extend south Africa's lead by extra 30 runs. At end of day 4, when Indian batsmen are on the backfoot, suddenly light becomes good enough to keep through players in the middle. And then the Kohli decision. Icing on the cake was wrongfully giving Zak out to robin petersen when he was actually putting up solid resistance. I don't buy thus South Africa are no.1 side and better than India nonsense. That is a convenient line for jealous goras/padosis. India were outdone by their complacency on day 2 when batting combined with poor umpiring.

[Deleted_User_1]

I know series is over and we lost today, but I won't forget mentioning that India should have saved this game had Kohli not been given out by a poor decision on the first ball of the day. TO be honest, apart from few early overs of Steyn when he got Pujara out, the bowling today wasn't really that hostile. Rahane and Kohli together would have made sure to play till past lunch and trail would have been cleared right there. I know it's all in vain, but I know most of the guys won't know what happend early this morning. First ball of the day, and Kohli was given out wrongly. Just want to mention so that mere dil ko shaanti pad jaye. India were robbed today.

Even if all the batsmen were given out wrongly, this is what you get when you embrace UDRS and try to improve it instead of staying away. India thoroughly deserved the wrong decisions.

[Pagalpanti]

Not only Kohli's decision but also the RobbieP lbw by Shami.. I think we shouldn't rue the wrong decisions but the fact that our team doesn't want DRS. Except for the SL tour in '08 when DRS was new and players didn't know how to use it. India has actually used DRS quite well, didn't they have a 5-0 review in their favour in CT? Which is why its surprising why BCCI continue to deny DRS.

[The Outsider]

Not only Kohli's decision but also the RobbieP lbw by Shami.. I think we shouldn't rue the wrong decisions but the fact that our team doesn't want DRS. Except for the SL tour in '08 when DRS was new and players didn't know how to use it. India has actually used DRS quite well, didn't they have a 5-0 review in their favour in CT? Which is why its surprising why our team still doesn't favour it.

That DRS was also completely different from the version now. It had many holes in it - the version now is much tighter and definitive.

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-india-2013-14/content/story/705611.html comment section shows how much phainty he is getting.. are these ICF fans lol similar sentiments are shared.

[devla]

Wrong decisions are only magnified when the team loses. Wasn't Kallis not out in the first test? That could've been decisive if India had a bigger lead. While the DRS debate is valid, the match was lost by Rohit, Dhoni and Jadeja's poor batting.

[vvvslaxman]

Wrong decisions are only magnified when the team loses. Wasn't Kallis not out in the first test? That could've been decisive if India had a bigger lead. While the DRS debate is valid, the match was lost by Rohit, Dhoni and Jadeja's poor batting.

Wasn't ABDV leg before in the same test? duh

[devla]

Wasn't ABDV leg before in the same test? duh

I missed it. Point is we didn't make a big deal about the wrong decisions in the first test, neither did SA. This test could've been saved despite those bad decisions.

[Soorma_Bhopali]

If the DRS was in place , this serries could have been 2-0 in India's favour

[vvvslaxman]

I missed it. Point is we didn't make a big deal about the wrong decisions in the first test' date=' neither did SA. This test could've been saved despite those bad decisions.[/quote'] It looks terrible when it is very early in the day .. it looks far worse when your team is very inexperienced. Considering how Kohli has gone in this series India would have certainly saved the test. Even after Kallis got out they almost won it.. Atleast they drew it. India did not have such luxury. Things had to go more perfect for India than for SA.

[vvvslaxman]

Having said that.. India should have no business gifting wickets to Peterson. Also Zak got unlucky. Then Rohit sharma didn't spend enough time at the crease.