Brightside - We have a chance to create history

[Cricketics]

With only one test remaining, and we didn't do too bad in the first, the bright side of a draw in the first test means that we have a clear chance to not only win the test, but our first ever test series in South Africa too. It's a venue where lot of oppositions have won against South Africa. We have won there too. South Africa will miss Morkel for sure, but they have some other good bowlers. Hopefully our batting will probably bat with more confidence than what it did in first inning of the first test. Enough exposure on this tour, I hope this is going to be our best batting performance on the tour, which will eventually set history for us on this tour. If few more guys can score along with atleast one of Pujara or Kohli, then we are looking at putting up much bigger total. I am feeling good about our batting. I hope it will click.

[fineleg]

Steyn will be thirsting for revenge. Will get interesting to see how India ward off SA and steyn. Good luck to team.

[bulbul]

Yes..we are going to thrash chokers in next match.

[Cricketics]

Yes..we are going to thrash chokers in next match.

Big words that. Too early tos ay. We haven't even won a game on tour, even though it has been a short one. It will be a challenge for our bowling to bowl them out and take 20 wickets again. But it's going to be new test, and I am sure we can do this. We just got to bat well again, to make sure we don't let South Africa take command of this. We generally bowl better when our batsmen have scored some good runs. If don't put much on board, our bowlers might look fragile too defending low totals. Hopefully batting will hit.

[NareshK]

I remember the last time India played in Durban in 2010, SA dished out a green top and it was extremely difficult for batting. Laxman played a match winning 96 in the second innings and Zaheer, Sreesanth, Bhajji bowled superbly and we won that game. One of the most memorable test wins for India. SA will come back hard in the next match. Our team will hopefully hit back harder.

[Stuge]

SA will crushed to the core in the next match :P

[urbestfriend]

Do you really think with Dhoni at helm , we can win a match against Africans? He would go again with three Marshal bowlers ( Ashwin is doing Holding job) , we can never take 20 wickets against a strong team in their home turf..I seriously hope he would go with 4 seamers, and if spinner is a necessity( Depending on the pitch conditions and over-rate etc) , he should replace a batsmen..We must give a full chance to take 20 wickets, but knowing Dhoni he would go with same XI and a draw is what we can expect at best.

[Cricketics]

Do you really think with Dhoni at helm ' date=' we can win a match against Africans? He would go again with three Marshal bowlers ( Ashwin is doing Holding job) , we can never take 20 wickets against a strong team in their home turf..I seriously hope he would go with 4 seamers, and if spinner is a necessity( Depending on the pitch conditions and over-rate etc) , he should replace a batsmen..We must give a full chance to take 20 wickets, but knowing Dhoni he would go with same XI and a draw is what we can expect at best.[/quote'] Yaar bhai, isn't it getting too much now. Everyone coming out giving slack to Dhoni. Bowlers freaking got all day to bowl South Africans out and they couldn't do it, and we blame Dhoni for not using certain player wisely and stuff. Yaar, cut some slack on him. Not saying I want Ashwin for next test, though he was probably horrendous in first four days, he definitely bowled good on day 5.

[Sidhoni]

Arey yaar kitni 'brightsides' aur dikhni baaki hai? :wall:

[urbestfriend]

Yaar bhai, isn't it getting too much now. Everyone coming out giving slack to Dhoni. Bowlers freaking got all day to bowl South Africans out and they couldn't do it, and we blame Dhoni for not using certain player wisely and stuff. Yaar, cut some slack on him. Ashwin was probably horrendous in first four days, but he definitely bowled good on day 5.

Bowlers did a decent job, and SA batsmen played well...No complaints whatsoever with the bowlers because they got tired, expected with the amount of work load.. But history is any indicator, Dhoni will still go with same XI because they did the job for us..In fact they didn't do the job , we needed one more wicket taking bowler and we need to correct it in next test. We cannot ask our seamers to bowl 50 overs per match and bowl consistently wicket taking deliveries..And bowlers win us the matches. I'll judge Dhoni on what team he selects for the next test..

[rkt.india]

Y Not saying I want Ashwin for next test, though he was probably horrendous in first four days, he definitely bowled good on day 5.

How Ashwin bowled good on 5th day, not a single wicket in 30 overs? I wont criticize Dhoni as most people would do the same, even SA played Tahir instead of a pacer, but now Dhoni knows that Ashwin wont cut it on these pitches and he will need something else. He cannot have a holding bowler now when he is playing a 4-men bowling attack. Everyone must be capable of picking up wickets.

[div]

Bowlers did a decent job, and SA batsmen played well...No complaints whatsoever with the bowlers because they got tired, expected with the amount of work load.. But history is any indicator, Dhoni will still go with same XI because they did the job for us..In fact they didn't do the job , we needed one more wicket taking bowler and we need to correct it in next test. We cannot ask our seamers to bowl 50 overs per match and bowl consistently wicket taking deliveries..And bowlers win us the matches. I'll judge Dhoni on what team he selects for the next test..

that is how he saved Kohli's test career..a lot of people in this forum wanted to drop Kohli after that Sydney test match.

[Chandan]

Big words that. Too early tos ay. We haven't even won a game on tour, even though it has been a short one. It will be a challenge for our bowling to bowl them out and take 20 wickets again. But it's going to be new test, and I am sure we can do this. We just got to bat well again, to make sure we don't let South Africa take command of this. We generally bowl better when our batsmen have scored some good runs. If don't put much on board, our bowlers might look fragile too defending low totals. Hopefully batting will hit.

Just 3 days rest between the test and our bowlers have to recover after the monumental effort during this. SA bowlers have been resting since day before. This is problem number one. Problem number two is Ashwin has looked useless. I remember Bhajji claiming 7 wickets in an inning last tour. Ash couldn't claim a single in the entire match despite bowling on the 5th day track, a cushion of 458 runs! He'll never get a better opportunity! Kumble had bowled with a broken jaw at Antigua because India team had never scored as many runs away earlier: http://goo.gl/Ij0ocN Problem number three is among batsmen only Virat and Pujara could make substantial scores. None of the openers clicked, nor could the lower middle order batsmen. Dhoni onward the tail doesn't even seem to know how to hold a bat in front of these fierce seamers. Runs can't be scored just being dependent on two batsmen, isn't it? Should we drop Ashwin and play Jadeja? He'll certainly give a a wicket or two.But in ODIs, he too was as clueless.

[Raghav_12]

I remember the last time India played in Durban in 2010' date= SA dished out a green top and it was extremely difficult for batting. Laxman played a match winning 96 in the second innings and Zaheer, Sreesanth, Bhajji bowled superbly and we won that game. One of the most memorable test wins for India. SA will come back hard in the next match. Our team will hopefully hit back harder.

I don't think SA will go for green top this time around as that would bring our mediocre pace attack into play and edge that SA has in pace bowling would be neutralized.

[rkt.india]

I don't think SA will go for green top this time around as that would bring our mediocre pace attack into play and edge that SA has in pace bowling would be neutralized.

That is a gamble they will have to take because they now know Indian batsmen can score big too if conditions are flat.

[Sidhoni]

I don't think SA will go for green top this time around as that would bring our mediocre pace attack into play and edge that SA has in pace bowling would be neutralized.

Lol, if SA attack will be neutralized by our bowling, then how is it 'mediocre'?

[Cricketics]

Just 3 days rest between the test and our bowlers have to recover after the monumental effort during this. SA bowlers have been resting since day before. This is problem number one. Problem number two is Ashwin has looked useless. I remember Bhajji claiming 7 wickets in an inning last tour. Ash couldn't claim a single in the entire match despite bowling on the 5th day track, a cushion of 458 runs! He'll never get a better opportunity! Kumble had bowled with a broken jaw at Antigua because India team had never scored as many runs away earlier: http://goo.gl/Ij0ocN Problem number three is among batsmen only Virat and Pujara could make substantial scores. None of the openers clicked, nor could the lower middle order batsmen. Dhoni onward the tail doesn't even seem to know how to hold a bat in front of these fierce seamers. Runs can't be scored just being dependent on two batsmen, isn't it? Should we drop Ashwin and play Jadeja? He'll certainly give a a wicket or two.But in ODIs, he too was as clueless.

You have mentioned everything which I can't really disagree. Ashwin was never going to be our match winner going in this test. I just believe having Bhuneshwar,who actually moves the ball, would be a much better bet for us. Bhuneshwar relies on swing and seam and when attacked can actually give us some wickets. Durban might just be the perefect place for him to play. I agree about our batting. Others are living on the work done by PUjara and Kohli. People have been impressed way too early from Vijay. He did show some guts, but he has to show more of this. Even Connor Williams, during India's tour of South africa in 2001, played a gritty 30 odd run knock if my memory is correct. Doesn't mean he would reserve his place. Vijay needs to score more. Vijay and offcourse Dhawan are yet to prove us. Rohit and Rahane need to score atleast 80 runs between them. Dhoni did get starts in both the innings. 2nd innings, I think if not for the declaration situation, he might have actually played differently and gotten a big score. I am not too worried about Dhoni. He might not look as a great test batsman, but he actually is one. He will come out with better temperament than some of our young players and I have hope in him to do well in next test. ONUS ON ROHIT-DHAWAN-VIJAY-RAHANE.

[Cricketics]

How Ashwin bowled good on 5th day' date=' not a single wicket in 30 overs? I wont criticize Dhoni as most people would do the same, even SA played Tahir instead of a pacer, but now Dhoni knows that Ashwin wont cut it on these pitches and he will need something else. He cannot have a holding bowler now when he is playing a 4-men bowling attack. Everyone must be capable of picking up wickets.[/quote'] Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from him. I watched it pretty much ball to ball today and Ashwin did bowl some good line but it wasn't enough since he wasn't really getting enough turn and ABD and Faf both played him with ease. He tried his best to take a wicket, but just wasn't good enough today. Bowled well in patches but not consistent enough to put pressure on the batsman. On last day, he has to set up a dismissal, which he lacked. This is where Ojha, is the king. He flights and asks the bowler to hit him. Ojha would have definitely struck today twice.

[CG]

Its over ,Sa have the advantage now we really messed up.The confidence Sa will take from the draw is massive.

[rkt.india]

Frankly' date=' I wasn't expecting much from him. I watched it pretty much ball to ball today and Ashwin did bowl some good line but it wasn't enough since he wasn't really [b']getting enough turn and ABD and Faf both played him with ease. He tried his best to take a wicket, but just wasn't good enough today. Bowled well in patches but not consistent enough to put pressure on the batsman. On last day, he has to set up a dismissal, which he lacked. This is where Ojha, is the king. He flights and asks the bowler to hit him. Ojha would have definitely struck today twice.

Turn is not everything. Kumble never turned the ball. As a spinner, you need deception to beat the batsman, in the air or with speed variation.