SA Test Series - Post Series discussion

[sandeep]

Openers: Vijay continued to do his thing at the top of the order, slim returns for Dhawan but may have shown enough to keep his spot. for now. 

Middle Order: Rahane joins Kohli as an automatic pick for the forseeable future.  But Pujara needed to show more than he did to really lock his spot up.  While everyone's favorite Bombay bat is now looking at the end of his Test Selection rope. 

Wicket-keeper: Good job behind the stumps, OK with the bat.  Pretty much what he had done so far.  Winning keeps the pressure off of him, but India need more runs from the keeper to really take that next step.

Bowlers; Ashwin and Jadeja were brilliant with the ball, and handy with the bat as well.  Mishra showed that he can get the job done as well.  Yadav's 4th innings performance at Delhi was memorable and hopefully he blossoms further, and Ishant did his job well enough.  

Captaincy:  Kohli has shown admirable flair and consistency in his leadership.  Picking 5 bowlers in SL and at home, giving ample chances to the seamers, some promising signs from the young captain.  And best of all, he's got enough mongrel in him, to not let the captaincy affect his batting.   As a bat, he's got some work to do with the fishing outside off bit, but nothing insurmountable hopefully.

Negatives:

Not too many in such a dominating series win, but the batting showed a brittleness to it that left a bad taste - A better batting performance by SA might have posed a challenge to the Indian bats that they may have failed to address, but all's well that ends well.  for now.  

 

Great Series win, well assisted by the pitches, but still an impressive win.  As someone posted earlier, this success in the test series will buy a lot (if not all) of forgiveness after the disappointing ODI and T20 series.  

 

Suddenly, India look one of the more settled and balanced test squads out there - with options such as Aaron, Shami, Bhuvi, Mishra available if conditions require.   Add a quality seam-bowling allrounder and/or a keeper with better batting ability and you are looking at a team that can dominate test cricket.  

 

Sucks @ss that we won't be playing tests for a few months now.  

[amiret]

" India win series , but Test cricket loses out "

This has been an unqualified victory, where India has dominated throughout, putting up a display of spin bowling that has entangled the South African batsmen to their worst performance ever

This was a series that was billed as the contenders challenging the best team in the world, a team which has had the reputation of being the best travellers of the game in recent years. In a country where Test cricket is losing its pre-eminence and is in danger of being swamped by the glamour, razzle-dazzle and rapid pace of the IPL, this series was for many, including me, a chance to showcase the longer version of the game at its best. Alas, all it did was show Test cricket at its worst, so one-sided were the contests.

LINK

Edited December 8, 2015 by amiret

[rkt.india]

Don't understand what people expect to see in India. Its always spin that is a test in India. England defeated us on similar pitches in 2012.

[fineleg]

Drop Dhawan.

Banish Nohit.

Pujara gets longer rope, Saha gets longer rope (for now)

[Mosher]

Drop Rohit and bring in Iyer. Hardik Pandya could be the seaming AR India is looking for.

[fineleg]

Is Karun Nair only ODI material or Test also?

[Ankit_sharma03]

Our test side looks more settled with few areas under doubt which there is enough time to work on before tough overseas tour

Wat i like most about this team is the intent to win .......For the 1st time m seeing a win in test match meaning a lot to the team. 

Areas that is a bit of of conern

Dhawan- well atleast he tried applying himself rather like rohit. It wnt b possible to chuck him from 15 straightaway as there arent any gud backup openers. But its high time Kl rahul takes his place. N dhawan shud sit on the bench . 

Pujara- Srsly has to sough out that incoming deilvery issue . Or else He wud b a big liability in Away tour. HE didnt do well last time to. Other ppl also do have issue but they score at afaster rate so someone like  virat doesnt take much of time to get runs n carry on . He shud srsly have a longer stint next yr at county it can help him a lot

But for me No 3 is srsly a concern'

No-6 Rohit sharma . HE shudnt b picked again for test. he cud have made this batting order potentially dangerous n has agme for no6 but all is waste if u have no application. Better play an all rounder or any other batsman

Additions in batting- Iyer n Nair shud b added now . M sure in 6 mnths they play some a tour. But rather invest in them than rohit

All rounder-

Jadeja- Shud b asked to concentrate more on batting for overseas as well. HE wnt b lethal as a bowler yet he cud still do a containing job n batting n fielding wud b an advantage

Pandya- Get him in test side. He cud b handy overseas at 6. Wud help his limited over game. HAd Wi added pollard to their test scenario it wud hvae made him a better player.

Other all rounder- Shankar, irfan, hooda, Binny shud b in the mix. Kohli has shown that he uses players acc to conditions

Spinners- Ashwin is doing as gud as nyone, Concern wud b if he is unfit that wud b a huge loss. I dnt c a backup 

Pacer- Ishant aaron n umesh doing well. Shami wud add strength. Time to add Nathu singh, Shardul thakur, aniket choudhary in the mix

 

[vayuu1]

No , there are lot of areas which needed to be addressed, you need a replacement for dhawan, rohit, pujara, also saha may be a good keeper, but if I am playing with 5 bowlers I want a keeper who is a good batsman as well, also we need a allrounder more importantly a pace bowling allrounder, we need to test pandya ASAP, we deffo need a backup in case ash is not fit, also a left arm quick would be handful as well.

[rkt.india]

Replacement for Pujara? How could people so easily forget his contributions at Mohali and Nagpur where none of Rahane and Kohli did zilch. Those were two of the toughest pitches of the series.

[fineleg]

rkt - do you know abt Karun Nair (the qn I asked above)  - replacement for Nohit

[vayuu1]

Replacement for Pujara? How could people so easily forget his contributions at Mohali and Nagpur where none of Rahane and Kohli did zilch. Those were two of the toughest pitches of the series.

Bro, pujara has temperamental issues right now, need to work on that,he is more suitable to 6 no, coz of his ability to play along tail and better back foot game, rahane looks more equipped for no 3.

[Lannister]

Yeah I agree. I am not convinced with Pujara yet, but he's still better bat than Dhawan, Nohit and Saha. When you play with 5 bowlers, you can't rely on these technically flawed batsmen, who are unfit to play test matches. I don't mind if Pujara plays, but Dhawan and Nohit are absolutely no.  

[Lannister]

Yeah I agree. I am not convinced with Pujara yet, but he's still better bat than Dhawan, Nohit and Saha. When you play with 5 bowlers, you can't rely on these technically flawed batsmen, who are unfit to play test matches. I don't mind if Pujara plays, but Dhawan and Nohit are absolutely no.  

[TheWall]

Don't understand what people expect to see in India. Its always spin that is a test in India. England defeated us on similar pitches in 2012.

 

Ppl expected India to lose to the World's No.1 team, but unfortunately for them India almost whitewashed (courtesy rain gods).

Now its Burnol effect to ppl.. especially padosis and ozies...

[rkt.india]

Bro, pujara has temperamental issues right now, need to work on that,he is more suitable to 6 no, coz of his ability to play along tail and better back foot game, rahane looks more equipped for no 3.

Temperament is one thing that Pujara does not have any issue with. He never throws his wicket away.

rkt - do you know abt Karun Nair (the qn I asked above)  - replacement for Nohit

Nair can be good replacement for Lolit.

[express bowling]

Ppl expected India to lose to the World's No.1 team, but unfortunately for them India almost whitewashed (courtesy rain gods).

Now its Burnol effect to ppl.. especially padosis and ozies...

The sad part is...a few of our past players are reacting similarly.

[amiret]

There must be a balance in Test cricket

 

Virat Kohli has pulled off what one of India's most significant triumphs in the last few years because a transitional side beat one that had not lost an overseas series in nine years.

Opinions remain divided on India's tactics towards winning in the first and third Tests. Kohli, Ravi Shastri, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra ... pretty much every representative of the Indian team that rocked up to a press conference has defended the ploy to produce square turners, while hastily giving references to green tops in England and bouncy tracks in Australia.

It has become a defence mechanism which, oft repeated, has started to grate. Teams can play to their strengths, by all means, but to the extent that batting becomes a lottery and part-time spinners like Dean Elgar take four wickets on day one of a series?

Cricket, in particular Test cricket, must be just that - a test of skill, technique, temperament, endurance, patience. It is what makes this sport so great. Diminishing one aspect to grossly favour the other is not always fun to watch, and often unfair. Dull, lifeless tracks boost batting averages and render bowlers ineffective, while leaving results difficult to obtain.

Tracks such as the one in Nagpur - the highest individual score in four innings was 40 - run the risk of reducing Test cricket to a farce and dilute the joy of winning. Yes, there is an element of excitement but it cannot become the template for spinners to fire in darts on middle and leg and leave batsmen gaping and gasping as ball whizz past their shins or rip across their bats from a foot outside leg stump.

There must be a balance in Test cricket, and rank turners skew that balance almost irrevocably.

 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/south-africa-in-india/top-stories/Bittersweet-taste-to-Indias-series-win-over-South-Africa/articleshow/50084990.cms

 

[gakgupta]

Bro, pujara has temperamental issues right now, need to work on that,he is more suitable to 6 no, coz of his ability to play along tail and better back foot game, rahane looks more equipped for no 3.

 

LOL....If not for those 2 centuries from rahana in last match, Pujara was 2 highest run getter from india....Now he is third highest run getter....

Mark my word, he will come back strongly sorting out his incoming delivery issue....I wish he will be shown little more respect and faith from captain / support staff....

As mush as i like him, he is always getting out in 30's which is irritating me.....i think it's the concentration issue more than any technical problem

He is quality player and he is second best Indian batsmen after rahana (statistics isn't showing that right now but they will soon change)

Edited December 9, 2015 by gakgupta

[adi B]

No one in india comes close to chepu as a #3 ,he is by far better than any batsman as #3 especially in SC be it Kohli,rahane.I have no problems with pujara as of now ,mooli was excellent as always (when the going gets tough,the tough gets going) .

Disappointed with dhawan and Kohli in this series 

[Mosher]

No one in india comes close to chepu as a #3 ,he is by far better than any batsman as #3 especially in SC be it Kohli,rahane.I have no problems with pujara as of now ,mooli was excellent as always (when the going gets tough,the tough gets going) .

Disappointed with dhawan and Kohli in this series 

Kohli had a poor series but in the last test match, he was playing really well but was unlucky to get out in both the innings.