South Africa v India, 3rd Test, Johannesburg, 24-28 January, 2018

taipan wrote:

Red wrote:Half ton to Pujara. India looking reasonably solid here.

In her quiet understated way, Red is a bigger killer then JGK

Red's skills are respectable but no match for the peerless jgk

Bannies going down the drain

horace wrote:Bannies going down the drain

Well until both sides have batted, it is hard to see what is par. The pitch has hardly been a typical Aussie docile thoroughfare.

Eighth peg falls - Philander into the act again.

Interesting, there is time for SA to fold, even today, but atm, this is not a scoreline a captain choosing to bat would be happy with.

Yet another action-packed day in this series. Eleven wickets went down and players from both sides expect batting to become more difficult as the match goes on with prominent cracks already seeing the ball deviate.

SA in big trouble here, trailing by fifty with only four wickets in hand.

Their batting is super fragile.

If they order green pitches against us, we will wipe them.

Rubbish.

lardbucket wrote:Rubbish.

Their batting is worse and you would back Starc, Cummins and Haze to trouble them even more than the Indians.

lardbucket wrote:Rubbish.

Wasting your time Lardy.

Has there been interruptions today? India have bowled 48 overs in two seesions.

MoH wrote:Has there been interruptions today? India have bowled 48 overs in two seesions.

Nah, weather has been fine. Clouds starting to build up now,

taipan wrote:

MoH wrote:Has there been interruptions today? India have bowled 48 overs in two seesions.

Nah, weather has been fine. Clouds starting to build up now,

Didn't think so. 23 overs in the afternoon session. I know every team is bad on over rates but that is especially poor.

Looks like being all square on the first innings

SA squeak ahead, courtesy of Morkel. Bet they expected to perform better with the bat than this though.

Five of the top six out for single figures. I think you could be right.

MoH wrote:Five of the top six out for single figures. I think you could be right.

It does amaze me that they see a team like India coming and order greentops but forget they struggle on them too. They no longer have guys like Kallis, but even in those days they were never too special on these bowler-friendly strips despite it being their home patch.

So they end up with a lead of seven. As Taipan, said, virtually all square and SA has to bat last.

Three very different but remarkable 50s from Kohli, Amla and Pujara.

Pujara went his first 50 balls without scoring a run, stretching the 'proper Test cricket batting' concept to the limit.  Kohli's was more of his usual attempt to dominate, but a very good innings and incidentally made a small dent in the claim that he's an FTB.  Amla's wasn't a fluent innings, but probably the best of the lot, he saved SA's bacon (along with Rabada) today.

He's only on 13 in the second dig, but Vijay gave a mini masterclass to other Indian bats on leaving the ball. It was amazing how well he was leaving on length and line (sometimes a one stump outside off line)

This is a good game.  It can, and will probably, turn a few times before it's done.  To think that we could have been so much more competitive had the team turned up and played some practise games in SA a couple weeks prior, instead of the 4 day training circle jerk they ended up doing.

Red wrote:...It does amaze me that they see a team like India coming and order greentops but forget they struggle on them too. They no longer have guys like Kallis, but even in those days they were never too special on these bowler-friendly strips despite it being their home patch.......

Same thing is happening to India as regards spin. A lot of our batsmen now struggle against high class spin in Indian conditions. Monty/ Swann did us in a few years ago, Lyon did well recently. (I wonder what statisticians are going to make of that, when they compare this to Warne/ Murali's averages in India in the past)

Ranji FC games have been played on seaming/ fast pitches for over 5 years now (BCCI policy), with the result that the average Indian bat isn't as technically sound against spin as his predecessor.

Plus the endless cycle of ODIs and T20s seem to be making most international batsmen equally mediocre on any wicket that does a little, unless it's a road

Another absorbing match.

furriner wrote:Three very different but remarkable 50s from Kohli, Amla and Pujara.

Pujara went his first 50 balls without scoring a run, stretching the 'proper Test cricket batting' concept to the limit.  Kohli's was more of his usual attempt to dominate, but a very good innings and incidentally made a small dent in the claim that he's an FTB.  Amla's wasn't a fluent innings, but probably the best of the lot, he saved SA's bacon (along with Rabada) today.

He's only on 13 in the second dig, but Vijay gave a mini masterclass to other Indian bats on leaving the ball. It was amazing how well he was leaving on length and line (sometimes a one stump outside off line)

This is a good game.  It can, and will probably, turn a few times before it's done.  To think that we could have been so much more competitive had the team turned up and played some practise games in SA a couple weeks prior, instead of the 4 day training circle jerk they ended up doing.

Yes agree with that, Kohli though perhaps a bit lucky as he should have been out twice if the fielding was up to it.

Thought SA bowlers wasted the new ball by not making the batsmen play, but the Indian batsmen were up to the challenge.

Faf has learned though, that it is fraught with danger wanting greentops when your own batting is weak.

SA has done this in the past when we have been touring and the result has not been pretty for them.

Taipan can decry these comments all he likes, but he might also remind me when the last time was that SA managed to beat us on their own soil.

They have simply been butchered by the guys like Mitch and struggled against Stuart Clark types. This batting line-up is not the same calibre as their previous ones either.

And to be honest the team is unbalanced. For that matter India's is too. What is the need for five faster bowlers on a track giving the help when your putative number six is struggling to make a run?

Andile Phehlukwayo at his pace doesn't really offer something that either a spinner or another batsman wouldn't anyway.

And with variable bounce and divots in the pitch, India is definitely in the ascendancy. If they win this it will be ironic given what happened at Centurion which was tailor-made for them.

India doing it comfortably here despite the difficult pitch. SA attack struggling a bit.

Some talk in the cricinfo comms of the match being abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. It's not that bad is it?

MoH wrote:Some talk in the cricinfo comms of the match being abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. It's not that bad is it?

Kohli was apparently asked by the umpires but declined. The umpires have been inspecting the cracks. Guess guys could get broken fingers or ribs, but as India is ahead in the game it would be foolish to surrender.

Faf perhaps looked a bit keen to finish. He must now be careful what he wishes for.

MoH wrote:Some talk in the cricinfo comms of the match being abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. It's not that bad is it?

Guess the fact that this is a dead rubber might come into consideration if the pitch continues to be treacherous.

The Indians have survived pretty well on it though, all things considering. SA's bowling has been a bit below par.

I didn't realise it was that bad. Some comments from ex-players here: http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/22220875/wanderers-track

Enjoying Ganguly having a little cry about the NZ pitches in the 2003 series. Let it go man!