Friends,

Please check some of the pics from yesterday's game between South Africa and Board President XI at Jaipur.. As many of the SA players are new I hope these pics will help you in Identifying SA players in forthcoming matches..

Pavan Jha

Pic 1

SA Second Innings : South African Opening Pair of Jack Rudolh and de Bruyn going in to open the innings..
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Pic 2 :

Bahutule bowling to de Bruyn

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Pic 3 :

Dhoni in Action behind the wickest..
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Pic 4 :

Powar bowling to Dippenar

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Pic 5 :

SA Captain Greame Smith talking to their new coach Eric Jennings

Pic 6 :

The first Asian to play for South Africans : Hashim Amla

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Pic 7 :

Their main spinner Robin Peterson is getting ready for the forthcoming dhunaai in coming days
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Pic 8 :

Jacobus Rudolph coming out from the nets...

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Pic 9 :

Can Makhaya nTini be the Gillespie for South Africans against Indian Spinners... Atleast he is trying for the role.. coming out from Nets after a batting session

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Pic 10 :
Ntini sharing a laugh with young wicket keeper Tsolekile and Ontong (behind)
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Pic 11 :

First Bowl Victim Shaun Pollock coming back on a Duck.. Powar strikes 2 in 2..
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Pic 12 :

The Indian Players returning after a great day of Play for them


In the pic : Dhoni, Bahutule, Mongia, Rao, Badani, SS Paul

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Lovely pictures Pavan. Thanks

Top Job Pavan !

Nice pics Pavan... Looking forward to India SA series, if we win both the tests we will climb up to number 3 in ICC test championship rankings...

Cheers,

Well South Africa's performance was not as bad as it looked.. they were in the loosing position on the last day because of the sporting declaration of Greame Smith in the first innings.. Still the match is an indication that the SA players are going to have tough times ahead specially against the spinning trio.. IMHO Kallis and Dippenar are going to be the main warriors against the spinners...

As for the new players are concerned.. I think Z de bruyn is a player to watch for with bat and ball both..Haven't seen much of Hashim Amla still he keeps a cool head.. and wicketkeeper Tsolekile also played some good aggressive shots.. but two crucial players for SA could prove to be Jack Rudolph and Justin Ontong (they could come out to be the clarke and katich of SA)

As for Indian Players, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is definately a talent behind the wickets and with the bat too (some of his shots were very impressive)... SS Paul did'nt impressed much with his bowling... and Gautm Gambhir played a short but impressive innings.. Mongia and Badani are seasoned campaigners and they always keep knocking at the doors of the team with their performances.. The way the two batted is an alarm for Pollock, Ntini and Hall as they are going to bowl to the likes of Sachins, Laxmans and Dravids...

Lets hope for an even contest and good competitive cricket...

Pavan Jha

SA do have a chance in the series but they are a young team and they're going through a re-building phase so it will take some time before they find the right team combination. The absence of Gibbs and Boje, two of their best players doesn't help and if they were there, it would have boosted their lineup. However, Pollock remains one of the best allrounders in cricket if not the best, he is as good with the new ball as anyone in the game and he is also a very useful batsman. Kallis is one of the best bastman in the world and SA will rely heavily on him to make a big score. Rudolph is also a good batsman and Smith has proven in the past that he is talented. The newer lot is competititve and it will be interesting to see how they take the pressure of playing in India and in these conditions. It is really mind-boggling to see a team who was once the challenger to Australia for the world title, now only a shadow of what they were. I still think they are quite talented, I mean Pollock, Kallis, Dippenar, Smith, Ntini, Rudolph and if you add Boje and Gibbs to that then you have a pretty good team, but they are not the same as they were a few years ago.
India in my mind are still the favourites to win the series and this is a good time for them to get back their confidence and win at home, especially after losing the series to Australia and then the match against Pakistan. Ganguly said that it hurts more to lose at home, and he'll be looking to turn things around. Looking forward to the series.

Cheers

SA lack a genuine quality spinner. They were recently shown up by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and I expect India to win this series 1-0.