South Africa And Sl In India

Great win by India, and a great bowling performance by them to restrict SA to 221. Batting second was easier on that pitch because in the afternoon it was slow, but credit to the bowlers for keeping things in check.

Rahul Dravid played another fantastic knock, he's always been in my mind India's most valuable batsman, a match-winner, and importantly the backbone of the batting lineup and he showed it again today, three cheers to the captain !.

Shewag was unlucky to get out as he was gearing up for a big knock, the ball was not going to hit the stumps and it was going down leg side. Tendulkar started well, was in good knick, but lost out to a very good catch. But it was nice to see him play his shots and get some form back and Yuvraj played well for his 49 too.

Overall it was a great series with both teams playing good and competitive cricket .

Kumble, easliy the most underrated bowler in the world shoed his esamplry class again. A close look at his records suggest that he is probably the the most conistent leg spinner in the world. His record in good against all teams and specially agaisnt teams that play spin well.

Nice to see Yuvraj and Dhoni play their natural game and play for their team. The only way both can succedd in test matches is to play thier natural game like Sewag.

Laxman needs to get this message too, it was embarssing to see him play in the second innings. The game of cricket has changed and only positive attitude will work.

It seems its curtains for Ganguly. I feel for him as the selectors have confused everyone. First by selcting him and then by dropping hin just when he looked like getting back amongst runs.

Nice to see Wasim Jafer being rewarded for his consistent perfomance at the domestic level. Gambhir is lucky to play, I dont regard him test class. I would have preffered if they groomed Kaif to open the batting and still keep Ganguly in the middle order.

It is so nice to see a cricket thread on this forum. I have a few things to say. First of all I dont think that positive attitude is the only solution in tests. Laxman is the type of batsman who sometime is not very confident and needs time to settle. U can not expect a player to play positive even before settling in, whats the rush in any case? and not everyone can be Sehwag.

Im not sure if its really curtains for Ganguly (however much I would like to see that happen). Indian opening problem is still there, so they had to pick one of the openers and Yuvraj is in very good form, so Ganguly was the only logical choice to be dropped and there is no use in keeping him in the dressing room just sulking and demoralizing the whole team.

I dont think Kaif should be given chance to open the batting, he has one of the worst first class stats for a test batsman, how would u expect him to click in test cricket?

India is in very strong position at the end of 2nd day of 3rd test against SL. Harbhajan finally got back his ODI touch with impressive bowling figure. Pathan is fast qualifying as a genuine all rounder. Dhoni again showed that he got a sensible head in addition to his hitting capabilities. Laxman’s continuous good form will be a big asset for Pak tour. He wasn’t very successful in last Pak tour, but I can bet this time it will be different.

From the beginning of this season Sehwag has continuously got out in 20s 30s and 40s, wonder if the marriage has something to do with this Kaif is hardly qualified to even be included in Ranji team given his poor FC record (I always thought that Ganguly kept him in the reserve so that he can be used whenever any of the regular middle order batsman is not available, and given his record it is very unlikely that Kaif would ever be a threat to MO, that means being the weakest link in the MO it would directly benefit the ex-captain). Yuvraj has yet to prove that he can sustain his good form for an extended period of time, not to speak of his weakness against spinners.

I feel it was unfair to include Jaffer in the team but not select in the final eleven. By not including him in the team, it is guarantted that he will be going on Pak tour, because he can not be just dropped without being given chance. But if Gambhir fails in the second inning too, it also means that Jaffer in all probability would be playing in the first test against Pak. So now after being out of the team for 3 years, he would be facing one of the toughest pace attack on fast wickets Pak is preparing for the tour. It would have been fair to give him a chance in relatively easier circumstance and let him build some confidence, considering how much pressure he would be.

Despite his failures, I still feel Kaif is long-term prospect for India and that it is just a matter of time before he cements his place. Dhoni and Pathan's batting has been major plus for India. Though it is still early to call Pathan as all-rounder, I hope Dhoni will come good against Pakistan. Pathan's batting, at this stage, is just bonus for India and we should not bank much on it.

Cheers,