India [497/9d] beat South Africa [162,133] by an innings & 202 runs to win 3rd Test; Win series 3-0

[Varun]

This series was such a bore.

South Africa were Zimbabwe in disguise.

 

[BalluBalleBaaz]

SA have got a hammering of a life time. The worrying part them would be lack of quality young batsmen. QDK just hasn't lived up to the level of Kaliis. Even Pakistan has one in Babar Azam

 

[Abdullah719]

After empty stands at Ranchi, Virat Kohli wants India to have just five Test centres

Spoiler

India should stick to having five traditional Test centres, while the rotation of venues can take place for ODIs and T20s, said Indian captain Virat Kohli after winning the third Test at Ranchi on Tuesday.

“We have been discussing this for a long time now. And in my opinion, we should have five Test centres. Period,” he said.

“I agree that you know, state associations, rotation and giving games and all that. That’s fine for T20 and one-day cricket. But Test cricket; teams coming to India should know we are going to play at these five centres. These are the pitches we are going to expect. These are the kind of people… they going to come to watch. Crowds…. So that becomes a challenge already when you are leaving the shores,” Kohli said.

“Because we go to any place, we know we would be having four Test matches at these venues. This is what the pitches going to offer. It’s going to be a full stadium. The crowd’s behind the team… Look, if you want to keep Test cricket alive and exciting, I totally agree with the fact that we need five Tests centres at max.

“It can’t be sporadic and spread over so many places where people turn up or they don’t. So, in my opinion, absolutely, we should have five strong Test centre. (And) the teams coming to India know that this is where we gonna play and nowhere else,” the India captain said.

On Tuesday, India completed a 3-0 clean sweep of South Africa, winning by an innings and 202 runs. The hosts sealed the deal inside two overs in the morning. However, the turnout at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) Stadium barely crossed a few hundred. According to a JSCA official, there were only 2,000 takers for priced tickets of the match.

The two teams played before virtually empty stands in the previous Test at Pune as well. Visakhapatnam, the venue for the first Test of the series was no different. India set the record of winning 11th consecutive home Test series at Pune.

Till the 1980s, the BCCI had six designated Test centres in India – Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kanpur. Later Mohali was added to the list in the 1990s. Over the past 10-15 years, a proliferation of Tests venues on the pretext of rotation – read BCCI’s vote bank politics – took the game’s oldest form to almost every nook and cranny, while the traditional Test venues missed out.

Mumbai (Wankhede), the home of Indian cricket, hasn’t hosted a Test match since 2016. Imagine Lord’s and the Oval in England, or the MCG and the SCG in Australia not playing host to a Test match for three years. It wouldn’t happen.

Traditional Test centres, where fans of a certain vintage have grown up cherishing the long-form, can still draw decent crowd over five days. For example, even on a dull day at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, at least 20,000 spectators walk through the turnstiles. Numbers rise considerably for marquee series, when India are playing against England or Australia.

Kohli refreshingly has addressed the issue. The time has come for the BCCI to revisit its rotation policy for Test cricket.

https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/ranchi-virat-kohli-five-test-centres-6082077/

 

[Bhaijaan]

Kohli should stay out of politics.

 

[Robert]

Read Bayliss' interview with Cricket Monthly. These are the same issues that have been highlighted by the likes of Vaughan and even boycs earlier. The pitches and, particularly, the dukes ball have resulted in extremely bowler friendly conditions which have helped the likes of Jimmy and Broad dominate opposition lineups but it has also meant that
English batsman can't stay long and make those big hundreds that are required in places like India and Australia. Bowlers are reliant on movement and batters try to bat aggressively before they get an unplayable ball.

I don’t believe this. Firstly, the Duke has been used for decades. They used Readers for a while but went back to the Dukes as seam movement from the Readers was so prodigious. Then County teams were racking up 700 at will, the bowlers had no chance with the Dukes for a while.

Secondly, English pitches are far easier and more homogenous than they were. There were fliers and bunsens, and Headingley was a green mamba with variable bounce too. So the Three Gs and Botham could score centuries in the Subcontinent and WI and Australia because they learned the skills in County cricket. Gavaskar and Tendulkar came to score heavily against Dukes on the more difficult English wickets of old, but current Indians except cannot because they don’t know how to play orthodox swing.

 

[Local.Dada]

Truly sad to see how far SA have fallen. Another nation with their weakest team in history. Test match batting is at an all-time low.

I don't get this weak team excuse. I know you are not making excuses for them but in general. Teams with great cricketing legacy move on despite losing the greats that's how it works.

A recent example is a team full of reserve Srilankan team beat Pakistan and a bunch of unknown players from Srilanka whitewashed SA in SA, the same SA team that had whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 a couple of months prior.

You beat what you have in front of you and also SA has quiet a few players who can be counted on the fringes of word X1's in the current setting. Rabada,Faf,QDK,Markram,Elgar are all world class performers. SA were never known for their spinners. Ndigi and Nortje were hailed as these exciting prospects and were on the fringes for a couple of years. Philander has a stellar record even though too bad he can't hold the ball once it stops seaming.

Beating India in India is almost an impossible task however you need to give India credit here for stepping up and absolutely decimating SA. It had nothing to do with weak team, etc. It's about the winning team having a lot of players playing at the prime of their prowess and in the form of their lives.

On current form India can beat any team anywhere and pretty convincingly too

 

[jnaveen1980]

I don’t believe this. Firstly, the Duke has been used for decades. They used Readers for a while but went back to the Dukes as seam movement from the Readers was so prodigious. Then County teams were racking up 700 at will, the bowlers had no chance with the Dukes for a while.

Secondly, English pitches are far easier and more homogenous than they were. There were fliers and bunsens, and Headingley was a green mamba with variable bounce too. So the Three Gs and Botham could score centuries in the Subcontinent and WI and Australia because they learned the skills in County cricket. Gavaskar and Tendulkar came to score heavily against Dukes on the more difficult English wickets of old, but current Indians except cannot because they don’t know how to play orthodox swing.

Infact i remember Nasser Hussain telling how English batsmen should learn from Dravid about playing besides the swinging ball. There are many instances they were exposed. RP Singh, Zak in the test series. Nehra in the world cup. Last series failures of Indians were more to do with form than technique. Vijay was washed up in the last series. Should have never been backed. Dhawan a certified test failure. KL Rahul struggled even on surfaces that didn't swing at the test level. Rahane was in a serious slump. He brough the average from 50 to 40. Pujara was omitted because of his county failures which was stupid thing to do. English conditions can be challenging. But not nearly unplayable as say Kingsmead. You are never in there. In England once you are in you can have fun. Most of the India's tailenders had their highest score in England. Agarkar, Kumble, Amit Mishra, Shami, Bhuvaneswar.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

I don’t believe this. Firstly, the Duke has been used for decades. They used Readers for a while but went back to the Dukes as seam movement from the Readers was so prodigious. Then County teams were racking up 700 at will, the bowlers had no chance with the Dukes for a while.

Secondly, English pitches are far easier and more homogenous than they were. There were fliers and bunsens, and Headingley was a green mamba with variable bounce too. So the Three Gs and Botham could score centuries in the Subcontinent and WI and Australia because they learned the skills in County cricket. Gavaskar and Tendulkar came to score heavily against Dukes on the more difficult English wickets of old, but current Indians except cannot because they don’t know how to play orthodox swing.

It doesn't matter what anyone believes. English conditions are probably the hardest to bat in and there's enough data for the amount of swing/seam in every country and last year's Indian tour had the highest average of seam / swing I think.

 

[RamLakhan]

That is a good point actually! But which are those 5 centers? Thats a nightmare of choice!

 

[RamLakhan]

That is a good point actually! But which are those 5 centers? Thats a nightmare of choice!

Was referring to Kohli's choice of 5 test centers in India, unable to quote the original post...

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

That is a good point actually! But which are those 5 centers? Thats a nightmare of choice!

Bangalore
Chennai
Mumbai
Kolkata
Delhi

 

[MP2011]

That is a good point actually! But which are those 5 centers? Thats a nightmare of choice!

I guess,

Chennai
Mumbai
Bangalore
Kolkata
Dharmshala (Has a nice away pitch feel in it)

 

[MP2011]

Bangalore
Chennai
Mumbai
Kolkata
Delhi

Even though I am a Delhite but Delhi as a cricket centre just sucks, too much pollution, pathetic crowd, a stadium that sucks even more, a pathetic local cricket association, just like Jaitley, Rajat Sharma too has made DDCA his personal fiefdom.

 

[Titan24]

I don't get this weak team excuse. I know you are not making excuses for them but in general. Teams with great cricketing legacy move on despite losing the greats that's how it works.

A recent example is a team full of reserve Srilankan team beat Pakistan and a bunch of unknown players from Srilanka whitewashed SA in SA, the same SA team that had whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 a couple of months prior.

Having a great cricketing legacy doesnt mean that every era will produce cricketers of same caliber and there are countless such examples.

Beating a better team in T20 is easier than in tests as one good performance can tilt it in your favor rather in tests you need atleast few good performances to win a test.

All the 3 teams you have mentioned in Srl, SA and Pak are in building phase with not as many established players as in Aus, Ind, Eng and NZ so inconsistency should be expected. However, the building phase will only work if certain players turn out to be good and they raise their hands.

At the moment SA doesnt have a lot of talent coming through and their current team is a pretty weak one by any standards with none of the batsmen averaging 40+ except Faf let alone 45+ or 50. Hamza, Markram, Malan, Sipamla are decent but to make SA a great team they need to be of the calibre of their predecessors as decent wont cut it.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Even though I am a Delhite but Delhi as a cricket centre just sucks, too much pollution, pathetic crowd, a stadium that sucks even more, a pathetic local cricket association, just like Jaitley, Rajat Sharma too has made DDCA his personal fiefdom.

These are most likely the venues that Kohli is talking about though. The traditional test venues of India. Im a true blue Bangalorean and love the Chinnaswamy to bits but it's such a good wicket that India has very little advantage over visiting teams so I wouldn't mind if we don't play a lot of test cricket here.

 

[MP2011]

These are most likely the venues that Kohli is talking about though. The traditional test venues of India. Im a true blue Bangalorean and love the Chinnaswamy to bits but it's such a good wicket that India has very little advantage over visiting teams so I wouldn't mind if we don't play a lot of test cricket here.

True, for years Chinnaswamy was unlucky for India, especially in tests.

 

[Ab Fan]

Who would have thought SA would become this weak?

I understand they have lost some stalwarts but clearly there is a huge dearth of talent in the lineup.

7 years ago, this team had a lineup as:-

Smith
Petersen
Amla
Kallis
AB
Faf
Boucher(wkt)
Philander
Steyn
Morkel
Tahir

So many elite players in that lineup.

 

[MenInG]

After his side effected a 3-0 win over South Africa – the first time they’ve won all matches in a Test series against them – India captain Virat Kohli was proud of the 'team-first' culture that his players have cultivated.

Kohli’s India are ranked No.1 in the world in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Team Rankings and performed every bit like a team holding that honour, clinically wiping out South Africa with bat and ball, and on the field. Moreover, their win in the third and final Test in Ranchi, which concluded on Tuesday, 22 October, was also their largest against this opposition – by an innings and 202 runs.

“Even in one match we didn’t get all out, and we won 3-0. It’s a spectacular team performance," Kohli said at the post-match press conference. "It’s rare that you get to see that whoever gets a chance is performing. It’s something to be happy about for us, that we’ve created a culture where people don’t think about themselves and put the team first. Only then are these performances possible.

“The bowlers did a fantastic job together, you never saw a situation where one bowler took eight wickets while the rest did nothing. So whoever comes on to bowl looks like he might get a wicket in every spell.”

While India performed exceptionally well as a collective unit, several individuals stood out for their brilliance. Most notable among them was Rohit Sharma, who in his first series as Test opener, racked up 529 runs at 132.25, with three hundreds in four innings, including his maiden double-century in Ranchi.

Rohit’s opening partner Mayank Agarwal also impressed with his consistency, following up his double-century in the series opener in Visakhapatnam with 108 in the second Test in Pune. Also among the takeaways was India’s fast-bowling attack, which snared 26 of the 58 wickets their bowlers took – an uncharacteristically high portion for a series in India. Umesh Yadav was brilliant in his comeback series, taking 11 wickets in two Tests.

“As an opener, Rohit has anticipation of the challenges that he may face,” Kohli said. “In one-day cricket, he has been one of the best in the world for quite some time. So to overcome that and to have batted the way he did, because of the rate at which he scored, even after missing two-three sessions in a Test, we had so much time to bowl and dismiss the opposition twice. Credit goes to the player because he was able to overcome the pressure and anxiety to produce a Man of the Series performance in his first very first series as an opener.

“Ditto with Mayank, he’s a new opener and has done well consistently. Jinx [Ajinkya Rahane] made a century after a long time at home, and scored one in Test cricket after a long time in the West Indies. So things have moved in a positive direction for some time and, like I said, it feels good to see as a team that individuals are standing up at various points and delivering.

“If you look at these two guys [Umesh and Shami], their strike-rate is probably the best in Indian conditions in history [minimum 10 Tests in India], which tells you that these guys hit the stumps more and the pads more than anyone else before them. It’s again a great sign of the kind of intent the bowlers are running in with now. The fitness levels have obviously gone up. You bowl three good overs, and if you’re tired, then the other two are not as effective and we lose the opportunity to take a wicket after creating pressure.

“But these guys are relentless, they’re running in to just pick wickets, bowl in the areas that make batsmen uncomfortable. We’ve become a multi-dimensional team now and it’s not one thing you need to counter when you’re playing against us. The only thing we need to keep a check on is the workloads and make sure we have enough bench strength to keep this culture and standard of Indian cricket going for many years.”

Also among the positives was the performance of the debutant left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who took four wickets and impressed with his control and accuracy. “I’ve played with Nadeem before too, in Under-19 cricket,” Kohli said, “Since then, we knew he was a skilful bowler. The conventional skills he has as a left-arm spinner, he puts revolutions on the ball, seam position is good, and he bowls at good pace. To bowl in one area consistently, it was a good start, he bowled with a lot of composure.

“He remained unbeaten with the bat, effected a run out and bowled well in both innings. I feel happy for him because I’ve known him for a long time. He has the quality without doubt, and to come as a replacement in this kind of a spin attack already tells you of his quality. From here, he can only go ahead.”

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1462842

 

[Robert]

It doesn't matter what anyone believes. English conditions are probably the hardest to bat in and there's enough data for the amount of swing/seam in every country and last year's Indian tour had the highest average of seam / swing I think.

Not my point, though.

England bowlers are not exposed overseas because English wickets flatter them, they are exposed because English wickets are homogenous and do not prepare them for different challenges. Same with England batters - they do not learn how to bat on spin wickets and fast wickets because you don't see these in England any more.

The ECB fines any CCC which produces "result" wickets and so you just get a load of slow low seamers. Though Somerset bucks the trend to some extent of late, and Leach has emerged as a realistic spin option. Not another Laker, but the best since Swann and Monty finished.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Regardless of the loss of Steyn AB Amla they should have done better.
This is below associate level. Faf stonewalled against India along with AB entire day to earn a draw. Faf should have done a lot better. Both decock and Faf are better than this. They know India conditions as good as anybody else

 

[tyron_woodley]

Who would have thought SA would become this weak?

I understand they have lost some stalwarts but clearly there is a huge dearth of talent in the lineup.

7 years ago, this team had a lineup as:-

Smith
Petersen
Amla
Kallis
AB
Faf
Boucher(wkt)
Philander
Steyn
Morkel
Tahir

So many elite players in that lineup.

They were also lucky teams dint tailor pitches as often back then especially india. Conversely south africa always produced a green mamba or a seaming track whenever india toured. Current india would still dismantle this south african side at home.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Not my point, though.

England bowlers are not exposed overseas because English wickets flatter them, they are exposed because English wickets are homogenous and do not prepare them for different challenges. Same with England batters - they do not learn how to bat on spin wickets and fast wickets because you don't see these in England any more.

The ECB fines any CCC which produces "result" wickets and so you just get a load of slow low seamers. Though Somerset bucks the trend to some extent of late, and Leach has emerged as a realistic spin option. Not another Laker, but the best since Swann and Monty finished.

You claimed that current Indian batters can't play swing unlike gavaskar/tendulkar but you have deliberately ignored the point I was trying to make. Batting conditions were the hardest for a series in England when India toured last year. Thanks to the tailor -made dark red Dukes ball which Jimmy and Broad prefer, there was more lateral movement than there has ever been since atleast 2005 . Your bowlers - stokes, Jimmy, broad , Curran and woakes used the conditions much better than our attack and moeen outspun Ashwin . In English conditions, the English attack proved to be much better than India's. They used the and dukes this year but Cummins, Hazelwood and Siddle/Pattinson were able to match the English attack and England couldn't win the series.

 

[tyron_woodley]

You claimed that current Indian batters can't play swing unlike gavaskar/tendulkar but you have deliberately ignored the point I was trying to make. Batting conditions were the hardest for a series in England when India toured last year. Thanks to the tailor -made dark red Dukes ball which Jimmy and Broad prefer, there was more lateral movement than there has ever been since atleast 2005 . Your bowlers - stokes, Jimmy, broad , Curran and woakes used the conditions much better than our attack and moeen outspun Ashwin . In English conditions, the English attack proved to be much better than India's. They used the and dukes this year but Cummins, Hazelwood and Siddle/Pattinson were able to match the English attack and England couldn't win the series.

more like toss played a role due to pitches being conditions specific. I wouldn't say they bowled better except in the second test.
Batting let India down.

 

[sweep_shot]

This series has been a disaster. South Africa played like minnows.

Congratulations to India. They were clinical.

 

[Rightarmfast]

You claimed that current Indian batters can't play swing unlike gavaskar/tendulkar but you have deliberately ignored the point I was trying to make. Batting conditions were the hardest for a series in England when India toured last year. Thanks to the tailor -made dark red Dukes ball which Jimmy and Broad prefer, there was more lateral movement than there has ever been since atleast 2005 . Your bowlers - stokes, Jimmy, broad , Curran and woakes used the conditions much better than our attack and moeen outspun Ashwin . In English conditions, the English attack proved to be much better than India's. They used the and dukes this year but Cummins, Hazelwood and Siddle/Pattinson were able to match the English attack and England couldn't win the series.

It was more a case of losing essential tosses throughout the tour on the doctored pitches prepared by England. The Indian batsmen lost us the match. The Indian bowlers had performed top notch. Wont say their performance was below English bowlers.

 

[MenInG]

7 - The number of consecutive 50-plus scores by a batsman in Tests played in India. In the second innings at Visakhapatnam, Rohit Sharma became the first batsman in Test cricket to make seven 50-plus scores on Indian soil. Before him, three other batsmen had managed to make six 50s in a row. Sharma’s sequence began in the second innings of the Kolkata Test match against New Zealand in October 2016.



200 The number Test wickets claimed by Ravindra Jadeja in his career during the Visakhapatnam Test match against South Africa. He became the 75th bowler to achieve this landmark in Test cricket. He is also the 10th Indian bowler to take 200 wickets in Tests. As of date, only 13 left-arm bowlers have managed to claim 200 or more Test wickets, and among these 13 bowlers, Jadeja is the quickest to reach the landmark in terms of number of Test matches.





350 The number Test wickets claimed by Ravichandran Ashwin in his career, which he reached during the Visakhapatnam Test match against South Africa. He became the 25th bowler and the fourth Indian to achieve this landmark in Test cricket. By doing so in his 66th Test match, Ashwin equalled the record of Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan to be the joint quickest to reach the landmark in terms of number of Test matches.













https://sportstar.thehindu.com/stat...avindra-jadeja-statistics/article29780541.ece