South Africa vs India | 1st Test | Johannesburg | Day 1 | 18-12-2013

[Ims1]

Toss in 30 minutes . First Test for Ind without the fab 4 . I am worried .

 

[OZGOD]

South Africa v India | 1st Test | Johannesburg | Day 1 | Dec 18 2013

South Africa v India

Match scheduled to begin at 10:30 local time (08:30 GMT)

South Africa squad
GC Smith*, AB de Villiers†, HM Amla, JP Duminy, F du Plessis, D Elgar, Imran Tahir, JH Kallis, RK Kleinveldt, M Morkel, AN Petersen, RJ Peterson, VD Philander, DW Steyn, TL Tsolekile

India squad
MS Dhoni*†, R Ashwin, S Dhawan, RA Jadeja, Z Khan, V Kohli, B Kumar, Mohammed Shami, PP Ojha, CA Pujara, AM Rahane, AT Rayudu, WP Saha†, I Sharma, RG Sharma, M Vijay, UT Yadav

 

[Ims1]

Thunderstorms forecast in afternoon on all 5 days & the pitch is expected to have pace & bounce .

 

[OZGOD]

Who's excited?!? I'm excited!

 

[Sandeep]

Let the games commence. Enough with the off field drama

#GoSteyn #GoDhawan

 

[mmkextreme_1]

Ahhhh wish I could watch the match, but its a bit too late here in the US!

Have to wake up at 7:30 am :/

 

[OZGOD]

Sorry IMS I didn't realise you already made a thread.

 

[Aman]

Excited to watch Steyn, Philander, Amla and AB otherwise meh.

 

[Sandeep]

Excited to watch Steyn, Philander, Amla and AB, otherwise meh.

Amla? ABD?


Ishant? )

 

[Aman]

Amla and AB are two of the greats of this generation, why wouldn't I be excited to see them bat?..

 

[Ims1]

Sorry IMS I didn't realise you already made a thread.

no problem,happens all the time

 

[OZGOD]

I hope India win the toss and bat

 

[Aman]

Whats up with this matchpoint stuff on cricinfo taking up half my page?..

 

[Sandeep]

Amla and AB are two of the greats of this generation, why wouldn't I be excited to see them bat?..

I thought you mentioned only Steyn and Philly, so just added their names..

I'm excited to see how Dhawan goes about his innings..

 

[ChaudrySaab]

I'm excited to see how Pujara and Kohli go.

 

[Sandeep]

Last time India played a test without any of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman or Ganguly was in 1989..

Boy, I was not even born by then!

 

[HASHAM2]

Best of Luck both Team

Excited about This Test Match Series

Kohli.Pujara,Rohit All those Guys have Talent to do well in South africa

 

[battler]

Get ur popcorn and pepsi ready guys coz it's time for no.1 vs no.2!!

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

How is the pitch?

 

[NZcricketfan]

Going to feel like a serious anti-climax if South Africa end up batting first.

 

[Random Aussie]

How is the pitch?

So green you could smoke it

 

[Aman]

^Does it matter? All wickets which aren't phattas are green

 

[battler]

How is the pitch?

Plenty of grass cover,good carry and very little help for the spinners.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Going to feel like a serious anti-climax if South Africa end up batting first.

Dhoni will most probably lose the toss so SA will opt to bowl first

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

^Does it matter? All wickets which aren't phattas are green

WACA was not green, so was that also a phatta?

 

[NZcricketfan]

India choose to bat

 

[battler]

India gonna bat first yes yes yes

 

[Asif321]

batting first india

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

IND opted to bat first on a green top ? Is this a brave or stupid decision

Anyways i don't think our bowlers can utilize these conditions either bowling first or second so doesn't really matter much

 

[HASHAM2]

Dhoni Won the Toss and Elected to bat First

Positive Sign
India is Playing with 3 Fast bowlers and 1 Spinner

if Smith had won the Toss he would had Bat first to

 

[battler]

Dale steyn vs dhawan first up!!

 

[OZGOD]

India have won the toss and will bat

 

[Sandeep]

Yess! Working from home, this was the best thing I could ask for..

India batting first

 

[Aman]

India's top order will need to fire if they're to win this.

 

[battler]

India have won the toss and will bat

I am damn excited!!

 

[Aman]

Yess! Working from home, this was the best thing I could ask for..

India batting first

Plain stupid batting first on a green top (unconfirmed) against Steyn and Philander?

 

[NZcricketfan]

Ravi Shastri bringing out the "transition period" phrase The famous excuse of the NZ cricket team.

 

[OZGOD]

Plain stupid batting first on a green top (unconfirmed) against Steyn and Philander?

I've always been in the camp where if you win the toss you bat first and put runs on the board. Unless it's just rained in NZ of course

 

[Sandeep]

Plain stupid batting first on a green top (unconfirmed) against Steyn and Philander?

Whatever mate. All I want is some good cricket

 

[Aman]

I've always been in the camp where if you win the toss you bat first and put runs on the board. Unless it's just rained in NZ of course

If it's green why not give your bowlers the cherry?

Anyway ballsy move from Dhoni.

 

[Ims1]

80 for 4 at lunch ?

 

[Sandeep]

South Africa have a chance to rout fourth team under 50.

 

[Aman]

One spinner for day 4 and 5 as well, this is making less and less sense

 

[battler]

I've always been in the camp where if you win the toss you bat first and put runs on the board. Unless it's just rained in NZ of course

Hobbits are reliving their 43 all out )

 

[Aman]

Hobbits are reliving their 43 all out )

Nah we're reliving our series victory in SA

 

[OZGOD]

Teams have been finalised:

South Africa team
GC Smith*, AN Petersen, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers†, F du Plessis, JP Duminy, VD Philander, DW Steyn, M Morkel, Imran Tahir

India team
M Vijay, S Dhawan, CA Pujara, V Kohli, RG Sharma, AM Rahane, MS Dhoni*†, R Ashwin, I Sharma, Z Khan, Mohammed Shami

 

[battler]

South Africa have a chance to rout fourth team under 50.

Man,ur just too negative

 

[OZGOD]

If it's green why not give your bowlers the cherry?

Anyway ballsy move from Dhoni.

That usually only works when you have the bowlers to take advantage.

 

[Random Aussie]

Good move from Dhoni nobody wants to see India bowl not even Indians.

 

[Random Aussie]

Btw I don't know if it's green I was just winding up our friends

 

[Aman]

Btw I don't know if it's green I was just winding up our friends

I doubt the SA's would want to anger the BCCI, they wouldn't tour SA again for a decade if they prepared green tops

 

[dani2k]

Good move from Dhoni nobody wants to see India bowl not even Indians.

Thats true mate

 

[Random Aussie]

Dale Steyn to FTB coming right up!

 

[IamIndian]

no Umesh on a green top thank you dhoni for the stupidity!

 

[Aman]

Yadev is over rated, but still better than Ishant.

 

[dani2k]

India's strength is batting..I think MS wanted to try out his strong suite with a clean state - no pressure whatsoever.

Fingers crossed (with a prayer of course!) that this would work!

 

[proteyeah]

Pitch is said to be a bit slow on the first day and quicken up the next days. So maybe not a bad thing for India to bay first.

 

[Random Aussie]

Ishant over Yadav? Lol

 

[cricketjoshila]

Dhoni is a fool.Playing Ishant Sharma over Yadav is blasphamous.Pathetic decision!!!!!!!Someone save Indian cricket.

 

[Random Aussie]

Hmm there aren't many Indian players left to dislike now.

Oh wait there is still Zaheer

 

[Random Aussie]

Duminy at seven? That's a long batting line up

 

[Red Devil]

Players out on the field

 

[Aman]

Hmm there aren't many Indian players left to dislike now.

Oh wait there is still Zaheer

Are you joking?.. It was hard to dislike them before with gentlemen like Dravid, Sachin and VVS, now it's easy..

 

[mosh101]

Im sure India can find a better opener than this Vijay

 

[TM Riddle]

Why Ishant is playing and not BK????

 

[Aman]

BK not playing either...

 

[mosh101]

Nice shape from steyn straightaway

 

[Aman]

Must say I'm relived BK isn't playing, on his day he could have easily nicked off 2-3 early.

 

[mosh101]

BK being treated like JK

 

[TM Riddle]

Movement from the first ball . this is gonna be interesting

 

[battler]

Great shape from steyn first up!

 

[mosh101]

Vicious swing on that second delivery

 

[TM Riddle]

Vijay is not gonna last more on this green track

 

[Xoib]

surprised Sa have not gone with a raging seamer in the first test. Btw I rate the young Indian bats and think they will hold their own in this series after poor odi series.

 

[TM Riddle]

:4 Vijay

 

[mosh101]

Solid punch from vijay

That'll rev up steyn

 

[battler]

by vijay

 

[TM Riddle]

beautifuly executed shot

 

[proteyeah]

S.A will want to roll India for less than 300. Looks a decent wicket to bat on.

 

[Random Aussie]

Tuk tuk putting pressure on the other batsmen #misbahmemes