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

[mosh101]

I dont know why but I see a Professor in Vijay

 

[RamLakhan]

India should have gone with 5 bowlers (maybe additional spinner) in place of Rahane.... 1 extra batsman doesn't make up for batting collapse. Rahane is not a Ganguly or Laxman for not to be out of a Playing XI

India's best chance is/was to attack.... 4 bowlers will get exhausted in these conditions. South Africa invariably have a chance to score 400+ or 500+ against this bowling line up. With 5 bowlers, India would have got a chance to get that breakthrough and restrict them below 300/350 at least 1 out of 3 innings. That would have given them chance to attack through their batting.

One batsman (Rahane) who might average well below 30 in this series will cost heavily for India (a bowler who could restrict 100 to 150 runs)

 

[Xoib]

Philander will test Dhawan.

 

[mosh101]

Rahane batting avg of 4.00 haha

I absolutely loved this guy in IPL ! Hasnt made an impact at international level ! But good to see India putting faith in him !

 

[Xoib]

Rahane batting avg of 4.00 haha

I absolutely loved this guy in IPL ! Hasnt made an impact at international level ! But good to see India putting faith in him !

played one test tbf.

 

[Sandeep]

Lambs to the slaughter

 

[Xoib]

Indian openers have already outshown Hafeez.

 

[Xoib]

I dont know why but I see a Professor in Vijay

did you see the check drive by Vijay Hafeez can only play that stroke in his dream more often then not he overcommits and nicks it behind or gets LB./

 

[Asif321]

india looking good

 

[Aman]

Steyn needs to get them playing, atm they're leaving well.

 

[Aman]

Vijay is not gonna last more on this green track

This isn't a green wicket

 

[Smbhayi]

India Just need to hang 20-25 overs with out losing any wicket.. Then it'll be all easy for India..

 

[Red Devil]

So far so good for India

 

[Energetic]

lol No crowd. Nobody wants to see minnows like India.

 

[Robbie]

In be4 india suffers a batting collapse

 

[battler]

This isn't a green wicket

It is!!did u even see the grass cover?

 

[Xoib]

This isn't a green wicket

yeah it looks a good track if India survives the first session we could be in for a treat.

 

[Aman]

SA's boycotting this series? Poor turnout.

 

[Aman]

It is!!did u even see the grass cover?

It's just that cover, it will only be difficult for the first hour after that it should get easier.

 

[proteyeah]

SA's boycotting this series? Poor turnout.

Anyone that is not working has gone to the coast for the summer holidays. I'll be there over the weekend.

 

[Aman]

Steyn making Dhawan look like a tailender

 

[Robbie]

No one wants to see test cricket. ODIs had decent turn out.

 

[maddgenius]

Solid start by India

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[HASHAM2]

Not Much Swing
Indian Openers Looking Solid

Steyn and Veron not Looking as Dangerous as We expect

Morkel is Bowler for this Pitch

 

[Aman]

Vijay looking the better of the two openers.

 

[proteyeah]

No one wants to see test cricket. ODIs had decent turn out.

Actually there's more interest in Test cricket. As I said had this been at the coast there would be a full house.

 

[Robbie]

Good pace and bounce on this pitch.

 

[Energetic]

Lovely atmosphere for the 2 top ranked teams.

 

[Jo_Don]

No one wants to see test cricket. ODIs had decent turn out.

Weekday, people at work...

 

[Robbie]

Steyn finding some decent swing. Beauttyyy!

 

[Aman]

Mamoon has a point, Steyn does get predictable with his outswingers..

 

[HASHAM2]

Morkel should Replace Veron Now

 

[Aman]

Needs to mix it up with some inswingers to knock over the stumps.

 

[Robbie]

Vijay should look for singles here otherwise he's a dead duck.

 

[Aman]

Indian openers have started well.

 

[jusarrived]

Vijay should look for singles here otherwise he's a dead duck.

Hes looked far more assured than Dhawan

 

[OZGOD]

Been a good start for the Indians so far. Very measured and look pretty comfortable at the crease.

 

[OZGOD]

This isn't a green wicket

I'm not sure why anyone who has seen matches at the Wanderers ever thought it was. The Wanderers is usually more about the bounce.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Poor crowd turn out even though it's WED

Watching Steyn n Morkel rip through the opposition is more fun to watching Kallis/ Alviro grinding centuries ...

 

[style_guru]

So India has just crossed the first hurdle:- Crossed the 10 runs mark without any casualty

 

[Energetic]

Weekday, people at work...

Excuses! even on weekdays England grounds are still packed. Come to think of it, most SA crowd are from the small communities of SA. Majority of South Africans don't like Cricket and prefer Football and Rugby.

 

[IndianWillow]

SA do struggle with the old ball, as we saw during the SA-Pak series. If India can survive 20 overs without loosing wkts, they can put up a fight. It is habitual for India to be 3/30 after 15 overs in SA - if they can avoid this then they are in with a chance.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Can we survive 1 more hour

 

[OZGOD]

Poor crowd turn out even though it's WED

Watching Steyn n Morkel rip through the opposition is more fun to watching Kallis/ Alviro grinding centuries ...

Well it's the start of play on a workday.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Excuses! even on weekdays England grounds are still packed. Come to think of it, most SA crowd are from the small communities of SA. Majority of South Africans don't like Cricket and prefer Football and Rugby.

SA economy isn't doing well but apart from that cricket is the 3rd major sport after Rugby and football

 

[Random Aussie]

SA don't go to the Tests, don't know why anyone is surprised

 

[Aman]

Shastri on... time to mute commentary.

 

[starbuck]

Dhawan playing like raina

 

[Aman]

SA don't go to the Tests, don't know why anyone is surprised

You should see the crowds they get for Super Rugby games

70,000+

 

[chaiwala]

Duck Dhawan...stop playing at it

 

[battler]

Very very poor from dhawan

 

[chaiwala]

Duck Dhawan...stop playing at it

Now he's out.

So silly. Just needed to duck under it or leave it.

 

[NZcricketfan]

Serious weakness against the short ball

 

[ads101]

Probably would have played Jadeja over Ashwin. Jadeja for me is the better bowler in away conditions I think, and probably a better bat (despite Aswhin's better stats in test cricket, I think Jadeja is a more capable batsman and would succeed in away conditions better). And of course Jadeja's the better fielder.

Know statistically, Ashwin might be better, but in SA conditions I'd have picked Jadeja over him.

 

[OZGOD]

Moronic shot from Dhawan after he had put in the hard work. Couldn't hack the bounce again.

 

[starbuck]

Crap shot by Dhawan

 

[Sandeep]

Embarrassing batting..

 

[Azlan Khan]

Over-rated. Home track bully! #Dhawan

 

[Robbie]

) why am i laughing at this?

 

[ads101]

Dhawan out, but was just a matter of time.

Vijay's looking better than him.

 

[Aman]

FTB goes.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Pujara time ..... 8 more overs before the shine goes off ... fingers crossed

 

[OZGOD]

Dhawan's average is going to go down from the 81 it is right now if he keeps playing those shots overseas.

 

[OZGOD]

Dhawan is going to be getting a lot of chin music overseas from now on I reckon

 

[ads101]

Dhawan's just the new version of Sehwag. A very useful test player, especially at home. But always gonna find wanting in places such as SA I think. Still Sehwag was a great, so if Dhawan can become anywhere near the player of Sehwag, he's gonna win India at lot of games, especially in the subcontinent.

 

[Sandeep]

Will we cross 50? Dhawan's shot suggests we won't..

 

[Aman]

Mitchell Johnson would eat Dhawan alive.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Dhawan's average is going to go down from the 81 it is right now if he keeps playing those shots overseas.

He is actually a good puller ... didn't click this series so far ... played them well in ENG during CT (against a white ball)

 

[jusarrived]

Gifted a good start ...steyn was finishing his spell ..just dumb

 

[Smbhayi]

Hey Dhawan.. What you do there..? Its a test match.. Not ODI/T20... You no need to pull if you not comfort that.. Poor show

 

[Sandeep]

Dhawan has it in him to score overseas. Needs to develop more temperament.

To be fair to him, he didn't have much practice in South Africa

 

[jusarrived]

He is actually a good puller ... didn't click this series so far ... played them well in ENG during CT (against a white ball)

Hes not a good puller

 

[Aman]

He is actually a good puller ... didn't click this series so far ... played them well in ENG during CT (against a white ball)

No he isn't, it's easy to pull in the SC because the ball hardly rises on you.

More often than not is dying by the time it gets to you.

 

[Robbie]

Come on that was his first innings overseas. Give him some time. Dont forget he was MOTS in ct 2013 in england. He will only get better from this.

 

[IndianWillow]

Dhawan's dismissal was coming anyway - he didn't look comfortable at all. He also struggled big time during the WI A tour.

 

[OZGOD]

Lovely atmosphere for the 2 top ranked teams.

LOL it's 11 in the morning in Japieland mate. Even the Ashes Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide were quiet first up. People need to rock up to work first before they knock off early.

 

[OZGOD]

Will we cross 50? Dhawan's shot suggests we won't..

If you can hang around for another half hour I think there are plenty of runs on this wicket. SA wickets generally have true bounce and there's not a lot of lateral movement early on. If they are patient they can cash in later in the day.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

Against SA in Cardiff he and Rohit were playing the pull and cut shots well ... agreed that it was an ODI but still that was a great partnership....

He has quick reflexes and does pull the ball well in general from so far what i have seen in domestic cricket

Anyways he's gone .... Pujara n VJ time

 

[Jo_Don]

Excuses! even on weekdays England grounds are still packed. Come to think of it, most SA crowd are from the small communities of SA. Majority of South Africans don't like Cricket and prefer Football and Rugby.

Some of us actually work for a living rather than live off state grants

 

[IndianWillow]

Come on that was his first innings overseas. Give him some time. Dont forget he was MOTS in ct 2013 in england. He will only get better from this.

ODI knocks are different from test knocks. May be Dhawan did not get enough practice, but SA bowlers are going to pepper him with the short stuff throughout the series now. And it appears they will succeed against him, more often than not!