Cricket: Preview Ind Vs Eng Third test

A quick scribble and scramble at writing a post, for preview of the third test, between India and England at Leeds.

NZ vs India.

India’s away tour tend to start with a sombre note. India was to play six test matches across two series and two different opponents, may be three if you add rain. For many fans, like fans of Indian cricket since the 90s India, common wish was to play the first test at the end. Doesn’t happen.

India’s first test in this tour was against England. Rain played its part, India did well, but unexpectedly fell apart at crucial juncture. New Zealand first winner of World Test Championship. Indian team subsequently proved why they were there in the final.

While NZ had practise matches in form of playing against England in two test matches. Perfect ideal preparation for the final. NZ did well against England and probably primed against India. Team India, however, did well against a side match at best. The good or bad of it, India was now well placed, to do well, since they were not playing the first test on the tour.

First Test, India vs England in Nottingham.

England won the toss and elected to bat first. Burmrah & Co got their radar right. Root top scored with 64. Bumrah claimed 4 in the first innings. Indian reply started cautiously and first wicket fell on 97, then three more wickets fell for 8 runs, Che, King, Jinx scored 9 runs between them. India was in a spot of bother. Rahul and Pant and then every consistent Sir Jadeja, farmed the strike, the tail wagged and Indian could get a very healthy lead. Opening stand of 97 and lead of 95 was cause of minor celebration.

England replied well. A very measured and a solid 100 from Joe Root, meanwhile other batsman contributed but didn’t carry on to support root well. Indian bowling kept plugging and Bumrah once again among the wickets, claimed 9 wickets in the match.

India response began well, Rain took the final call on the match. India drew a match which was probably there for their taking. Not to be as something better was instore.

Second test, at The Lords.

England won the toss again. Lords wasn’t a typical English pitch; weather was the typical English weather. Root elected to field, knowing prowess of English batting and incisiveness of Indian quartet. Rahul and Rohit again started cautiously. Indian openers this time compiled an opening stand of 126 before Rohit did Rohit things. A wobble followed before Rahul and Kohli stirred the ship some what however, England prized out last 8 Indian wickets for 97.

English response started with English openers, were claimed by Indian bowling. Root and Bairstow had a very good century stand. Ishant Sharma and Siraj claiming wickets, last 5 English wickets for 50 runs and England with a decent lead of 27 runs. They had the best of batting conditions, Indian bowlers tried hard but not with much luck. England lacked depth to bat India out of the game scoring 3 an over after batting nearly 130 overs. Root with superlative 180 not out. Other batsman contributed to 178, extras from Indian bowlers were fourth highest contribution of 33.

India started tentatively and English bowling with its tail up reduced Indian to 55/3. England were probably two more wickets a way of getting into the lower order. Then probably first of the two important partnerships start to persevere and resist the English attack. In the second session, Rahane and Che batted 28 overs for 49 runs. Che did what Che does, runs were a trickle of singles and two and odd boundary in each spell. They had a 100-run partnership grinding English bowlers for 50 overs. One wicket gets two in test match, India lost 3 more wickets for 20 runs. Ending the day 181/6.

The game was pretty much in the balance, when the day five started. England got Pant caught behind. Then England bowlers went bonkers, broke the Bro code of fast bowlers. Indian lower order batsman, Shami and Bumrah meanwhile, resisted and perhaps put the second crucial partnership of 89. Shami with a 56 not out and Bumrah with 34 not out. The words were flying everywhere, lot of drama and no sign of declaration from Kohli. The tide had turned and English plans to bounce out the Indian lower order failed. The momentum was with India. A few more hits after lunch and Indian declaration were no short of drama, the finale to which started after Indian declaration. Anderson sent wicket less in this inning.

England team, led by Anderson had stupidly tried to get under India lower order, perhaps not releasing, they would be the first one to open the bowling when England came to bat. Bumrah claimed Burns, Shami claimed Sibley, score board read 2 for 1, familiar score when Indian team use to tour abroad but not when we were bowling. Root again playing his own game perhaps on his own pitch looked set and kept Indian bowling at bay. Inspired change by Kohli, to bring Ishant, who claimed Hameed and then Bairstow at stroke of lunch. England 67/4 and seemingly ready to implode. Root was the wicket immediately after lunch. Then again Kohli got Siraj in to the bowling, who claimed Moeen and Curran in consecutive balls. India were now 3 wickets away, while England had to bat out 22 overs. Bumrah the magician bowled couple of short pitched balls at Robinson, got him on the backfoot and then delivered an off cutter, that was hitting the stumps, Eight down.

Siraj continue and claimed Butler and Anderson and perhaps in a dream spell of bowling lead Indian team to a dream win at Lords.

Third Test Leeds.

The third test starts tomorrow 23 August at Leads. England would want to pull one back and may be forced to make at least two changes. Indian would want to continue the winning ways with a winning combination. Obviously, the team selection from Kohli would be a talking point. However, the selection of XI of Indian men’s team hardly meets consensus. So far in the series, some of us would have to grudgingly concede, Kohli has made the right calls and everyone of his playing XI have stood up at very different times and defended when required and attacked whenever they could. Indian bowling on current form is definitely Indian team’s stronger suit.

Today Indian team also celebrates 1971 win at Oval, beating England in England.

Indian Test cricket fans, are witnessing, something we wished for a very long time. There are lot of factors both cricketing and non-cricketing, that ensure Indian Teams keep playing very solid game of attrition with the bat and attacking bowling. Interesting times ahead, that’s definitely assured.

Cricket : Ind Vs Eng Preview

I am a great fan of Ian Chappell as a commentator and what he writes at Cricinfo. As he often remarks, “Team starts taking character of the Captain.” Kohli is now in the helm of affair of the team, he has been now for last few years and nearly 30 tests or more. Kohli’s performance need a double take, in a sense that Kohli the batsman has been marvellous in all forms of the game. The nature of his game doesn’t change too much though at first instance across the 2.5 formats of the game that may seemingly demand different techniques, Kohli like all other batsmen of his calibre/ experience/performance don’t show much change in technique or quality of stroke play. Kohli, Root, Williamson, Smith are in the same league as batsman. Root and Williamson are more copy book, Kohli seems to have technique of his own and fitness of a superman. Smith is most unconventional of them all and seems to have huge mental reserves for long innings which may or may not result into occasional brain fades.

However if Kohli’s mantle as a captain is to be compared with Kohli the batsman, stark differences tend to emerge. Shot selection vs team selection for example. Dhoni used to set the template in the play, Kohli plays by set templates. At home when DaOne, Vijay are more composed and Che is averaging close to Kohli, Ash is taking wickets at 23 and Sir at 20, things look very rosy as visiting teams find themselves between the anvil of huge scores and spinners in total control.

This is not where the picture ends. Captaining at home is the lesser devil between the two as opposed to captaining away. Indians don’t seem to travel well, at least that’s the notion. But considering how SAf have been spun and dusted in SL is for all to see. It is kinda embarrassing. ICC will have to step in at some point and make sure home advantage isn’t one beyond reach of visiting teams. It is not only to do with the toss but also the schedule of a test tour.

There seems to be sense of inflexibility and great amount of risk with Kohli’s team selection. In SAf, sticking with Sharmaji who averages 11 in all test match vs South Africa and not having Jinx in the playing Xi who averages 52 against SAF till then. Then dropping Bhuvi in the second test and persisting with Sharmaji, costed us the series, even though in first two matches there were instances that India could have pulled it their way but it was not to be. Philander was taking wickets in heaps at the average of 16. Rabada and Ngidi chipped in. There could be more inexplicable decision taken while on the field of play.

I fear a similar trend in team selection, even if selectors have reduced the risk of Sharma ji by not keeping him in the squad. Ideally, my Playing XI would be : Vijay, KL, Jinx, Che, Kohli, Karthik, Ash, Pandya, Ishant, Shami, Kuldeep. I would prefer in the very batting order. Kohli likes playing with 5 bowlers and he has resources to do that. Hardik, is still learning the tricks, but he is a decent fielder, has a good habit of taking wickets, Ash brings in experience. Sir because simple to keep Anderson on the boil at some point in time during the series. This may be slightly meaning less exercise, I mean suggest my team / batting order. It will be interesting to see what team is selected and what the batting order is and how the team fares through the fifteen sessions of each test. Then there is this English weather which would show up more than a spectator in the series.

Bhuvi has taken a role well of the spear head in SAf, Bumrah aslo chipped in with wickets. Shami is an expert second and fourth innings bowler. However, three of these two are injured. Ideally, Kohli in the 3 ODI series, should have gone ahead with Jinx, Ash, Sir, DK, Ishant playing all possible matches. There is nothing like actual match practice. India does have one county game but I guess that’s not enough if one looks at five test match series.

The onus apart from Kohli is on Che and Jinx. More on Jinx though, one of the fewer batsman after Dravid to score better in away tests than at home. I am not sure if it is form (read fitness) or what, Che and Jinx hopefully put their hand up and simply score big runs through the series. Anderson and Broad are so good in English condition, once they are out of the attack, fourth and fifth bowlers can be scored off. KL Rahul is also primed to score big runs. Indian fielding specifically close in catch has to be spot on. Hopefully they convert half chances. A five test match series would be a big one for India’s to play especially away from home.

English resistance will be offered by Cook and Joe Root. I am not sure if Hales would play. He is a treat to watch. Stokes, Anderson, and Broad provide a stiff test of Indian batsman. The jury is out if Abdul Rashid will play. He did his bit in ODI matches. Rashid would lend some variety to the English attack.

	overall			home			away			vs england			in eng			away since 2015
Name	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg
Bhuvi	21	63	26.09	11	27	26.22	10	36	26	6	20	28.3	5	19	26.63	4	16	16.37
Sir	36	171	23.11	26	137	19.7	10	34	36.82	10	38	31.81	4	9	46.66	3	16	26.31
Ishant	82	238	35.52	33	84	33.59	49	154	36.58	12	38	36.84	7	25	40	9	29	24.44
Ash	58	316	25.34	36	225	22.79	22	95	31.67	11	45	37.44	2	3	33.66	12	62	23.04
Shami	30	110	28.9	10	38	24.89	20	72	31.02	6	15	41.2	3	15	73.2	10	36	19.91
Umesh	37	103	34.94	22	62	30.2	15	41	42	6	12	45.66	Not App	Not App	Not App	7	16	36.12

Batting	overall			home			away			vs england			in eng			away since 2015
Name	matches	avg	runs	matches	avg	runs	matches	avg	runs	matches	avg	runs	matches	avg	runs	matches	avg	runs
DaOne	30	43.93	2153	11	44.37	710	19	43.72	1443	3	20.3	122	3	20.3	122	16	46.28	1157
M Vijay	57	40.69	3907	30	47	2257	27	34.37	1650	10	42.16	759	5	40.2	402	6	21.22	191
KL	24	40.86	1512	12	47.11	848	12	34.94	664	3	58.25	233	Not App	Not App	Not App	10	35.6	1382
Jinx	45	43.17	2893	20	32.87	1019	25	52.05	1874	8	25.85	362	5	33.22	332	30	40.9	1718
Che	58	50.34	4531	34	62.42	3121	24	35.25	35.25	14	46.13	1061	5	22.2	222	10	47.38	616
Kohli	66	53.4	5554	32	63.5	2921	34	45.39	2633	14	44.4	977	5	13.4	134	13	49	931
Ash	58	30.46	2163	36	30.25	1210	22	30.74	953	11	35.5	91	2	35.33	106	12	32.41	551

	overall			home			away			vs India			Vs India in Eng			home since 2015
	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg	matches	wickets	avg
Ali	50	133	40.68	28	82	33.47	19	42	53.04	10	29	37.44	5	19	23	37	92	43.35
Broad	118	417	28.89	66	259	26.93	46	138	33.45	15	54	24.48	9	44	17.19
Anderson	138	540	29.23	78	344	24.15	54	174	34.15	22	86	281.17	12	60	25.88	16	85	14.61

 

Cricket: Aus vs Ind

India Australia test series starts on 23 Feb 2017. India Aus was perhaps the top of the table clashes, India vs Pak and The Ashes aside. Australia has always looked to be competent balance team and for most times seems always a top competitive team. The billing fits as Aus teams invariably seem to turned around a bad patch that they face as a team – for a long time the never lost the ashes for example. Aus vs Ind saw perhaps the best individual performances from either side specially their bowlers – Starc, Johnson, Lee, McGrath Warne, Lille against our batsmen Kohli/Rahane, Tendulkar / Laxman /Dravid, Sandeep Patil/Sunny G/ G Vishwanath to the days of antiquity of Vijays – Hazare and Merchant.

Also our bowlers Ashwin, Bhajji, Kumble, Kapil, Bedi, Jasu Patel, Subash Gupte (best leggie that Sir Sobers faced) vs Warner/Smith/Clarke, Ponting/Waughs/Hayden, Border/Boon Harvey. So there is lot of top talent in display. Aus has had better of India in Aus, sometimes to do with the bogus umpiring that we traditionally see in at least one instance in Aus. However, this series will see, Aus vs Ind in non-traditional centres like Pune, Ranchi and Dharamshala along with Bangalore (traditional venue).

Australia looking to get their act together.

I hope Australia have done their home-work. They got Brown washed in their previous tour. Dhoni set it up with a double at the Chepauk, Chennai rest seemed as easy as completing the formalities. This series too like previous series Aus vs Ind series over the years will see some individual brilliance at display. The list of head to head series is here.

Aussies were found wanting, against Abbot, Rabada and Philander in on Aussie wickets in their home series against SAf. It was amazing how Aus collapsed throughout the series. The Aus batsman now have their task and tusks both cut out. If their previous tour to SL is anything to go by. The Aus batsman looked like they were marooned on a lonely island, doing every basic wrong against playing spin. I hope they have learnt their lessons as Ashwin and Jadeja are already on top of their bowling mark ready to pose questions and invite that expensive drive.

Smith is the key here, not because he is the captain. He is in rich form. Root, Smith, Kohli, Williamson the fab four, Warner, ABD, Faf very close on their heels. Smith and Kohli are perhaps fighting more than one battle, they are their team’s top bats in form, both would be playing number three, both are captain of their sides. It’s the number one contest for this series. Smith averages 58 for all away matches. It will be interesting what batting line up Aus come up with. For me it should be Maxwell, Warner, Smith, Handscomb, Khawaja, Wade, Starc, Lyon, Bird among others.

Number three is the key position here. Smith wouldn’t want to start shepherding the tail for too long. It will be interesting how the seamers cope up. Aus batsman would be itching to play seam bowlers. Indian seamers on Indian pitches, well they deserve to bowl three spells in the day but right now don’t think they inspire that much confidence now.

Old School test match play by India.

The last two test matches in the test series against England were a typical old school test match batting they kept-on batting for sessions on an end and wear down the English bowlers and keep chipping away tall English scores and then kept consolidating. Virat came up with big hundreds and the tail wagged like we had not seen in past couple of seasons at least. They batted with big chunky partnerships and when the elements had commanded the pitch the spinners just ran through the side. A test match tactic and this recipe prevails in our conditions. Bowlers take 20 wickets but need batsman to provide enough cushion.

Kohli is now gold standard for modern day test match craftsmanship. He is at peak fitness. It’s time we say form is temporary, class is permanent, fitness is paramount. For all the power, timing, capability, he keeps ball on the ground, don’t think he has hit many sixes, lot of singles and t. If I were in Indian team I would want my fitness to be like 90% of Kohli’s fitness for at least one series, if I would do that may be I would score 75% of his tonnes of runs. Let the headlines of the series be when Kohli doesn’t make runs. Other key thing I found out, at home against Aus, Vijay averages 62 and Pujara a mighty 70. Vijay and Pujara had very good series against England, but hopefully this second season of 2016/17 perhaps sees them in over drive. Rahane needs to get back to groove soon and score big.

I wonder if Kohli would change the batting order. I like to See, Vijay, Rahul, Jinx, Che, Kohli in that order. It gives Kohli time to take freshen up before he comes out to bat again. Smith must defend using Lyon and attack with seamers, Hazelwood and Starc were awesome in SL. They will keep their good work. The issue that has crept in on Indian batsmen is vulnerability against off spin bowling. Aus traditionally have had that and English team always had an off spinner with them. There is this big opportunity for Aus spinners to chase Indian wickets. Another disturbing point is though India’s ground fielding has improved by and large, India’s close in catching doesn’t inspire that much confidence, although, Vijay, Rahane, KL Rahul and Kohli are brilliant, but for this long season of 9 test matches didn’t exactly made you say Wow, awesome catching. I hope they catch most things coming their way.

One must also discount various verbal exchanges etc. which I presume is to add to viewership and nothing else. I hope it would be a very fun series to follow some high-quality cricket.

As for some number crunching.

I have excluded career averages, just focused on how listed players have fared. For Indian players it includes, how they have fared at home through the career, how they have fared vs Aus in Aus and India, how they have fared vs Aus in India and their performances for at home in last two years. For Aus players its performances away from home (since they are playing here in India).

Sorry for the poor graphics.

Numbers from India batting perspective

Numbers from India bowling perspective

Numbers from Aus batting perspective

Numbers from Aus bowling perspective

 

Cricket: Tale of futile win.

Twists and turn in Mohali

It was a third day pitch, the match ended on the third day. Among many twists and turn 201 was the highest score for the match. Ashwin, Jadeja getting fiferes, Mishra getting ABD bowled both times. Murali Vijay the stand out Indian batsman on both sides. Pujara corrected his first innings mistakes.

SAf may be feeling desolate after this test. But these kinds of turning pitches (dust bowls) are as expected as green top pitches in PE or Durban or anywhere we are likely to travel. Every team prepares test pitches at home to their advantage and negate everything the tourists may come up with. It throws up interesting contests at least on paper. Dhoni once asked why should only seaming pitches be sporting wickets?

The toss, the Pitch and other variables.

The toss and the pitch cannot be the only things people on stadium, TV sets and mobile sets should be watching. The toss and the pitch should be the key ingredients of the match and not the only dishes served. The discussion on pitches will continue it is not the first test or last test which the pitch has been a centre of discussion. My grouse though is the combination on pitch and our batting performance.

As much as the pitch looked vulnerable to spin, it deceived many. Some crucial dismissals on what were regular deliveries, one may face during warm ups resulted in some of the 40 dismissal. Some were ranks casual shots, some rub of the green but very few where pitch misbehaved and left batsmen exposed to elements.

Those were the good about the pitch.

Now the grouse.

I don’t think we are likely to look back at this Mohali test against SAf and set it as defining test for Class of 2015. The Class of 2015, is where Kohli leads Rahane, Che, Ashwin, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Ishant, Dhawan, MVijay. All of these have huge shoes to fill, if they persist, they have greatness that beacons them. This kinda pitch doesn’t help the batsmen, doesn’t help the spinners, doesn’t help the seamers, doesnt help the team in long term, doesn’t help the TV producers, the BCCI or cricket hungry people buying passes for five days. In short it doesn’t help anyone.

How it doesn’t help anyone?

Indians travel badly. Indian batsmen often get found out, lack of skill, technique, temperaments and gumption. The failure of batsmen is very telling. The thing that goes unnoticed if not untold is how poorly our bowlers bowl abroad. When was the last test you remember when bowlers bowled inspiring spells, in the test match abroad and won us a game. I remember only four. Starting from the earliest, Ishant at Lords, Sreesanth (don’t slap me) at Durban, Bhajji at POS, Kapil Dev at MCG (bowling on one leg).  These are four test in 25 years. What does it tell?

Our spin bowlers get too used to pitches where they know they can get basketful of wickets with one third skills.  They tend to loosen the sharpness the guile, the body into the action, the cunningness to induce a false stroke or lure batsmen into deception by guile. As a result the most potent weapon at home, is rendered useless as soon as Indian team lands abroad especially outside subcontinent as pitches there are less responsive to spin that they bowl. Also off late like of Moeen Ali, Herath, Lyon has stumped Indian batsmen on their pitches of what is regulation bat ball game. Too much complacency has crept in.

Meanwhile, the seamers don’t seem to have a clue at what pace, length, lines to bowl when playing abroad. They are not used to bowling long spells. The ball used abroad is a different, so reverse swing, which is hard to master rendered useless. They don’t seem to be match fit. As a result, we are without a wheel on the cart and when batting fails the embarrassment to fans is unrelenting and unlimited. It’s like going to fight for life, with one hand tied, one leg broken, one eye blinded and one ear pulled out.

India hasn’t leveraged it IPL standing to get bowlers a county contract or first class matches in Australia, SAf etc.  I mean why doesn’t BCCI say to SAf/Aus./ECB/NZ etc., that for every 5 players that get bids in IPL, one bowlers plays tree seasons of first class cricket in that country? I mean BCCI can afford to pay for these players. Also many of these bowlers are with perhaps all the best bowlers in modern day during two months of IPL still don’t pick up a thing or two to get better. Criminal waste of time and money.

What’s true for the bowlers is also true for the batsmen. Even more. It must be ensured that all the contract players in especially in the B and C category, must be somehow/anyhow made to play first class matches in Eng/Aus/SAf/NZ even if it means playing first division. The target for batsmen should be batting 100-120 overs of every first inning in the test they play abroad.

The pitches firstly have to be the ones, that last five days, give something to everyone, challenge that batsman to score and bowlers to take wickets.

Also you have the option of making pitches of first three matches that help us, and loose half a string for the fourth test and cheer opposition bowler up. The best chances for our batsmen and bowlers to test their skills too and get use to the feel.

Kohli and Amla made similar mistakes.

Kohli and Amla both made similar mistakes, with respect to selection, batting  order, their dismissals. Kohli probably made two mistakes fewer than Amla. SAf didn’t have all the players available for selection. Kohli and Amla both botched up the batting order. Kohli should have played Bhuvi for Yadav. Amla could have played a batsman more, assuming Elgar bowling was always on the cards. Amla and Kohli both were dismissed in both the innings playing uncharacteristic shots. Kohli was out dismissed playing across the line in the first innings and second time round another soft dismissal, no reaching the pitch of the ball, a feeble edge and caught keeper. Amla had equally shocking decision, first he dance down the wicket, got stumped, Ashwin with the tail up. Second time around he shouldered arms to a Jadeja delivery aimed at middle of middle and stump. Amla should have opened the innings. Kohli should avoid doing a Tendulkar of having to bat at number four. He should be batting at five for better balance and also is there are early wickets Kohli will have to bail them out. Also he should cut down on his very wide stance, doesn’t help him when facing fast bowlers on seaming tracks. MVijay, Rahul, Rahane, Che, Kohli, Jadeja, Ashwin, Mishra should be the batting order for next test.

Dhawan though coming of a century in a first class game bagged a pair. He should be dropped ASAP. Not sure Rohit would make it to eleven. Naman Ojha should be in place of insipid Saha. Ishant would be back to playing Eleven. The number of changes in the Indian team will be noteworthy.

Amla stung by lack of availability of Duminy and Morkle before the toss and Steyn getting injured didn’t help matters. He can take a lot for credit of running India close. If Morkle and Duminy are available and Styen is also there will be more competitive side. Elgar and Amla should have opened. Van Zyl One down, ABD should be batting at four, Du Plesiss follow him and then rest can bat around him.

Mishra needs to get sharper mentally. He got ABD both times, that’s not alone is not far behind Fiffers from Ashwin in first innings and Jadeja in the second innings. Murali Vijay also kept his head down in both the innings and kept chipping away. Che did it well in the second innings. MVijay should have been the man of the match.

The next test in Bangalore. South Africa is expected to give a more spirited performances if they have all the players available for selection.

India won this futile test by 108 runs.

Cricket: SAf vs India Test Preview

South Africa vs. India test series starts on 5 Nov, in Mohali. South Africa has already won T20 and ODI series. The SAfs side will be a touch more confident. SAfs have always done well against India, when they have hosted us and have done well against India in India. SAfs discipline, even though apparent weakness against spin, they have managed to match India and better us in perseverance. The various reasons why SAf start favourite is, balanced bowling and batting line up experienced team, seem to be in better form as evident in Limited overs matches. They have done well in the past against India. India has more than its share of woes going into this test series. Kohl’s captaincy, form, leadership capabilities all will test decisively. They have a big opportunity to come together and upset the South African juggernaut.

South Africa is dependable, formidable and impregnable.

SAf have always travelled well to India. His time around, they have three captains in three different formats. Hashim Amla is captain of the test side. He is due for runs, BIG runs. He is tuned to playing spin. He has scored some big runs against India previously. His form or lack of it in many ways would decide the fortunes fro SAf in this series. He leads a more settled side compared to Kohli, DuDes – Du Plessis and DeVillers, along with Duminy form the core of the batting. Morkel, Steyn, Tahir, Philander will form the core. Rabada should get a look in hopefully.

SAfs bats are used to Indian pitches and bowling styles. The pitches will spin as it should, India should play to its strengths. But Ashwin was out injured, Mishras performances will be impacted by off the field events, Ishant is out of first test, is probably on the sidelines mimicking Nana Patekar. As the series goes on it will get cooler, way cooler when they play ODIs something that will suit SAf a little more. Morning, dew and local weather will assists swing in the first session and reverse swing in the last session.

Steyn, Morkel & Co should hypothetically look forward to bowling. Yes they should. India is not a graveyard for bowlers. I agree the pitches are abrasive, the bounce is indifferent. But Styen & Co exactly know to exploit these conditions. They may not always won’t to go full steam at the start of the day. Bowl indifferent length, scrambled seam, reverse swing, slower deliveries. Point is bowl in exactly the manner you wouldn’t bowl in SAf or English conditions.One of the more feared bowling displays was when Styen just blew Indian batting apart at Jamatha, VCA Nagpur, bowling exactly the way described in previous paragraph. Tahir will be a defensive role and Amla will keep rotating seamers from other end. Duminy for a change up (if he plays).

Thaali full of woes.

India won their last series against Lanka in Lanka. Kohli meanwhile would go into test with a thaali full of woes. Ishant is out for first test, Ashwin coming into this test after being injured for ODI, Shammi making a comeback of sorts, Bhuvi has lost his touch and swing. Mishra is caught up with incidences off the park. Batting and bowling both seem to be a puzzle too confusing to put together. Three openers, he can select only two, Che hit a fine century last time he played. Kohli’s own form not quiet he wants to be. It is not a horrid patch, He is probable one knock away, may be a session away. It will be interesting where he will choose to bat. Vijay, Dhawan/Rahul, Rahane, Che, Kohli, Naman Ojha, Ashwin, Jadeja, Bhuvi, Mishra/Bonny, Shammi. I think Remit would get a look in. I have just one SUGGESTION for him, Is he comes to bat 10-20 deliveries before a break and Steyn is bowling, he should not attempt a drive on the off side.

Man to man, SAf points of strength are exactly India’s point of woes. Series may boil down to who scores more between Amla and Kohli.