if they lose you would have to blame the awful batting approach on day 4.

They came out more like a team trying to save the game rather than a team clearly in front.

Which was the mistake Eng committed at Adelaide, day 5.

yep although england's was even worse as they were even further ahead with only 1 day to play instead of 2.

All england needed was 1 session of normal batting and australia couldn't have won.

quote:

Originally posted by please:
if they lose you would have to blame the awful batting approach on day 4.

They came out more like a team trying to save the game rather than a team clearly in front.

It looked like india were palying for a draw from day 1.

Atleast facts don't ratify your statement.

India's run rate for their first innings was 3.15, while SA's was 2.90.

Not tooo difficult to see who was playing for draw, I guess.

Come off it. India were slow on day 1, every commentator was talking about it.

I don't think with the form Indian batting was in, they'd've anyway hesitated to take the score of 3/254 before the start of play on the first day, moreso after debacle in Durban.

I agree they were definitely slow on the first day, but considering their horrible batting form on this entire tour, I don't think they'd've been much disappointed from their efforts after day 1.

so thats that - a bridge too far for our chokers. they just cant handle being ahead in a test match. credit to SA they fought harder and wanted it more

Pathetic for India to throw away a 1-0 lead like that. You really have to blame the 2nd innings batting in this test. To watch Tendulkar batting like he did against a stock left armer bowling into the rough was painful.

it was always on the cards - the first test win was as good as it was going to get and the players probably knew that deep down hence the ott celebrations

quote:

Originally posted by Surender Goel:
Atleast facts don't ratify your statement.

India's run rate for their first innings was 3.15, while SA's was 2.90.

Not tooo difficult to see who was playing for draw, I guess.

So South Africa should regard the win as a failure?

more a case of re-creating history

quote:

Originally posted by Dwayne W II:
Pathetic for India to throw away a 1-0 lead like that. You really have to blame the 2nd innings batting in this test. To watch Tendulkar batting like he did against a stock left armer bowling into the rough was painful.

Particularly when you think back to how much dedication SRT put into dealing with Warnie in the 2001 series (weeks of net practice with leggies with scuffed-up leg-side rough). SRT is clearly a shadow of the player he was then.

His record is worse vs sla than leggies.

I think he's got out 9 or 10 times to them including 3 times to ray price of all people.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwayne W II:
Pathetic for India to throw away a 1-0 lead like that. You really have to blame the 2nd innings batting in this test. To watch Tendulkar batting like he did against a stock left armer bowling into the rough was painful.

Than that would not be the only precedent. Here's a bit of some history to choke on:

* India in West Indies 1997 - India lost the Barbados test to lose 1-0 after failing to score 120 batting last. This was widely precieved as a series we should have won.

* Pakistan in India 1999 - Kolkotta, the first Asian test Championship test, was widely percieved as the unofficial third test of the 2 test series that ended 1-1 at New Delhi. India bowling first started the Pakistani slide at 26/5 and went on to lose the test despite a first innings lead of a slender 38 runs.

* India in Zimbabwe 2001 - India lost the 2nd test leading 1-0 and drew the series 1-1. So technically India lost the tests 2-1.

* India in Sri Lanka 2002 - India and Lanka went into the 3rd test tied 1-1. India had a great opportunity to win the series from there despite lack of star players out to injuires. We lost 2-1 predictably.

* India again in West Indies 2002 - Lost the series 2-1 after getting a 1-0 lead.

* India in Aus 2004 - India got a 1-0 lead and then put in a position to win by an innings in the last test tied 1-1, they failed to make it 2-1.

* Pakistan in India 2005 - With India leading 1-0 in the last test, we spinelessly lost the last test batting negatively on the last test with Dravid, Laxman and Sachin the notable culprits. The tail batting with grit fell short of a paltry 6 overs at day end. Series tied 1-1 from what should have been a 1-0 win.

* India in Pakistan 2006 - Having fought off huge scoring draws in the flatest of the flat pitches in the first 2 tests, India like in Kolkotta 1999 started a Pakistani slide with Pakistan reeling at 36/6 and still lost the test in the end for a 1-0 defeat in what should have been a 1-0 win.

* England in India 2006 - Lets face it. How many teams in world cricket would tie a series 1-1 from a 1-0 lead against an England side with no Harmision, Vaughan, Tres and S. Jones from the Ashes winning squad? Again India should have won this series 2-0 but lost in the last test at Mumbai. Again the team could not bat out a draw on the last day and went out to 100 all out against the likes of Udal and Anderson.

* India in South Africa 2006 - Again the results are there to see. Couldn't bat out a draw at Durban for 50 overs, couldn't hold a 1-0 lead and couldn't turn a 1-1 result to 2-1 despite dominating the first 3 days of the last test.

The pattern above clearly shows one thing most clearly - WE ARE CHOKERS! India in all of the above went into the last test of a series [except Windies 1997 where the only test that ahd result was the one we lost from a winning position], with scores either 1-0 or 1-1. In quite a lot of those tests we had the momentum and good starts and yet we threw it away by 4th or 5th day. Call it the last test/last innings jinx or whatever, but fact is it's more a case of history re-created, history re-visited even and case of idiots NEVER learning from their past mistakes. We may have had some legenedary batters in our lineup over this period but one has to ask if they deserve to be caleld all time greats given their tendency to choke udner pressure matches.

Even supposedly on par teams like Lanka, Pak and NZ would have turned the results in at least 3-4 of the above 10 test series on it's head for a series win.

We are either making excuses for our bowling letting our good batting down, or for our batters to self destruct when the bowlers click. This particular Indian team irrespective of who captains it [Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly] will NEVER ever turn the corner. Thats because they miss out on the universal lesson - Tests are won or lost in the mind and usually on days 4-5. 1 failure, 2 failures, 3 failures and then an entire decade of the same results achieved in the same identical fashion. Like I said, I don't see this team turning the corner now so well past it's prime.

i would say that first dravid needs to b sackd as captain......the bad captaincy the entire year......the whole ganguly episode....the whole pathan thing.....droppng laxman in tests last year.....blindly playing sehwag....the munaf issue...........too many stupid questions from a captain lost and struggling.........the team is all disunited.....changes needed at the top b4 wold cup......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jaffr, srt and viru shud b droppd and made to play ranji 4 a year......!!!!!!!!!