***Official*** South Africa in India 2015

[Teja.]

Rahane has 217 runs @ 43.4 in 2013, 809 runs @ 44.9 in 2014 and 593 runs @ 45.6 in 2015 with a bunch of amazing innings littered around. The Laxman/Martyn trend is incredibly ominous.

I really hope he hones the art of playing a 'standard' test match innings where he at least applies himself and gets off to a start coming in at 135-3 on an average test wicket along with continuing in being the outlier in test innings once or twice a series because he has the talent to be the batsman of this generation.

 

[Arjun]

Meanwhile, Ishant's new-found form beginning with the New Zealand tour seems to have reversed- in three Tests he's played in this series, he's taken only one wicket, so suddenly, his figures beyond 2013 don't look so good. Could the BCCI's excessive emphasis on spin-friendly wickets have caused this?

 

[OverratedSanity]

Meanwhile, Ishant's new-found form beginning with the New Zealand tour seems to have reversed- in three Tests he's played in this series, he's taken only one wicket, so suddenly, his figures beyond 2013 don't look so good. Could the BCCI's excessive emphasis on spin-friendly wickets have caused this?

He's bowled perfectly well.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Ajinkya overrated Rahane gets 2 hundreds in 1 game in a series where more celebrated stars like Amla, Kohli, ABD, Pujara get none, and he's also the only centurion in the entire series. Wow.

 

[Howe_zat]

Bavuma fitting in with the team spirit I see

 

[Howe_zat]

Cue heave for six. Hope someone has a word about that. Can't have you scoring runs when the captain is 0(40)

 

[cnerd123]

That Vijay Manjrekar anecdote is brilliant lol

 

[Teja.]

Also,

Rahane day 3 coming in at 57-4 and Kohli batting aggressively - 52 of 152 balls (SR - 34.2)
Rahane day 4 with the intention to declare at 190/4 - 48 of 52 balls (SR - 92)

and it didn't even seem like he was taking any undue risks.

What a ****ing guy.

 

[CricAddict]

This is so good to watch. I love watching day 4 and day 5 in India.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Rohit Sharma in this series : 26 runs in 4 innings, Avg 6.5

Dale Steyn in this series - 8 runs in 2 innings, Avg 4.

At least Nohit levelled it with Steyn after Steyn had outscored him in the 2013 series.

 

[OverratedSanity]

My #SteynAverage Tracker didn't even have a chance to get going this series

It still stands at N/A

 

[wellAlbidarned]

this is as close as cricket gets to shooting fish in a barrel

 

[Howe_zat]

It's almost as though SA don't intend to chase this

 

[Black_Warrior]

I think South Africa is going about it the wrong way. They have barely batted for 2 sessions in this series, and trying to block out 2 days on Day 4 and 5 against Ashwin is just not feasible at this point. It's much better to try to make a statement by playing some shots, and if Amla or AB gets going, they can get to around 250-300 runs which would be a respectable total, something they have not achieved even once in this series.

 

[Hurricane]

I think South Africa is going about it the wrong way. They have barely batted for 2 sessions in this series, and trying to block out 2 days on Day 4 and 5 against Ashwin is just not feasible at this point. It's much better to try to make a statement by playing some shots, and if Amla or AB gets going, they can get to around 250-300 runs which would be a respectable total, something they have not achieved even once in this series.

I like teams who stonewall to try to draw, SA possibly the only team in the world who do it. They are through 30 overs 1 wicket down anyway.

 

[Howe_zat]

Interesting exercise in how many runs Amla can score entirely by accident.

 

[cnerd123]

Didn't anyone else catch how Bavuma steered one through gully off Ishant, prompting Ishant to take Rahane out of second slip and move him to gully, only for the next ball to be genuinely edged straight through the gap?

I lol'ed.

Here are the gifs:

 

[cnerd123]

Yesssss Ishant bowling short. Wouldn't be an Indian 4th innings bowling effort without it.

 

[cnerd123]

I think Bavuma and Amla are playing this perfectly tbh. No risks, no fuss. Both looking solid. Grind the Indian bowlers down and make them do something exceptional to take a wicket. Sensible batting.

 

[Hurricane]

I think Bavuma and Amla are playing this perfectly tbh. No risks, no fuss. Both looking solid. Grind the Indian bowlers down and make them do something exceptional to take a wicket. Sensible batting.

The blackcaps definitely and possibly Australia would attempt to chase this. England not so much.