South Africa v India, 2nd Test, Durban, December 26-30, 2010

Another spicy pitch on the first day, I reckon. South Africa will be unchanged.

India SHOULD drop Raina and Harbhajan. But I think Harbhajan will survive. Raina wont be so lucky, even if Dhoni loves him. Kirsten and the BCCI will overrule him. They'll be crossing their fingers and toes that Zaheer will be fit.

India-

Gambhir
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Pujara
Dhoni(c)+
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Ishant
Sreesanth

i think thats going to be the team for the next test, assuming zak is fit (which most people say he will be)

I assume Laxman is still the biggest threat?

Repeat - If Zak doesn't play, we're lost. Might as well not turn up.

spangler wrote:I assume Laxman is still the biggest threat?

As per clueless troll, yes he is.

Ah, in the land of the blind the one eyed qunt is king.

Laxman has played more important knocks for India than SRT. Ask any AUssie.

SA should replace Tsotsobe and Prince with Parnell and Duminy. India should drop their debutant bowler for Khan and oust Raina. Interesting to see if any of this happens.

Sooky didn't think there was that much in the pitch on day one. He also thought that Sachin made life easy for the Proteas today by not protecting the tail.

Excerpts from press conferences.

Smith said that although the toss had been an
important factor he felt the pitch had not been overly difficult for
batting on the first day, when India lost nine wickets and effectively
lost the match.
"I don't think the wicket actually did that much. I expected it to do more than it did," said Smith.
"To my mind, India expected more from the wicket than actually
happened. They were very tentative and were caught on the back foot
quite a lot. Our bowlers bowled well."
Man of the match Jacques Kallis, who scored a maiden Test double
century to earn an ovation "which will live with me for the rest of my
life", chipped in with a further warning to India.
"Durban is known for the most bounce in South Africa and hopefully that will add to our home advantage."
Sachin Tendulkar was left stranded on 111 not out after deciding
against attempting to shield tailenders Sree Sreesanth and Jaidev
Unadkat from the fast bowlers on day five.
"I was surprised he made life so easy for us this morning," commented Smith.

Parnell might come in. There is no reason to drop Prince.

Prince has hardly had a bat in a test for the last three months, has he?

taipan wrote:Parnell might come in. There is no reason to drop Prince.

Parnell should replace Tsotsobe but Prince hasn't done much since replacing an out of form Duminy. The latter now has form behind him and has youth and more tools to offer the team than Prince.

Prince hasn't HAD to do much because the top order has been so prolific in recent times. I think they'd rather have Prince there than Duminy if they find themselves 40-4.

Duminy will be back, but not yet.

Prince made 1, 23 and 0 against India in India earlier this year, 0, 15 and 19 against England in the two tests he played against them after JP was dumped and 57, 16*, 9 and 78* against the Windies in the Caribbean. Hardly riveting stats and no better realistically than the ones which saw Duminy dropped. If SA was forward thinking it would opt for the latter.

Duminy made something like 20 runs in his last five innings before he was dropped. He was a shot duck by the end of it. He needs an extended period back in domestic cricket to get his confidence back.

I think if they were to replace Prince they should give Rilee Rossouw a go.

You don't change a winning team if you can help it. As Prince wasn't given an opportunity it would be idiotic to drop him.

I guess that's why Red espouses the idea.

Should Red be appointed to the SA selection panel?