India v SA, 1st Test, Nagpur, Feb 6-10

Lets roll it on.

Aye SG. Bring it. Should be enthralling.

IMO its 60-40 in favour of SA, mostly due to their awesome pace attack. Our bowling attack as ever remains our biggest worry.

Dravid's absence would leave a huge hole. Openers have their task cut out.

Gambhir, Sehwag, Vijay, Tendulkar, Laxman, Badrinath, Dhoni, Mishra, Zak, Ojha (but it'll probably be Harbhajan), Ishant Sharma.

Yuvraj's injury - a blessing in disguise considering he is Dhoni's blue-eyed boy. Would have loved to see Kohli in place of Badrinath but oh well, there's still the second test. I don't think they should play three quicks unless they produce a green top as they did for the Aussies and the result was quick and painful for all to see. Kapil is definitely right on this one.

Yeah. The only reason England drew the series in SA was because of the spinner. They wouldn't have done much if it weren't for Swann. Just shows that for all the talk, SA aren't the best players of spin around. It seems likely to be the chance for India. If Ishant, Sree and Zak were all on top form then maybe you'd risk it - but as it is, an offie and leggie seems to be the way to go.

I'm expecting turgid roads masked as 'pitches' though.

I'm expecting turgid roads masked as 'pitches' though

Won't happen. Though if it did, I'd pack in the third spinner and use Sehwag as the fourth.

It's a pre-arranged 1-1 with the ODIs going to the one who has been least naughty in breaking promises.

I wouldn't be surprised if SA get past 2-0 again. I have a lot of reservations once the best 3 are gone.....Viru, Sachin and GG!

so will SA be no. 1 again in this see saw race if we lose 2-0 again to them at home?

they will go top if they win, whether its 1-0 or 2-0. a draw is not good enough to topple india

dravid and yuvraj are two of our best players of pace...must not have the traditional slow start

Ash wrote:dravid and yuvraj are two of our best players of pace

say what you want about yuvi, the boy can play fast bowling

as long as the ball doesnt move i guess

bullshit, check his two 100s vs pak. rest of the order got ripped to shreds against asif, gul, shoaib

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64082.html

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/234783.html

two innings as against a wide array of failures in multiple continents

ave in aus - 4.25
ave in nz - 31
ave in wi - 17

ave in asia - 46
ave oustide asia - 17

the ball had stopped moving around considerably by the time yuvraj started his innings in both those matches you mentioned. the second one came after pakistan made 599/7 in their second innings

besides you just need to see yuvraj bat against top class pace to see how out of depth he looks when the ball is moving around. no need for stats