Will Indian cricket never learn from it's mistakes?

[S.Balaji]

Its very important that one wins the first encounter...so that a psychological advantage is gained over the opponent....
This SA team doesnt have bowlers of Alan Donald class.... even Shaun Pollock is not at his best....
This is another good opportunity for Indians to set the records straight....

The key players could be Kallis and Ntini.....

[Thiru]

Balaji, This bowling attack doesnt scare me but the problem is the assistance that bowlers get in early morning conditions with the little grass on the wicket.. Its becoming very visible in many of the tracks in India that there will be help for the seam bowlers in the first 1 hour and then the pitch eases out.. So the team that wins the toss has a greater advantage with the ball as well as the bat...

[S.Balaji]

Dear Thiru....

Idhu romba romba aniyaamunga.....

Cant our opening guys stick around for just 10 overs ( which will take around 45 minutes )...
so that the dew factor is neutralised....

Konjam nalla pitch irundhaal podhum.... our frontline batsmen will all be at sea....Probably the only exception could be Dravid......

Do you agree with me that our guys are not technically sound enough to counter the initial assitance that a pitch offers .......

[Thiru]

Balaji,
Sachin and Dravid are the only ones technically sound to counter the initial assistance.. Sachin was unfortunate to be given out and Dravid was facing a new bowler with a funky motion.. Again these are not excuses, but these are the only two guys who can play in any conditions.. Thats why they are top batsmen in the world.. The rest of the guys Sehwag, kaif, gambhir etc are not technically sound enough to encounter the initial phase.. Its either hit or miss for them.. Even Yuvraj had trouble initially edging the ball so many times...
The initial dew factor always gives trouble to any opposition and if you look at the SL series, Pathan, Agarkar and Singh had success mainly due to that.. Srilanka was losing 2 or 3 wickets within 50 runs within the first 15 overs regularly because of the initial movement in the air.. My only concern is that sometimes Toss & pitch plays such a crucial factor that the team batting first could be bowled out for less than 100 or 150 and the team batting second have no trouble whatsoever in getting to that..
Now, if the games are played under light, it brings out a different issue.. The games start at 3 pm and there is little or no assistance in the air..The problem though is the dew factor in the grass.. Its tougher for bowlers to grip the ball and the ball stops coming to the bat later in the day under the lights..

As I said, these are not excuses for losses because this can happen to any side.. The thing though is to overcome these factors to become a championship caliber team..

[Cinefan]

Thiru,
Gambhir was indeed wasted but they had no choice but to bring him when Dravid was bowled,the batting had to be shored up.

Karthik was sorely missed,SA might have still won it but with a lot more of discomfort.

India were 30 runs& a bowler short.

Anyway,I liked the way they fought back after being 5-3&35-5.

Greg's way of focussing on processes before results seems to be working.

Of course,India will still lose matches,mistakes will be committed but the key as Dravid told is not to be scared of making mistakes.

Finally,the bottom line will be consistency.If they start achieving that,the fans&the team will have a lot to cheer about.

[Sanguine Sridhar]

Well well i saw the match initially before i left to my office.Pitch was very good for bowlers in the morning.I strongly believe that the same result would have happen to SA if they bat first.What i thought that it would be a big collapse in the batting order when the score was 5-3 .. But a very good innings by Yuvraj which made our score to 249.

South Africans are equally confident as Indians.Because this was their 13th continues victory.I don think that it is easy to SA to wrap up the series.If India dominated Pollock,Ntini...Sure we can have good treat! We will wait and c

[Consistent]

Indians have to take everything seriously.Indians came to Chennai for the series on sunday and they failed to do practice,instead they were taking rest in the hotel.Where as South Africans had a practice session.Monday there was a heavy shower,resulting yet another day in the hotel .So just with the previous match experience Indians are going to meet South Africans.I am just thinking about the thread title again!

[S.Balaji]

Consistent....

I wonder why we are so concerned about a Grade B South Africa team..... really not the class of a team which Hansie Cronje brought here few years back ..spearheaded by Alan Donald....or Jonty Rhodes.... or Mc Millan... or Gibbs..... no...not even Nicky Boje......

It should be a cake walk for Indians....if we fail to win this series like what we did against Srilanka.... its a shame to Indian cricket...

This is the most ideal time to reset all the records.....

and...its time that Sachin comes back to form.....

[Thiru]

Balaji,
With the exception of Gibbs, this is a full strength South African team... Gone are the days of Donald, Devilliers, Rhodes, Cullinan and Gibbs... This is also a very good one day side with a good bowling attack and a decent batting side.. Apart from Kallis and an unorthodox Smith, no one scares me in this lineup.. Again, the southafricans do the little things pretty well (no missed chances and saving runs on the field)... Its a well-balanced series and hopefully India should win the 4th ODI..

[Justice]

SA is batting line up as good as India's, the team is well balanced. As Thiru said, they don't make the small mistakes other teams make. SA is known for giving its best and trying hard till death.

It'll be a superb world cup as there are many contenders for the title, but not sure if Australia will give up