Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni told that the deficit of the first innings was too much to handle and India losing the match is unavoidable after the host conceded the huge lead of 484 in the first innings. South Africa has beaten India by 25 runs and this was the first innings win against India.
Van Zyl, South African coach, has told that getting acclimatized to the local conditions of pace and bounce is not going to be easy and also reminded Indians of their poor record in South Africa. But South African coach is not underestimating the visiting Indian team who is riding high on confidence.
Stuart Broad who averages decent 28 with the bat and 97 wickets told that he has no fear against the Aussies in the five match Ashes series in down under. But Nottinghamshire alrounder admits that Andrew Strauss’s team is in no illusion that it is going to be very tough months a head in the series.
Middle-order batsman Subramanium Badrinath, wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, Medium fast bowlers, Sudeep Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun has come in to the Indian squad for the first test against South Africa to be held in Nagpur on February 6th.
India’s prolific opener southpaw Gautam Gambhir has achieved a unique distinction of equaling West Indian great Sir Vivian Richards of scoring 11 fifties consecutively in test matches. Gautam Gambhir, who along with his fellow opener Virendra Sehwag shares a formidable opening stand, has achieved this milestone after nearly three decades.
Meanwhile, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, the only current batman, who is closing in to Sachin’s century, has scored a valiant 209 against Pakistan on Hobart. This was his 39th century and breathing down Sachin’s neck.
One of the most destructive batsmen in the world Virendra Sehwag literally thanked the former captain Sourav Ganguly. He revealed that the former captain gave him the opportunity to open the innings, which turned him to become the one of the aggressive opening batsmen in the world.
India accomplished the mission of being number one test team in the world by beating Sri Lanka by an inning and 24 runs in the fifth day. They already recorded an inning’s victory in the previous test in Kanpur. India has comfortably beaten Sri Lanka 2-0 in the series to claim the top spot in ICC test rankings.
India stiffens up Sri Lankan to win the final test and also eyeing to reach the top of the test rankings by that. Despite Sri Lankan captain’s patient and well deserved century, India stands tall to win this test match.
The glorious West Indian team consists of great players who set up their own standards and their cricketing stars became superstars with their shear demonstration of unparalleled cricketing skills. Still they were very humble which made this invincible team the most famous team. But exit of those great cricketers have truly shaken the West Indian team. The transition of the same glory to the next generation of players did not happen though there were some exceptional cricketers like Brian Lara dominating the proceedings with his presence. But the great team has reduced to far below the previous standards and made losing habitual.
