Cricket
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05 Jun 13
22:33
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Date Joined:
15 Jan 11
Match facts
Thursday, June 6, Cardiff
Start time 9.30am GMT
Big Picture
The last time India played South Africa in an ODI was in the 2011 World Cup, when India's top five were Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh. The bowling line-up consisted of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh. None of those players, most of whom are vastly experienced, are in the squad for this tournament.
South Africa are also missing some of their legendary names, with Graeme Smith injured and Jacques Kallis skipping the tournament for personal reasons. Their fans might have felt reassured looking at the familiar bowling line-up, but Dale Steyn's side strain means he could miss the first game.
At least they can still rely on the calm guidance of Gary Kirsten, who has had a golden run in his two years as coach. He has already firmly established South Africa as the best Test side in the world, a position they flirted with for a couple of decades without really nailing it down. The next challenge for Kirsten, who will step down as South Africa coach later this month, is to end his country's painfully long hunt for an ICC trophy to go along with their triumph in the inaugural version of this tournament way back in 1998.
While South Africa have at least been able to focus entirely on the cricket, India haven't. For the past few weeks in India, cricket has dominated newspaper front pages and has been breathlessly reported on round-the-clock by television channels, but almost all of it has been about the corruption in the IPL, and the ensuing turmoil in the BCCI. Even as MS Dhoni was addressing the press in Cardiff ahead of the opening match of the Champions Trophy, the cricket news back in India was about the Delhi Police questioning the owners of Rajasthan Royals in connection with the spot-fixing controversy.
Dhoni's already has a stellar CV as captain, but marshalling this new-look team under these distractions, especially in a short tournament like the Champions Trophy where even one defeat could mean elimination, will be among the biggest challenges of his career.
Form Guide
(most recent first)
India LWWWL
South Africa WWLWL
Thursday, June 6, Cardiff
Start time 9.30am GMT
Big Picture
The last time India played South Africa in an ODI was in the 2011 World Cup, when India's top five were Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh. The bowling line-up consisted of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh. None of those players, most of whom are vastly experienced, are in the squad for this tournament.
South Africa are also missing some of their legendary names, with Graeme Smith injured and Jacques Kallis skipping the tournament for personal reasons. Their fans might have felt reassured looking at the familiar bowling line-up, but Dale Steyn's side strain means he could miss the first game.
At least they can still rely on the calm guidance of Gary Kirsten, who has had a golden run in his two years as coach. He has already firmly established South Africa as the best Test side in the world, a position they flirted with for a couple of decades without really nailing it down. The next challenge for Kirsten, who will step down as South Africa coach later this month, is to end his country's painfully long hunt for an ICC trophy to go along with their triumph in the inaugural version of this tournament way back in 1998.
While South Africa have at least been able to focus entirely on the cricket, India haven't. For the past few weeks in India, cricket has dominated newspaper front pages and has been breathlessly reported on round-the-clock by television channels, but almost all of it has been about the corruption in the IPL, and the ensuing turmoil in the BCCI. Even as MS Dhoni was addressing the press in Cardiff ahead of the opening match of the Champions Trophy, the cricket news back in India was about the Delhi Police questioning the owners of Rajasthan Royals in connection with the spot-fixing controversy.
Dhoni's already has a stellar CV as captain, but marshalling this new-look team under these distractions, especially in a short tournament like the Champions Trophy where even one defeat could mean elimination, will be among the biggest challenges of his career.
Form Guide
(most recent first)
India LWWWL
South Africa WWLWL
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Replies: 291
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India are one of the best bets ever i think, south africa bowling is terrible and the batting has been very inconsistent in ODI the last year
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SAF won't bowl themselves to victory without Steyn and Philander. Can they bat themselves to victory?
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South Africa, for me.
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Tsotsobe and Duminy will do the damage.
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But I think they will have a bad start to their batting line up with a few wickets for Yadav.
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Tsotsobe is unrated IMO and Morne can be good, but that leaves 30 overs of dross. And no team like India knows how to take advantage of cr@p bowling. They get plenty of it at home.
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India, will be too strong for SA today, unless Dale Stein can make a remarkable recovery
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hope india bowl first 300+ easy
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south africa under 275 and 250
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keep it simple lads - if no steyn and de villiers, India most sixes all the way. I expect India to win the match but bound to get a higher price in play with the bowling attack as it is.
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Steyn is the key. I like Indias batting line up a lot and he is the only one who will get near them IMO
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India
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Any team news ?
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10 am Ab de Villiers wins the toss and South Africa will bowl
AB de Villiers: "It is a bit overcast. There might be movement around. We have gone with four seamers. The other surprise is we are starting with Colin Ingram, he is opening the batting. We don't want to risk Dale Steyn." MS Dhoni: "We were looking to bowl as well. I don't think the wicket will change much. Vijay misses out. We can manage this much cold. Birmingham was really cold." Rohit Sharma will open, with Dinesh Karthik in the middle order |
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India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma
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South Africa (Playing XI): Hashim Amla, Colin Ingram, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers(w/c), Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Rory Kleinveldt, Lonwabo Tsotsobe
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nice write up footiefan.
i've got india to win outright so not gonna have a dabble in the match winner market, got enough interest in that. had a speculative punt on 300 or more and 325 or more. not huge stakes. GL all. |
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Leaving the match odds alone. India's bowling is sh1t, so they need 300 to defend. De Villiers playing as well meaning that the middle order looks quality. Slight lean to SA now.
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I agree with you OTB, SAF's bowling is much better on paper.
However the same could be said of Indias batting. |
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Hope you're right - bring a British Indian I would love them to win the tournament. Don't see it though - the batting is bound to have an off day at some point, at which point the bowling won't step up. As long as we beat Pakistan I'm happy
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bet 365 commentary
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steview84
06 Jun 13 10:20 Joined: 06 Jan 05 | Topic/replies: 2,043 | Blogger: steview84's blog nice write up footiefan. He copied and pasted that from cricinfo |
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any live streaming link for this match ?
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http://livecricket.livet20worldcup.com/2012/10/channel-7.html
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thanks dj876
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india off to the perfect start don't lose any wickets 1st 10 overs and look for 38-0
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Any prediction for total runs?
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285
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south african heads will drop if they don't pick up early wickets you know how it goes
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a bloody 6
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I fancy India strongly on this one. If they don't collapse early they are likely to post a big score and I think the Cardiff pitch will spin this evening.
They have a good rounded shape for me. I think the batting may be vunerable if it swings like most teams these days but they also have the boilers to exploit swing. I think their attack is underrated. They are not bad. Boks without Steyn and Philander will be exposed in the middle overs. India may need a good total to defend. |
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Just Ishant Sharma who is a mug. Wish there was a market for 'bowler to go for most runs' - he'd be odds on! Great start for India this though, Rohit looks decent. Got involved and backed India, and Rohit top bat in play with pp. (3/1)
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Got a feeling we could see a BIG score from India today
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325 or more
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340
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I was looking at 325-350 earlier. Some good prices were on offer. That is still a big score but I'd want more than 2-1
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having said that 350 is not out of the question the way these two are playing. The pitch is true
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