South Africa Tour: A Golden Oppurtunity

Sachin will be the best hope for India

      

The opening pair will be India's 1st stable opening par in a decade in SA

              


Tomorrow the Indian cricket team will play the 1st test match of the SA tour. This tour is being touted as world test championship final. Its quiet true. The series between and world's number 1 and number 2 team will invite lot of attention.I have been eagerly waiting for this series. After a pretty mundane New Zeland series, hope that this one will be cracking contest. All the ingredients for a spicy encounters is present with both the teams. SA batting line up is very strong. But can be equally challenged by the Indian pace battery. The famed Indian batting line up will have to face the tough conditions and equally dangerous SA pace attack.

This would be a cracker of a contest. But on the whole I feel that this is the golden opportunity for India to get their 1st ever test series win in SA.The cause for this optimism is also  very valid.We never had such a strong team touring SA. All the players are fit and at the top of their games.Never before we have seen a India that was so much confident and so much feared  on a overseas tour.

Why am I so much sure that this is the golden chance? Well, here I present few reasons below:

Indian Batting

For the 1st time in a decade we are going to SA with a stable opening pair of Shewag and Gambhir. In all the previous tours we used to have make shift openers. This used to always push us on backfoot.This time around we have a solid opening pair from whom we can expect a solid start. A partnership of  100 runs or so in any innings by them can put India in the driver seat. 

Our middle order boasts of world's two most famous and technically correct batsmen. Rahul Dravid is the grammar book of Cricket. His solid defense and technically flawless batting would be most invaluable in the SA conditions. 

At number 4th the Little master is beyond any comparison.This is his last tour and I am sure he would like to make it a memorable one for himself.

Suresh Raina and Dhoni are very solid batsmen who can very dangerous on their day. Most importantly we can rely on them to take the team to safety in case of crisis.

The Very Very Special Laxman is at his elegant best. What can I say more about him. I would just ask all the readers to remember his innings against Australia and New Zeland.

Thus Indian batting is actually very strong and the SA will have their job cut out.Moreover in the recent series we have seen even the tail-enders making invaluable contributions to the score. Harbhajan's back to back century cannot be forgotten so easily.We must also remember Ishant's heroic batting against Australia when he held the fort for so long and made sure we win. Even an extra 50 or so runs form tail-enders  could make lot of difference in this hard fought series.

Indian Bowling

 The Indian pace trio of Zaheer, Ishant and Sreesanth, have bowled well in the unfriendly subcontinent conditons. In SA where the pitch and sometimes even the weather will be seamer friendly, they can become very dangerous.Added with this will be the spin of Harbhajan. One must remember that he could become deadly on a fast bouncy pitch especially if he gets a early wicket.

These four have the ability to knock down all the 20 SA wickets which is necessary for a win.

Along with them we can expect some part time bowling of other Indians if required. Raina and Shewag are very adapt at bowling and picking up crucial wickets at the time of need.

Above all this the most important part is that this time we have a confident Indian team. A team that is no more an underdog in overseas tour. This is a team which is equally favorites like the host team. This I think is India's big plus point.

Another good thing which has happened is that some key players of Indian team has reached SA long ago and has got lot of time to get accustomed to the conditions there. This was  a very good move by Kristen. All kudos to him.

All said and done, this analysis is still on paper. A lot have to be done to convert the words into action.The SA team are no push overs like New Zeland or Australia (yeah !!!!Aussies too). They are hard fighting unit with very good options. Moreover they will be playing in their home condition and they would love to humiliate the world's number 1 team and prove their superiority.

This Indian team has both the opportunity, motive and the will to conquer. Thus only thing now needed is to win the battle and conquer. And at last I would say this:

CHAK DE INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!