Indian Cricket Team Updates

Murali Vijay missed out on scoring his first Test century in South Africa but the Indian opening batsman was satisfied to have scored a fighting 97 in the first innings of the Durban Test. "Home or overseas, scoring runs makes me happy," Vijay said, “I am happy with the way I batted the whole day yesterday. Of course, it is disappointing that I couldn't make a hundred. "Scoring runs against the number one side in the world is self-assuring. With the kind of attack that they have, and this is not a flat pitch, it is a two-paced slow wicket. So it is difficult to score runs. I thought I batted well," he said. The opener struggled to score first-class runs ahead of this series, in the home Test season as well as Ranji Trophy. But before heading for this tough tour, he worked on an aspect of his game that was letting him down. "I have been watching videos before I came on this tour,” he said. “The one thing that got me out was playing away...

What First of the two-Test series between South Africa and India When December 18-22, 2013 – 08:30 GMT (14:00 IST) Where The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa The Teams India The first leg of their South African sojourn didn’t turn out to be very memorable. One can only hope that by now the Indians have gotten used to the conditions well enough to put up better fight in the Tests – that the batsmen are now equipped at handling the movement and the bowlers have figured out what the right length is on these tracks. Having played an ODI at the Wanderers just a few days back should give them better understanding of what to expect in the first Test. What should also help India is the addition of some fresh faces that were not part of the ODI team. Zaheer Khan and Cheteshwar Pujara will bring experience and solidity on the bowling and batting fronts respectively. Zaheer in particular, will be the single-most crucial factor in moulding India’s fate in the ser...

While India’s ODI batsmen have being tested by the South African bowlers, Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay sweated it out in the nets for days. The two have got enough time to adapt to the conditions and prepare themselves for the two Tests thoroughly. Also, they are the only two Indian batsmen who have played Tests before in South Africa.  (Also Read:   Zaheer Khan, R Ashwin promise fire & guts ) As the team strives to leave the ODI debacle behind them and focus on the Tests, Pujara and Vijay will have a significant role to play in lifting the morale and confidence of their fellow batsmen. "I think the important thing here is that you need to adjust to the bounce and the lateral movement that is there on the wicket," Pujara said. "So since I have played a couple of matches here it will help me adjust better and I think the preparation time that we had here is also enough and should help us to perform better,” said the batsman who hasn’t yet tasted a Test d...

India’s 2-0 ODI defeat to the Proteas may have increased the concerns of their supporters. However, two of India’s most experienced bowlers, Zaheer Khan and R Ashwin, have assured one and all that Team India will not leave the South African shores without putting up a fight in the Test series. (Also Read:   'Won't take Indian bowlers lightly in Tests' - AB de Villiers ) Zaheer, who joins the squad for the Test leg, led his team’s defense by responding to AB de Villiers’s claim that his fast bowlers have scarred the Indian batsmen going into the two Tests. "You know, talk is talk," Zaheer said. "You can talk as much as you like outside. Once you go on to the field, it's all about doing. And I think this Indian team will do the needful; whatever it's going to take to win this series." This series will mark Zaheer’s comeback to international cricket after a year but the wily and shrewd Indian pacer is not short of confidence. One of the re...

South Africa skipper, AB de Villiers, was proud of his team’s effort of defeating India 2-0 in the ODI series but was also disappointed that the third match couldn’t be completed due to inclement weather.   (Read:  Centurion ton was toughest: Quinton de Kock ) "We were very keen to get a result tonight," de Villiers said after the match was abandoned after first innings. "We wanted to maintain our momentum, since we have been playing some good cricket. We didn't start well on Wednesday but we recovered to get runs on board, which could have allowed us to exert pressure once again. "So we were very keen to go out there and try our skills against a strong Indian batting line up. It would have been a strong batting run-chase I think. It's a shame it finished like that. But we are happy with the 2-0 result. "It was important to win this series. We played against the number one ranked team in the world, and we needed to play well in our home conditio...

With his 101 in Centurion, Quinton de Kock became the fifth batsman to score three consecutive ODI centuries, joining his fellow Proteas, Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers on the list.  (Read:  Report: South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI - INDIA Tour SA ) The opening batsman said it was the toughest of the three tons he scored in the series as he had to consolidate the South African innings after the fall of three early wickets. "It was a tough wicket to bat on,” de Kock said. “We had to fight for runs and the scoring was tough after we lost quick wickets. So probably it was one of the harder hundreds in these last three," he said after his Man-of-the-Series performance in South Africa’s 2-0 drubbing of India. de Kock spoke of how these three innings have helped him mature as a batsman. "I have grown up a lot during these three knocks. My confidence is up, at a level it has never been before. My work ethic has improved as well.” Despite amassing 342 runs in the ...

With the Test series coming up, the Indians are trying their best to not let the 2-0 defeat in the ODIs bog them down. After MS Dhoni, it was Ishant Sharma who stressed on the ‘positives’ the team has drawn from the series after the third ODI was washed out. (Read:  Report: South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI - INDIA Tour SA ) The lanky pacer who returned to form with figures of 10-1-40-4 in Centurion, said the gulf between India and South Africa is not as wide as the margin of the series result suggests. "Everyone is an international player in both the teams and it's all in the mind,” Ishant said. “If you can control your thought process, and you are confident in your mind and you know what you have to do, then I don't think it is such a big loss. "We lost the series yes, but we have some positives to take from it as well. And we will be utilising them in the Test series.” En route his four wickets, Ishant became the 16 th  Indian bowler to take 100 ODI wicke...

What The first of the three-ODI series between South Africa and India When Thursday, December 5, 2013. Time: 13:30 local, 11:30 GMT, 17:00 IST Where The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa The Teams India MS Dhoni’s men have set foot in South Africa after a perfect home season in which they won all the series and tournaments they played. However, the young Team India will know well that all their home laurels will not count in the alien conditions of their touring country. The bodies will have to acclimatize the weather and the games will have to be altered according to the conditions and the wickets. India’s tremendously in-form top-order will be up against the hosts’ fiery pace attack led by Dale Steyn, on juicy tracks, which will test their class and character. The pacers, on the other hand, after a season of toiling on the Indian wickets, will have to ensure they don’t get overwhelmed by the favourable conditions. Utilizing the bounce and movement wh...