And here is Zaheer Khan striking again in his very first over. This looks like last game but to avoid the repetition of last game all India need to do is to keep calm and give their best.

Smith should be dropped from the side. He has not done anything useful besides winning the toss

This appears to be the first time India has played the five specialist bowlers capable of taking wickets in South African conditions...bold statement of intent.

Karthik as batsman? is the team management crazy? with the likes of mongia and raina, who till yesterday were supposed to be the hottest talents in business, why are we playing karthik as a batsman?

I think this match is going to have one more miserable end as the previous ones !
Get back Saurav and Laxman to the ODI squads. Drop Players like Raina, Jaffer, Mongia & stop playing stupid strategies like "Karthik as bat".
But still wish the team good luck being a true fan !

Hi,yet another defeat awaits India.We have not selected Powar,Tendulkar needs rest for a match or two.No confidence in the line up and no capitalisation after initial gains..Nothing more to say.Only thing is we are going through a bad patch and unfortunately it is very long,but fortunately before the world cup..

India off to another fantastic start, courtesy Khan and Sreesnath. Now we musn't squander this oppurtunity and go for the kill. Hopefully Sehwag's aggresive demeanour should translate the same in his captaincy, unlike the docile Dravid.

Cheers
KGV

Well appropriate time for the boys to put up their hand, and show what they are made of. Its been a hapless performance so far and hard to believe that this is the same team that had a run of 17 or so unbeaten games. Well hopefully there is gonna be a turning point, better now than later, will soothe a lot of emotions around the country ..All the best boys ... at least make a fight of it .. don't just lie down and die .. My best wishes with you.

I have to say it, but I think it is about time that the selectors dropped Smith! He is doing nothing for the team at the moment and the only thing saving him is the captaincy, which I do not think is good enough. Kallis is most certainly in a position to fill that role until Mr Smith gets back "in the game"!

I've met Loots Bosman, and he's a really good bloke. But I don't believe he has the character for international cricket. His total absence of footwork and poor reading of the game will cost us dearly in the world cup where low, slow pitches need nimble footwork and innovation. Selectors take heed: drop Loots, and re-pair Smith with Gibbs.

Chance for a fightback indeed. Going by what we've seen so far, it would be foolish to expect any miracles, but let's see... The test series is coming up and with the return of VVS and Dada, the team will hopefully get a shot of confidence that they so desperately need right now.

Well the chips are down for the Indians. When the going gets tough the tough get going. The indians will bounce back in this match. They have made a good start by removing Smith and Bosman. India is just 1 good innings away from victory. Sachin is due for big one, so is Sehwag. It can just be their day.

Hi to all India Cricket fans.I know days are bad for Indian cricketers and fans.The passion is great form the India fans it is difficult to digest the word defeat.Lets be with then and encourage and shows our guys we are with them during this bad phase and help them come out of this phase.

The choice of D. Kartik is mind-boggling! Hes not mush bigger in stature than Suresh Raina, and unlikely to be a success on the fast tracks - so why not persist with Raina as a development opportunity? And why not Mongia, who has done well in the last county season. Kartik simply makes no sense!

The early dismissal of Smith(yet again) is a clear indication that he is struggling. South Africa have some serious concerns over their top order batting ahead of the world cup. Smith has struggled since that epic 434 run chase where he made an amazing 91. He has to work on his game and quickly too else the selectors may have to re-think on his position as captain and opening bat.

It's right time for SA to close downthe curtains.
They have the home advantage , their current form , Indian's poor form and all in all the pshylogical advantage.

India on the other hand, should take positives from the last match wher they restricted SA to 77/6 in 20 overs.

Ha d the catch offered by Kemp taken , match would've been clearly India's way.

They can still do it .

Hu ha India !! Comon India !!

SA were 76/6 and still india lost, that shows the credibility of a cricket team. Mr. Vengsarkar has reached SA with a big purse to buy out the SA guys as a last resort. The loss today is certainly going to be much worse than the previous one. They better turn to Kho-kho , not many countries can play that game!!!!

i seriously dont know whats gonna be the future of Indian Cricketers...there seems to be lot of politics going around in selecting or giving opportunity to young players. Virendra Sehwag, i dont think he deserves any more chance to play for India after looking at his performance for past 6-8 months. may be these people are getting more busy in making ads rather than practising cricket.

the new ball bowlers are again doing well.zaheer has been exceptional in the series and smith has become his bunny.zaheer should be included in the tests too.sreesanth too is backing him well by dismissing bosman with a peach of a delivery.but i think in this dry wicket harbhajan should have been persisted instead of pathan.
kallis is looking imperious and we've got our task cut out.watch out for gibbs too!he's due for a big one according to the law of averages.

This Indian team lacks the Zest and spirit to turn things around! They've got off to a decent start (as they did in the previous two games). The big question remains whether they can sustain the pressure and play well for the entire 100 overs.

Well it seems today india is playing with a good team and very strange decision that D karthik is playing as a specialist batsman instead of dinesh mongia. Anyhow best of luck india today.

Smith needs to be rested from International cricket. He needs to play some domestic cricket so that he can sort out his form. I think he is a great player and captain but he is just short on form at the moment.

SA really can not afford the luxury of 4 passengers in most of our games. At some time batsmen 4 - 9 will fail, and the bowlers will have nothing to defend. Get rid of Smith !!!

Good start by India for sure but looks like Kallis is trying to make up for the last match as well. He looks in ominous form. Yes i agree with someone above who says India going in with 5 specialist bowlers but the batting looks quite misreable and noooooooooooo I cant accept Karthik as a specialist batsman. Jaffer as a one day batsman is equally hard to digest more so when the team propogates to look forward you take a 28 year old for his debut...quite amazing.

There's a huge difference in the Indian bowling and the SAF bowling. Our bowlers do not have the consistency to keep bowling in the same place whereas SAF have got bowlers who do only that. Hence, India's chances are very poor in this game as well but if they can pull back SAF with a couple of wickets and get Kallis out, then we have something to cheer about

On the question of South African team selection...the selectors seem to have a tunnel vision. They keep experimenting with adventurers like Loots Bosman who have little to offer with their limited technique whilst ignoring genuine batsmen like Dippenaar, Rudolph and Prince. This batting lineup has the requisite fire power to get quick runs...what it lacks right now is solidity at the top of the order, and Bosman is hardly the answer.

Well, looks like the same old story... Couple of good strikes, lots of dollies... Is there a concentration problem or what? Why can't they bowl just one full match with a high and consistent intensity. The bowlers bowl only good spells and are not able to convert them to good match figures, same for the batsmen...I am not sure what is going on in their minds.

Smithy is having a bad run of form. I agree with Penn, if he wasn't captain, he would have been dropped by now. They should 'rest' him for a while, force him to earn his place in the side. It will either make him worse, which is a reflection of his character, or make him better, which is a reflection of his character and his ability as a player.

I wonder if anyone would like to comment on the new aggressive Kallis. It seems to me that since his return from injury he has shown a lot me intent and when he gets out it's on the attack rather than on defense. He always had the ability, but for some reason chose to play the anchor role. This has clearly changed. Maybe the commentators can explore whether this is because his role has changed and whether this new agrressive style can be credited to him or to the coaching staff.

If South Africa can sort out their top order, they will be serious contenders to win the World Cup. What do you guys think about that statement, taking into consideration the way they have performed recently, and the conditions offered by the Carribean Islands?

Sehwagg has managed to rotate his bowlers well, but it seems like he too doesnt wanna experiment. He could bowl an over or two or maybe sachin can have a go. If they could restrict SA here the task would be much easier for India

Agarakar has bowled 6 overs. The last ball of 5 of those overs have been 4s. And the penultimate ball of one over has been 4. Amazing chap !!! Keep going...

At drinks SA are 148/4 in 33 overs. Now is the crux time,the moment of truth and the deciding hour. india should stop SA at 235. as i have said before "four" balls have to be minimised. Agarkar twice got whipped for four on the last ball of his otherwise good over.if tendulkar and sehwag take it to 40th over with SA at 180, boy we are on target.

IF sachin & sehwag could complete 10 overs between them ,why Agarkar was taken. He does not know to bowl at proper place,and is no use with bat. It is high time to stop experimenting with him. He can be labeled as most luckiest player to be in team and he has managed to do it very consistently from his debut!

At the moment the bowling is looking some what better. However, I would only wish that our batsmen give some better treatment to SA bowlers, the way our bowlers received during the last two matches. Actually, I start to feel that Sachin is having some fear factor and he should come out of that shell and play his natural game. Should not bother about any (or should not even hear) onfield sledging taking place.

Wish them all the best........

When a team starts playing a wicket keeper as a specialist batsman, you can tell a lot not just about the present but the future of the team as well.

We lack talent and are at best mediocre. I don't blame the team but the fans who hold such high expectations from the team.

the indian cricket team is goin through a lean patch agreed but how come that the whole team is suffering from this lean patch synodrome. the so called topguns are failing miserably. i think even the boys playing gully cricket play more sensibly.
one fails to understand why the indian top order is in such a hurry to return back to pavilion. the likes of sachin and sehwag like to spend more time in the comforts of the dressing room.
or i think is it one of the strategies of the coach greg chappel to strengthen the tail...
all said and done i think only one piece of advice to all the fans of the indian cricket team (not intending to hurt anyone's feelings) please do not waste time and watch the indian team lose but instead read in the next day's newspaper how badly india lost.

Hi Guys.

Isn't it time that the Indian officials and fans alike realised that Greg Chappell is an Australian??? 2-3 years ago, Indians were probably the only serious contenders to challenge the Aussies. Today they are in shatters. The Ganguly should never have been!!! Let's face it Chappell has ruined it all! He continues to experiment. When on earth is his experiment going to finish? He has got to go. Indians need a real leader to lead from the front. Ganguly is the man and I don't even like him!!! Ganguly has got to be re-instated immediately and Chappell needs to be sent back to his homeland. It seems that Chappell has destroyed the future of Indian Cricket with so many experimentations. You have to have experience in the team too. For crying out loud Ganguly is only 34 not 40. If guys like Inzamam-ul-Haque, Warne, Hayden, McGrath can continue, then why can't Ganguly? Ok so he had a bad run of form. But he was a successful captain. I think most successful in Indian Cricket History. I am sorry but it seems to me that Chappell has come in to destroy the Indian cricket so they can never catch up with the Aussies.