The fundamental aspect between the sides that kept South Africa on top and India faltering, was the use of Virender Sehwag as an opener. For whatever reasons, Karthik may get tired or they needed quick runs, it was the move that decided the series. India always had a chance if they were to see of the new ball, which, of course, they didn't.

at this time the match is venely poised
but i think rsa ve slight advantage..with quick wickets of sachin,dravid and laxman,rsa ve thier noses in front..but its too early to say..
as indian supporter im keeping my fingers crossed

One of the umpires, Asad Rauf, has sided with the South African team making THREE bad decisions.(Mind you, it is not the fault of the South African team. Incompetent umpiring could hurt them too!) He has already made three bad decisions favoring the South African team - (1) He gave Dravid out in the first innings. (2) Karthik out in the first innings, and (3) Tendulker out in the second innings. TV replays showed all three decisions were bad. Interest in cricket will diminish unless bad umpiring stops.

The answer is quite simple: Killer Instinct. South Africa have it, Australia obviously have it, even Sri Lanka have it when it matters. India, sadly, never have. It was exposed on the second day of the second test where, after having SA at their mercy, the Indfian bowlers allowed the South African tail to wag. That was then followed by two of the most insipid batting displays I have ever witnessed in Test cricket, let alone by an Indian team. The batting in the first innings, just as the pitch had improved slightly and India, having still bowled out the opposition for 257, in a position to assert some dominance over the series, was pathetic. But nothing could have prepared me for the disaster that was the second innings. Even leaving aside Dhoni's suicidal shot in the last over before tea on Day 5, and the dodgy decision against Sreesanth that ended the match, it is astonishing to think that the only thing that prevented the match from being drawn (due to bad light on the final day) was the inability of one Indian top order batsman to last just 5 minutes/10 minutes/15 minutes longer at the crease. India lacked the killer instinct that would have seen them come to Cape Town with at least a 1-0 lead in the series, and once again here, they have shown they are no closer to discovering such an instinct. Unless Kumble can pull off a minor miracle with the ball tomorrow (not to mention the bat today), this match is all but lost.

The difference?
Same as it was for the One Day Series. The Indian Cricket team simply has no answers when they play away from the subcontinent.

Has Dravid missed a trick by sending Sehwag as opener, knowing very well he has failed miserably at that position? And how is Karthik attacking the bowlers now !! Situation would have been different if Dravid would have allowed Jaffer/Karthik to open as in 1st innings

Sure its attitude, they have the grit and determination. Indians Lack all this essentials.
Its too pathetic to watch the indian tope order display. Except Ganguly none other showed some application. Seniors are there just to spend time and good for nothing. If we compare the way Karthik Bat there is no doubt that its that attitude that seniours lack. You must give your cent percent. We can c that in kumble, Zaheer, Karthik, and Sresanth. had karthik sent up as opener Inida by now would have a decent total. The guy is confident playing his shots and is at ease at teh crease, compared to Tendulkar and shehwag. The decision to send Shewag as opener especially when he has proved his lackof application was a blunder. Dravid lack even a drop of inspiration for his mates. He is too defensive and lack a confidence that send negetive sginals to rest of the team. I wonder what goes on in their mind.

In the battle of the "Indian Chickens" vs the "SA Chokers", the use of Sehwag was a disaster. In any event the Indians cannot play fast bowlers on any wicket. They should have been more positive and taken the upper hand even against Harris on debut. Hopefully the youngsters coming along will show the older guys how to play brave cricket. Lets hope we see guts from the tail enders so that we have a real fight for glory on Saturday. As for SA after chasing 438 againts the Aussies, they may have finally escaped the choking illness and belive they can win from any situation.

India's Boucher, KKD Kartik. The Tendulkar's, Dravid's, Laxman's should learn from him. We must play to win, not score in the record books.

its not a direct comparison between the 2 sides.. it's more abt the 2 types of players in each camp..
india has plucky characters like karthik and sreesanth who are ready to take the fight to the opposition and be positive.. similarily sa have greame smith and herschele gibbs and andre nel.. for all his faults i really like the way he's always in the batsman face - backing himself against anyone..
then there are the likes of rahul dravid and sachin and laxman.. talented without a doubt.. but soo negative.. why should sachin and dravid (2 stalwarts) be playing a rookie like paul harris with such respect (fear almost!) whatever the devils in the pitch..
but let me remind u that ashwell prince and jacques kallis are the same in that respect!
the only difference i see is the plucky one's in our team are those fighting ones for their place whereas for the south africans its the captian.. and his postivity seems to be rubbing off on the likes of amla and steyn.

its happening again... i can play bejan daruwalla and say the 'men in blue' are catching the flight back losing 2-1 ... had guessed something like this would happen once they won the first test...

rewind to australia.. they win a test and lose the next one..

before that in zimbabwe.. win the first test, lose the second... i mean, have good relations with all the teams around the world eh? pointless even talking about it.

Enough is enough. It's high time Indian batsmen start scoring some good runs under difficult situations. At least or else, people should stop boasting of Indian team's batting talent. Especially Sachin, should start scoring some runs. I could hardly remember even a single match-saving knock leave alone match-winning that he has played after 1998 sandstorm match in Sharjah against Aussies. It's been quite a long time. Everytime when such a critic comes up, he somehow manages to score a Century perhaps against a weaker opposition in home soil and then keeps mum for next 10-20 innings until again someone really starts wondering about it. I agree that he is a great serviceman to Indian Cricket, but it really bothers when people talk too much about you for NOTHING. When tested against a Quality Pace attack under good conditions for bowling, leave alone Sachin, all the Indian batsmen have been a cropper. When India won the first test, it was all too predictable that they would lose the next two. I don't know why the media and people hype too much about it before they really win the series. For a cricket nation like India, these wins might quite be extraordinary and they get really overwhelmed by it, but for a country like SA or Aussies, it is Just the order of the Day, and they keep improving. Sorry, if I had hurt someone by my words, but reality always bites.

I am Canadian and new to cricket, so hopefully my comments are not too far off the mark. I have been watching the fourth day on TV, and here are some observations. The Indian team have only a couple of players with gamesmanship... Karthik and Sreesanth were noticeable to me. The South Africans have an abundance of gamesmanship almost to the point of bullying. For example, I believe that Shaun Pollocks's aggressive, over-appealing led to the incorrect decision on Tendulkar's LBW. How could the umpire not be influenced by Pollock's previous mannerisms (e.g., mutterings and head-shakings) when his earlier appeals were turned down? Also, in a professional test match, how can someone allow a 7 ball over? With the third umpire available, wouldn't it just take a call? It would appear to have been important in this case because the No. 11 batter had to face the extra ball. This may be crucial and likely embarrasing if the match has a close finish.

I think its about time Sachin retired from international cricket. I am sure there will be many who do not support this view and give examples of his greatness. Yes, Sachin Tendulkar WAS a great player, but not anymore. Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and even Michael Hussey have already gone far ahead. How many more chances does Sehwag need? Why was he sent up the order after Karthick's performance in the first innings. It has only been the bowlers who has kept India in the hunt in the series so far. I really hope Sreesanth does not the go the way Irfan Pathan has. Good for a couple of seasons and way down. It has been really frustrating time for followers of Indian cricket and I must admit I seem to take a wierd pleasure from India losing, especially with such a pathetic performace in the South African series.

The difference between one side and the other is the hunger and drive to succeed and deliver especially in pressure situations. You have to 'want it' which is what Sth Africa has, while India has never had this in the history of their Cricket.

India have never been able to deliver the goods at the right time when required which is why they have never learnt how to win away test series on a regular basis.

After successfully winning the 1st Test in style, the finish line could be seen with just needing a victory in one more Test.

However again, as always and as usual when it comes to India, this final result will be a disappointing sad same old story!!!!

Sorry Shiva Kumar, but can't buy your arguments re SRT. Sure he has been a shadow of his former self and possibly nearing the end of a truly great career but lets not blame him for the collective impotence of his team mates over the past 15+ years. What about RD, what has he done in 2006 save one hundred on a flat deck in Pakistan? His technique has developed flaws and captaincy is rubbish to say the least, the result of this game not withstanding. What about Sehwag?? And VVS? Why can't he still run? Why can't Zaheer bowl smartly and at a decent speed? Why can't Kumble bat? Also not be outdone by a rookie SA journeyman? The list is endless, so please mate before you throw the first stone at the only titan we have had in the past 20 years, look at the rest of the clowns. It burns my heart to see the same old mistakes, sure DBV must feel the same as the chairman. Faults lie with BCCI for making mediocre players like More more important than they really should be. I mean how could we destroy Irfan's career? Why is there still no bowling coach! GC manages to catch 40 winks in full view on tele (can't ever remember JW doing that)If only we had more players like SRT, Karthick and Srishant!! I agree with the rest of your post.

The history of Indian cricket is dotted with unflattering pride of The Great Indian rat waking up the sleeping lion and and taking on its shoulders a heavy blow for its lackadaisical complacencies which it claims itself as a feather in its Hat that every else nation playing cricket would like to disown. The indians had always allowed the opposition to run out of a series with full credit, but with their soft and lazy attitude in the field, which in all sports, leave cricket, would only bring shame. With a docile and unimaginable captaincy and a floppy planning coupled with a lack of commitment to the game to its nation or its people Indian criket team would one again prove its authority in the above mentioned lines, unless one or two relibale guys out there pull of some magic efforts to stop the SA juggernaught.
So there wont be any surprise if SA snatch a win to end the series as a one more shameful experience away from home for the Indians.

I believe there's not too much between these two sides. Both sides have different weeknesses which cancel each other out.South Africa's first weekness is their front line strike bowlers who evidently tend to bowl too short and suffer from inconsistency which to their benefit has worked for them hence India's poor batting perfomance having being restricted to 169.India's weekness was impatience on a wicket which very much suited them.South Africa will have to perform very badly to lose from this situation with a day's play to get 150 odd runs and 8 wickets in hand.
Hopefully this will be test of the higher order's batting ability to perform to their unquestionable ability.This has been an amazing test series which should produce a result come the end of play.

I think India were over-cautious today, especially when Dravid and Sachin were batting. The same Sachin who smashed Shane Warne for sixes out of the rough was struggling against a left-arm spinner. It was inexplicable. It was as though Paul Harris reminded them of Michael Clarke in Mumbai 2004 (a completely different wicket than this). Still, I thought the high points of the day were Ganguly's innings and Zaheer's and Kumble's spells before stumps. The game isn't over by any stretch of the imagination, but judging by the verdict from Dileep Premachandran, you'd think that India had lost by an innings or something! Seriously, guys, ease up on the criticism...

being an indian i have always hoped for an indian win.. today sadly i am forced to face the realities... our batsmen cant bat, our bowlers cant bowl, and none of them can field consistenly... (against good opposition i.e.), i rank the indian team along with the scottish and the bangla team... except for the knock against the aussies in 97-98(sandstorm knock), sachin hasnt really dominated ne attack after that neither has he come good when really required. dravid is a hopeless batsmen.. whatz the point in facing 150 balls and scoring just 30 runs... sadly this kind of strike rate is something which i have got used to seeing.. indians hardly ever manage a run rate of more then 2.8 rpo against ne opposition most of the times in ne pitch/condition... and then in the same pitch/condition u wud see the opposition scoring at 3/4 rpo... even our cricket adminstrators r hopeless... bcci is supposed to be the richest board in the world and the facilities they provide(stadiums/facilities for spectators) r the worst in the world... i urge the indian public to stop watching cricket.. hurt the indian where it hurts the most.. money!!!...

I used to be Sachin Tendulkar fan but it is painfull to watch him in the last three to four years. Although I was a fan I was never convinced that he was one of the best. I cannot think of even single Test instance where he performed under pressure. I am sorry to say but I think it would be better off without him. He should seriously consider retiring at least from Test cricket.

I think india is bit loosing out when they think "they are playing against south african pace attack (nitini, steyn & pollock)". This is effecting the phsycology of Indian batsmen and this causes tendency to get out easily. Otherwise they have got the stronger batting line-up. And also if any umpire can be penalised under the rules of ICC i think it should be Mr Rauf for his decisions during the series(Munaf, dravid many occassions, karthik and sreesanth). Its a simple logic that there should be a governing body even for them(umpires) so that those kind of things can't be repeated.

This is the last test match I will watch India play for a long time. I am a big fan of good cricket (doesn't matter which team is playing). The way Tendulkar and Dravid played against a rookie spinner is something I simply cannot digest. Remember how Tendulkar took Warne to school when he bowling a negative line on a turning pitch in India a while back? The only time when these guys bat well is when the match situation is already favorable. Any sort of tough situation and they just become door mats that any rookie can stomp all over. This SA team has a poor captain and not much talent, but they do have a much better attitude. They deserve to win this series.
I paid $ to watch this test series online via webcast. I regret it.

Biggest difference i can see is that South africa have two genuine all rounders Kallis and Pollock. At india should have one all rounder.

Tendulkar is too fearful about failures. He should understand that there is no point in playing an irritating 45 ball 10 runs inning. It is better to clobber a few fours and get out cheaply. At least you do no harm to your self confidence. The bottomline is "He should play like "Sachin Tendulkar". Like Lara and Ponting does now a days. They also fail but we do not remember those, because they had plenty of positive cricket to offer. It is hightime Sachin rectifies himself.

The Script is all too familiar. It is extremely difficult to stare victory into face and embrace it unless you have made it a habit. We have been losing so steadily over the years that the collective psyche is scarred. Only in the last few years we have been winning one-off test match overseas. With the current crop of players who have been brought up on defeatist attitude and mindset, it will be a while before we really start winning series from comforatble positions rather than losing; and, gradually upgrade ourselves to win against all odds. Till such time, we have to support our team as they fight it out despite the attitudes they take to the field. There are certain signs of improvement and it takes a little more of self belief and some pluck from the batsmen.