South Africans have made a great start to the day. 294-4. It looks a long day ahead for the indian bowlers. As for saying it will be better that for india that south africa keep on batting for as long as possible because the chances for an indian win are very scarce. If they bat till tommorow lunch. Then indian batting line up is capable of batting 2 days.

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"They look like a team destined to win the world cup"......
Ian Chappel during Ind v SA in the World Cup 20-20

They should declare with a lead of 400 and let India bat 30 overs today. India will be tired and there's a good chance of getting wickets with the way the Indian openers play and Dravid isnt very confident either.

Well some hope for india there was some raon at the end of the day. A day and a half of run olf rain, and then it will be interesting.

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"They look like a team destined to win the world cup"......
Ian Chappel during Ind v SA in the World Cup 20-20

For me this sums up why India are a long way off challenging Australia for number one. They stayed with SA for the first Test on a flat pitch, with their best flat track bully, Shewag, in full flow. Come to a different pitch and they get blown away and then do not have the fast bowlers to make the same impact when they bowl.

When was the last time Shewag played an innings that won a game on a difficult pitch or against anyone but the two weakest teams?

Amazingly of his 14 Test centuries - only 2 have come in matches India have won!!

The ball that got Sehwag was unplayable. Check this clip out about 20 secs in

YouTube - india vs south africa 2nd test india innnings highlights

Extreme pace shaping away, hits the seam.........then swings in. Unplayable.

Huge fan of Dale Steyn - the guy is $hit hot. It's not the figures that interest me so much as the way a guy gets hit wickets. The ball he got Dravid with was an absolute beauty. Wish he was an Aussie

When i look and the quality of bowling shown in that innings, i would hazard to say that any team in the world would have struggled to get 100. I did not watch the match, but the manner in which the wickets fell was very impressive.

I made a decision on principle recently to cut my cable connection as to not feed the Murdoch monster any longer. Missing cricketing moments like this does make me lament that decision i must say...............

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The thought police are everywhere..............

He's played plenty of good innings against Australia and South Africa. He averages over 50 against both teams, and he averages over 40 against Pakistan, and I think it's fair to say that those three teams have had the three best pace attacks since he started playing. So he certainly isn't any kind of "flat-oitch bully." It's true that there aren't a great deal of truly challenging pitches around, but that's down to the curators. He still averages 43 outside the subcontinent, which is an impressive stat and proves that he can play well in a range of conditions.

Well, that's not down to him. India have rarely had an attack capable of taking 20 wickets away from home, and given the lack of a reliable second opener, plus the dipping form of Tendulkar and Ganguly over the last few years, you can't really say that Sehwag's been a standout non-contributor. In fact, he's averaged 45 in Indian victories- not too shabby, especially for an opener.

The obvious problem with Sehwag is a complete absence of footwork: he's got a good eye.... but he's completely reliant on it. I'm also not sure he is anything special when it comes to playing the ball late, or with soft hands, either of which can (as Laxman demonstrates) partially compensate.

Sehwag's not a player I'd ever choose to watch, but I do recollect the feedback an admiring Boycott gave on TMS a year or so back: the gist was "nice chap, but only interested in going for glory in his own merry way".

If I had to pick a batsman to bat for my life... Sehwag would be a long way down the list...

Sehwag gone cheaply again.

South Africa should wrap up this match around tea-time today by a huge margin. For the Indians, this is a reality check after their success in Australia.

While I wouldn't say that Sehwag's as good as Laxman, I do recall hearing about how he played several nice late cuts during his 319, but he's most definitely not a soft-handed player. But there are some other points in his favour. He's got such power that he doesn't need that much width to cut, he places it well, he's always in a good position to play the wide one (reminds me of Goodwin and Slater in that respect), he's got serious killer instinct (10 150+ scores), and he really lifts himself for the big games (as shown by his outstanding records against Australia and South Africa).

While he's certainly not the Dravid/Steve Waugh bat-for-your-life type of player, he's certainly one of the first names I'd put down if you want someone to attack from the start (as is sometimes necessary) or to wrest the initiative from the fielding side. As for being a glory-hound- well, maybe, but I don't think you could ever accuse him of playing for his average or anything like that.

Depends if you consider a 2-1 lost series a success. By that logic, then should have Australia considered their 2-1 Ashes loss in 2005 a success?

I think not.

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The thought police are everywhere..............