IND vs SA | Will be surprised if India don't wrap up the series 3-0, says Harsha Bhogle
Harsha Bhogle ahead of the third Test has claimed that India will surely white wash the touring South African side by clinching the series 3-0. The Proteas looked far from a competing side in the two Tests so far and the home team, hence, enter the third Test as firm favourites.
The South African morale will be quite low after the innings defeat that they suffered in Pune. Barring their first innings batting performance in Vizag, the visitors never looked in any position to compete with the mighty Indian side. Not to forget that none of the pitches was aa traditional Indian turner, thus making the South African debacle look more serious as they could not have asked for better batting conditions. Harsha Bhogle believes that it will be shocking to see any other result than the whitewash.
"It will surprise me enormously if India do not wrap up the series 3-0," Harsha Bhogle was quoted as saying by CricBuzz.
Analyzing the South Africans, Harsha believes that they are struggling in al three departments. Their batsmen are not being able to give them good starts and their bowlers have not been right on the money from the get-go.
"I have been watching South Africa for the past two tests, and if ever you want to see a team that is struggling, then you are watching South Africa. And if you want to see a team in which everything that they are trying is working, then you have to look at India," he added.
He credited India for going in with the idea of playing five bowlers. Due to their excellent batting performance, they did not seem to miss that batsman at number six. he feels that there is enough batting in the form of Ashwin, Saha and Jadeja to cover that position, The fifth bowler was Umesh Yadav who impressed by picking six wickets in the match.
"The thing about playing with five bowlers is that it gives you a bit of a cushion against one bowler having an off day like Ishant Sharma did in the first innings (of the second Test) and then it becomes a bit of an addiction. I will be surprised if India go in with any other combination," said Harsha.
He had heaps of praises for the kind of matured innings that Virat Kohli played. His percentage of high-risk shots were very very low, which ensured India bat long and score as many runs as possible with one end intact.
"What I loved about Virat's innings was that there were no fancy shots, no big hitting until he got to his 200 just like a proper old-fashioned batsman," he remarked.
Harsha felt that South Africa did not take advantage of the SG ball being soft and batting becoming easier after 45 overs because none of the batsmen lasted that long. He believes there are many questions that need to be answered and that the South Africans might already be thinking about heading back to South Africa rather than competing for the 40 points of the Test Championship at stake.
"There are too many problems at the top of the order for South Africa. Markram is struggling at number 2, de Bruyn is struggling at number 3. I just wondwr whther as they head to Ranchi, are they thinking of South Africa?" he said.
Having not seen a turning pitch in this series, Harsha won't be baffled if India pans out a turner to the South Africans in order to romp to a 3-0 series win.
" India won on a slow surface in Vizag and on a nice bouncy surface in Pune. We haven't had a traditional turner. I won't be surprised if we get one in Ranchi'" he signed off.
