So far.... Rajasthan: Good for them that they got rid of Jofra and Ben Stokes, both of em are expensive and gun players but they have been big disappointment for their franchise so far.  Mumbai Indian : Not surprising that they didn't opt for Hardik Pandaya, his fitness is becoming big problem now.  RCB : AB already took retirement and Siraj gets a thumbs up due to his recent performance. They also need a new captain, Kohli already left the captaincy.  Punjab : It seems that new franchise want KL Rahul as their skipper and getting a big bucks for that, no other reason of his exclusion.  SRH : Umran Malik and Samad are excellent choice but oh boy where is Rashid? Big bid war coming, i suppose.  These both teams CSK and DC's plans were already out. CSK : Dhoni, Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali DC : Pant, Prithvi, Axar and Nortje (Iyer's future plan is to leading the team so no brainier here) |
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Updated WTC point table. In this cycle Pakistan has a real solid chance of qualifying into the finals. They are playing SENA countries in their own condition (Home) or may be their UAE home ground, all away matches are against Ban, SL and WI. NZ, Ind, Aus, Eng has a equal chance of qualifying. Although we can rule out England completely cause they are already 2-1 behind one of their own home series against India and playing against Kiwis at home. Ashes is on the line too. Their schedule looks tough af.  |
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@galambo, I think there are countries that are genuinely serious about playing cricket. Actually, ICC needs to take a look at that and make the ICC tournaments much more bigger. In my opinion, they should look at FIFA about how they do it. Because if only these 10 or 15 countries play cricket, ultimately that will be bad for the game.
In test cricket 10-15 nations would be more than enough. In limited overs cricket, especially T-20 format it should be minimum 16, if we are lucky then may be 20-24 teams. All ICC need to do is make thing easy for the associate nations, like go easy on qualification process. We'll have many dead rubber matches for first few years but in a longer it would be good for the cricket and new teams will up their game for sure. |
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These test match rules completely suck sometimes. How the heck does NZ get away with a draw when India clearly won the match? The ICC needs to add a Duckworth Lewis kind of system in order to prevent draws in tests.
Test matches ending in draws are pointless basically and nullifies all efforts by players of both teams which is messed up. This is one of the primary reasons why I don't bother watching tests from start to finish.
India failed to take 10 wickets, although they were bit unlucky that bad light ruined their party when they needed only 1 wicket but they had their chances. I do agree that such kind of draw doesn't taste good to strongly positioned sides but test cricket need similar results sometimes or some last overs finish because it makes test cricket more exciting and will attract more eyeballs in a longer run as far as Red ball cricket is concern. I would also add that no one forgets these kind of tests even after decades. Having said that, bad light problem could be tackle in some cases if cricket board start focusing more on D/N tests at some venues where sunlight becoming big issue during winter or other reasons. |
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Wow what a match!! Nail biting draw...
NZ survived and debutant Rachin Ravindra (Combination of Ra-hul and Sa-chin, his parents were fan of Rahul Dravid and Sachin) is a hero for kiwis.
In my recent memory especially on Indian pitches, i don't remember any match which went this close. One team needed just 1 wicket and other was on surviving mode and match has been called off due to bad lights. They lost 10 mins of game here, anything could have happen in those 10 mins. India would be very disappointing.
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You really can't hate this New Zealand team, nice guys and always play top notch cricket against everyone (Not Australia tho). Match is heading into last session and draw seems favorable option. Kiwis are already playing for draw, draw here is win for them. They are 4 down so India really want couple of quick wickets to make thing interesting.
India need 6 wickets and NZ need 158 runs to win, 31 overs left.
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Oh wow now 5 wickets.
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Popularity has nothing to do with it. Look at sports like Baseball and American football. Leagues like MLB and NFL are among the richest in the world. Let's have a 4-month window for the IPL, so that it generates the maximum revenues. The remaining 8 months can be provided to other franchise leagues, ICC tournaments and bilateral tours. At this point, the IPL is much more profitable than any of the other options. So ideally the ICC should allow it to expand. I would suggest a 20-team tournament spanning over 4 months.
But you are ignoring one key factor, the IPL is BCCI and Indian government centric its not a neutral entity like ICC. They have banned complete Pakistan from IPL and also threats anyone who don't follow what they say. Even Aussies don't sledge Kohli and other Indian players anymore in order to secure there contracts. 4 months for IPL players need one month of rest also. So there is not much for ICC events and other leagues. BCCI is independent entity, ICC doesn't allow government interference in cricket not even indirectly. Zimbabwe board faced a ban because of this. Banning Pakistani players from the IPL wasn't Gov's decision but BCCI and franchise, especially franchise considering BCCI allowed Pakistani players to put their names at the auction but after 26/11 terrorist attack, every franchise boycotted them for the right reasons. Speaking of sledging you might want to do a bit of study about how Australian cricket works in general. May be watch "The Test" series (episode 3rd and 4th regarding Kohli). Last time whole Australian squad and crowd sledge him in Australia was 2014, he went to score 4 daddy hundreds in a single series. Kohli vs Johnson was a big rivalry back then, Johnson still pissed at kohli. |
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They are virtually 6 down. W Saha is struggling with his neck and didn't come to wicket keeping yesterday so there must be serious problem with him so i doubt he'll come to bat and there is no replacement for such injury.
Super substitute cannot bat? I am sorry I am not fully aware of latest rules on substitutions. I guess anything with the lead of 200 to 250 will be dependable but we cannot ignore the fact that currently New Zealand is test champion hence I guess they also got better chances on this test match from here. Only concussion replacement is allowed, other injuries doesn't gets a replacement. But it seems Saha might come to bat, just saw him padded up in the dressing room. Iyer-Ashwin duo looking extremely good and if by any chance this pair successfully add 70 odds runs from here then NZ might start panicking, lead is already 133 runs. Anything above 220 runs is bonus. |
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~snip~
Indian is in deep mess. 4 down and lead is only 100 runs.
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Collapse, Jaddu is gone.
5 down and India is surely in deep trouble. It all now depends on Ashwin and Iyer they both need to stick to the wicket and score runs. India needs to pass 150 if they want to win this match. Not much batting left for India if any of these two lose wickets. A very good come back by the NZ team. They are virtually 6 down. W Saha is struggling with his neck and didn't come to wicket keeping yesterday so there must be serious problem with him so i doubt he'll come to bat and there is no replacement for such injury. |
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^^ Used to have high hope from the Bangladesh but now i don't expect much from them.
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Kiwis are building pressure nicely. Puji and Rahane's bad form continue at home, i think one of em is about to get drop for the next match. Kohli is coming so they need to make a spot for him and dropping Shreyas after century would be tough choice.
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Edit
Indian is in deep mess. 4 down and lead is only 100 runs.
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Collapse, Jaddu is gone.
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Almost everyone say that test cricket is tough but 2 new guys Axar Patel and Kyle Jamieson are having amazing time when playing red ball cricket and if you ask them then they might end up saying nah, its pretty easy.  Axar Patel : Playing his 4th test match and already took 32 wickets with 5 fifers. Kyle Jamieson : 9th match and touched 50 wickets, fastest NZ bowler to take 50 wickets. Axar Patel played all of his matches in the minefields of sub-continent, which supports spin bowling. His 4 test matches were played in - Chennai, Ahmedabad (x2) and Kanpur. I am not denying the fact that Jamieson also played most of his matches in SENA region, but he has played against tough opposition all the time. He is yet to play any test matches against weaker teams like Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. Don't know.. but I would be rather cautious before claiming that Axar is a better bowler. Let's see how he performs outside India. So going by this logic we should also discard CTB Turner's achievement? (Fastest bowler to reach 50 wickets mark - 6 match) All played in England and Australia, way back in 1888. Old timer Let's go by modern standard. In modern times quickest bowler to reach 50 wickets is Vernon Philander (7 match). He also took all wickets at SENA condition, 1 opponent was Sri Lanka. Speaking of spin friendly wicket, you might want to check legendary spinner Shane Warne record in India particular. You might lose respect for him after checking his numbers. I can go on this list for like 1 full page but i hope you got the point. If we're following this logic then Don Bradman is also average batter because he never batted in Subcontinent and virtually never faced a quality spinner in spin friendly wickets.
Coming back to your tough opposition and minefield argument. Seems biased opinion to me because for some weird reason SENA countries fast friendly pitches are considered good and spin friendly wickets in subcontinent are considered bad. BTW Kyle Jamison only played at NZ and England only (including 2 match each against Pakistan and WI, ended up with 26 wickets in 4 games). This is his first game in India. Axar Patel played against only England at home (3 tests) and NZ is the second team. - |
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Almost everyone say that test cricket is tough but 2 new guys Axar Patel and Kyle Jamieson are having amazing time when playing red ball cricket and if you ask them then they might end up saying nah, its pretty easy. Axar Patel : Playing his 4th test match and already took 32 wickets with 5 fifers. Kyle Jamieson : 9th match and touched 50 wickets, fastest NZ bowler to take 50 wickets. |
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India pulling things back into their favor quite nicely. Runs are not coming easy for the kiwis and they lost 3 quick wickets after Will Young who batted beautifully throughout his inning, unlucky that he didn't get his first ton. Kiwis should reach the 300 mark easily, despite 4 wickets down cause Latham still there and they have quality all rounders down the order.
On the other hand there is another kind of competition going on between Axar and Ashwin for the wickets.
Edit
Latham is gone! 5 runs short of his century, poor guy. Axar got his 3rd wicket.
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No problem at all. You did your best along with Royse in order to organise this pool in a short period of time and we could all clearly see that. Looking forward to IPL 2022 and T-20 World Cup 2022 pools.
Bas kar pagle ab rulayega kya  Hehe It was community driven initiative but i appreciate that, thanks. I hope Royse will have some time when the next pool comes, which is like 3-4 months away. Payment has been sent days ago. Are we sorted here?
Yeah .. Tx : c5184faa276617c8f0798c80f54c5bf28690a39e731511b09a853e4b74c4e2c1 Okay ladies, locking this thread now. Cheers to all. |
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Well ladies! 2nd day was very interesting. Dominating performance from the visitors, first with the ball then with the bat. Which we don't get to see from the touring teams more often in India. Kiwis are definitely very happy unit atm and it feels like they literally can't do anything wrong when playing against India, cracking battle is guaranteed for the next 3 days.
Pat Cumminns is the new Australian captain.
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I guess this time it is going to be an one sided match. New Zealand has the upper hand when they plays at home, but they always struggle under subcontinental conditions. On top of that, some of their key bowlers like Lockie Ferguson are not available. Kyle Jamieson should be leading the attack, as he depends more on pace and bounce compared to the medium pacers. Feeling excited for Shreyas Iyer, as I have always believed that he is the right person to succeed Kohli as the captain of the Indian team in the long run.
Lockie Ferguson is not test player for starters so nothing to worry about as far as NZ is concern. I really like that NZ also went with 3 spinners. You play according to conditions and that's very positive approach when you play in the subcontinent. Should be good contest and new kind of challenge for Kiwis's spin department. PS : Surprisingly India also starting winning toss ( 4 toss back to back) 3 T-20 and this test also. Haha yes people are definitely going to doubt Kohli's Luck on toss now Talking about the day, Iyer has been really fascinating today, he has played a few bad shots here and there but was lucky enough to get away with them, apart from that he has been in excellent touch, but unfortunately he will still have to sit out of the next match when Kohli steps in unless the team is planning to send Shubham Gill out, This is something I really hate about the Indian team, you can score a 300 and will still be dropped from the team because there is a senior player who has scored good runs in the past. I still feel bad for Karun Nair every day, just a couple of bad matches and boom he was nowhere in the team. On the other Hand, Shubhman Gill hasn't played any extraordinary innings so far and still has sort of a fixed spot in playing XI. They should stick with the same squad even if they lose. I don't mind Kohli resting one more match, i would prefer if these youngsters gets the big rope at least at home condition. If Kohli's presence is important at home then may be rest Pujara or Rahane but not youngster. Selection criteria is becoming big mess because of talent pool. Fans are having hard time selecting their playing XI so i can understand how selectors coping with the pressure. Opener slot back up seems full to me, considering Rohit, KL Rahul, Shubman, Mayank and Prithvi are on rotation. Middle order back up seems shaky as we have only 2 batters Vihari and new guy Shreyas. I think in longer run Shubman might start batting at 3 (after Pujara). |
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It looks like ICC got what it wanted very badly. ICC tournament every frigging year . 8 years cycle (2024-2031) and 8 White ball tournaments. (if we count World test championship then add 3-4 more ICC finals) - 4 T-20 WC - 2 Champions Trophy - 2 50 overs WC So that essentially rules out the inclusion of cricket in Olympics, right? The ICC actually issued a statement sometime back, claiming that they are looking forward to include cricket in the 2028 Los Angeles Games (July-August 2028). But if the international calendar remains so jam packed, how are they going to find a one-month window, for the main tournament? I don't see any chance that cricket will be included in 2028. The earliest opportunity will be Brisbane 2032, where the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has the right to add a limited number of sports disciplines from their quota. Seems like it, at least no Olympic entry in this decade. ICC only knows how to make big claims regarding spreading cricket or their Olympics plans but they don't do anything when it comes to execution. They are not even interested in including 16 or more teams in T-20 WC, although adding associate members in recent WC was welcome move but still they need to do more if they want to achieve their goal. |
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Agree, they do have tons of faults like selections, not listening anyone but under their leadership team has touched plenty of milestone.
Just one example is upcoming test series. Virat, Rohit, Bumrah, Shami, Pant and Rahul are not in the test squad but still India starting as a fav against Kiwis (Winning is another ball game).
No one could say that about any test playing nation even when they are playing in their own backyard.
Looks like India is overconfident that they could win the match against New Zealand. They left out half the team and i am yet to look for the team playing the first match. The odds looks interesting and it looks like the odds makers neglected the fact that India is playing with a second string team and they might have given the odds for India playing in their home town which is not the same. Not sure about being over confidence but these players needed a break from the international cricket. They were playing all 3 formats and were on the road for countless months. Most of em will be back in the squad for the South Africa tour next month (Kohli is playing in the 2nd test i suppose). KL Rahul was available for the test series but he got injured during net practice. |
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I guess this time it is going to be an one sided match. New Zealand has the upper hand when they plays at home, but they always struggle under subcontinental conditions. On top of that, some of their key bowlers like Lockie Ferguson are not available. Kyle Jamieson should be leading the attack, as he depends more on pace and bounce compared to the medium pacers. Feeling excited for Shreyas Iyer, as I have always believed that he is the right person to succeed Kohli as the captain of the Indian team in the long run.
Lockie Ferguson is not test player for starters so nothing to worry about as far as NZ is concern. I really like that NZ also went with 3 spinners. You play according to conditions and that's very positive approach when you play in the subcontinent. Should be good contest and new kind of challenge for Kiwis's spin department. PS : Surprisingly India also starting winning toss ( 4 toss back to back) 3 T-20 and this test also. |
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~snip~
KL Rahul being ruled out is a big blow though Jadeja-Axar-Ashwin trio could help India in a big way. Great opportunity for players like Axar, Sky etc to prove themselves in the test format in my opinion. Williamson, Santner, Phillips, Jamieson and Southee are the players to look out for from the NZ squad based on my research. Plenty of regulars are rested for this series so it would be interesting to see how these new guys face this challenge against NZ. Playing XI selection should be easy but not sure who would they pick inbetween Sky and Shreyas. I would add Wagner in your list too, he's lethal bowler even with his moderate pace. Shakib is not available for this series?
Bangladesh is competetive team in home competition but Pakistan is not alien to subcontinent and they are not SENA countires. Without Shakib i'm not sure if Bangladesh is capable to compete against Pakistan. I would be very surprise if they successfully pull this off somehow.
Shakib Al Hasan is in the squad for the first test, but he isn't fit yet for playing the match. Yesterday the selectors announced that Shakib won't be able to play in the first test for his injury. Bangladesh plays better in their home condition, but they were never good in test format. I think they will loss the test series as well. Well in that case not expecting much from the Bongs. |
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