Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Sithara007]

The partnership between Brandon Mavuta and Gary Ballance rescued Zimbabwe from a possible defeat. When Mavuta came to bat, Zimbabwe was in a horrible state (192/7). They still needed 56 runs to avoid the follow on. But the partnership between these two took Zimbabwe to a comfortable position and added 135 runs. So far it has been a good match for Brandon Mavuta. He took five wickets in the first innings, and then added valuable runs in the second innings (playing in his third test match). And West Indies should blame themselves, if they can't defeat a team like Zimbabwe.

BTW, Indian selectors still seems to be confused about whom to select as replacement for Pant and Iyer. They can pick either Suryakumar Yadav or Shubman Gill, and keep KL Rahul on the other end. Or they can pick both of them, and then drop Rahul. In that case, Rohit Sharma will open the batting along with Shubman Gill. KS Bharat is included in the squad, but I will be surprised if he makes his debut and considered ahead of Ishan Kishan. Among the bowlers, only Ashwin and Shami are confirmed. Selectors may go with Axar for the first match.

[1714654129]

1714654129

[1714654129]

1714654129

[1714654129]

1714654129

[pakhitheboss]

Yesterday, DK was interacting with fans on Twitter, and when asked about the biggest threat for India in the upcoming BGT. He said, Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith.



Nathan has an impressive record in tests he has already taken 436 wickets in 115 matches. In India, he has taken 34 wickets in just 7 matches. In my opinion, he is a big threat to Indian batters. Steve Smith has been good against Indian bowlers. Out of 6 test matches played in India, he has scored 660 runs which includes 3 centuries and a half-century. 

[JSRAW]

BTW, Indian selectors still seems to be confused about whom to select as replacement for Pant and Iyer. They can pick either Suryakumar Yadav or Shubman Gill, and keep KL Rahul on the other end. Or they can pick both of them, and then drop Rahul. In that case, Rohit Sharma will open the batting along with Shubman Gill. KS Bharat is included in the squad, but I will be surprised if he makes his debut and considered ahead of Ishan Kishan. Among the bowlers, only Ashwin and Shami are confirmed. Selectors may go with Axar for the first match.

KL Rahul and Gill seem more like fixed in the playing XI but IMO confusion would be about who should play at the opening slot and Number 5. KL Rahul is not in good touch but i would still prefer him over SKY.

Nathan has an impressive record in tests he has already taken 436 wickets in 115 matches. In India, he has taken 34 wickets in just 7 matches. In my opinion, he is a big threat to Indian batters. Steve Smith has been good against Indian bowlers. Out of 6 test matches played in India, he has scored 660 runs which includes 3 centuries and a half-century. 

Nathon Lyon is good but not that threatening in India, sure he'll take at least 1 fifer here n there but largely Indian batters shouldn't face many difficulties facing him. He averages 30 on a rank turner, which is not a good stat for any spinner.

[Sithara007]

Yesterday, DK was interacting with fans on Twitter, and when asked about the biggest threat for India in the upcoming BGT. He said, Nathan Lyon and Steve Smith.

I agree on Steve Smith, but not on Nathan Lyon. IMO, Lyon is a substandard spinner, nowhere near Shane Warne, Jason Krejza or even Adam Zampa. And he is not going to trouble the Indian batsmen, given their experience against spin. For Indian batsmen, the biggest threat will come in the form of pace - Cummins, Boland, Starc and Hazlewood. Apart from Boland, all of these players have good experience in Indian pitches, thanks to the IPL. And with the batting department, I think everyone is underestimating Marnus Labushcagne.

[JSRAW]

Lol this pitch giving nightmares to Australian media and fans. They already started saying that this is an unfair pitch as the Australian team has 5 left-handers in their top 7 lmao.

Loving the premature comments. They should be hopeful that with such a pitch they have a more or less equal chance of winning the match.

[noormcs5]

Zimbabwe lose all wickets between 200-250 runs, and bat again. And if so they will surely be defeated. But if Zimbabwe manages to score more than 350 in their first innings then the match is more likely to be a draw.

Zimbabwe would have gotten all out within 200 runs, but their 7th and 8th wicket partnership has helped them to score above 350 runs. The 8th wicket partnership was blessing for them, Gary Ballance and Brandon Mavuta had added 135 runs in that wicket. West Indies has started their second innings with 68 runs lead only. Now I can't see any other possibilities of this match except draw. Betting odds is 1.04× for the draw now.

I think the current performance of both team will end the match with draw , westindies player score phenomenal centuries and build a huge target while at start of Zimbabwe batting I taught they will unable to score even 200 because the batters can't safe him from quick dismissal, but late Gary Ballance score a big bunch of runs but unfortunately can't chase the target completely, I think Zimbabwe team are quite weak as compared to West indies in the absence of his star player sikander Raza and Blessing Muzarabani, if they were in the team may be the result will different

No team seems to be weaker than the other in this test match.  West Indies scoring 447 runs and then Zimbabwe scored 379 runs and both teams declared the innings which showed how good they batted.

Also West Indies scored 336 runs at an opening partnership between Chanderpaul and Brathwaite. I wonder how many records they have broken by this partnership 

With just one day to left in this match, the draw is certain. No team can lose this test match.

[Sithara007]

Lol this pitch giving nightmares to Australian media and fans. They already started saying that this is an unfair pitch as the Australian team has 5 left-handers in their top 7 lmao.

Loving the premature comments. They should be hopeful that with such a pitch they have a more or less equal chance of winning the match.

I just hope that this is a pitch where we will get a definite result. If the first test turns out to be another one of those matches, where they play for 5 days and then the match ends in a draw, then everyone will be disappointed. BTW, the pitch has resulted in Australian selectors giving preference to Peter Handscomb, who bats right handed. And the surprising news is that Todd Murphy (right arm Off-break bowler) may make his debut. He has just 7 first class matches to his name, so there is a very high chance that this decision can backfire on the Australians.

[JSRAW]

Lol this pitch giving nightmares to Australian media and fans. They already started saying that this is an unfair pitch as the Australian team has 5 left-handers in their top 7 lmao.

Loving the premature comments. They should be hopeful that with such a pitch they have a more or less equal chance of winning the match.

I just hope that this is a pitch where we will get a definite result. If the first test turns out to be another one of those matches, where they play for 5 days and then the match ends in a draw, then everyone will be disappointed. BTW, the pitch has resulted in Australian selectors giving preference to Peter Handscomb, who bats right handed. And the surprising news is that Todd Murphy (right arm Off-break bowler) may make his debut. He has just 7 first class matches to his name, so there is a very high chance that this decision can backfire on the Australians.

I am sure draw is out of the equation on such a deck. Teams, especially all the batters need to bring their A-game to produce a draw on such pitches.

Peter Handscomb was out of action for quite some time so don't know what his current form is. On Todd Murphy, well it depends if he's playing as 2nd spinner or 3rd spinner because the First 2 choices of spinners do all the heavy lifting in the subcontinent.

[ZAINmalik75]

The partnership between Brandon Mavuta and Gary Ballance rescued Zimbabwe from a possible defeat. When Mavuta came to bat, Zimbabwe was in a horrible state (192/7). They still needed 56 runs to avoid the follow on. But the partnership between these two took Zimbabwe to a comfortable position and added 135 runs. So far it has been a good match for Brandon Mavuta. He took five wickets in the first innings, and then added valuable runs in the second innings (playing in his third test match). And West Indies should blame themselves, if they can't defeat a team like Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe score a decent runs of 379 with 9 down and then declare the inning, now at day 5 of first test the westindies player score 131 runs in 48 overs while batter K.brathwaite and T.Chanderpaul are dismissed early, now westindies lead Zimbabwe by 201 runs which will be huge for Zimbabwe to chase but still westindian two batter reifer and blackwood are set on crease who almost score half century while long number of batter are still remaining and it's last day, so it's almost confirmed that this match will be drawn.

[MusaPk]

Zimbabwe score a decent runs of 379 with 9 down and then declare the inning, now at day 5 of first test the westindies player score 131 runs in 48 overs while batter K.brathwaite and T.Chanderpaul are dismissed early, now westindies lead Zimbabwe by 201 runs which will be huge for Zimbabwe to chase but still westindian two batter reifer and blackwood are set on crease who almost score half century while long number of batter are still remaining and it's last day, so it's almost confirmed that this match will be drawn.

Disappointment from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, as he was out on just 15 runs after scoring double century in first innings. Zimbabwe were just 68 runs short of WI first innings 447. Its day 5 and the match will end in a draw but this test match is good enough to prove that Zimbabwe can play test format also. There is one more test to follow this one.

[Sithara007]

Disappointment from Tagenarine Chanderpaul, as he was out on just 15 runs after scoring double century in first innings. Zimbabwe were just 68 runs short of WI first innings 447. Its day 5 and the match will end in a draw but this test match is good enough to prove that Zimbabwe can play test format also. There is one more test to follow this one.

Well.. I guess it is OK. His personal stats look excellent now (I guess that is the only purpose of this series). Before this test match, he had 160 test runs at an average of 40.00. Now his stats are 382 runs, at an average of 76.40. Shivnarine Chanderpaul played his first test when he was 19 years old. Tagenarine took seven more years, but still has the potential to become a great test player. His real test will come once he starts playing against the pig-4 teams, away from home. But then, he performed credibly during the Australian tour (his first two matches).

[MusaPk]

Well.. I guess it is OK. His personal stats look excellent now (I guess that is the only purpose of this series). Before this test match, he had 160 test runs at an average of 40.00. Now his stats are 382 runs, at an average of 76.40. Shivnarine Chanderpaul played his first test when he was 19 years old. Tagenarine took seven more years, but still has the potential to become a great test player. His real test will come once he starts playing against the pig-4 teams, away from home. But then, he performed credibly during the Australian tour (his first two matches).

51, 45, 47 and 17 are his stats in 2 test against Australia. There is still one more test to be played and Tagenarine has a chance to improve his batting stats further. Shivnarine played in era when we only have test and ODI cricket and it looks like Tagenarine is a genuine test batsmen. In current time there is more demand for T20 batsmen then for a genuine test batsmen.

[pakhitheboss]

Lol this pitch giving nightmares to Australian media and fans. They already started saying that this is an unfair pitch as the Australian team has 5 left-handers in their top 7 lmao.

Loving the premature comments. They should be hopeful that with such a pitch they have a more or less equal chance of winning the match.

I am telling you this pitch would be a nightmare for every batter. Knowing the Australian side I know how well they play spin. For a change, I am happy they will be experiencing a pitch suitable for the spinners. They are more accustomed to bouncy pitches whereas this pitch will test their batting skills so it will also be for Indian batters. Who wins the toss will be important on this pitch. I hope luck favors Rohit! I also have a hunch that this test match will be over before the 5th day.

[Vaskiy]

The team that performed well in the first innings seems to be failing in the second innings. I didn't expect such a performance from Zimbabwe team, but they did a great scoring of 379/9 and declared. Now in the second innings already they're 84/4 with 22 overs remaining to end the test match. Ballance who had a awesome batting in the first innings with Tsiga on the pitch needs to make good partnership to end the match in a draw.

[John Abraham]

If something extraordinary doesn't happen. The match between Zimbabwe and West Indies will be drawn. West Indies played well in the first innings and posted a good total. Zimbabwe played well as well. West Indies declared in 2nd innings by scoring and giving an interesting target. If Zimbabwe wants to win the match, they have to take a risk to score quick runs. If they take risks, West Indies will try to get some wickets and turn it into their game as well. Zimbabwe already lost four wickets and it seems they are not going to try to win the match.

[mm2543363580]

If something extraordinary doesn't happen. The match between Zimbabwe and West Indies will be drawn. West Indies played well in the first innings and posted a good total. Zimbabwe played well as well. West Indies declared in 2nd innings by scoring and giving an interesting target. If Zimbabwe wants to win the match, they have to take a risk to score quick runs. If they take risks, West Indies will try to get some wickets and turn it into their game as well. Zimbabwe already lost four wickets and it seems they are not going to try to win the match.

A good match between Zimbabwe and west indies as  both teams did good with batting and balling , west indies first innings was really good with couple of centuries and 2nd innings was OK too . Zimbabwe lower order batting saved its team in 1st innings and in 2nd innings they have already lost 4 wickets on 110 runs .
This seems like a draw, until or unless Zimbabwe scored early and complete the runs .

[onecall123]

Lol this pitch giving nightmares to Australian media and fans. They already started saying that this is an unfair pitch as the Australian team has 5 left-handers in their top 7 lmao.

Loving the premature comments. They should be hopeful that with such a pitch they have a more or less equal chance of winning the match.

I am telling you this pitch would be a nightmare for every batter. Knowing the Australian side I know how well they play spin. For a change, I am happy they will be experiencing a pitch suitable for the spinners. They are more accustomed to bouncy pitches whereas this pitch will test their batting skills so it will also be for Indian batters. Who wins the toss will be important on this pitch. I hope luck favors Rohit! I also have a hunch that this test match will be over before the 5th day.

In cricket, it is an accepted rule that wickets should favor them, but does this seem especially extreme? On Twitter, Nagpur pitch pictures have gone viral.

The pitch is clearly rigged in India's favor. There may be four spinners in India's lineup, while the rest of Australia's top order is left-handed. As a result, we cannot ignore the claims of most Australian experts regarding the difficulty of this pitch for Australian batters.

However, it will be interesting to see what the ICC says later since the pitch might rate low or below average.

[n0ne]

Lol this pitch giving nightmares to Australian media and fans. They already started saying that this is an unfair pitch as the Australian team has 5 left-handers in their top 7 lmao.

Loving the premature comments. They should be hopeful that with such a pitch they have a more or less equal chance of winning the match.

I am telling you this pitch would be a nightmare for every batter. Knowing the Australian side I know how well they play spin. For a change, I am happy they will be experiencing a pitch suitable for the spinners. They are more accustomed to bouncy pitches whereas this pitch will test their batting skills so it will also be for Indian batters. Who wins the toss will be important on this pitch. I hope luck favors Rohit! I also have a hunch that this test match will be over before the 5th day.

In cricket, it is an accepted rule that wickets should favor them, but does this seem especially extreme? On Twitter, Nagpur pitch pictures have gone viral.

The pitch is clearly rigged in India's favor. There may be four spinners in India's lineup, while the rest of Australia's top order is left-handed. As a result, we cannot ignore the claims of most Australian experts regarding the difficulty of this pitch for Australian batters.

However, it will be interesting to see what the ICC says later since the pitch might rate low or below average.

This is common practice with every cricketing nation. When the tour is being scheduled they change the pitch in favour of their performance. The outcome isn't cent percent, so it is the players real performance that matters unlike the change of pitch being altered in favour of spinners. Anyhow tomorrow is going to be very interesting as the cricketing ethusiasts around the world will have a reminder to watch atleast the scores.

[WatChe]

If something extraordinary doesn't happen. The match between Zimbabwe and West Indies will be drawn. West Indies played well in the first innings and posted a good total. Zimbabwe played well as well. West Indies declared in 2nd innings by scoring and giving an interesting target. If Zimbabwe wants to win the match, they have to take a risk to score quick runs. If they take risks, West Indies will try to get some wickets and turn it into their game as well. Zimbabwe already lost four wickets and it seems they are not going to try to win the match.

The match ended in a draw, though West Indies were just 4 wickets away from victory. Zimbabwe made 379 runs in first innings while they were 134/6 in there second innings. Gudakesh Motie took 4 wickets and took West Indies very close to victory. There were 4 debutant from Zimbabwe in this test match. Zimbabwe would be happy with this draw. One more test in queue.

[BALIK]

If something extraordinary doesn't happen. The match between Zimbabwe and West Indies will be drawn. West Indies played well in the first innings and posted a good total. Zimbabwe played well as well. West Indies declared in 2nd innings by scoring and giving an interesting target. If Zimbabwe wants to win the match, they have to take a risk to score quick runs. If they take risks, West Indies will try to get some wickets and turn it into their game as well. Zimbabwe already lost four wickets and it seems they are not going to try to win the match.

The match ended in a draw, though West Indies were just 4 wickets away from victory. Zimbabwe made 379 runs in first innings while they were 134/6 in there second innings. Gudakesh Motie took 4 wickets and took West Indies very close to victory. There were 4 debutant from Zimbabwe in this test match. Zimbabwe would be happy with this draw. One more test in queue.

If the match had not been delayed due to rain, Zimbabwe would have definitely lost this match. Because the two openers of West Indies batted brilliantly in the first innings. The Zimbabwean squad is inexperienced. And so they were far behind the West Indies players both in terms of batting and bowling. However, they are happy that Zimbabwe managed to draw this match. This is a very good result for Zimbabwe. But in the next match I will definitely expect West Indies to win. They are in pretty good form now.