Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Smack That Ace]

A nice test match to watch. England completed its first innings in a day scoring 325 runs, and by the second day New Zealand have ended it's innings scoring 306 runs. The match is really interesting as the result can be in favour of any of the teams. England have begun it's second innings and have scored 79 runs losing 2 wickets. Both England and New Zealand are playing in the similar way.

The match turned out to be very competitive. England has now lost two wickets to collect 79 runs in their second innings. And at the end of two days, England lead by 98 runs. Although Ben Duckett batted well in the first innings, he managed only 25 runs in the second innings. If England gives a target of less than 350 then there is a possibility of their defeat in this match. But if England players are able to give a target of more than 350 then they will win. The pitch is not batting-friendly. It is very difficult for batsmen to stay at the crease and be able to play big innings on such a pitch.

[1714649121]

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[ZAINmalik75]

Australia's batsmen, as terrible as they were in the first match, I can't rely on their performance. In the first match, they scored only 177 and 91 runs. It was unimaginable to see an experienced team like Australia suffer such a bad batting disaster. My guess is India will win this match too. Because every Indian player is in great form now. They are not relying on any particular player now. This is the reason why they were able to beat Australia easily in the first match. I expect India to win in the second test match as well.

This time the Australians didn't took the tour very seriously. They landed in India only a few days before the first test match and didn't played any warmup matches. On the other hand, the Indians organized several days of preparatory camps.

I think that's the reason of Thier bad performance, but anyway thank GOD finally they score some decent runs , at first match I was really bored because they play like kids with pro . But I think after that defeat they take it seriously and the result is here, they scored 263 in 78 overs, with two half centuries of Usman Khawaja and p.handscomb . Hope they will entertain us by making some good delevries. I know indian will get the small target easily but in order to put some fun in match we need some wickets .

[Sithara007]

I think that's the reason of Thier bad performance, but anyway thank GOD finally they score some decent runs , at first match I was really bored because they play like kids with pro . But I think after that defeat they take it seriously and the result is here, they scored 263 in 78 overs, with two half centuries of Usman Khawaja and p.handscomb . Hope they will entertain us by making some good delevries. I know indian will get the small target easily but in order to put some fun in match we need some wickets .

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith were supposed to bear most of the burden for Australia, but today it was Khawaja and Handscomb who shined with the bat. I still believe that with a bit more preparation (especially in regards to warmup matches), Australian batsmen could have performed much better. Today the improvement was visible when compared to the first match, but still the gap between two teams in terms of quality is not getting any smaller. Tomorrow is such a crucial day. Australia needs to restrict India to a total of less than 300.

[DanWalker]

I think that's the reason of Thier bad performance, but anyway thank GOD finally they score some decent runs , at first match I was really bored because they play like kids with pro . But I think after that defeat they take it seriously and the result is here, they scored 263 in 78 overs, with two half centuries of Usman Khawaja and p.handscomb . Hope they will entertain us by making some good delevries. I know indian will get the small target easily but in order to put some fun in match we need some wickets .

Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith were supposed to bear most of the burden for Australia, but today it was Khawaja and Handscomb who shined with the bat. I still believe that with a bit more preparation (especially in regards to warmup matches), Australian batsmen could have performed much better. Today the improvement was visible when compared to the first match, but still the gap between two teams in terms of quality is not getting any smaller. Tomorrow is such a crucial day. Australia needs to restrict India to a total of less than 300.

Marnus Labuschagne, Smith and Warner are the most experienced players in the Australian team at the moment. And they are very experienced in Test format too. Also Warner and Smith are very familiar with this Indian pitch. Australia's supporters had the highest expectations from these three players. But they cannot play well. If these three players could have helped the team, Australia would have been able to collect more than 300 easily. However, 263 runs is not a big collection on such a pitch. And I would say that India's batsmen will not face any big problem to collect 263 runs. Rohit, Rahul and Kohli are all in good form now.

[MusaPk]

Marnus Labuschagne, Smith and Warner are the most experienced players in the Australian team at the moment. And they are very experienced in Test format too. Also Warner and Smith are very familiar with this Indian pitch. Australia's supporters had the highest expectations from these three players. But they cannot play well. If these three players could have helped the team, Australia would have been able to collect more than 300 easily. However, 263 runs is not a big collection on such a pitch. And I would say that India's batsmen will not face any big problem to collect 263 runs. Rohit, Rahul and Kohli are all in good form now.

Special thanks to khawaja and Peter Handscomb whose 81 and 72 helped Australia in making 263 runs otherwise they would have been  bowled out under 200. Another day dominated by Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja but this time Muhamamd Shami joined the party by taking 4 wikcets.
Now all depends on how India will play there first innings. If India can get leads of 200 then they will be champions for sure.

[Sithara007]

Marnus Labuschagne, Smith and Warner are the most experienced players in the Australian team at the moment. And they are very experienced in Test format too. Also Warner and Smith are very familiar with this Indian pitch. Australia's supporters had the highest expectations from these three players. But they cannot play well. If these three players could have helped the team, Australia would have been able to collect more than 300 easily. However, 263 runs is not a big collection on such a pitch. And I would say that India's batsmen will not face any big problem to collect 263 runs. Rohit, Rahul and Kohli are all in good form now.

David Warner have been out of form for the last many years, and therefore I would not take his name along with Smith and Labuschagne. But so far the performance from the last two have been disappointing. Border-Gavaskar trophy is one of the most popular test series, because it has a reputation of being competitive. But the first match was completely one-sided and dominated by the Indian team. If the second test also gets dominated by India, then eventually the global fans will lose interest in this series.

[Haunebu]

Surprised with the Australian line up with one fast bowler in Pat Cummins and three spinners in their squad which i am seeing for the first time, curious to see how that will help them tackle the Indian batting line up .

This isn't surprising at all to me. The Australians realised that the spinners are dominating on these Indian pitches which is why they included several spinners in their squad themselves though it remains to be seen if they can perform as well as the Indian spinners.

If India can get leads of 200 then they will be champions for sure.

Am not expecting India to post a lead of 200. I feel that they might post a small lead this time around because the Australians seem to have learnt from the last match which is why they won't make it easy for the Indians.

My prediction is that India will win this one too albeit by a small margin.

[teosanru]

What's the playing XI you guys are expecting for India in tomorrow's 2nd test match of India vs Australia? I am expecting atleast two changes for sure. One is KL Rahul might sit outside and Gill will get a chance to play tomorrow. Secondly I expect even Shreyas Iyer to play tomorrow but honestly it'll be not a good thing for SKY's morale to make him sit outside just after giving one chance so not sure it they'll do this or not. Rest of the team I think should remain exactly the same.

There will be small changes, and the match is going to be very interesting. Losing the first test match, Australia wants to win the match and it'll perform better than the first match. Australia too will have small changes. Match is being played on the New Delhi ground and Australia team players are finding difficulty in getting adopted to the weather condition.

Absolutely opposite change from what I expected, I honestly don't know who is backing KL Rahul so much that he still got a chance to play in this match in place of In form Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer playing the match instead of SKY. I don't know if Iyer wasn't fit in previous match or what he was the obvious choice in 1st test why would you remove SKY just on basis of first match.

[Minecache]

Marnus Labuschagne, Smith and Warner are the most experienced players in the Australian team at the moment. And they are very experienced in Test format too. Also Warner and Smith are very familiar with this Indian pitch. Australia's supporters had the highest expectations from these three players. But they cannot play well. If these three players could have helped the team, Australia would have been able to collect more than 300 easily. However, 263 runs is not a big collection on such a pitch. And I would say that India's batsmen will not face any big problem to collect 263 runs. Rohit, Rahul and Kohli are all in good form now.

David Warner have been out of form for the last many years, and therefore I would not take his name along with Smith and Labuschagne. But so far the performance from the last two have been disappointing. Border-Gavaskar trophy is one of the most popular test series, because it has a reputation of being competitive. But the first match was completely one-sided and dominated by the Indian team. If the second test also gets dominated by India, then eventually the global fans will lose interest in this series.

The way things are going so far in this test match, I believe it is obviously going to be India who is going to win the test match. Of course, it is only the end of the first day. But I believe India has the upper hand. In a test match, if the team which is batting first, gets all out on the first day and the other team comes into bat and does not lose any wickets, it is of course positive sign for the team batting second. Of course, it has only been 9 overs which India played. But I still think that is a mental win for India.

I personally think people all around the world are actually losing interest in test cricket altogether. One or two interesting series are not going to recover that popularity.

[Sithara007]

Both the openers have started rather slowly for India (KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma). But they are looking confident and India looks set to take the first innings lead. And it would be interesting to see how Todd Murphy performs in this match. He was completely unknown during the first test and the Indian batsmen got troubled by his spin. But this time, the batsmen have a fair idea of his bowling tactics. He is yet to bowl in this match, although the debutant Matthew Kuhnemann has been in action since yesterday.

BTW, can someone tell me why KL Rahul is still in the team, despite his pathetic test batting average of 34.30?

[JSRAW]

BTW, can someone tell me why KL Rahul is still in the team, despite his pathetic test batting average of 34.30?

I like to believe it's his last test match in this series and Gill might get a chance, although I would prefer if they include Mayank Aggarwal in the squad for the next 2 matches.

He recently made attractive runs in Ranji, including a couple of daddy hundreds and he opened the inning for his team.

[noormcs5]

I would humbly suggest no one from the Indian side (talking about fans, the Indian team knows that already) should get cocky, considering the low bounce we've seen in the last 2 overs.

It won't be a cakewalk for Indian batters, they really need to grind hard and do the hard work to score runs here. I am expecting them to cross Aussie's score because again I am banking on the Rohit-Iyer duo and our special spin triplets, other than that everything is a bonus for team India considering their form.

LYON is showing his magic today in the 2nd day of this test match and he already have taken 3 wickets  giving only 7 runs. To be honest, the pitch is favoring him and there is a lot of turn in the pitch. India won't be having a easy time chasing down this 263 runs that Australians made in their first innings.

A lot depends on lyer and Virat Kohli to develop some sort of partnership and don't let Lyon taking wickets too quickly.

Another point to note is that Australia have used up their reviews and only one is left with them so they may be cautious taking reviews now.

[Sithara007]

LOL.. interesting to see Nathan Lyon bowling so well (6-1-10-3), after getting hammered around the park during the first match. Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer are out there, trying to stabilize the Indian innings. And I am not sure why Todd Murphy hasn't bowled yet. The other two spinners had long spells and Murphy is yet to bowl his first over. BTW, the strategy of including three spinners in the XI seems to have worked for Australia (till now). And for both KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, their horrible form continues in this match as well. These two made 17 runs between them in the first innings. 

[JSRAW]

Uff another top-order collapse, so frustrating to see this Indian top order.

Once again these guys are putting pressure on lower order and expecting them to bail out!! 263 looks like a mammoth total atm.

Need a masterclass inning from Kohli and I hope no Pikachu face when he gets out.

 

[n0ne]

Uff another top-order collapse, so frustrating to see this Indian top order.

Once again these guys are putting pressure on lower order and expecting them to bail out!! 263 looks like a mammoth total atm.

Need a masterclass inning from Kohli and I hope no Pikachu face when he gets out.

 

Top order have collapsed. Pujara same as the previous match hadn't fulfilled the expectation. Shreyas Iyer into the squad and going to the pavilion with 4 runs is a big disappointment. Virat Kohli and Jadeja on the crease need to build good partnership. If not 263 doesn't looks reachable as the score is 77/4. As said India bottom order is given pressure as the top order collapse. If the top order have performed good, now the bottom order might perform even better.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

Top order have collapsed. Pujara same as the previous match hadn't fulfilled the expectation. Shreyas Iyer into the squad and going to the pavilion with 4 runs is a big disappointment. Virat Kohli and Jadeja on the crease need to build good partnership. If not 263 doesn't looks reachable as the score is 77/4. As said India bottom order is given pressure as the top order collapse. If the top order have performed good, now the bottom order might perform even better.

Finally some relief for Australians first time in this test series. 4 wickets for Nathan Lyon and now all eyes on Virat Kohli. If kohli can play a knock that can save India from falling short of Australia 263 then surely Kohli will retain his spot in Test team.

[laurenB7742]

New Zealand batsmen are not able to play well. Although Devon Conway played well, no other batsmen could support him. Devon Conway remains unbeaten with 66 runs. And at the moment, New Zealand's collection is 127 runs with the loss of 5 wickets.

The New Zealand team has collected more than 200 runs. New Zealand's collection of 209 runs lost by 7 wickets. Tom Blundell remained unbeaten on 58 runs. Probably the New Zealand team will be able to collect 40-50 more runs. If they manage to collect 260 then they can fight for victory in the second innings. The way New Zealand started the innings I thought they would not be able to score even 200 runs. But due to the responsible performance of Conway and Blundell, the New Zealand team managed to collect more than 200. If Blundell stays at the crease, New Zealand will be able to collect a decent total.

Currently the Test match between New Zealand and England is taking place Oval Stadium.
England declared their innings by scoring 325 runs in the first innings.
With that goal, New Zealand is still batting in such a situation that they have collected 274 runs for nine wickets.
Devin Conway scored 77 runs for New Zealand.
The Test match between England and New Zealand is still going on But now England is bowling, Robinson has taken maximum four wickets for England

England's batsmen played very well in both innings. Their collection in the first innings was 325 runs. And England's collection of 374 runs in the second innings. Every batsman in England played reasonably well. As the pitch was not batting-friendly. So 374 runs seems a good enough collection to me. England set a target of 393 runs. The New Zealand batsmen did not play well in the first innings. The top-order players in particular performed poorly. If the top-order players do not play well in the second innings too, then New Zealand will lose this match.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

England's batsmen played very well in both innings. Their collection in the first innings was 325 runs. And England's collection of 374 runs in the second innings. Every batsman in England played reasonably well. As the pitch was not batting-friendly. So 374 runs seems a good enough collection to me. England set a target of 393 runs. The New Zealand batsmen did not play well in the first innings. The top-order players in particular performed poorly. If the top-order players do not play well in the second innings too, then New Zealand will lose this match.

Newzealand have to chase a big target of 393. Their bowling was not good enough in both innings to stop England from scoring big runs. Newzealand need to bat with responsibility, they have scored 306 runs in first innings and this time they need 393 runs. They have started innings and score 10 runs in 2 overs so far.

[n0ne]

England's batsmen played very well in both innings. Their collection in the first innings was 325 runs. And England's collection of 374 runs in the second innings. Every batsman in England played reasonably well. As the pitch was not batting-friendly. So 374 runs seems a good enough collection to me. England set a target of 393 runs. The New Zealand batsmen did not play well in the first innings. The top-order players in particular performed poorly. If the top-order players do not play well in the second innings too, then New Zealand will lose this match.

Newzealand have to chase a big target of 393. Their bowling was not good enough in both innings to stop England from scoring big runs. Newzealand need to bat with responsibility, they have scored 306 runs in first innings and this time they need 393 runs. They have started innings and score 10 runs in 2 overs so far.

Already New Zealand have lost the top order batsmen Latham, Convoy and Williamson. If this continues New Zealand gonna end the innings in less than 150 runs. Williamson is a much important player for New Zealand, and if he had stayed on the crease surely good partnership could've been developed. Stuart Board have done the best taking the 3 wickets.

[Minecache]

England's batsmen played very well in both innings. Their collection in the first innings was 325 runs. And England's collection of 374 runs in the second innings. Every batsman in England played reasonably well. As the pitch was not batting-friendly. So 374 runs seems a good enough collection to me. England set a target of 393 runs. The New Zealand batsmen did not play well in the first innings. The top-order players in particular performed poorly. If the top-order players do not play well in the second innings too, then New Zealand will lose this match.

Newzealand have to chase a big target of 393. Their bowling was not good enough in both innings to stop England from scoring big runs. Newzealand need to bat with responsibility, they have scored 306 runs in first innings and this time they need 393 runs. They have started innings and score 10 runs in 2 overs so far.

Already New Zealand have lost the top order batsmen Latham, Convoy and Williamson. If this continues New Zealand gonna end the innings in less than 150 runs. Williamson is a much important player for New Zealand, and if he had stayed on the crease surely good partnership could've been developed. Stuart Board have done the best taking the 3 wickets.

New Zealand lost their fourth batsman for 27 runs. Devon Conway, who batted brilliantly in the first innings, returned to the dressing room after scoring just 2 runs. New Zealand lost the first 4 batsmen of the top order. And they still need 367 runs to win. Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell are now at the crease. These two batsmen are very experienced. But I don't think it is possible for them to give victory to New Zealand in the match. England will win this match very easily. I think New Zealand may be able to score as many as 180 runs.