Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[jostorres]

In the New Zealand and Sri Lanka Tests, the Sri Lankan top and middle order performed well in the first innings but in the second innings lacked that consistency. The fall of 3 wickets for 83 runs will naturally reduce the run rate so even if New Zealand are a bit behind, it will not be too difficult to cover those runs. In the first innings Karunaratne had 50, Kusal Mendis 87 and Mathews 47 but in the second innings Karunaratne 17, Kusal Mendis 14 and Angelo Mathews remained unbeaten.

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand series I thought would be one-sided and New Zealand would win. But the performance of the Sri Lankan batsmen in the first innings was excellent. And so they managed to collect quite a decent amount. And the performance of the Sri Lankan bowlers in the first innings was not bad. However, I do not see a good performance from the Sri Lankan batsmen in the second innings. They collected 83 runs by losing 3 wickets. And three experienced batsmen of the squad are back in the dressing room. If Sri Lanka gives a target of less than 300 then New Zealand will dominate the match and win. But being able to collect more than 300 will make the match competitive.

You are not alone for having thoughts like these because I was also expecting this series is going to be one-sided but Sri Lanka after having amazing start in 1st Test, at Christchurch suddenly things are going in wrong way for them in second inning and now most chances they can lose his match because top order is out and Mathews and Jayasuria at crease with just 65 runs lead is surely not good after having good start Southee is doing amazing job with ball and captaincy which is helping them for fight back into this match.

Mitchel and Henry having 125 runs partnership was the game changer because things were not good for them in start of batting, but these two bring back their team in match and now have chance to win and lead the series which is surely going to be good for them.

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[teosanru]

Finally a half century from Virat Kohli in Test and hopefully he will convert that to a century and so does the tail end and with the way the match is going it will end in a draw and finally some batsman were able to rectify their batting average with the pitch they got in the final Test  .

There is no fun of the test match if the pitch behaves like that. Virat Kohli has scored something good after a long time in test format. But the spectators are getting bored for such pitch condition. This test match is heading towards the draw. I can't see any other possible outcome of this match. Will India qualify for the WTC final automatically if this test match ends as a draw?

No, automatic qualification will only be there if India win the match, otherwise we are slightly dependent upon SL vs NZ series. if SL takes a 2-0 clean sweep then India won't qualify with a draw. Only if atleast one match is drawn of their series also India will qualify. Practically from what it looks like SL vs NZ first match also looks like a draw only. So, I thin India has a good chance to qualify right now.

Talking about the pitch, I agree, I personally also like bowling pitches much more. There is no point to keep on batting for 5 days for no results, Instead pitches should be made in such a way that 400 in an innings looks like a manmonth task not a cakewalk. 

[Sithara007]

~~~~
Talking about the pitch, I agree, I personally also like bowling pitches much more. There is no point to keep on batting for 5 days for no results, Instead pitches should be made in such a way that 400 in an innings looks like a manmonth task not a cakewalk. 

There should be a balance somewhere in between. I have seen test matches ending within two days, in bowler friendly pitches. Also, in the recent past we have seen several matches ending up as draw, despite play being possible for all the 5 days. Both of these instances do no good for the future of test cricket. Cricket fans will lose interest if they watch the matches continuously for 5 days and still not end up with a result. Now two days remain in this match, and in all probability it will end up as a draw. You need 6-7 days to get result with such tracks.

The attitude from the Indian management was disappointing. Since they are already up by 2-1, they decided to go for a flat track so that Australia couldn't level the series. That means that they don't have any confidence in the performance of their own players (especially on their spinners). And this means that despite losing the first two matches in the Border–Gavaskar Trophy by a big margin, the Australians can hold their head high.

[JSRAW]

Oh well!! Kohli is scoring runs for a change   so BCCI really served a road here, didn't they?

I would have liked it more if they had 320-ish runs on the scoreboard, it didn't happen but that's okay i suppose as they just lost 3 wickets so the match is still in the balance. Pitch is still looking good for batting so maybe we can expect more runs from India on day 4 and who knows if they get lucky then they can take a lead too?  

No pikachu face from Kohli this time around. Luck is siding with India at the moment thanks to Sri Lanka being pressured by New Zealand. Even if Lanka manages to win somehow, 2-0 in their favor is extremely unlikely.

Lol yeah, hope he goes big along with Jadeja and makes the most of it as he won't get many batting pitches. If by any chance the Indian team bats throughout the day then we could be in a good position and maybe get 100-ish run lead on the scoreboard. Atm their main target should be to dig in deep and out bat Aussies, let the Aussies bat on 5th day pitch.

Don't want to witness any collapse at all.

[Iranus]

The attitude from the Indian management was disappointing. Since they are already up by 2-1, they decided to go for a flat track so that Australia couldn't level the series. That means that they don't have any confidence in the performance of their own players (especially on their spinners). And this means that despite losing the first two matches in the Border–Gavaskar Trophy by a big margin, the Australians can hold their head high.

It's natural that every team would want to take home series advantage. They will create the pitch according to their needs and preferences. The series is 4 matches. And India is already leading the series by 2-1. So they will win the series if there is a draw in the last match. And accordingly, they pitched in the last match. The bowlers are not able to take advantage of this pitch. Australia scored 480 runs in their first innings. And now India's total is 323/4. But now the fourth day's play is going on. There is no possibility to see the result of this match. I will not be surprised to see the Indian batsmen batting all day today. They want to draw this match by any means.

[noormcs5]

Oh well!! Kohli is scoring runs for a change   so BCCI really served a road here, didn't they?

I would have liked it more if they had 320-ish runs on the scoreboard, it didn't happen but that's okay i suppose as they just lost 3 wickets so the match is still in the balance. Pitch is still looking good for batting so maybe we can expect more runs from India on day 4 and who knows if they get lucky then they can take a lead too?  

No pikachu face from Kohli this time around. Luck is siding with India at the moment thanks to Sri Lanka being pressured by New Zealand. Even if Lanka manages to win somehow, 2-0 in their favor is extremely unlikely.

Lol yeah, hope he goes big along with Jadeja and makes the most of it as he won't get many batting pitches. If by any chance the Indian team bats throughout the day then we could be in a good position and maybe get 100-ish run lead on the scoreboard. Atm their main target should be to dig in deep and out bat Aussies, let the Aussies bat on 5th day pitch.

Don't want to witness any collapse at all.

The match is positioned in a way right now that India can't lose this match (as they still have 2nd innings to bat left) and Australia needs a big collapse in the last innings which is unlikely to happen with a team as strong as Australia.

I am interested to see Kholi get his 100 in this test (he is at 80 now) and then how he goes on with this inning after getting the 100. There is no pressure in the match for India and this may be an ideal situation for him to make a big score.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

Oh well!! Kohli is scoring runs for a change   so BCCI really served a road here, didn't they?

I would have liked it more if they had 320-ish runs on the scoreboard, it didn't happen but that's okay i suppose as they just lost 3 wickets so the match is still in the balance. Pitch is still looking good for batting so maybe we can expect more runs from India on day 4 and who knows if they get lucky then they can take a lead too?  

No pikachu face from Kohli this time around. Luck is siding with India at the moment thanks to Sri Lanka being pressured by New Zealand. Even if Lanka manages to win somehow, 2-0 in their favor is extremely unlikely.

Lol yeah, hope he goes big along with Jadeja and makes the most of it as he won't get many batting pitches. If by any chance the Indian team bats throughout the day then we could be in a good position and maybe get 100-ish run lead on the scoreboard. Atm their main target should be to dig in deep and out bat Aussies, let the Aussies bat on 5th day pitch.

Don't want to witness any collapse at all.

The match is positioned in a way right now that India can't lose this match (as they still have 2nd innings to bat left) and Australia needs a big collapse in the last innings which is unlikely to happen with a team as strong as Australia.

I am interested to see Kholi get his 100 in this test (he is at 80 now) and then how he goes on with this inning after getting the 100. There is no pressure in the match for India and this may be an ideal situation for him to make a big score.

Australia to be in a strong position thry need to take kohli wicket to break this momentum  but still India is in stable position.  2 days left and still on 1st innings this match is going to be a draw in any case.

[kro55]

Sri Lanka VS New Zealand

The first Test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand turned out to be a very competitive one. Sri Lanka has given the New Zealand team a target of 285 runs. And it doesn't look like it will be easy to collect for New Zealand. Right now both teams have equal chances to win.

However, I expected a slightly better performance from Sri Lanka in the second innings. If they could collect more than 350 they would be able to provide a good target. Then 285 runs are enough to fight. If the Sri Lankan bowlers can do well in the first session tomorrow, and the New Zealand top-order can take wickets quickly, then Sri Lanka has a chance to win.

[WatChe]

Sri Lanka VS New Zealand

The first Test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand turned out to be a very competitive one. Sri Lanka has given the New Zealand team a target of 285 runs. And it doesn't look like it will be easy to collect for New Zealand. Right now both teams have equal chances to win.

However, I expected a slightly better performance from Sri Lanka in the second innings. If they could collect more than 350 they would be able to provide a good target. Then 285 runs are enough to fight. If the Sri Lankan bowlers can do well in the first session tomorrow, and the New Zealand top-order can take wickets quickly, then Sri Lanka has a chance to win.

On last day, New Zealand need 257 runs to win with 9 wickets left. Kasun Rajitha got SL a much needed wicket before stumps of day 4 and we will defiantly see result of this test match.
Thanks to Angelo Mathews century in second innings, SL were able to score 302 runs. Tickner and Henry were too good for NZ in second innings bowling. SL need to go aggressive and try to pick early wickets on last day.

[noormcs5]

Australia to be in a strong position thry need to take kohli wicket to break this momentum  but still India is in stable position.  2 days left and still on 1st innings this match is going to be a draw in any case.

India is looking strong here with 362 runs with only four wickets down. If anyone has not bet on this match, you can bet on a draw and still get 1.14 odds which is just ok in my point of view.

Check out the Australia winning odds 38, that is impossible then Aussie turns the table win. Even betting on India to get 5.6 odds is not wise because I don't think that Australia can be bowled out quickly on this batting wicket.

[JSRAW]

After 3 long years, finally a test ton for Koach! Also zero cover drive in his inning, that's impressive. Similar to Khwaja, who didn't play his favorite sweep shots.

I have said earlier that Lyon and Todd Murphy's 9th wicket partnership is going to hurt us. If it wasn't for this crucial partnership then at this time of play India could've taken a different approach as they have wickets in the banks.

[LittleBitFunny]

Sri Lanka VS New Zealand

The first Test match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand turned out to be a very competitive one. Sri Lanka has given the New Zealand team a target of 285 runs. And it doesn't look like it will be easy to collect for New Zealand. Right now both teams have equal chances to win.

However, I expected a slightly better performance from Sri Lanka in the second innings. If they could collect more than 350 they would be able to provide a good target. Then 285 runs are enough to fight. If the Sri Lankan bowlers can do well in the first session tomorrow, and the New Zealand top-order can take wickets quickly, then Sri Lanka has a chance to win.

On last day, New Zealand need 257 runs to win with 9 wickets left. Kasun Rajitha got SL a much needed wicket before stumps of day 4 and we will defiantly see result of this test match.
Thanks to Angelo Mathews century in second innings, SL were able to score 302 runs. Tickner and Henry were too good for NZ in second innings bowling. SL need to go aggressive and try to pick early wickets on last day.

I think it is very difficult to score 257 runs batting on the last day. I guess the pitch will be a bit slower and the bowlers will have an advantage on the last day. So it will be tough for New Zealand to win this match. Experienced batsmen like Williamson, Nicholls, and Blundell did not play well in the first innings. They must bat responsibly in the second innings. If they make similar mistakes in the second innings too, it will not be easy for them to collect 257 runs. New Zealand has already lost the wicket of Conway. I expect a responsible performance from Williamson in the first session tomorrow.

[CryptoBuds]

Like the first test match, the South African team is likely to win the second match as well. South Africa batted well in the first innings. And their performance is good in the second innings too. South Africa collected 266 runs losing 6 wickets. And South Africa is now leading by 335 runs. And I think that is enough collection to win against West Indies.
West Indies bowler's performance is bad I would not say that. But the performance of West Indies batsmen is very bad. West Indies batsmen are not suitable for the Test format. Apart from Jason Holder, no other batsman on the team could collect up to 30 runs.

South Africa now lead by 356 runs and they still have three wickets in hand. The important thing is that Temba Bavuma , the captain of south Africa, is playing at 171 runs and is still not out. Although this lead should be enough for the South African team but ideally they would like to post a lead of 400 runs and Temba can help to achieve this Psychological lead.
I would agree with your point that West Indies needs to improve their batting. Their bowling is reasonably ok but if the batting gets a bit improved they could give tough competition to the South African team.

I think South Africa should just post a target of 400 for the West Indies and they will be very safe. I seriously do not want South Africa to play any more time than just the first session of the fourth day. Because the chance of South Africa winning the test match is going to reduce as time goes on.

I do not want South Africa to play any further than the first session, doesn't matter if they are able to post a target of 400 or not. Considering the fact that they only need 44 runs to post a target of 400 which if they are unable to get in, the first session is going to be very weird.

I think the best approach is going to be laying attacking cricket from the start of day four. They should get as much as they can and not worry about losing wickets. After that, they can get to work with bowling.

Yeah, you were right, South Africa did not need a lead of 400 runs to win the match, infact a mere lead of 110 would have been enough for them to win this test match.

A very poor show by the West Indies batsmen and they really need to do something about their batting now. Joshua Da Silva scored the highest 34 runs and the rest of the batsmen just didn't score anything.
Both test matches has been won by south africa and therefore they won the test series. Let's see how west indies come up in the one day series after this test defeat.

When the South African team set a huge target of 390, I was sure that South Africa was going to win the match. Because the batsmen of West Indies do not have the ability to score so big in the last innings. West Indies' collection was 251 runs in the first innings.

But I did not think that I will see such a bad performance of West Indies in the second innings. They have collected only 106 runs. The highest score for the team was Joshua De Silva's 34 runs.

The West Indies team is now very weak in the Test format. Especially their batting line-up is very weak. Batsmen do not have the mindset to stay at the crease for long. The West Indies management should try to build an experienced team for the Test format only.

[Haunebu]

After 3 long years, finally a test ton for Koach! Also zero cover drive in his inning, that's impressive. Similar to Khwaja, who didn't play his favorite sweep shots.

I have said earlier that Lyon and Todd Murphy's 9th wicket partnership is going to hurt us. If it wasn't for this crucial partnership then at this time of play India could've taken a different approach as they have wickets in the banks.

Kohli crossed 150 while Axar is playing like a beast. Lyon and Murphy's partnership saved their team from a loss since this match will end as a draw as predicted. Several records have probably been broken in this final test.

The Lankans are probably feeling depressed at the moment. I feel for them since they played well despite playing so few tests in recent years.

[ilovealtcoins]

After 3 long years, finally a test ton for Koach! Also zero cover drive in his inning, that's impressive. Similar to Khwaja, who didn't play his favorite sweep shots.
I have said earlier that Lyon and Todd Murphy's 9th wicket partnership is going to hurt us. If it wasn't for this crucial partnership then at this time of play India could've taken a different approach as they have wickets in the banks.

Kohli crossed 150 while Axar is playing like a beast. Lyon and Murphy's partnership saved their team from a loss since this match will end as a draw as predicted. Several records have probably been broken in this final test.
The Lankans are probably feeling depressed at the moment. I feel for them since they played well despite playing so few tests in recent years.

Australia vs India match has become boring. I am very upset to see such a flat pitch. India lost 5 wickets and collected 519 runs. Kohli scored 169 runs unbeaten. And Axar Patel scored 51 runs. The Indian team batted the entire day today. It is easy to predict that this match is going to be a draw. And India won the series 2-1.

The Sri Lankan team is likely to win. New Zealand needs 257 more runs to win. If the Lankan bowlers perform well, Sri Lanka still has a chance to win.

[JSRAW]

After 3 long years, finally a test ton for Koach! Also zero cover drive in his inning, that's impressive. Similar to Khwaja, who didn't play his favorite sweep shots.

I have said earlier that Lyon and Todd Murphy's 9th wicket partnership is going to hurt us. If it wasn't for this crucial partnership then at this time of play India could've taken a different approach as they have wickets in the banks.

Kohli crossed 150 while Axar is playing like a beast. Lyon and Murphy's partnership saved their team from a loss since this match will end as a draw as predicted. Several records have probably been broken in this final test.

Both played extremely well but after Axar, it turned out to be some sort of village cricket or brain fade moment for India, with this Indians are at least 40-50 runs short.

Ashwin played an unnecessary slog, it wasn't necessary at all. Yadav was a bit casual with the running between the wicket, given he's a quick and fit guy. At last Kohli not trusting Shami, he's no mug with the bat on this pitch.

[pakhitheboss]

What a come back by Virat Kohli! After November of 2019 today he scored his 28th test century. At one point I was hoping for him to get his double but 183 is still a good score. This pitch was meant for batters like Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli and Axar Patel.

One thing now I am sure KL Rahul will miss playing test cricket as the new test opener with Rohit will be Shubman Gill. I was expecting a decent lead of 150+ runs by the Indian side. 91 runs lead is just a cake walk for Australian batters. Now everything depends on the Indian bowlers.

[YinShuiSiYuan]

What a come back by Virat Kohli! After November of 2019 today he scored his 28th test century. At one point I was hoping for him to get his double but 183 is still a good score. This pitch was meant for batters like Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli and Axar Patel.

One thing now I am sure KL Rahul will miss playing test cricket as the new test opener with Rohit will be Shubman Gill. I was expecting a decent lead of 150+ runs by the Indian side. 91 runs lead is just a cake walk for Australian batters. Now everything depends on the Indian bowlers.

Good innings played by virat kohli and those who were questioning his prayers and visiting their mandirs his all prayers have worked and he showed brilliant performance today .
Now India has lead of 91 runs and this is little easy for Australia to chase .

[Coin63$]

In the fourth Test between Australia and India, Australia batted first Collected 480 runs in their first innings.
In response, India went into bat in the second season and collected 571 runs.Virat Kohli scored the highest 186 runs for India.Even Shubman Gill collected 128 for India.
Now Australia started batting again in their second innings. Australia scored one run for no wicket in their second innings in 3.1 overs.

[onecall123]

What a come back by Virat Kohli! After November of 2019 today he scored his 28th test century. At one point I was hoping for him to get his double but 183 is still a good score. This pitch was meant for batters like Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli and Axar Patel.

One thing now I am sure KL Rahul will miss playing test cricket as the new test opener with Rohit will be Shubman Gill. I was expecting a decent lead of 150+ runs by the Indian side. 91 runs lead is just a cake walk for Australian batters. Now everything depends on the Indian bowlers.

Today's headlines are dominated by Virat Kohli as he got his long-awaited 28th Test hundred. He played a crucial role in the game's context and helped put India in a safe position. Indian batters played nicely throughout the first innings, but towards the end, lead wasn't big, which has made it look like a cakewalk for the Australian batters. The pitch looked to be the best batting surface of the series, and because of the excellent batting from both India and Australia, neither team can afford to lose this test. A possible outcome is a draw. However, most interesting day is loading, so we may witness an epic encounter between the ball and bat.