Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Crypto Library]

As I said before, it was a disappointing batting performance by both teams including the winners that is Pakistan. Pakistan getting out for only 157 runs makes no sense. I think if the opponent were any other team, they wouldn't have let the Pakistan team win after showing such poor performance.

I will agree with you because you did not say anything unusual. If Pakistan's opponent in that match was not the West Indies but India or Afghanistan or New Zealand or Australia or England, they definitely would not have let the Pakistan team win so easily.

Since the 2nd test will also be played in Multan, I guess it will be a low scoring match too and the pitch will be spinners friendly. In the tour match, West Indies made 346 runs but it was a different ground. WI aren't good players of spinners and Pakistan are taking the advantage of this and making spinning tracks for this tour.

I can't really say anything about this before the match starts because I don't know yet what the pitch will be like or whether it will be only spinners friendly. But so far I have seen in a few reports that the average first innings score of Multan Cricket Stadium is over 350runs. And a stadium with an average first innings score of over 350 runs must be batting friendly.
But if they perform like they did in the first match again, then there's nothing we can do.

[General_Bitcoin]

✂✂✂✂
BCCI and to some extent are ECB already compensating different boards with bilateral and Test series is a big part along with limited overs cricket.

Recently discussed 2 group/supposedly relegation process threatens the existing system so it's a tough cookie. BIG-3 needs to find a new way to hand over lollipops to other boards but i am not sure how?

Solution can't be like this; playing 10 t-20 matches with the 2nd grouped teams instead of 5 matches.

What is the need to compensate? 10-15 years back, smaller boards such as WICB and SLCB used to contribute to the ICC budget in a significant way. Now their contribution has been reduced to less than 1%, with 80% of the total revenue being contributed by the BCCI. Even then, as per the ICC revenue distribution system, both these boards receive around 4.5% of the total funding. And on top of this, they want the bilaterals as well? IMO, they are demanding too much and time has come to show them their place.

If ICC revenue is criteria then it will get ugly for everyone.

During the ICC rights saga, heard some numbers in the podcast and I was shocked to know that SL-BAN-PAK-AFG as a group doesn't even bring $100 million (I knew the situation was bad but this was shocking). SA and WI are more or less the same, NZ hardly gets any eyeballs and ENG-AUS both contributed around $425-ish million.

Bro these countries are going to live in same way for few more years, or even we can go less as well because situation is not increasing with SA, WI and NZ are also having same situation in revenue.
India, England and Australia going to be had improvement but most chances we are going to have no big changes until end of cycle 2031 because after this ICC can take few bold decisions and cricket could be much better and improved if we have leaders like Jay Shah who is impressive person right now.
Even he is having tag of nepotism, but his work is bringing new lifeline for cricket due to good and positive strategy like he settled India/Pakistan issue for ICC events.

[Publictalk792]

I don't see criticism of Pakistan's pitch as negative. Because their pitch gives rise to criticism. I certainly support home field advantage, but Pakistan has always been spoiling the beauty of Test cricket by creating unbalanced pitches. There is no problem if you make a spin-friendly pitch, but if you make a batting pitch where no wickets fall and then another pitch where batting is not possible, then that is not an advantage at all. It spoils the beauty of cricket. You make a pitch based on your strengths and the weaknesses of the opposing team, but it should be a sporting pitch. A pitch that gives extra advantage to the bowlers or the batters is never a balanced pitch. While making a pitch, you have to keep in mind that no department gets extra advantage. I cannot enjoy the slow pitch matches in Pakistan's current series at all. Such matches spoil the beauty of Test cricket.

I totally agree with you about Pakistan cricket pitch. It is okay to have some advantage when playing at home but making pitches that are unfair and only help one team is not good for match. Good pitch should be fair for both batsmen and bowlers. But Pakistan mostly makes pitches that are either too easy or too hard to bat on. This is not fair and makes the game less exciting. Pakistan should try to make pitches that are fair and balanced so game can be fun and competitive.

[Sithara007]

I totally agree with you about Pakistan cricket pitch. It is okay to have some advantage when playing at home but making pitches that are unfair and only help one team is not good for match. Good pitch should be fair for both batsmen and bowlers. But Pakistan mostly makes pitches that are either too easy or too hard to bat on. This is not fair and makes the game less exciting. Pakistan should try to make pitches that are fair and balanced so game can be fun and competitive.

Almost all of the sub-continental teams do that. Afghanistan maybe an exception, because they don't play tests at home. And this is something that the ICC should look into. One suggestion that I heard many years back was to allot the toss to the visiting team. If they create dustbowls, and if the visiting team bats first, then some of that advantage is lost. On this regard, I am with the SENA nations. At least they don't do this sort of behavior. Pitches in Australia, England and South Africa are mostly neutral.

[JSRAW]

I totally agree with you about Pakistan cricket pitch. It is okay to have some advantage when playing at home but making pitches that are unfair and only help one team is not good for match. Good pitch should be fair for both batsmen and bowlers. But Pakistan mostly makes pitches that are either too easy or too hard to bat on. This is not fair and makes the game less exciting. Pakistan should try to make pitches that are fair and balanced so game can be fun and competitive.

Almost all of the sub-continental teams do that. Afghanistan maybe an exception, because they don't play tests at home. And this is something that the ICC should look into. One suggestion that I heard many years back was to allot the toss to the visiting team. If they create dustbowls, and if the visiting team bats first, then some of that advantage is lost. On this regard, I am with the SENA nations. At least they don't do this sort of behavior. Pitches in Australia, England and South Africa are mostly neutral.

With all due respect but i believe that's a dumb take because you are advocating a notion that, it's neutral and fair play when spinners have no role in test cricket. In recent BGT spinners didn't even bowl 100 overs in 5 test match series. How is it neutral and not favorable to seamers?

Who decides what's the good deck? If it's a spin track and batters can't play spin then it's doctored but when it's seaming, swinging and ball hooping around then it's all about the beauty of test cricket and the batter's technique. It's not 80's or 90's.   

[Sithara007]

With all due respect but i believe that's a dumb take because you are advocating a notion that, it's neutral and fair play when spinners have no role in test cricket. In recent BGT spinners didn't even bowl 100 overs in 5 test match series. How is it neutral and not favorable to seamers?

Who decides what's the good deck? If it's a spin track and batters can't play spin then it's doctored but when it's seaming, swinging and ball hooping around then it's all about the beauty of test cricket and the batter's technique. It's not 80's or 90's.   

Most of the time, India had two spinners in their squad and one of the reason why Australia had just one (Nathan Lyon) was due to the fact that Indian batsmen are so good against the spinners. On the other hand, recent tests in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had seamers bowling less than 10% of the total overs. Batsmen struggled a lot, with totals above 200 being considered as a luxury. On the other hand, both India and Australia managed totals of 400 plus quite frequently during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

[Just Say]

I don't see criticism of Pakistan's pitch as negative. Because their pitch gives rise to criticism. I certainly support home field advantage, but Pakistan has always been spoiling the beauty of Test cricket by creating unbalanced pitches. There is no problem if you make a spin-friendly pitch, but if you make a batting pitch where no wickets fall and then another pitch where batting is not possible, then that is not an advantage at all. It spoils the beauty of cricket. You make a pitch based on your strengths and the weaknesses of the opposing team, but it should be a sporting pitch. A pitch that gives extra advantage to the bowlers or the batters is never a balanced pitch. While making a pitch, you have to keep in mind that no department gets extra advantage. I cannot enjoy the slow pitch matches in Pakistan's current series at all. Such matches spoil the beauty of Test cricket.

I totally agree with you about Pakistan cricket pitch. It is okay to have some advantage when playing at home but making pitches that are unfair and only help one team is not good for match. Good pitch should be fair for both batsmen and bowlers. But Pakistan mostly makes pitches that are either too easy or too hard to bat on. This is not fair and makes the game less exciting. Pakistan should try to make pitches that are fair and balanced so game can be fun and competitive.

I think such pitches are not only made in Pakistan, similar pitches are made repeatedly in other countries of the Indian subcontinent. This includes India and Bangladesh. These teams create pitches where only their team's bowlers can bowl well, i.e only the bowlers get the most advantage. When the pitch is most favorable for the bowlers, the batsmen are not able to score many runs in that match.

Similarly, recently we saw that in the test match between Pakistan and West Indies neither team was able to score much runs. Therefore, in its next match, Pakistan's pitch should be prepared in such a way that the batsmen and bowlers can take advantage of it and they will be able to perform well.

[HelliumZ]

recently we saw that in the test match between Pakistan and West Indies neither team was able to score much runs. Therefore, in its next match, Pakistan's pitch should be prepared in such a way that the batsmen and bowlers can take advantage of it and they will be able to perform well.

Spinners have the most advantage in Tests between Pakistan and West Indies, especially if we talk about Pakistan's bowlers, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali both took 80% of West Indies' wickets.
No matter how the pitch is made, Pakistan's spinners will have an added advantage, especially in the wickets of Bangladesh and Pakistan, mainly the spinners get an added advantage, and the pacers get an added advantage on the pitch of Australia and England.

[Lidger]

I don't see criticism of Pakistan's pitch as negative. Because their pitch gives rise to criticism. I certainly support home field advantage, but Pakistan has always been spoiling the beauty of Test cricket by creating unbalanced pitches. There is no problem if you make a spin-friendly pitch, but if you make a batting pitch where no wickets fall and then another pitch where batting is not possible, then that is not an advantage at all. It spoils the beauty of cricket. You make a pitch based on your strengths and the weaknesses of the opposing team, but it should be a sporting pitch. A pitch that gives extra advantage to the bowlers or the batters is never a balanced pitch. While making a pitch, you have to keep in mind that no department gets extra advantage. I cannot enjoy the slow pitch matches in Pakistan's current series at all. Such matches spoil the beauty of Test cricket.

I totally agree with you about Pakistan cricket pitch. It is okay to have some advantage when playing at home but making pitches that are unfair and only help one team is not good for match. Good pitch should be fair for both batsmen and bowlers. But Pakistan mostly makes pitches that are either too easy or too hard to bat on. This is not fair and makes the game less exciting. Pakistan should try to make pitches that are fair and balanced so game can be fun and competitive.

Your point is that if Pakistan is the host team in any series in international cricket, they build wickets in such a way that wickets cannot be batted on easily. But if you look at their domestic league PSL, you will find that PSL has a lot of runs. The main reason for the high number of runs in PSL is the creation of wicket batting aids. Maybe Pakistan build batting friendly wickets to make league tournament interesting then why they will build bowling friendly wickets as host team in test cricket or other formats. As far as I know Pakistan's bowling attack is as strong as the batting line-up and if they produce a fair wicket then their batsmen will do well as well as their bowlers. The first test match was a low-scoring match in 4 innings, but I think the second test match will have a higher score than the first test match.

[Sithara007]

Your point is that if Pakistan is the host team in any series in international cricket, they build wickets in such a way that wickets cannot be batted on easily. But if you look at their domestic league PSL, you will find that PSL has a lot of runs. The main reason for the high number of runs in PSL is the creation of wicket batting aids. Maybe Pakistan build batting friendly wickets to make league tournament interesting then why they will build bowling friendly wickets as host team in test cricket or other formats. As far as I know Pakistan's bowling attack is as strong as the batting line-up and if they produce a fair wicket then their batsmen will do well as well as their bowlers. The first test match was a low-scoring match in 4 innings, but I think the second test match will have a higher score than the first test match.

For PSL, the main intent is to get as much fans as possible to view the event (both in TV/OTT and at the stadium). But for test cricket, that is not the case. In test cricket, the only aim is to win the home matches in anyway possible. And especially matches against weaker teams such as West Indies do give Pakistan an opportunity to get full points in the ICC World Test Championship. Therefore I don't think that the track for the second match will be drastically different from the one that was used for the first match.

[fullhdpixel]

For PSL, the main intent is to get as much fans as possible to view the event (both in TV/OTT and at the stadium). But for test cricket, that is not the case. In test cricket, the only aim is to win the home matches in anyway possible. And especially matches against weaker teams such as West Indies do give Pakistan an opportunity to get full points in the ICC World Test Championship. Therefore I don't think that the track for the second match will be drastically different from the one that was used for the first match.

This series is not profitable for PCB or media as well because we all know how things are going with it's just helpful they will be able to jump from 8th spot to 7th due to the worst ever management we can't say they will learn from their mistakes as well because we have no solid vision or strategy in this sports organization for long time.

They prepared wickets for spinners but having bowlers 38 years old Noman Ali who is already on end of his career playing for increasing his stats while if we have youngsters then surely this give them good confidence and boost their bench power. In last one-decade, Pakistani cricket is going down from bad to worse in all formats which is the worst case for them PSL is also not helpful for having young skilful and talented players.

[Compromise me]

I don't see criticism of Pakistan's pitch as negative. Because their pitch gives rise to criticism. I certainly support home field advantage, but Pakistan has always been spoiling the beauty of Test cricket by creating unbalanced pitches. There is no problem if you make a spin-friendly pitch, but if you make a batting pitch where no wickets fall and then another pitch where batting is not possible, then that is not an advantage at all. It spoils the beauty of cricket. You make a pitch based on your strengths and the weaknesses of the opposing team, but it should be a sporting pitch. A pitch that gives extra advantage to the bowlers or the batters is never a balanced pitch. While making a pitch, you have to keep in mind that no department gets extra advantage. I cannot enjoy the slow pitch matches in Pakistan's current series at all. Such matches spoil the beauty of Test cricket.

That is part of game and we saw many series of Pak team in which Pak team played very bad in Pak home ground but we saw last Pak test matches in which Pak team played very well and we saw result in the favour of Pak team. Your point is good and Pak cricket board should work on that and ICC should also note down this point. Pak cricket is doing good in Pakistan and that is very bad for haters and they will begin this point loudly and we want justice in cricket and I think every team make pitches according to their strengths and weaknesses. That is not crime and we saw reverse swing in the past which was invented by Pak cricketers but after it became trend when all World Learnt this . My question is from which country you belong? And I think you are Indian because you are criticizing Pak team and you don't know that truth of other team of World.

[Sithara007]

That is part of game and we saw many series of Pak team in which Pak team played very bad in Pak home ground but we saw last Pak test matches in which Pak team played very well and we saw result in the favour of Pak team. Your point is good and Pak cricket board should work on that and ICC should also note down this point. Pak cricket is doing good in Pakistan and that is very bad for haters and they will begin this point loudly and we want justice in cricket and I think every team make pitches according to their strengths and weaknesses. That is not crime and we saw reverse swing in the past which was invented by Pak cricketers but after it became trend when all World Learnt this . My question is from which country you belong? And I think you are Indian because you are criticizing Pak team and you don't know that truth of other team of World.

Creating poor pitches is something that all the sub-continental teams do, and the blame can't be put just on Pakistan. In fact, pitches prepared by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh recently were far worse than the ones that Pakistan has ever created. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh created dust-bowls, that made impossible for the batsmen to score runs. On the other hand, the PCB asked the curators to create dead pitches, where totals of 600 or 700 were chased down with ease.

[Lidger]

Your point is that if Pakistan is the host team in any series in international cricket, they build wickets in such a way that wickets cannot be batted on easily. But if you look at their domestic league PSL, you will find that PSL has a lot of runs. The main reason for the high number of runs in PSL is the creation of wicket batting aids. Maybe Pakistan build batting friendly wickets to make league tournament interesting then why they will build bowling friendly wickets as host team in test cricket or other formats. As far as I know Pakistan's bowling attack is as strong as the batting line-up and if they produce a fair wicket then their batsmen will do well as well as their bowlers. The first test match was a low-scoring match in 4 innings, but I think the second test match will have a higher score than the first test match.

For PSL, the main intent is to get as much fans as possible to view the event (both in TV/OTT and at the stadium). But for test cricket, that is not the case. In test cricket, the only aim is to win the home matches in anyway possible. And especially matches against weaker teams such as West Indies do give Pakistan an opportunity to get full points in the ICC World Test Championship. Therefore I don't think that the track for the second match will be drastically different from the one that was used for the first match.

If a different wicket is produced in the second test match then I will put Pakistan team ahead against West Indies in the second test match. The West Indies team does not have the same players as before so it is difficult to do well in the West Indies Test match against Pakistan. Most of the West Indies cricketers play more T20s and league tournaments, so they are not too keen on playing five-day Tests. But this test match is not so important for West Indies but this test match is very important for Pakistan because if they can win the two test matches then they will be a bit ahead in the test championship fight. But the first test match ended quickly, hopefully the second test match will take at least four days to finish and we will definitely see a good score there.

[Sithara007]

If a different wicket is produced in the second test match then I will put Pakistan team ahead against West Indies in the second test match. The West Indies team does not have the same players as before so it is difficult to do well in the West Indies Test match against Pakistan. Most of the West Indies cricketers play more T20s and league tournaments, so they are not too keen on playing five-day Tests. But this test match is not so important for West Indies but this test match is very important for Pakistan because if they can win the two test matches then they will be a bit ahead in the test championship fight. But the first test match ended quickly, hopefully the second test match will take at least four days to finish and we will definitely see a good score there.

The second match will take place at the Multan Cricket Stadium, and let's hope that they will prepare a track that is equally supportive of batsmen and bowlers. For Pakistan, last time it was Sajid Khan and Abrar Ahmed who took the crucial wickets. So I am not expecting any drastic change in the nature of the wicket. In the meantime, the West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite issued a statement claiming that he was disappointed with the performance put up by his batsmen against the Pakistan spinners. 

[AirtelBuzz]

Your point is that if Pakistan is the host team in any series in international cricket, they build wickets in such a way that wickets cannot be batted on easily. But if you look at their domestic league PSL, you will find that PSL has a lot of runs. The main reason for the high number of runs in PSL is the creation of wicket batting aids. Maybe Pakistan build batting friendly wickets to make league tournament interesting then why they will build bowling friendly wickets as host team in test cricket or other formats. As far as I know Pakistan's bowling attack is as strong as the batting line-up and if they produce a fair wicket then their batsmen will do well as well as their bowlers. The first test match was a low-scoring match in 4 innings, but I think the second test match will have a higher score than the first test match.

For PSL, the main intent is to get as much fans as possible to view the event (both in TV/OTT and at the stadium). But for test cricket, that is not the case. In test cricket, the only aim is to win the home matches in anyway possible. And especially matches against weaker teams such as West Indies do give Pakistan an opportunity to get full points in the ICC World Test Championship. Therefore I don't think that the track for the second match will be drastically different from the one that was used for the first match.

If a different wicket is produced in the second test match then I will put Pakistan team ahead against West Indies in the second test match. The West Indies team does not have the same players as before so it is difficult to do well in the West Indies Test match against Pakistan. Most of the West Indies cricketers play more T20s and league tournaments, so they are not too keen on playing five-day Tests. But this test match is not so important for West Indies but this test match is very important for Pakistan because if they can win the two test matches then they will be a bit ahead in the test championship fight. But the first test match ended quickly, hopefully the second test match will take at least four days to finish and we will definitely see a good score there.

There may be a chance for Pakistan to win the second Test match as well, you mentioned that most of the West Indies players play in T20s and various leagues. But take a look at their Test squad and see that the players in their team who play in various T20 leagues are not in this Test match. The players in the West Indies team are not experienced, Maybe these players won't be able to win easily against Pakistan.

Even if Pakistan wins the second Test match against West Indies, they may not be able to advance in the Test Championship fight. The Pakistan cricket team is currently ranked 8th in the ICC Test Championship rankings, So even if they emerge victorious from this situation, their situation may not change much.

[Compromise me]

That is part of game and we saw many series of Pak team in which Pak team played very bad in Pak home ground but we saw last Pak test matches in which Pak team played very well and we saw result in the favour of Pak team. Your point is good and Pak cricket board should work on that and ICC should also note down this point. Pak cricket is doing good in Pakistan and that is very bad for haters and they will begin this point loudly and we want justice in cricket and I think every team make pitches according to their strengths and weaknesses. That is not crime and we saw reverse swing in the past which was invented by Pak cricketers but after it became trend when all World Learnt this . My question is from which country you belong? And I think you are Indian because you are criticizing Pak team and you don't know that truth of other team of World.

Creating poor pitches is something that all the sub-continental teams do, and the blame can't be put just on Pakistan. In fact, pitches prepared by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh recently were far worse than the ones that Pakistan has ever created. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh created dust-bowls, that made impossible for the batsmen to score runs. On the other hand, the PCB asked the curators to create dead pitches, where totals of 600 or 700 were chased down with ease.

Yes ,you are right. Pak cricket board is doing well but we can't happy everyone in our life and Pak team won the match because they played well and they got advantage of home ground and that is benefit of every team when it plays in their home ground. Haters always criticize and Pak team should try their best to win next match and nobody could control the result of next match because we want win of Pak team because that is hard working team and Pak team spinners are at the top of the World and that is the reason Pak team won last match . Pak team will play next match after 3 days and I think that match will be interesting and we will enjoy more in this match.That match will be happen in Multan Cricket Stadium and West Indies team should try to resist in this match because it will make match interesting.

[ThemePen]

Yes ,you are right. Pak cricket board is doing well but we can't happy everyone in our life and Pak team won the match because they played well and they got advantage of home ground and that is benefit of every team when it plays in their home ground. Haters always criticize and Pak team should try their best to win next match and nobody could control the result of next match because we want win of Pak team because that is hard working team and Pak team spinners are at the top of the World and that is the reason Pak team won last match . Pak team will play next match after 3 days and I think that match will be interesting and we will enjoy more in this match.That match will be happen in Multan Cricket Stadium and West Indies team should try to resist in this match because it will make match interesting.

Pakistan cricket board is doing very good job and team recent win shows how hard they have worked and how dedicated they are. Playing on their home ground definitely helped them but they still had to play well to win. It is normal to have people who criticize but team should focus on their next match and try their best. With their skilled spinners they have good chance of winning again. Next match in Multan is going to be exciting and I hope West Indies team will play well and make it a very interesting game.

[Cheema02]

The second match will take place at the Multan Cricket Stadium, and let's hope that they will prepare a track that is equally supportive of batsmen and bowlers. For Pakistan, last time it was Sajid Khan and Abrar Ahmed who took the crucial wickets. So I am not expecting any drastic change in the nature of the wicket. In the meantime, the West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite issued a statement claiming that he was disappointed with the performance put up by his batsmen against the Pakistan spinners. 

Yes, The second test match is going to start in the morning between Pakistan and West India, so the Pakistan team made the same pitch as it was made in the first test match. I think that the Pakistan team will win the series against West Indies by winning the second test match easily.  Because West Indies are playing cricket and do not have enough experience to play Test cricket and have to play Test matches for five days. If the pitch becomes batting friendly then there is a chance for the West Indies team that they can keep up in the Test match and can make it a series level of victory  but whichever team wins, the performance will be good.  Even if it is spin pitch, the bowling of Abrar ahmad and Sajid Khan will be very crucial for Pakistan if they picked wickets Pakistan will win series.

[noormcs5]

Pakistan cricket board is doing very good job and team recent win shows how hard they have worked and how dedicated they are. Playing on their home ground definitely helped them but they still had to play well to win. It is normal to have people who criticize but team should focus on their next match and try their best. With their skilled spinners they have good chance of winning again. Next match in Multan is going to be exciting and I hope West Indies team will play well and make it a very interesting game.

Yes, tomorrow again we will see both the teams in action and it will be another turning pitch as confirmed by Aqib Javed. Aaqib Javed says Pakistan's spinning pitches are here to stay. He is of the point of view that every country prepares the pitches according to their strength and if Pakistan does this, no one has the right to criticize them.

It is strange that Pakistan once had known fast bowlers and reverse swing was their specialty but coming over the years, the strength in their fast bowling has died and even their spinners aren't able to get wickets on every pitch.