Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[ene1980]

~snip
Zimbabwe was always dependent on the white population for its cricket players, since the sport is not much popular among the blacks. And the white population there declined from 296,000 (in 1975) to 28,000 (as per 2012 Census). The current population may be even lower.

If you are looking like that the cricket is invented by the English and then the sports grew where they conquered . I am not aware of the census or the white population in Zimbabwe as majority left or forced to leave everything behind because of the political situation and you cannot expect anyone to return in that state of political climate.

Now you can't expect 28,000 people to form a cricket team and beat teams such as India and Pakistan, who have populations in excess of 1 billion and 100 million respectively. The new president (Emmerson Mnangagwa) has promised to bring back the white farmers, but I don't think that anyone will return to that country now.

If you are talking about population it does not mean that the amount of people will make a difference, you need to have an interest for the game and if you have the talent you will get selected, China has the biggest population and they do not have a cricket team  .

[onrise]

As expected, the match has ended in another boring draw. The Zimbabwean bowlers had 90 plus overs with them, but they failed to bowl out the Sri Lankans. Rain also played a major role in this test match, and this is another example of the climate change affecting cricket schedule. Those who are proposing the 4-day test format needs to explain how they are going to take this factor in to account.

Though it was a boring draw but it proved Zim can play test cricket. I was a fan of Zim cricket when flower brothers playing cricket together.       

Zimbabwe is good side but now they need some good time as they are also facing some serious domestic problems like quota system and wagering problems too much involvement from politicians like this they need to stop this all and work on domestic system upgradtion otherwise this is failure.

Zimbabwe and SL are two such team where after the legends of the game retired they just could not manage to have the replacement players on to the par of those who left . At one time Zimbabwe had Flower brothers , Heath Steak , Olonga etc and after that they don’t had the players of those likes which is creating the problem and same is the case with Sri Lanka team as well.

[Vishnu.Reang]

If you are talking about population it does not mean that the amount of people will make a difference, you need to have an interest for the game and if you have the talent you will get selected, China has the biggest population and they do not have a cricket team  .

I agree. I am just saying that it will be too much to ask for 28,000 people to create a cricket team, which can take on a country such as India (population of close to 1.4 billion). There was some effort from the Zimbabwe board to spread cricket to the indigenous population. But they are considering it as a career option, rather than as a pure sport. There have been some good black players in the past (such as Henry Olonga and Tatenda Taibu), but few are getting noticed now.

[7788bitcoin]

Anyone watching the Pakistan and Bangladesh match, Bangladesh is struggling as they already lost 5 wickets, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Abbas are bowling a dream spell and this is the first time i am seeing them bowl and with half the side back in the pavilion they will be finding it hard to make a good total in the first innings and it all depends how the Pakistan batsman will score in the first innings.

[JSRAW]

^^ Not watching live but keeping tab on score now and then.

I don't have much expectation from Bangladeshi team as their key players missing the game and they are playing only 1 test right now, 2nd test is schedule in April. Its strange and weird move from both boards PCB-BCB.

[ene1980]

I don't have much expectation from Bangladeshi team as their key players missing the game and they are playing only 1 test right now, 2nd test is schedule in April. Its strange and weird move from both boards PCB-BCB.

Not sure why a long gap for a series, is it because of the security issues that is discussed here, may be they want to monitor how the match goes and if everything is fine then they will assess the situation once again and complete the series  . What ever be the case Bangladesh is all out for 233 runs and if Pakistan can bat well then it is an easy win for them. There are new faces in both the teams and lets see how the Pakistan team will bat tomorrow.

[JSRAW]

I don't have much expectation from Bangladeshi team as their key players missing the game and they are playing only 1 test right now, 2nd test is schedule in April. Its strange and weird move from both boards PCB-BCB.

Not sure why a long gap for a series, is it because of the security issues that is discussed here, may be they want to monitor how the match goes and if everything is fine then they will assess the situation once again and complete the series  .

Yeah its seems like that, so called "Security Reasons" and its more of BCB's idea to play bilateral series in 3 phases, they are making joke out of this bilateral series TBH.

First Phase (Jan) - T-20
Second Phase (Feb) - 1 Test
Final (April) - 1 ODI and 1 test

[eaLiTy]

I agree. I am just saying that it will be too much to ask for 28,000 people to create a cricket team, which can take on a country such as India (population of close to 1.4 billion).

Having a huge population is not a benchmark to produce best players, take a look at Jamaica who have a population of around 3 million and still they are producing world class athletes who wins gold at the Olympics and with the billion population everyone knows how many we win  . If we take Football Croatia with a population of just 4 million competed in the world cup final and Uruguay when they won the World cup just had a population of 1.7 million but India with a billion population is yet to play a world cup. It all depends upon the interest level of a certain sport in every country that will help them to produce world class talents and population is not a benchmark .

[Indymoney]

I don't have much expectation from Bangladeshi team as their key players missing the game and they are playing only 1 test right now, 2nd test is schedule in April. Its strange and weird move from both boards PCB-BCB.

Not sure why a long gap for a series, is it because of the security issues that is discussed here, may be they want to monitor how the match goes and if everything is fine then they will assess the situation once again and complete the series  .

Yeah its seems like that, so called "Security Reasons" and its more of BCB's idea to play bilateral series in 3 phases, they are making joke out of this bilateral series TBH.

First Phase (Jan) - T-20
Second Phase (Feb) - 1 Test
Final (April) - 1 ODI and 1 test

I already call many times this PCB is just a joke nothing about management or any planing what to do and how to do because most of peoples here just because of personal likes and dislikes no merit policy political influence is too much involve so they are just wasting time and keeping peoples away from stadiums its only mission of this PCB and this happening.

[JSRAW]

^^ Speaking of PCB and their fuckery. I failed to understand that why didn't they include Fawad Alam in Playing XI? As far as i heard he's very solid opener. Is Misbah making his life miserable in the squad or its something else?

[ene1980]

Yeah its seems like that, so called "Security Reasons" and its more of BCB's idea to play bilateral series in 3 phases, they are making joke out of this bilateral series TBH.
First Phase (Jan) - T-20
Second Phase (Feb) - 1 Test
Final (April) - 1 ODI and 1 test

This is the first time i am hearing a series split in three phases because of security reasons, not sure what they are thinking and how they are thinking about mitigating an attack by splitting in three phases, i think the Pakistan government is giving them elite level security and if they can do that then what is the reason of splitting the series, they can save the logistical expense if they conducted at once  .

[Indymoney]

^^ Speaking of PCB and their fuckery. I failed to understand that why didn't they include Fawad Alam in Playing XI? As far as i heard he's very solid opener. Is Misbah making his life miserable in the squad or its something else?

First Inzimam ul Haq and now Misbah ul Haq really doing same job just personal players coming not on merit and Fawad Alam is one of best allrounders in current domestic level and test level but sadly he is common player without any big approach and bank roll so he is casualty of this poor system feeling very sad for him and many more those was eligible but never have any chance in this corrupt system just because of hypocrasy of on duty peoples.

[Vishnu.Reang]

^^ Speaking of PCB and their fuckery. I failed to understand that why didn't they include Fawad Alam in Playing XI? As far as i heard he's very solid opener. Is Misbah making his life miserable in the squad or its something else?

This article may partly explain the reason (warning - it is a few months old):

https://www.dawn.com/news/1519527/why-fawad-alam-has-been-frozen-out-of-pakistan-squads

This unwritten rule, however, is for the normal folks. There exists a select group of players who no captain, no head coach and no chief selector will dare touch — because in doing so, they risk opening a can of worms better left unattended. Fawad Alam is from that unfortunate group. And so is Tabish Khan — also from Karachi — but we'll save him for some other time.

For me, it looks like reasons other than cricket played a part in his exclusion from the squad. Anyway, the Pakistan bowlers managed to restrict Bangladesh to just 233, thanks to the combination of Shaheen Shah/Naseem Shah/Yasir Shah.

[JSRAW]

^^ Thanks Indymoney and Vishnu... Will drop some merit on your replies soon.

What a waste of talent, Shame!! Looks ugly politics and that's one of the major reason Pakistan cricket going down the drain in recent time.

[bryant.coleman]

Surprised by all the controversy surrounding the omission of Fawad Alam. It is true that he performed well in the domestic tournaments this year. I heard that he managed a double century against Southern Punjab during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. But one thing everyone needs to remember is that the quality of the domestic cricket in Pakistan has gone down during the past few years. If a player performs well in the domestic tournament, then that doesn't automatically means that he is going to perform well at the international level.

[onrise]

In response to Bangladesh total of 233 runs, Pakistan have started their innings very strongly and are 318/3 which means already a lead of 85 runs and 7 wickets still remaining. Babar is batting on 125 and Shan got out at exact 100. Asad is on 55 and this looks like Pakistan can take 250+ lead easily and end up winning by innings as well.

[Juggy777]

In response to Bangladesh total of 233 runs, Pakistan have started their innings very strongly and are 318/3 which means already a lead of 85 runs and 7 wickets still remaining. Babar is batting on 125 and Shan got out at exact 100. Asad is on 55 and this looks like Pakistan can take 250+ lead easily and end up winning by innings as well.

Pakistan seem to have taken total control of this match first they managed to bowl out Bangladesh for a low total, and now they’re cruising ahead with a strong lead of 109 runs at the end of the days play. If Pakistan continues at this rate then I expect them to lead by at least 300 runs, and then declare their innings as that will give them the chance to beat Bangladesh by an innings.

[Indymoney]

In response to Bangladesh total of 233 runs, Pakistan have started their innings very strongly and are 318/3 which means already a lead of 85 runs and 7 wickets still remaining. Babar is batting on 125 and Shan got out at exact 100. Asad is on 55 and this looks like Pakistan can take 250+ lead easily and end up winning by innings as well.

Pakistan seem to have taken total control of this match first they managed to bowl out Bangladesh for a low total, and now they’re cruising ahead with a strong lead of 109 runs at the end of the days play. If Pakistan continues at this rate then I expect them to lead by at least 300 runs, and then declare their innings as that will give them the chance to beat Bangladesh by an innings.

Now both Babar and Asad doing good look like they can tough 550+ and then Bangladesh could be in serious trouble and can lost this match by one inning may be this match will end in four days and ICC could be happy with this because now they are already working on this purpose of four days test match Bangladesh is suddenly going down badly after Shakib they need to get out of this situation quickly.

[Vishnu.Reang]

^^^^ If everyone in the Pakistan batting lineup plays like Babar Azam, then they will be the no.1 ranking test team in the world. But that is the problem with Pakistan. The entire workload is falling on the shoulders of a few players, with few others contributing. BTW, what happened to Fakhar Zaman? The combination (Babar-Zaman) was the backbone of Pakistan batting earlier. Babar also performs well, when he is batting along with Zaman. The chemistry is very good, between these two payers.

[onrise]

Babar Azam's last seven Test innings:

104
97
8
102*
60
100*
102*

Runs: 573
Hundreds: 4
Average: 143.25

Source: https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1226099611334512640

This is amazing! This guy can potentially beat Virat Kohli in upcoming years (but the problem is that Kohli continues to further evolve).

He is really talented player and the way he bats and executes the shots truly show his class as a batsman and hope he continues his hard-work and does not get carried away with this form. Pakistan has taken 187 runs lead and left with 3 more wickets. Sohail is on 54 and if he can make some quick runs they can surpass lead of 250+ which will be enough considered the way Pakistan has bowled in first innings.