Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[JSRAW]

Cricket needs clarity and restructuring, says Uday Shankar

Formal Chairman and President at at Star & Disney India and Walt Disney APAC respectively giving his insight on current global cricket calender, basically calling majority of bilateral series useless.

"Cricket needs clarity. It has three formats and all three are currently battling each other for greater relevance. In that, the game finds itself caught in a bizarre dichotomy that has come to exist and it needs to be resolved".

That line of thought, he explains, comes from how fans are taking to the game now, visa -vis the past. "Fans want more of T20, followed by ODIs and very few want Test cricket. In that, they want iconic Test cricket - India vs Australia, England vs Australia, India vs England. Nobody wants just any random Test matches. But the cricket establishment still seems to be in denial and thinks cricket is still about Test matches because it was about Test matches 30 years ago," says Shankar.

Shankar says it is the game's administration that must align its goals with that of fans and cricket lovers because sponsors and advertisers in the game will only reflect the priorities of the fans.

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[Juggy777]

Cricket needs clarity and restructuring, says Uday Shankar

Formal Chairman and President at at Star & Disney India and Walt Disney APAC respectively giving his insight on current global cricket calender, basically calling majority of bilateral series useless.

"Cricket needs clarity. It has three formats and all three are currently battling each other for greater relevance. In that, the game finds itself caught in a bizarre dichotomy that has come to exist and it needs to be resolved".

That line of thought, he explains, comes from how fans are taking to the game now, visa -vis the past. "Fans want more of T20, followed by ODIs and very few want Test cricket. In that, they want iconic Test cricket - India vs Australia, England vs Australia, India vs England. Nobody wants just any random Test matches. But the cricket establishment still seems to be in denial and thinks cricket is still about Test matches because it was about Test matches 30 years ago," says Shankar.

Shankar says it is the game's administration that must align its goals with that of fans and cricket lovers because sponsors and advertisers in the game will only reflect the priorities of the fans.

@JSRAW I don’t think that any sane cricket fan can be upset by this statement, because he’s spoken the truth, and I’m pretty sure that even ICC knows this too, but if they were to implement test matches only between those nations suggested by him, then they would incur the backlash of the remaining test nations. Furthermore if this pandemic lasts longer then people would prefer only going to T20 matches, because Test matches could be called off if multiple spectators got infected, and that could kill the fun of watching test matches.

[Vishnu.Reang]

^^^ I had previously posted about it. The fans are no longer interested in test cricket. And yet the majority of the international cricketing calendar is being devoted to test matches. On average, a team plays 50 to 60 days of test cricket per year, while they play only 25-30 days of ODI cricket and less than 15 days of T20 cricket. And this is one of the reasons why cricket fans are deserting international matches and flocking to franchise T20 leagues.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

@JSRAW I don’t think that any sane cricket fan can be upset by this statement, because he’s spoken the truth, and I’m pretty sure that even ICC knows this too, but if they were to implement test matches only between those nations suggested by him, then they would incur the backlash of the remaining test nations. Furthermore if this pandemic lasts longer then people would prefer only going to T20 matches, because Test matches could be called off if multiple spectators got infected, and that could kill the fun of watching test matches.

^^^ I had previously posted about it.

Yeah Juggy777 this would create some backlash for sure but i think time has come BCCI ICC need to think some sort of strategy to address this problem. May be introducing Group system in the Red ball cricket is our solution.

Edit

** ICC not BCCI, edited

[bryant.coleman]

@JSRAW I don’t think that any sane cricket fan can be upset by this statement, because he’s spoken the truth, and I’m pretty sure that even ICC knows this too, but if they were to implement test matches only between those nations suggested by him, then they would incur the backlash of the remaining test nations. Furthermore if this pandemic lasts longer then people would prefer only going to T20 matches, because Test matches could be called off if multiple spectators got infected, and that could kill the fun of watching test matches.

There is no point in staging meaningless bilateral series between two teams of unequal strength. Ideally, they should divide the test playing divisions equally, in to two divisions of 12 each. But what they did is a joke. They created two divisions. But the first division is having 9 teams and the second division is having 3 teams. And on top of that, there is no option of promotion/relegation.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Yeah Juggy777 this would create some backlash for sure but i think time has come BCCI need to think some sort of strategy to address this problem. May be introducing Group system in the Red ball cricket is our solution.

The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, and the Trans-Tasman Trophy remains very popular as far as test cricket is concerned. But other series receive very little interest from the fans. I would rather recommend to limit any test series outside these three to just one match per tour. Increasing the number of matches anymore is not financially viable for the participating boards. Instead of playing additional test matches, they can use this time for T20Is or ODIs.

[bryant.coleman]

I think it too. Personally i don't see any other Test match outside these three series (The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, and the Trans-Tasman Trophy). I only see the highlights of the other test series. I think the test series should be kept considering the ranking. Now if we have to watch Australia vs Bangladesh or Afghanistan's test series it will not be pleasant for me. Because Bangladesh or Afghanistan will lose against Australia by an innings. If the Test series is kept according to the ranking, then the match will be more interesting

Ideally Australia vs Bangladesh, or India vs Sri Lanka should not be scheduled very frequently. Because if we divide the 12 test nations in to two divisions, then teams such as Australia and India will be in the top division, and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.etc will be in the lower division. But the ICC has refused to do that, probably under pressure from the smaller boards. And as a result we have one-sided test matches most of the time.

[Juggy777]

Yeah Juggy777 this would create some backlash for sure but i think time has come BCCI need to think some sort of strategy to address this problem. May be introducing Group system in the Red ball cricket is our solution.

The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, and the Trans-Tasman Trophy remains very popular as far as test cricket is concerned. But other series receive very little interest from the fans. I would rather recommend to limit any test series outside these three to just one match per tour. Increasing the number of matches anymore is not financially viable for the participating boards. Instead of playing additional test matches, they can use this time for T20Is or ODIs.

I think it too. Personally i don't see any other Test match outside these three series (The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, and the Trans-Tasman Trophy). I only see the highlights of the other test series. I think the test series should be kept considering the ranking. Now if we have to watch Australia vs Bangladesh or Afghanistan's test series it will not be pleasant for me. Because Bangladesh or Afghanistan will lose against Australia by an innings. If the Test series is kept according to the ranking, then the match will be more interesting

@Xavofat yea those matches are indeed boring because those teams collapse very quickly while batting, and it’s not that I’m judging them but they’re just not yet ready to face off against the top teams.

However if there was a way for them to play against lower ranking teams and build some experience, then it could be a very different scenario, but this won’t happen overnight and ICC has lots of work to do to make those small teams play competitive cricket against the top teams.

[JSRAW]

Yeah Juggy777 this would create some backlash for sure but i think time has come BCCI ICC need to think some sort of strategy to address this problem. May be introducing Group system in the Red ball cricket is our solution.

The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, and the Trans-Tasman Trophy remains very popular as far as test cricket is concerned. But other series receive very little interest from the fans. I would rather recommend to limit any test series outside these three to just one match per tour. Increasing the number of matches anymore is not financially viable for the participating boards. Instead of playing additional test matches, they can use this time for T20Is or ODIs.

I very much want this policy to implement in the Test cricket. TBH I don't see any other solution to this problem.

PS : In my previous response i meant to say ICC instead of BCCI.   

In current situation, i would like to see Group system in the Test Cricket.

Group A : Top 6 teams
Group B : Bottom 6 teams

Replace bottom teams (4 and 5 5 and 6) from Group A > with topper teams ( 7 and 8 ) of Group B. After every FTP cycle.

[bryant.coleman]

However if there was a way for them to play against lower ranking teams and build some experience, then it could be a very different scenario, but this won’t happen overnight and ICC has lots of work to do to make those small teams play competitive cricket against the top teams.

The smaller teams play against the big three teams once in a while. I still remember the test match between Ireland and England, which didn't end well for the former as they were bowled out for just 38 runs in the second innings. Teams such as Ireland and Afghanistan can be competitive in T20 cricket, and up to an extent in the ODIs. But don't expect these teams to put up a good fight against England or Australia in test matches.

[pakhitheboss]

I think it too. Personally i don't see any other Test match outside these three series (The Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, and the Trans-Tasman Trophy). I only see the highlights of the other test series. I think the test series should be kept considering the ranking. Now if we have to watch Australia vs Bangladesh or Afghanistan's test series it will not be pleasant for me. Because Bangladesh or Afghanistan will lose against Australia by an innings. If the Test series is kept according to the ranking, then the match will be more interesting

Ideally Australia vs Bangladesh, or India vs Sri Lanka should not be scheduled very frequently. Because if we divide the 12 test nations in to two divisions, then teams such as Australia and India will be in the top division, and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.etc will be in the lower division. But the ICC has refused to do that, probably under pressure from the smaller boards. And as a result we have one-sided test matches most of the time.

All cricket playing nations should be divided into 2 sides on the basis of ranking. Test series will be held between those whoare in the ranking 1-6. And test match will be held between those who will be in the ranking after 6th. The No. 1 team will never play a Test match with the 7th team on the ranking table. They will play  ODI and T20 matches.
I can tell about Bangladesh team, you can watch their last 4 Test matches. They won the last test match against Zimbabwe. But previous 3 match they lost by an innings and some runs.
What do you think about my thoughts? Is it possible?

If this format is used then a good majority of teams will never be able to rise in rank as they would never be able to play with a powerful team and gain experience. For teams like Zimbabwe playing a test match helped them to gain experience and also improve their strategy. This is what I feel, you and others might differ to my thinking.

[Vishnu.Reang]

All cricket playing nations should be divided into 2 sides on the basis of ranking. Test series will be held between those whoare in the ranking 1-6. And test match will be held between those who will be in the ranking after 6th. The No. 1 team will never play a Test match with the 7th team on the ranking table. They will play  ODI and T20 matches.
I can tell about Bangladesh team, you can watch their last 4 Test matches. They won the last test match against Zimbabwe. But previous 3 match they lost by an innings and some runs.
What do you think about my thoughts? Is it possible?

If we want to save test cricket from complete oblivion, then something like this needs to be done. But I don't think that the lower ranking nations would agree to this proposal. If they are devoid of matches with the big 3 teams, then 80% of their revenues will vanish. That will make them more dependent on the funds from the ICC, and that will give rise to a situation which is not viable in the long term.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Yes, lower ranking nation would not agree with this proposal. They will play with higher ranking team and lose more matches. Again some higher ranking nation would not agree with this proposal too. Because they love to beat small teams.

I agree with the first part, but not with the second. The smaller boards such as SLCB and WICB would lose huge amounts of revenue if they are not allowed to play against the big three teams. But the big 3 teams are not gaining anything by playing against these sides. They will earn more revenue if they play against each other. And the argument that playing against weaker teams such as Zimbabwe is good for improving the statistics doesn't hold any ground. Because in the end it is the team performance which matters, and not individual stats.

[JSRAW]

BCCI announced their complete squad for upcoming Australia tour. Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma names are missing due to injuries.

In T-20 Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson, Varun Chakarvarthy reaping some rewards due to their IPL form. Rishab Pant and Kuldeep out...

Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

In ODI, again Rishab Pant out and Kedar Jadav is missing so its safe to say his international career is almost finished. Shubman Gill in..

Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

This is more or less same squad as last tour except inclusion of Siraj and Shubman Gill. KL Rahul back in the test squad, i still remember his last performance in the last tour  

Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj

This is interesting, probably for Net/Match practice.
"Four additional bowlers - Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan - will travel with the Indian contingent."
----------------------------------

Edit

This tweet sums it up nicely
https://twitter.com/CricCrazyJohns/status/1320746538298003459

"Major outputs from the selection:

- No Pant in ODI & T20.
- Sanju Samson as second keeper in T20.
- Varun Chakravarthy in T20.
- Mayank Agarwal in ODI & T20.
- Siraj & Saini in Test.
- No Kuldeep Yadav in T20."

[Bitcoin577]

BCCI announced their complete squad for upcoming Australia tour. Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma names are missing due to injuries.

In T-20 Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson, Varun Chakarvarthy reaping some rewards due to their IPL form. Rishab Pant and Kuldeep out...

Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

In ODI, again Rishab Pant out and Kedar Jadav is missing so its safe to say his international career is almost finished. Shubman Gill in..

Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

This is more or less same squad as last tour except inclusion of Siraj and Shubman Gill. KL Rahul back in the test squad, i still remember his last performance in the last tour 

Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj

This is interesting, probably for Net/Match practice.
"Four additional bowlers - Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan - will travel with the Indian contingent."

This is really well balanced and good squad from BCCI selection committee youngsters are in good and hot form after good IPL and they can give 100% which will help for very interesting series in Australia for me India is favourite in test and we will have some good matches in ODI and Twenty/20 because no one can predict about these. 

[Vishnu.Reang]

Well.. the squads look good. But I am confused about the inclusion of Mohammed Siraj in the test side. His first class record is not that impressive, and I always thought that he performs better in the shorter format. Also, I am not in favor of the inclusion of Hanuma Vihari. His performance against New Zealand early this year was unimpressive and I was thinking that he could be replaced with some of the younger batsmen.

[JSRAW]

BCCI announced their complete squad for upcoming Australia tour. Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma names are missing due to injuries.

In T-20 Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson, Varun Chakarvarthy reaping some rewards due to their IPL form. Rishab Pant and Kuldeep out...

Team India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vice-captain and wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy

In ODI, again Rishab Pant out and Kedar Jadav is missing so its safe to say his international career is almost finished. Shubman Gill in..

Team India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain & wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur

This is more or less same squad as last tour except inclusion of Siraj and Shubman Gill. KL Rahul back in the test squad, i still remember his last performance in the last tour 

Team India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj

This is interesting, probably for Net/Match practice.
"Four additional bowlers - Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kartik Tyagi, Ishan Porel and T. Natarajan - will travel with the Indian contingent."

This is really well balanced and good squad from BCCI selection committee youngsters are in good and hot form after good IPL and they can give 100% which will help for very interesting series in Australia for me India is favourite in test and we will have some good matches in ODI and Twenty/20 because no one can predict about these. 

T-20 and ODI squad looks good but i am more interested in the Test format and India is not favorite IMO, may be 40-60 ratio in favor of Australia. Aussie bowling is too good, although in last outing Indian batsmen neutralized their bowling attack but Smith + Warner (back in the action) + Marnus labuschagne batting combination is deadly, so its a morale booster for Aussie bowlers and not to mention India is playing one day-night test, its hard to face likes of Cummins+Starc+Hazelwood under light with pink ball.

Well.. the squads look good. But I am confused about the inclusion of Mohammed Siraj in the test side. His first class record is not that impressive, and I always thought that he performs better in the shorter format. Also, I am not in favor of the inclusion of Hanuma Vihari. His performance against New Zealand early this year was unimpressive and I was thinking that he could be replaced with some of the younger batsmen.

Siraj is not great but definitely not that bad either in the Red ball cricket, he did perform okay for India A tho. He's not going to make into playing XI anyway because of Saini and Yadav. On Vihari, New Zealand tour was complete failure for every batsmen and he's played only 9 test match so far. As far as Australia tour is concern Vihari did okay there last time so i would say he's best bet for middle order and can bowl handy overs too. Shubman Gill is young and he's in the test squad as middle order batsman if anything goes wrong with the Vihari then he could replace him.

[vella85]

I'm looking forward to this up coming test series between Australia and India in Australia because I think this time it will be a lot different and it will be interesting to see how well India perform against a full strength Australian team on Australian soil because lets not forget the last series between these two teams played in Australia where India won however it was not a full strength Australian team with two key batsman missing but this time around it will be different so I'm expecting a very close fought series and I can't wait to finally see some cricket played in Australia again.

[bryant.coleman]

Siraj is not great but definitely not that bad either in the Red ball cricket, he did perform okay for India A tho. He's not going to make into playing XI anyway because of Saini and Yadav. On Vihari, New Zealand tour was complete failure for every batsmen and he's played only 9 test match so far. As far as Australia tour is concern Vihari did okay there last time so i would say he's best bet for middle order and can bowl handy overs too. Shubman Gill is young and he's in the test squad as middle order batsman if anything goes wrong with the Vihari then he could replace him.

I don't think that Siraj is in anyway inferior to Saini or Yadav. It will be interesting to watch him bowling against the quality Australian batting lineup, comprising of Warner, Smith and Labuschagne. BTW, I would say that the chances are more like 50-50. Australians do have a better pace bowling attack, but they are very vulnerable in middle-order batting. Actually this vulnerability has been there for the last 3-4 years and the team management can't find a solution to it.

[JSRAW]

I'm looking forward to this up coming test series between Australia and India in Australia because I think this time it will be a lot different and it will be interesting to see how well India perform against a full strength Australian team on Australian soil because lets not forget the last series between these two teams played in Australia where India won however it was not a full strength Australian team with two key batsman missing but this time around it will be different so I'm expecting a very close fought series and I can't wait to finally see some cricket played in Australia again.

Not worry about Warner that much but Smith+Marnus labuschagne are going to be a real challenge for Indian bowlers. Tim Paine scoring runs in Sheffield so another guy to watch out for.

Siraj is not great but definitely not that bad either in the Red ball cricket, he did perform okay for India A tho. He's not going to make into playing XI anyway because of Saini and Yadav. On Vihari, New Zealand tour was complete failure for every batsmen and he's played only 9 test match so far. As far as Australia tour is concern Vihari did okay there last time so i would say he's best bet for middle order and can bowl handy overs too. Shubman Gill is young and he's in the test squad as middle order batsman if anything goes wrong with the Vihari then he could replace him.

I don't think that Siraj is in anyway inferior to Saini or Yadav. It will be interesting to watch him bowling against the quality Australian batting lineup, comprising of Warner, Smith and Labuschagne. BTW, I would say that the chances are more like 50-50. Australians do have a better pace bowling attack, but they are very vulnerable in middle-order batting. Actually this vulnerability has been there for the last 3-4 years and the team management can't find a solution to it.

Siraj can't match speed of Saini and Yadav, they are fast and on the other hand Siraj is medium pacer who barely clock 140 Kmph.
Bhai Aussie have likes of Smith, Labuschange, Usman Khawaja (if he's get into playing XI) in middle order.