Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Vishnu.Reang]

Ben Stokes got out before he could get his century and now Ollie Pope has come to the crease to provide company to Joe Root. I am waiting impatiently for Root to reach his double ton.. he seems to have slowed down a bit during the last 10-15 overs. Shahbaz Nadeem got the wicket of Ben Stokes, but that doesn't take away the fact that he was the weak link in the Indian bowling lineup for this match. Kohli/Shastri preferred him over Kuldeep Yadav, and it turned out to be another disastrous decision from the duo.

~
I didn't expect Sibley or openers to score runs tho.

Yup.. Sibley laid the foundation. In hot and humid conditions, he batted for more than 6 hours and we need to appreciate that.

[aysg76]

Shahbaz Nadeem got the wicket of Ben Stokes, but that doesn't take away the fact that he was the weak link in the Indian bowling lineup for this match. Kohli/Shastri preferred him over Kuldeep Yadav, and it turned out to be another disastrous decision from the duo.

He was selected on a fact that England players are weak in playing Left-arm spinner but it doesn't seem like that. They have played him well. Kuldeep could have added more experience to the side.

[7788bitcoin]

England is in a really strong position and Joe Root is just 16 short of his double century and it is going to be a battle for India to change their fortunes as England literally dominated India in their home. I was checking the old matches that is played in this ground and it turns out the pitches will deteriorate in the final two days and if England can post well over 550 to 600 runs then India will find it difficult.

Jos Buttler is yet to come to the crease and if he plays a quick innings then it will be a great position for England to win the match and make a statement.

[Indymoney]

England is in a really strong position and Joe Root is just 16 short of his double century and it is going to be a battle for India to change their fortunes as England literally dominated India in their home. I was checking the old matches that is played in this ground and it turns out the pitches will deteriorate in the final two days and if England can post well over 550 to 600 runs then India will find it difficult.

Jos Buttler is yet to come to the crease and if he plays a quick innings then it will be a great position for England to win the match and make a statement.

Second day second session ends with score of 454/4 Root 209 and Pope 24 Buttler still to come mean England is is going good for their target of 600+ and if they done this surely its going to be very good for them and really poor from Indian point of view because this target mean for result they have to bat for 2 days as well which is not good for result of this match Root doing really good in this Sub-Continent tour until now 633 runs with the average of 158 extra ordinary for any English batsment in recent years.

[eaLiTy]

Finally India was able to pick the wicket of Joe Root and Shahbaz Nadeem could trap him in front of the wicket but it looks like the damage has been done and Rishab Pant is at again dropping catches behind the wicket and i wonder how many dropped chances were there in this innings as i just saw Pant dropping Buttler . Pant is constantly chirping behind the stumps usually Sri Lanka was known to constantly chirp to distract the batsman and now Pant is doing it full time .

[Vishnu.Reang]

I missed Joe Root scoring his double ton, as I was away for some emergency. But congratulations to him. This is his second double ton in three matches (in the third match he fell marginally before 200, as he got out for 186). Right now England seems to be having an advantage. In case they can get to a total of 600, then they will be having a solid chance of winning this match.

He was selected on a fact that England players are weak in playing Left-arm spinner but it doesn't seem like that. They have played him well. Kuldeep could have added more experience to the side.

Right now his figures stand at 39-151-2. India went to the match with three off-spinners (two right-armers and one left-armer). Kuldeep with his wrist spin could have added more variety to the attack.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

Right now his figures stand at 39-151-2. India went to the match with three off-spinners (two right-armers and one left-armer). Kuldeep with his wrist spin could have added more variety to the attack.

We can speculate that Kuldeep Yadav could have made a difference, i was not expecting Shahbaz Nadeem in the team but the pitch was not helping the spinners either, if India would have batted first i do think that they could have batted like this and once the pitch starts to wear and tear it will start helping the spinners. Ishant Sharma bowled well even though he did not pick much wickets his line and length were outstanding and did not give away runs .

[ene1980]

Joe Root leading from the front and everyone chipped in with their performance and they were able to reach 550 runs which is a really great score considering India had three spinners and the England batsman were able to counter everything and was able to score runs. Kohli will be under pressure to perform and save the match as India performed well without his presence and if India is defeated then you will hear voices about changing Kohli as a captain.

[Haunebu]

Joe Root leading from the front and everyone chipped in with their performance and they were able to reach 550 runs which is a really great score considering India had three spinners and the England batsman were able to counter everything and was able to score runs. Kohli will be under pressure to perform and save the match as India performed well without his presence and if India is defeated then you will hear voices about changing Kohli as a captain.

Root was exceptional as expected. Without his contribution, England would have been in a pinch. They will probably end up posting a target close to 600 unless the Indian bowlers pick the tail-enders off quickly.

Sharma and Bumrah impressed me the most since they took 2 wickets each and were very economical when compared to the rest. I agree with your statement about Kohli getting in trouble if India loses this series.

[GbitG]

After watching first two days play now we can say England is very well prepared for this very important series they are playing very confidently against Indian spinners Root is specially player to watch in this match and for coming matches 550 is really good foundation for their start of series now Indian batsmen also feel some pressure because they have to do some hard work for staying in hunt for this series and WTC Final.

[UmerIdrees]

Although Pakistan did not bat well yesterday but they have bowled very well and managed to take 5 wickets for South Africa cheaply. If they could make bowl out south africa quickly, they have a good chance to get hold of this test match also.

If Pakistan had managed to score in excess of 300, then I would have said that they have the advantage in this match. But they managed only 272. South Africa is not in a good state, but if they can score above 200, then the outcome will depend on the second innings. Pakistan is very inconsistent and I am not sure whether they will be able to get a good score when they come out to bat latter today.

I thought pakistani team were in control of the match when they bowled out south africa for only 201 runs but our batsmen played irresponsibly in the 2nd innings and now pakistani team in a danger of losing this test match. You rightly said that pakistani team in very inconsistent and they could lose any match which they should have won easily.

[Indymoney]

Although Pakistan did not bat well yesterday but they have bowled very well and managed to take 5 wickets for South Africa cheaply. If they could make bowl out south africa quickly, they have a good chance to get hold of this test match also.

If Pakistan had managed to score in excess of 300, then I would have said that they have the advantage in this match. But they managed only 272. South Africa is not in a good state, but if they can score above 200, then the outcome will depend on the second innings. Pakistan is very inconsistent and I am not sure whether they will be able to get a good score when they come out to bat latter today.

I thought pakistani team were in control of the match when they bowled out south africa for only 201 runs but our batsmen played irresponsibly in the 2nd innings and now pakistani team in a danger of losing this test match. You rightly said that pakistani team in very inconsistent and they could lose any match which they should have won easily.

In this match Pakistan is still in some good position because we have already 200+ leade 4 wickets left any thing above 250+ is good in fourth inning Rizwan is on crease with Hassan Ali hopefully these tail enders can do some better but sadly in last few innings all top order batsmen completely fail to give any impression its really matter of worry for management and selectors they are doing very bad experiments.

[mersal]

Joe Root leading from the front and everyone chipped in with their performance and they were able to reach 550 runs which is a really great score considering India had three spinners and the England batsman were able to counter everything and was able to score runs. Kohli will be under pressure to perform and save the match as India performed well without his presence and if India is defeated then you will hear voices about changing Kohli as a captain.

Root was exceptional as expected. Without his contribution, England would have been in a pinch. They will probably end up posting a target close to 600 unless the Indian bowlers pick the tail-enders off quickly.

Sharma and Bumrah impressed me the most since they took 2 wickets each and were very economical when compared to the rest. I agree with your statement about Kohli getting in trouble if India loses this series.

Joe Root is getting better and better, what an extraordinary inning to be honest and also he is scoring at good strike rate as well throughout the match but finally Nadeem managed to take his wicket. Even if they score 580 still it is going to be a big task for Indian batsmen, hope they will play as deep as possible and they have to cross the follow on first then can think about the leading runs.

[onecall123]

-snip-
Joe Root is getting better and better, what an extraordinary inning to be honest and also he is scoring at good strike rate as well throughout the match but finally Nadeem managed to take his wicket. Even if they score 580 still it is going to be a big task for Indian batsmen, hope they will play as deep as possible and they have to cross the follow on first then can think about the leading runs.

Before going to back to pavilion Joe Root delivered a thrilling innings, score a record double century. Joe Root has demonstrated that he is the current best test batsman. Overall great collaboration lead England stumps 555/8 on day two, Indian home conditions are not supporting Indains bowler?

[Clement Kaliyar]

After watching first two days play now we can say England is very well prepared for this very important series they are playing very confidently against Indian spinners Root is specially player to watch in this match and for coming matches 550 is really good foundation for their start of series now Indian batsmen also feel some pressure because they have to do some hard work for staying in hunt for this series and WTC Final.

The spinners were bowling well but the pitch was not help them and still Ashwin was able to deceive the players and pick wickets and in the final two sessions the pitch started to show signs of turn and Shahbaz Nadeem was able to pick two wickets but Washington Sundar was disappointing.

In this match Pakistan is still in some good position because we have already 200+ leade 4 wickets left any thing above 250+ is good in fourth inning Rizwan is on crease with Hassan Ali hopefully these tail enders can do some better but sadly in last few innings all top order batsmen completely fail to give any impression its really matter of worry for management and selectors they are doing very bad experiments.

If Pakistan is able to make a lead of above 250 runs then they have the bowlers to restrict South Africa until someone rises above and performs an outstanding innings.

[mersal]

Indian home conditions are not supporting Indians bowler.

Or players haven't been given chances who deserves it?

I guess we are lacking one pacer to be honest because we can't expect the 2 pacers to bowl all day or at least the inclusion of Pandya might give them an option but now only two bowlers with less variety then it is impossible to take wickets in the initial days. It is not going to be that much easier when Indian batsmen come to the crease because already 2 days gone so there will be a lot of wear in the pitch so it can reap more spin and that is exactly the advantage of winning the toss for them.

[onrise]

-snip-
Joe Root is getting better and better, what an extraordinary inning to be honest and also he is scoring at good strike rate as well throughout the match but finally Nadeem managed to take his wicket. Even if they score 580 still it is going to be a big task for Indian batsmen, hope they will play as deep as possible and they have to cross the follow on first then can think about the leading runs.

Before going to back to pavilion Joe Root delivered a thrilling innings, score a record double century. Joe Root has demonstrated that he is the current best test batsman. Overall great collaboration lead England stumps 555/8 on day two, Indian home conditions are not supporting Indains bowler?

Now game is depending upon Indian batting, because England will try to score quickly tomo if they are batting else if they declare and ask India to bat then they would try to pick initial quick wickets to put add on pressure. And only worries for the India from here would be to save the test match. if they happen to lose this then the questions will arise on Kohli as under Rahane the team performance in OZ was being applauded a lot.

[LittleBitFunny]

-snip-
Joe Root is getting better and better, what an extraordinary inning to be honest and also he is scoring at good strike rate as well throughout the match but finally Nadeem managed to take his wicket. Even if they score 580 still it is going to be a big task for Indian batsmen, hope they will play as deep as possible and they have to cross the follow on first then can think about the leading runs.

Before going to back to pavilion Joe Root delivered a thrilling innings, score a record double century. Joe Root has demonstrated that he is the current best test batsman. Overall great collaboration lead England stumps 555/8 on day two, Indian home conditions are not supporting Indains bowler?

Now game is depending upon Indian batting, because England will try to score quickly tomo if they are batting else if they declare and ask India to bat then they would try to pick initial quick wickets to put add on pressure. And only worries for the India from here would be to save the test match. if they happen to lose this then the questions will arise on Kohli as under Rahane the team performance in OZ was being applauded a lot.

India will start their batting innings with the goal of drawing the match. There is no chance of India winning the match, maybe the match will be a draw, and if India's batting disaster happens, India will lose. I think this match has a 90% chance of a draw. But I am skeptical about Kohli's captaincy if India loses this Test series somehow. In the next series, Rahane may be given the responsibility of captaining the Test match

[vella85]

-snip-
Joe Root is getting better and better, what an extraordinary inning to be honest and also he is scoring at good strike rate as well throughout the match but finally Nadeem managed to take his wicket. Even if they score 580 still it is going to be a big task for Indian batsmen, hope they will play as deep as possible and they have to cross the follow on first then can think about the leading runs.

Before going to back to pavilion Joe Root delivered a thrilling innings, score a record double century. Joe Root has demonstrated that he is the current best test batsman. Overall great collaboration lead England stumps 555/8 on day two, Indian home conditions are not supporting Indains bowler?

Now game is depending upon Indian batting, because England will try to score quickly tomo if they are batting else if they declare and ask India to bat then they would try to pick initial quick wickets to put add on pressure. And only worries for the India from here would be to save the test match. if they happen to lose this then the questions will arise on Kohli as under Rahane the team performance in OZ was being applauded a lot.

India will start their batting innings with the goal of drawing the match. There is no chance of India winning the match, maybe the match will be a draw, and if India's batting disaster happens, India will lose. I think this match has a 90% chance of a draw. But I am skeptical about Kohli's captaincy if India loses this Test series somehow. In the next series, Rahane may be given the responsibility of captaining the Test match

It will be interesting to see how well India will go batting as chasing over 550 runs is a huge task however they are playing on home soil so I won't be counting them out yet. India could potentially bat for the next two days and get a lead of say 100+ runs and have England try and survive on the last day which they might find it difficult. Yes it will be interesting to see if India lose the series, what will happen with Kohli remaining captain. 

[Sithara007]

After watching first two days play now we can say England is very well prepared for this very important series they are playing very confidently against Indian spinners Root is specially player to watch in this match and for coming matches 550 is really good foundation for their start of series now Indian batsmen also feel some pressure because they have to do some hard work for staying in hunt for this series and WTC Final.

Obviously Root was the backbone, but the other players also played well, especially Dom Sibley and Ben Stokes. Also, the lower order has added valuable runs for England. The 9th wicket partnership between Jack Leach and Dom Bess has so far added 30 runs, and may be capable of pulling England over the 600 mark. For India, the spinners conceded 404 runs while taking 4 wickets, while the pace bowlers fared far better (4 wickets for 133 runs). A total of over 600 runs would give England a chance to force India to a follow on.