Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[JohnBitCo]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

Time for swing - seam battle. Boult + Southee + Wagner + Kyle Jamieson (all rounder) vs Bumrah + Ishant + Shami + Hardik /Shardul (all rounders) (reserve Siraj, not counting others). Bowling looks impressive for both teams.

But Kiwis batsmen perform much better on seaming wickets so tough battle ahead for Indian batsmen.

Exciting match to look forward to though I guess it starts after IPL 2021 ends. I would place my bet on India though since they seem better in all departments when compared to NZ currently.

Williamson is the key batsman for NZ while Pant seems to be the key batsman for India. I wish this was a series though since just 1 match to decide the winner seems a bit unfair to both sides.

NZ was bit lucky to reach the finals however indians are much stronger team and favorites for this match. But since this match is played at lords, it may favor NZ too and could be an interesting match.
I also suggest that instead of single match decider, it would be better if they could arrange a best of three matches to decide the winner.

[pakhitheboss]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

Time for swing - seam battle. Boult + Southee + Wagner + Kyle Jamieson (all rounder) vs Bumrah + Ishant + Shami + Hardik /Shardul (all rounders) (reserve Siraj, not counting others). Bowling looks impressive for both teams.

But Kiwis batsmen perform much better on seaming wickets so tough battle ahead for Indian batsmen.

Exciting match to look forward to though I guess it starts after IPL 2021 ends. I would place my bet on India though since they seem better in all departments when compared to NZ currently.

Williamson is the key batsman for NZ while Pant seems to be the key batsman for India. I wish this was a series though since just 1 match to decide the winner seems a bit unfair to both sides.

NZ was bit lucky to reach the finals however indians are much stronger team and favorites for this match. But since this match is played at lords, it may favor NZ too and could be an interesting match.
I also suggest that instead of single match decider, it would be better if they could arrange a best of three matches to decide the winner.

The problem with India is its middle order, they have been struggling which is evident in the last test match. Tailenders have been contributing a lot. Gill as an opening batsman has also failed. India need to look into the batting line up before the finals otherwise NZ will easily win it. 

[mersal]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

About WTC final, we have a new update about the venue due to ongoing pandemic. ICC planning to move WTC final out of Lord's

And the new venue is yet to be announced by ICC so we never know what kind of pitch the teams going to play.

[eaLiTy]

ICC will be preparing the pitch and therefore I don't expect any unusual support for the pacers. For them, it will be beneficial if the match lasts the full five days.

Usually the ICC will not look after the pitch preparation during ICC events as the host nation will take care of those. The WTC will be a great success if we will see the result rather than going for a draw and hence i expect a good pitch that have support for the bowlers as well.

 

Batsmen look out of form for both the teams. Rahane and Pujara are not scoring consistently and even Kohli had a recent drop in form. For New Zealand also, apart from Kane Williamson, the other batsmen are not up to the mark.

India is having issues with the opening partnership, Rohit Sharma cemented his place and he played well in this series and Pujara and Rahane should be consistent as all the matches India won were helped by the lower order players and i doubt we will see Washington Sundar in the final even though he made a lasting impression.

[JSRAW]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

Time for swing - seam battle. Boult + Southee + Wagner + Kyle Jamieson (all rounder) vs Bumrah + Ishant + Shami + Hardik /Shardul (all rounders) (reserve Siraj, not counting others). Bowling looks impressive for both teams.

But Kiwis batsmen perform much better on seaming wickets so tough battle ahead for Indian batsmen.

ICC will be preparing the pitch and therefore I don't expect any unusual support for the pacers. For them, it will be beneficial if the match lasts the full five days. Batsmen look out of form for both the teams. Rahane and Pujara are not scoring consistently and even Kohli had a recent drop in form. For New Zealand also, apart from Kane Williamson, the other batsmen are not up to the mark.

~snip~
Exciting match to look forward to though I guess it starts after IPL 2021 ends. I would place my bet on India though since they seem better in all departments when compared to NZ currently.

Williamson is the key batsman for NZ while Pant seems to be the key batsman for India. I wish this was a series though since just 1 match to decide the winner seems a bit unfair to both sides.

Kiwis playing 2 tests match series against England before the WTC finals so it would help them, although some premier player will feature in IPL (condition apply: if their franchise reach the final of IPL). On the other hand Indian team will go directly to finals without any practice match so its a tricky situation.  

[UmerIdrees]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

About WTC final, we have a new update about the venue due to ongoing pandemic. ICC planning to move WTC final out of Lord's

And the new venue is yet to be announced by ICC so we never know what kind of pitch the teams going to play.

Out of lord but still within England or are they planning to move the final out of England ?

I think ICC should think of moving the final to Pakistan 

[bryant.coleman]

India is having issues with the opening partnership, Rohit Sharma cemented his place and he played well in this series and Pujara and Rahane should be consistent as all the matches India won were helped by the lower order players and i doubt we will see Washington Sundar in the final even though he made a lasting impression.

Washington's style of batting is suitable for the flat Indian conditions, but I don't know how he will fare in England, where there is a lot of swing, seam movement and bounce. Among the Indian batsmen, I have only seen Virat Kohli who is consistent in such conditions. None of the other batsmen have a good record in SENA nations, on a consistent basis. And New Zealand do have some very good fast bowlers who can exploit such conditions.

[JSRAW]

India is having issues with the opening partnership, Rohit Sharma cemented his place and he played well in this series and Pujara and Rahane should be consistent as all the matches India won were helped by the lower order players and i doubt we will see Washington Sundar in the final even though he made a lasting impression.

Washington's style of batting is suitable for the flat Indian conditions, but I don't know how he will fare in England, where there is a lot of swing, seam movement and bounce. Among the Indian batsmen, I have only seen Virat Kohli who is consistent in such conditions. None of the other batsmen have a good record in SENA nations, on a consistent basis. And New Zealand do have some very good fast bowlers who can exploit such conditions.

Short memory??

-Rahane at MCG (112,27 ) match winning inning, Man of the match
-Pujara at SCG ( 50, 77) Match saving innings along with Pant's (97). After that Vihari and Ashwin bated almost 50 overs for draw.
-Sunder (62) Thakur (67) 7th wicket partnership of 120+ runs at Gabba in first inning, when India was struggling at 186/6. After that in second inning Gill's (91), Pujara's (56) followed by Pant's (89).

Point is nowadays Indians are playing like a team, everyone is trying to contribute and compete. In recent series against England Pujara, Kohli and Rahane failed badly but still India won 3-1. Consistency or any kind of criticism is completely fine but on the same time we shouldn't forget that what this Indian team has achieved in the last 3-4 months.

[Vishnu.Reang]

^^^ Sundar and Shardul, along with Ashwin have added crucial runs for India recently and I hope they will perform well during the WTC finals. But I don't know whether all of them will find slots in the final playing XI. If the pitch is not conductive towards spin bowling, then India may go with just one, or a maximum of two spinners. That means that out of Ashwin, Axar, Washington and Kuldeep, only one or two may get selected. Bumrah/Shami/Ishant may be preferred for the final match, and that will leave Shardul and Umesh out of the squad.

[mersal]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

About WTC final, we have a new update about the venue due to ongoing pandemic. ICC planning to move WTC final out of Lord's

And the new venue is yet to be announced by ICC so we never know what kind of pitch the teams going to play.

Out of lord but still within England or are they planning to move the final out of England ?

I think ICC should think of moving the final to Pakistan 

As of now, they planned to move out from Lord's but it is going to be inside the ENG for sure because ECB conducted series successfully by creating bubble among players even when the pandemic is at its peak in their nation so I don't think the series will be moved out unless entire England locked down completely.

[UmerIdrees]

New Zealand vs India final at Lord's, June 18-June 22.

About WTC final, we have a new update about the venue due to ongoing pandemic. ICC planning to move WTC final out of Lord's

And the new venue is yet to be announced by ICC so we never know what kind of pitch the teams going to play.

Out of lord but still within England or are they planning to move the final out of England ?

I think ICC should think of moving the final to Pakistan 

As of now, they planned to move out from Lord's but it is going to be inside the ENG for sure because ECB conducted series successfully by creating bubble among players even when the pandemic is at its peak in their nation so I don't think the series will be moved out unless entire England locked down completely.

So why they need to announce it too early ? There are still few months in June and no one knows what will be the situation at that time. Perhaps the situation may be normal and they don't need to move the final out of Lord's cricket ground ?

[7788bitcoin]

So why they need to announce it too early ? There are still few months in June and no one knows what will be the situation at that time. Perhaps the situation may be normal and they don't need to move the final out of Lord's cricket ground ?

It is hard to believe that the situation will be back to normal in the next few months. The situation is getting worse in certain parts of the world and you need to be careful and ECB does not want to see a situation like the PSL when players started popping up with the virus and if ECB thinks that they cannot prepare the wickets and bubble in Lords then it is their choice.

There is another possibility that the Lords was booked thinking that England will play in the final and with the India series they are moving to another ground  .

[bryant.coleman]

So why they need to announce it too early ? There are still few months in June and no one knows what will be the situation at that time. Perhaps the situation may be normal and they don't need to move the final out of Lord's cricket ground ?

England is one of the world leaders in COVID 19 vaccination and the medical experts are of the opinion that the pandemic will be completely under control within the next 2-3 months. Already around 1/3rd of the population has received vaccine shots in the UK. The impact will be visible by next month or so. None of the other cricket playing nations have achieved this level of vaccination (perhaps with the exception of the UAE, where 58% have been vaccinated).

[ene1980]

Point is nowadays Indians are playing like a team, everyone is trying to contribute and compete. In recent series against England Pujara, Kohli and Rahane failed badly but still India won 3-1. Consistency or any kind of criticism is completely fine but on the same time we shouldn't forget that what this Indian team has achieved in the last 3-4 months.

The point is Pant is playing well and he was instrumental in both the series against Australia and England and the lower order is playing well and doing double duty even though the top order fails and your point is correct, this team does not depend upon a single player as Kohli was the poster boy for a long time and that changed when he returned from Australia and yet India won.

India was forced to include new players due to injury which ended up as the best thing that happened to them if not we would not see players like Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj who played major roles in the last two series.

[bryant.coleman]

The point is Pant is playing well and he was instrumental in both the series against Australia and England and the lower order is playing well and doing double duty even though the top order fails and your point is correct, this team does not depend upon a single player as Kohli was the poster boy for a long time and that changed when he returned from Australia and yet India won.

India was forced to include new players due to injury which ended up as the best thing that happened to them if not we would not see players like Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj who played major roles in the last two series.

Now there will be competition for the spot of spin bowling all rounder, as Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar can't be included together in the final XI, when India play abroad. There will be competition for the spot of pace bowlers as well. Once Shami is fit, then India needs to choose between Shami, Ishant, Umesh, Shardul, Natarajan and Siraj. And Kohli is not going to be happy if Saini is dropped from the squad.

[UmerIdrees]

So why they need to announce it too early ? There are still few months in June and no one knows what will be the situation at that time. Perhaps the situation may be normal and they don't need to move the final out of Lord's cricket ground ?

It is hard to believe that the situation will be back to normal in the next few months. The situation is getting worse in certain parts of the world and you need to be careful and ECB does not want to see a situation like the PSL when players started popping up with the virus and if ECB thinks that they cannot prepare the wickets and bubble in Lords then it is their choice.

There is another possibility that the Lords was booked thinking that England will play in the final and with the India series they are moving to another ground  .

Do you mean to say that we are about to face another wave of covid-19 which may result in total lockdown as it happened in last year 

I thought the situation is coming back to normal and every passing day is better than the past.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Do you mean to say that we are about to face another wave of covid-19 which may result in total lockdown as it happened in last year 
I thought the situation is coming back to normal and every passing day is better than the past.

The situation is far better than what we had a few months back. On top of that more than 300 million people have received vaccines so far. But the reality is that people are still dying in huge numbers, especially in the worst affected countries such as United States, Mexico and Brazil. Asian countries are faring much better. Situation in the United Kingdom has also improved, thanks to the vaccination program.

[vella85]

I'm really looking forward to this test match final. Lets just hope that all goes well when the time comes, it does seem as though the UK are starting to get this virus under control so we should be fine. I'm sure there will be a lot of interest in this final as I think its had added some interest in test matches even dead rubber matches as teams will want to win all matches to get a chance to play in the test match final. Its hard to say which team is favourite right now as both teams have been in top form so its going to be a great match. I'm interested to see how Kohli goes as he has been out of form but I think the pitch in England will help him get back into form.

[7788bitcoin]

~
Do you mean to say that we are about to face another wave of covid-19 which may result in total lockdown as it happened in last year 

I thought the situation is coming back to normal and every passing day is better than the past.

It is hard to predict what the future holds, we never thought we would close down the entire country last year which includes businesses and factories and there are new strains of the virus. There are vaccines but we have no idea about the effectiveness to the new strains and the long term side affects and if situation needs to be controlled we might see further restrictions.

[ene1980]

I'm interested to see how Kohli goes as he has been out of form but I think the pitch in England will help him get back into form.

The WTC final will be interesting and i am expecting India to win that considering New Zealand are not good travelers and the match was taking place in their home ground they have all the advantage and since it is a neutral ground for both the teams i am expecting a good battle and India is playing really well but the problem is that in the last two series they lost the first match and then came back and won the series and they will not have that liberty in the WTC final to loose and then make a comeback  .