Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[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.

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[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  .

[Sithara007]

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.

It is going to be a very competitive match. I am sure that the pitch will be a balanced one, unlike the two-day surfaces we had earlier. And with the New Zealand quicks in prime form, I expect life getting difficult for the Indian batsmen. However, one issue for New Zealand is the recent poor form from Kyle Jamieson. Anyway, they have plenty of bowlers to chose from and Jamieson may not get selected in to the playing XI.

For India, I don't expect much contribution from the spinners such as Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin and Wasington Sundar. Only 1 or 2 may be included in the final playing XI. The pace attack may be led by Bumrah, with Shami and Ishant to support. Since India doesn't have a good pace bowling all rounder, it is going to affect them negatively during the match.

[UmerIdrees]

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.

Also the cricket matches are not effected by the covid-19 since we started resuming cricket last year in England. Unfortunately we had few players positive tested in this year PSL and due to which PSL is abandon. I wonder if in any other cricket series, the players got covid symptoms which resulted in sudden stop of the series 

[Sithara007]

Also the cricket matches are not effected by the covid-19 since we started resuming cricket last year in England. Unfortunately we had few players positive tested in this year PSL and due to which PSL is abandon. I wonder if in any other cricket series, the players got covid symptoms which resulted in sudden stop of the series 

Ireland A team is touring Bangladesh and an ODI match was abandoned after 30 overs, when the lab report came that one of the players (Ruhan Pretorious) tested positive for COVID 19. But later it was found that the lab test was false positive. So the series resumed the next day. Apart from that, I don't think that any international matches were abandoned due to COVID 19.

[JSRAW]

^^^ 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.

Hard to decide if India should go with 2 spin allrounder or just 1, Ashwin is sure tho. Jadeja is also important and Washington might be in contest due to his batting skill. Kuldeep and Axar won't get any chance. If Hardik is fit to bowl then he's playing 100% otherwise Shardul Thakur seems good fit, he's fast bowling all rounder and heard that he made some runs in recent vijay hazare trophy too. As long as India batting deep, they should be fine.

[Juggy777]

^^^ 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.

Hard to decide if India should go with 2 spin allrounder or just 1, Ashwin is sure tho. Jadeja is also important and Washington might be in contest due to his batting skill. Kuldeep and Axar won't get any chance. If Hardik is fit to bowl then he's playing 100% otherwise Shardul Thakur seems good fit, he's fast bowling all rounder and heard that he made some runs in recent vijay hazare trophy too. As long as India batting deep, they should be fine.

@Vishnu.Reang this is a welcome headache for the selectors, because this shows how strong team India’s dept is, and I also believe that we should talk about T20 matches rather than WTC final as it’s coming earlier. Also I’m really excited who’ll make the cut in the T20 team, because Shikar and Rahul deserve to be in the starting lineup, but currently it looks like that they may just miss out.

Source:

https://sports.ndtv.com/india-vs-england-2020-21/ind-vs-eng-india-face-problem-of-plenty-as-they-look-to-pick-team-for-england-t20i-series-2386393

[bryant.coleman]

Hard to decide if India should go with 2 spin allrounder or just 1, Ashwin is sure tho. Jadeja is also important and Washington might be in contest due to his batting skill. Kuldeep and Axar won't get any chance. If Hardik is fit to bowl then he's playing 100% otherwise Shardul Thakur seems good fit, he's fast bowling all rounder and heard that he made some runs in recent vijay hazare trophy too. As long as India batting deep, they should be fine.

Ashwin hasn't performed well in SENA nations, although his recent performance against Australia was OK. So I would rather prefer Axar and Jadeja in the squad. Shardul is a good all rounder. But including him means that Ishant needs to be dropped. I don't think that it is a good idea, as he (Ishant) has performed really well recently. And also, Shardul is still a bowler who can bat a bit. He is still not considered as an allrounder.

[mersal]

^^^ 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.

Hard to decide if India should go with 2 spin allrounder or just 1, Ashwin is sure tho. Jadeja is also important and Washington might be in contest due to his batting skill. Kuldeep and Axar won't get any chance. If Hardik is fit to bowl then he's playing 100% otherwise Shardul Thakur seems good fit, he's fast bowling all rounder and heard that he made some runs in recent vijay hazare trophy too. As long as India batting deep, they should be fine.

Jadeja is important for sure because he is better fielder and can be considered as best in the world right now and also he can bowl along with his handy knocks and Sundar should be the second option if they want to go with the 2 spinners because he is looking more like a regular batsman with the way he is batting and his first class batting also impressive. As you mentioned Ashwin is having difficulties on batting apart from subcontinent conditions so he is likely to be dropped but wait we have IPL in the middle so selectors will pick depending on the IPl performances as well even it is not supposed to be like that.

I am more concerned about the openers because new batsman failed to make any impressive performances in AUS and in India too so Shikar Dhawan has nay chances to be back into an opener?

[bryant.coleman]

Jadeja is important for sure because he is better fielder and can be considered as best in the world right now and also he can bowl along with his handy knocks and Sundar should be the second option if they want to go with the 2 spinners because he is looking more like a regular batsman with the way he is batting and his first class batting also impressive. As you mentioned Ashwin is having difficulties on batting apart from subcontinent conditions so he is likely to be dropped but wait we have IPL in the middle so selectors will pick depending on the IPl performances as well even it is not supposed to be like that.

I am more concerned about the openers because new batsman failed to make any impressive performances in AUS and in India too so Shikar Dhawan has nay chances to be back into an opener?

Jadeja will be the first choice for me. But for me, the second choice would be Axar Patel instead of Washington Sundar. Washington is a good batsman, but in terms of bowling Axar is far ahead of him. But at the same time, I am not sure whether Axar or Washington is the better bowler in SENA conditions. Ashwin can bat, but his poor record in SENA goes against him. Kuldeep is not that bad in SENA, but his batting record is not that great.