Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[bryant.coleman]

Well that something of a fact but I think times have changed a lot now and BCCI is more of like an autocratic body these days. It has a hell lot of say on international matters do you think they can't handle a pitch curator? All being said the idea of 3 pacers in the side looks appealing because India has so many pacers in their side. If they would have requested for a turning track don't you think they would have thought of playing some extra full time spinners in the squad and somewhat less pacers. Also 2 pace bowling line up makes India into a big dilemma of which two to choose for the first match itself.

In the end, the choice of bowling attack is going to be either Shami/Sharma/Yadav/Ashwin + Jadeja or Shami/Sharma/Kuldeep/Ashwin + Jadeja. My guess is that they'll go ahead with two spinners (plus Jadeja), given the fact that the pitch at Visakhapatnam is very friendly for spin bowling. And leaving out Umesh Yadav is not going to raise too many questions. He was included in the team just because Jasprit Bumrah got injured.

But they needs to be careful. South Africa has one very good spinner (Keshav Maharaj) and if the conditions suit his style of bowling, then the Indian batsmen are going to struggle against him. Dane Piedt may be their second choice spinner, but he is not in good form right now. I don't think that the pitch will offer much assistance for the pace bowlers, but Kagiso Rabada/Lungi Ngidi/Anrich Nortje are capable of bowling on flat tracks and the pitch conditions are not going to deter them.

[1714130822]

1714130822

[1714130822]

1714130822

[1714130822]

1714130822

[1714130822]

1714130822

[teosanru]

Well that something of a fact but I think times have changed a lot now and BCCI is more of like an autocratic body these days. It has a hell lot of say on international matters do you think they can't handle a pitch curator? All being said the idea of 3 pacers in the side looks appealing because India has so many pacers in their side. If they would have requested for a turning track don't you think they would have thought of playing some extra full time spinners in the squad and somewhat less pacers. Also 2 pace bowling line up makes India into a big dilemma of which two to choose for the first match itself.

In the end, the choice of bowling attack is going to be either Shami/Sharma/Yadav/Ashwin + Jadeja or Shami/Sharma/Kuldeep/Ashwin + Jadeja. My guess is that they'll go ahead with two spinners (plus Jadeja), given the fact that the pitch at Visakhapatnam is very friendly for spin bowling. And leaving out Umesh Yadav is not going to raise too many questions. He was included in the team just because Jasprit Bumrah got injured.

But they needs to be careful. South Africa has one very good spinner (Keshav Maharaj) and if the conditions suit his style of bowling, then the Indian batsmen are going to struggle against him. Dane Piedt may be their second choice spinner, but he is not in good form right now. I don't think that the pitch will offer much assistance for the pace bowlers, but Kagiso Rabada/Lungi Ngidi/Anrich Nortje are capable of bowling on flat tracks and the pitch conditions are not going to deter them.

Have a look at this : https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/india-vs-south-africa-old-warrior-on-familiar-turf/story-U8wWzSDzc06RrbOaleR0lK.html
Well contradictory to our opinions here the experts and popular media channels are showing somewhat a different playing XI they are saying that India could go with three pacers and a spinner allrounder between Jadeja or Ashwin. This makes team much more of a batting side with 8 complete batsmen. But I personally feel this is never going to be the case. Going with full 8 batsmen in the Indian subcontinent is like wanting to draw the match instead of winning it. We all know that top 7 Batsmen are suitable to subcontinent conditions and have been in an okayish form. So instead going with two spin all rounders and 6 batsmen could be a batter option.

[onrise]

Overdependence on Ashwin can backfire. Ashwin is a bowler who has performed poorly on normal tracks. Almost all of his good performances came on pitches which were doctored to suit him.

There is no doubt that the pitches starts to get cracks in the fourth and fifth day and it will be spinning tracks, Ashwin has a bag of tricks up his sleeves as well to trap the opponent and we have seen that throughout his career and one thing i noticed is that, everyone was performing to their optimal when Dhoni was the captain and when Kohli became the captain he started experimenting new players and hence there is a lot of competition for bowlers.
Only if someone gets injured another player gets a chance which is weird considered India used to struggle to find genuine bowlers for decades.

The pitches from fourth day will support spinners as in India the pitches are and that way and it supports as well . Now another thing is that rain is unpredictable and this year across India has being heavy rainfall so rain might also hit the game and pitch may just become more bad and so will be outfield . Accordingly team combination has to be selected .

[JSRAW]

Now its safe to say Wriddhiman Saha is replacing Pant on the first Test game and 99% chance India is going with 2 spinners ( Jadeja-Ashwin) and 2 seamers (Ishant-Shami), Hanuma Vihari is part time bowler.

* Pant out, didn't see that coming tbh. guess for Home games India is looking at Saha as a first choice wicket keeper - Spin wicket - need good WK-

[bryant.coleman]

Have a look at this : https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/india-vs-south-africa-old-warrior-on-familiar-turf/story-U8wWzSDzc06RrbOaleR0lK.html
Well contradictory to our opinions here the experts and popular media channels are showing somewhat a different playing XI they are saying that India could go with three pacers and a spinner allrounder between Jadeja or Ashwin. This makes team much more of a batting side with 8 complete batsmen. But I personally feel this is never going to be the case. Going with full 8 batsmen in the Indian subcontinent is like wanting to draw the match instead of winning it. We all know that top 7 Batsmen are suitable to subcontinent conditions and have been in an okayish form. So instead going with two spin all rounders and 6 batsmen could be a batter option.

My guess is that they will include only two pacers. If they include three of them (Shami, Sharma and Yadav), then don't expect the pitch to be very friendly to the spinners. Either they are going to make a flat track where it is easy to score team totals of 500+ or they will ask the curator to create a pitch that is more or less neutral. But this can be an issue for the Indian batsmen, as the South Africans have some very promising pacers (Ngidi, Rabada and Nortje). If there is pace and bounce in the surface, then these three can make life very difficult for the Indian batsmen.

Another option is to go with 7 batsmen, 2 pacers, 1 spinner and one all rounder (Jadeja). In that case, one additional batsman can be included and the spin responsibility will be shared between Ashwin and Jadeja (with Kuldeep missing out). If the surface offers some support for the pacers, then it won't be a bad idea to go with an extra batsman.

[teosanru]

Have a look at this : https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/india-vs-south-africa-old-warrior-on-familiar-turf/story-U8wWzSDzc06RrbOaleR0lK.html
Well contradictory to our opinions here the experts and popular media channels are showing somewhat a different playing XI they are saying that India could go with three pacers and a spinner allrounder between Jadeja or Ashwin. This makes team much more of a batting side with 8 complete batsmen. But I personally feel this is never going to be the case. Going with full 8 batsmen in the Indian subcontinent is like wanting to draw the match instead of winning it. We all know that top 7 Batsmen are suitable to subcontinent conditions and have been in an okayish form. So instead going with two spin all rounders and 6 batsmen could be a batter option.

Another option is to go with 7 batsmen, 2 pacers, 1 spinner and one all rounder (Jadeja). In that case, one additional batsman can be included and the spin responsibility will be shared between Ashwin and Jadeja (with Kuldeep missing out). If the surface offers some support for the pacers, then it won't be a bad idea to go with an extra batsman.

I think this looks like the most viable option to me as of now. If as per experts Indian team is in a mood to stay with 7 proper batsmen then two spinners atleast are required obviously one pacers needs to be compromised in that case. My point is not actually 3 pacers but it is 5 bowlers because India has sort of two allrounds in form of Jadeja & Ashwin.

Now its safe to say Wriddhiman Saha is replacing Pant on the first Test game and 99% chance India is going with 2 spinners ( Jadeja-Ashwin) and 2 seamers (Ishant-Shami), Hanuma Vihari is part time bowler.

* Pant out, didn't see that coming tbh. guess for Home games India is looking at Saha as a first choice wicket keeper - Spin wicket - need good WK-

I think problem with saha is his inconsistency and Rishab Pant nowhere solves that problem. Along with that Saha is a great wicket keeper so this seems to me like a good decision. And yes, just as how I discussed above i think it would 2 spinner 2 pacer and 7 batsmen XI India would go for.

[Sithara007]

^^^^ In my opinion, it will be a disaster if India goes ahead with 7 batsmen and 3 bowlers (plus one all rounder). Indian pitches are supportive of batsmen, and competing sides needs variety in their bowling lineup to make up for that. Scores in excess of 400 are not rare in Indian surfaces and if they goes ahead with just 3 bowlers, then a good batting partnership will be able to break the backbone of the Indian bowling. Please note that I don't consider Ravindra Jadeja as a proper bowler. IMO, he is a batsman who can bowl a bit. I wouldn't trust the bowling responsibilities on someone like Jadeja, especially if the track is supportive of batting.

Also, India has some of the best batsmen in the world. They don't need 7 full-time batsmen to build a good team total against a team like South Africa. I guess 6 is enough.

[erikalui]

Did Sharma get any sort of warning or what? He sounds nervous in his recent interview and says if he fails to get wickets, his career would be over. He was bad when he started with Dhoni and used to give away too many runs as wide and no-balls due to his height problem but now he has proven to be a good bowler. His morale looks down now.

[bryant.coleman]

Did Sharma get any sort of warning or what? He sounds nervous in his recent interview and says if he fails to get wickets, his career would be over. He was bad when he started with Dhoni and used to give away too many runs as wide and no-balls due to his height problem but now he has proven to be a good bowler. His morale looks down now.

Is there a need for an official warning? There are too many quality pacers vying for slots within the Indian squad, that world class bowlers are forced to sit in the bench. See the case with Umesh Yadav. If he was playing for teams such as Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, he would be their first choice bowler. But this time, he got a chance to play just because Bumrah was injured.

Also, Ishant is no longer considered as a young player. He is 31 years of age, and the selectors may keep that in mind in case there is a dip in his form. To put it frankly, there is no room for mistake. Bad performance in two or three consecutive matches would mean that the bowler is no longer considered for the playing XI. You know the level of competition, when quality pacers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Aaron are not even considered for test team selection.

[Ayiranorea]

Did Sharma get any sort of warning or what? He sounds nervous in his recent interview and says if he fails to get wickets, his career would be over. He was bad when he started with Dhoni and used to give away too many runs as wide and no-balls due to his height problem but now he has proven to be a good bowler. His morale looks down now.

Is there a need for an official warning? There are too many quality pacers vying for slots within the Indian squad, that world class bowlers are forced to sit in the bench. See the case with Umesh Yadav. If he was playing for teams such as Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, he would be their first choice bowler. But this time, he got a chance to play just because Bumrah was injured.

More potential players are staying out to grab a chance, by this time Sharma is under pressure. He has felt the reality before someone gives him a warning. Also Indian Cricket council is the one that is much associated with politics, this way there can be some politics in team selection which might have reached the ears of Sharma.

Also, Ishant is no longer considered as a young player. He is 31 years of age, and the selectors may keep that in mind in case there is a dip in his form. To put it frankly, there is no room for mistake. Bad performance in two or three consecutive matches would mean that the bowler is no longer considered for the playing XI. You know the level of competition, when quality pacers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Aaron are not even considered for test team selection.

Agreed, when there are more young players out of the playing eleven he holds a bigger responsibility. Failing this will give way to the one next to him. Hope there will be good bowling from Ishant Sharma.

[Avirunes]

Now its safe to say Wriddhiman Saha is replacing Pant on the first Test game and 99% chance India is going with 2 spinners ( Jadeja-Ashwin) and 2 seamers (Ishant-Shami), Hanuma Vihari is part time bowler.

* Pant out, didn't see that coming tbh. guess for Home games India is looking at Saha as a first choice wicket keeper - Spin wicket - need good WK-

It will be nice to see Ashwin in action and yeah Jadeja too with him after a long period. They are a good combination when it comes to spin attack in Test.

Kinda surprised that Vihari can bowl too? He is good with bat but his capability to bowl is surprising.

[eaLiTy]

Now its safe to say Wriddhiman Saha is replacing Pant on the first Test game and 99% chance India is going with 2 spinners ( Jadeja-Ashwin) and 2 seamers (Ishant-Shami), Hanuma Vihari is part time bowler.

* Pant out, didn't see that coming tbh. guess for Home games India is looking at Saha as a first choice wicket keeper - Spin wicket - need good WK-

I expected Pant to be replaced as he had many opportunities to show his worth and he never rectified his position in the team, he dropped some chances behind the wicket as well and not made any impact in ODI and T20 and he was getting out in the same fashion all the time, leg side is his strong side and that he started falling for those shots all the time and we have much better keepers in India right now and it is the right decision. Pant can rectify his batting and keeping issues and come back stronger.
I expect two spinners in the team and i like Jadeja Ashwin combination and if they cannot make any impact we have other spinners for the rest of the series.

[AB de Royse777]

I guess I turned out to be an Alien in this thread LOL
Honestly speaking I am having boring time since no international exciting match in progress. I had good time when the Ashes was in progress and looks like this thread was stolen by India vs South Africa series. I am finding out dooring with friends is more interesting since there are no cricket right now.

So far I was able to grab from quick scan:
Pant out! (Happy, the boy needs time to re-think that he is still too young and if he needs to survive then he needs to stop playing lose shots)
Bhumra not playing? (if so and if the reason of giving him rest plus trying others to see their fit in the team is good for Bhumra himself. He really can use the help of other to release some pressure he takes when he play)
8 batsman? (India is always batsmen priority team however in the recent time they are breaking this tradition. But I would prefer 6 batsmen and depending on the pitch condition a combination of spinner and pacer)

How many more days we need to wait for the first official test?

[JSRAW]

~snip~
I think problem with saha is his inconsistency and Rishab Pant nowhere solves that problem. Along with that Saha is a great wicket keeper so this seems to me like a good decision. And yes, just as how I discussed above i think it would 2 spinner 2 pacer and 7 batsmen XI India would go for.

No bro, Saha was out because of his injury, not inconsistency. On another hand, Rishab didn't perform bad per se in the test matches. You don't need to take my words for granted. Just check their batting average, Rishab average is around 44 and Saha's 30ish.

~snip~
It will be nice to see Ashwin in action and yeah Jadeja too with him after a long period. They are a good combination when it comes to spin attack in Test.

Kinda surprised that Vihari can bowl too? He is good with bat but his capability to bowl is surprising.

Yeah, They both are deadly combination in spin wicket for sure. Vihari is okay bowler and doesn't look threatening but he's handy on some occasion, his all 5 wickets came when India was looking for wickets.

~Snip~
I expected Pant to be replaced as he had many opportunities to show his worth and he never rectified his position in the team, he dropped some chances behind the wicket as well and not made any impact in ODI and T20 and he was getting out in the same fashion all the time, leg side is his strong side and that he started falling for those shots all the time and we have much better keepers in India right now and it is the right decision. Pant can rectify his batting and keeping issues and come back stronger.
I expect two spinners in the team and i like Jadeja Ashwin combination and if they cannot make any impact we have other spinners for the rest of the series.

In my point of view, that's the wrong measure to judge a player. No doubt he performed badly in the shorter format, and he should be replaced in ODI and T-20. But In the Test Games, he's solid Batsman in the middle-lower order.

But if he's dropped from the team because of his Wicket keeping skill, then it might be the right decision, and we can justify this decision by saying that in sub-continent pitches we need specialist Wicket Keeper and Saha ticks the box, no doubt about it.

I guess I turned out to be an Alien in this thread LOL

WB,

IND vs SA : 2 Oct

[AB de Royse777]

WB,

IND vs SA : 2 Oct

Ah! thank you :-D

We have two events starting tomorrow. India vs SA and Pakistan vs Sri Lanka.

I will do some prediction here:
Pakistan to win
Team With Top Bowler: India
odd @1.93

Or one can go with this too:
Most Fours: Pakistan
Team With Top Bowler: India
odd @2.16

Good luck guys
I would like your views on these two doubles.

[eaLiTy]

Good luck guys
I would like your views on these two doubles.

Any bets with Pakistan will be a good bet, but team with top bowlers was a risky one as South Africa too does have a good bowling line up and if the pitch starts wearing out then India will have the upper hand and it is expected to spin from the second day as per the pitch report, it all depends upon the weather too, who knows whether it will be raining in the next few days and mess things up.
India won the toss and made the right decision to bat first and the openers are playing really careful without loosing any wickets and this is the first time i am seeing Agarwal and Sharma combination as openers.

But if he's dropped from the team because of his Wicket keeping skill, then it might be the right decision, and we can justify this decision by saying that in sub-continent pitches we need specialist Wicket Keeper and Saha ticks the box, no doubt about it.

Pant dropped many chances including run out and stumping chances in his past series and we is not performing well with the bat either, India does have better keepers and that is the reason Saha got the call, either Karthik or Saha will be fine for the wicket keeping spot as both are brilliant keepers.

[Sithara007]

Very surprising decision by South Africa to include Senuran Muthusamy in the squad. They have gone with two pacers (Rabada/Philander), two spinners (Keshav Maharaj and Dane Piedt) as well as one all rounder (Muthusamy). I was especially surprised by the inclusion of Piedt, as he was not in good form during the recent matches. They could have included Ngidi instead of him.

The Indian selection is even more perplexing. They have gone with just one full-time spinner (Ravi Ashwin), with two spin bowling all rounders to support him (Ravindra Jadeja & Hanuma Vihari). Yadav missed the selection, and the pace attack will be led by Ishant and Shami. They made the mistake by including just 3 full time bowlers. Could have included either of the Yadavs (Umesh or Kuldeep).

Anyway, India is off to a very good start with both Agarwal and Sharma scoring half-centuries. Current score is 110/0.

[akhjob]

Both Indian openers, M Agarwal and Rohit have completed their half centuries and are at ease now with the SA bowlers except for maybe Rabada and Philander who have been bowling brilliantly well with the new ball. So at this rate, I think India will manage 350+ runs by the end of the day if they didn’t lose quick wickets and with the likes of Kohli, Pujara and Rahane India might declare the 1st innings around 650 runs tomorrow

[teosanru]

Both Indian openers, M Agarwal and Rohit have completed their half centuries and are at ease now with the SA bowlers except for maybe Rabada and Philander who have been bowling brilliantly well with the new ball. So at this rate, I think India will manage 350+ runs by the end of the day if they didn’t lose quick wickets and with the likes of Kohli, Pujara and Rahane India might declare the 1st innings around 650 runs tomorrow

Well it's looking like a batting paradise. A big slap to the haters who said it was a bad idea for Rohit to open up in Test Matches. They both are playing pretty comfortably and even Keshav Maharaj isn't able to get anything out of this surface. Speaking of which reminds me of the fact that even Indians are going up with two spinner and two pacers if pitch doesn't proves to be helpful to spinner then maybe India is going to face some troubles while bowling too.

Very surprising decision by South Africa to include Senuran Muthusamy in the squad. They have gone with two pacers (Rabada/Philander), two spinners (Keshav Maharaj and Dane Piedt) as well as one all rounder (Muthusamy). I was especially surprised by the inclusion of Piedt, as he was not in good form during the recent matches. They could have included Ngidi instead of him.

The Indian selection is even more perplexing. They have gone with just one full-time spinner (Ravi Ashwin), with two spin bowling all rounders to support him (Ravindra Jadeja & Hanuma Vihari). Yadav missed the selection, and the pace attack will be led by Ishant and Shami. They made the mistake by including just 3 full time bowlers. Could have included either of the Yadavs (Umesh or Kuldeep).

Anyway, India is off to a very good start with both Agarwal and Sharma scoring half-centuries. Current score is 110/0.

I think both the teams just bid on the fact that pitch is going to be a batsmen paradise and a something in it for spinners but it hasn't looked like that until now atleas let's see how the spin goes as the bowl gets older. Moreover with both the teams having an okayish batting until number 8 I think this match will be a big scoring match. 

[JSRAW]

But if he's dropped from the team because of his Wicket keeping skill, then it might be the right decision, and we can justify this decision by saying that in sub-continent pitches we need specialist Wicket Keeper and Saha ticks the box, no doubt about it.

Pant dropped many chances including run out and stumping chances in his past series and we is not performing well with the bat either, .

Not sure bro what run out - stumping chances he missed, not able to recall any missed chance in Red Ball cricket and if we are talking about caught behind the wicket then i must remind you that he's one of the 3 wicket keeper in Cricket history who took 11 catches in one test game. he missed the world record by dropping catch though.

Rishab Pant equals the World Record

Again his batting performance is not bad in Test Cricket. please check his stats based on different pitches, his average is 92 in India.

India does have better keepers and that is the reason Saha got the call, either Karthik or Saha will be fine for the wicket keeping spot as both are brilliant keepers

Yes Saha is pure wicketkeeper and no doubt about that and Kartik Test Career is finished, 100% sure.

If Pant is out because of his bad performance in the shorter format then its wrong tbh. its not a good approach to handle young talent, give credit where it's due and everything should be based on merits. I don't mind if Management kicks him out from the ODI or T-20. he deserves that but in Test Match, Nope.