Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[teosanru]

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, .

~snip~
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.

I think we should start comparing Rishabh Pant with Rohit Sharma instead of comparing him with MSD or Virat Kohli. Just like Rohit Sharma he had a great buzz before his international career even began. People stated that he is gold mine of talent and India sees bright future in him just like we saw 10 years ago in Rohit Sharma and after that the young guy couldn't handle that much of expectations and his career started miserably. Same is going on with Rishab pant. I think what he needs is a redefinition of his role in team and to find out what suits him the most just like what MSD did to Rohit Sharma. Maybe try opening up with Rishab Pant in shorter formats or whatever. Everyone knows he does have some talent so why don't we channelize the correct way rather than kicking him.

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[Avirunes]

~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.

Wow some new facts about Vihari. BTW don't you guys feel like the players starting out as batsman and then becomes a part time bowler and bowls up too often loses shine with their bat? Best example is Mohammad Hafeez who was so good with bat and lost his shine when he became a regular bowler from part time bowler. Now he is unable to give a good performance with both bat and ball. I hope same thing doesn't happen to Vihari. He is a good Test player.


EDIT: Rohit and Aggarwal right now having a good partnership and building score for India. Seems like India will have no problem reaching 500 if things goes like this. Still its the first day so anything can happen since its Test.

[akhjob]

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.

Nobody would question Rohit's mettle in a home series because he has better stats at home series than abroad series in tests.



As you can see the difference in the average is huge. So, the main question is whether he'll be able to improve himself in the away series as an opener.

Edit: IND 202/0

[JSRAW]

I think we should start comparing Rishabh Pant with Rohit Sharma instead of comparing him with MSD or Virat Kohli.

May be Pant is WK batsman so its makes sense when comparing him with Dhoni, instead of Rohit and never heard that anyone comparing Pant with Virat.

I think what he needs is a redefinition of his role in team and to find out what suits him the most just like what MSD did to Rohit Sharma. Maybe try opening up with Rishab Pant in shorter formats or whatever. Everyone knows he does have some talent so why don't we channelize the correct way rather than kicking him.

IMHO selectors and Ravi shastri (in some extent Kohli too) not doing their job. in the last 3-4 years they made many mistake when selecting Playing XI be it Away test tour or world cup. but they are lucky because they already have bench strength.

~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.

Wow some new facts about Vihari. BTW don't you guys feel like the players starting out as batsman and then becomes a part time bowler and bowls up too often loses shine with their bat? Best example is Mohammad Hafeez who was so good with bat and lost his shine when he became a regular bowler from part time bowler. Now he is unable to give a good performance with both bat and ball. I hope same thing doesn't happen to Vihari. He is a good Test player.

Batting all rounders comes very handy in World cricket. if we talk about India and go into details then we can notice Sachin, Sehwag, Ganguly,Yuvraj,Raina all became batting allrounder and it helped India cause for a long time. India is lacking this skillset in current generation for ex : Kohli is shitty bowler, Rohit used to bowl, Pujara, Rahane, Sikhar and many more are pure batsman. Vihari is new guy so hard to tell if this is going to effect his batting or not but if he can bowl 8-12 overs then its big plus.

M. Hafeez is getting old so its natural IMHO and if i am not wrong he is around 35+ ?

[ene1980]

I never expected India to perform like this against South Africa as i have not seen both the Indian openers play in the longer format of the game, Rohit is a ODI opener but he is opening in Test for the first time and he scored a century is outstanding as he was not even able to perform in the warm up matches as opener and now they reached over 200 runs without even loosing a wicket is outstanding. I thought they will loose the openers quickly and then the middle order will perform, only rain can help South Africa now.

[eaLiTy]

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.

Come on bro, if you missed a run out chance or a stumping chance in any form of cricket, it is not a good sign of his confidence, i am taking into account his performance as a keeper in the past few series he played and he dropped many chances, may be those are in the shorter format of the game but what difference does it make if you miss chances in the field. Let him fix his technique and come back stronger as he is really young in his career and can be an asset in the future.

I think we should start comparing Rishabh Pant with Rohit Sharma instead of comparing him with MSD or Virat Kohli. Just like Rohit Sharma he had a great buzz before his international career even began.

I really do accept the fact that there must be someone to guide Pant as he is really young, he can get better by improving his technique including his wicket keeping skills and perform in the domestic circuit or in the IPL and then make a come back in the team through his performance. MSD was not a classic wicket keeper nor a batsman but he over came those short comings with his batting initially and then improved his keeping techniques at a later part, no one can replace players like Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, MSD and the captaincy brilliance of Ganguly, he made the foundation when India was struggling and now we have a bench strength of good players .

[Sithara007]

I never expected India to perform like this against South Africa as i have not seen both the Indian openers play in the longer format of the game, Rohit is a ODI opener but he is opening in Test for the first time and he scored a century is outstanding as he was not even able to perform in the warm up matches as opener and now they reached over 200 runs without even loosing a wicket is outstanding. I thought they will loose the openers quickly and then the middle order will perform, only rain can help South Africa now.

Looks like there is no assistance for the bowlers (either for the pacers, or for the spinners) in the pitch and India was lucky to win the toss. South African spinners didn't got much turn from the surface, and usually Maharaj turns the ball a lot. But this time all the three spinners couldn't get much turn. The bounce was also very low, and Rabada was in better condition when compared to Philander as he found a good line.

A score in excess of 600 looks like a probability for India and the question is how long they are going to take, to achieve it. If there is rain interruption in the coming days, then this match will be heading for another boring draw. There will be chance of a result only if Ashwin or any other Indian bowler is able to get South Africa out for less than 300.

[uray]

A score in excess of 600 looks like a probability for India and the question is how long they are going to take, to achieve it. If there is rain interruption in the coming days, then this match will be heading for another boring draw. There will be chance of a result only if Ashwin or any other Indian bowler is able to get South Africa out for less than 300.

Test cricket is a dying bread and if they prepare dead wickets like this for the batsmen to score runs and end up in a draw after five days of play is not an interesting result everyone is looking forward. I do not think that it is an outstanding performance from the Indian openers as the pitch was not giving any assistance to the bowlers and the pitch was flat in the first day which gives you an idea how the match will go, weather is also not that great and expect sessions to be missed in the next days too and it will end up in a draw.

[Haunebu]

no one can replace players like Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, MSD and the captaincy brilliance of Ganguly, he made the foundation when India was struggling and now we have a bench strength of good players .

Ganguly was a decent captain at best and I feel that MSD laid the foundation by replacing the older players with new talent which worked wonders for India in the long term.

I do not think that it is an outstanding performance from the Indian openers as the pitch was not giving any assistance to the bowlers and the pitch was flat in the first day which gives you an idea how the match will go, weather is also not that great and expect sessions to be missed in the next days too and it will end up in a draw.

202/0 is not an outstanding performance? Hilarious. Rohit and Mayank set up the perfect start for India and I highly doubt this will end in a draw. This looks like a win for India all the way at this point. Even if it rains later, I am expecting India to pack up the South African lineup pretty quickly.

[Ayiranorea]

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.

Nobody would question Rohit's mettle in a home series because he has better stats at home series than abroad series in tests.



As you can see the difference in the average is huge. So, the main question is whether he'll be able to improve himself in the away series as an opener.

Edit: IND 202/0

Rohit performs well, and he scores good unexpected. Rohit is one of the player who has been into the team even when his performance was not upto the level required by that time. This is all because of politics that is found within the team selection. Those chance provided is the one that helped him recover himself playing good. Whether it is on the home town or away, he used to give an average performance in at least one match out of three.

[erikalui]

Rohit back in form. So good to see him getting 100+ on the first day and India not losing one wicket. After a long time seeing the openers do well for the team else it used to be either Shikhar and recently Rohit getting out for a duck.

Good decision to bat first but rain again created a hurdle. Rain was not predicted and while it's so hot now. 4 hours - almost half day wasted.

I predict the score to be 450+ when India decide to declare. Even if they lose wickets, still 400 is on their target.  Looks like they should win by an innings and this time Virat should choose to follow-on.

[bryant.coleman]

A score in excess of 600 looks like a probability for India and the question is how long they are going to take, to achieve it. If there is rain interruption in the coming days, then this match will be heading for another boring draw. There will be chance of a result only if Ashwin or any other Indian bowler is able to get South Africa out for less than 300.

Test cricket is a dying bread and if they prepare dead wickets like this for the batsmen to score runs and end up in a draw after five days of play is not an interesting result everyone is looking forward. I do not think that it is an outstanding performance from the Indian openers as the pitch was not giving any assistance to the bowlers and the pitch was flat in the first day which gives you an idea how the match will go, weather is also not that great and expect sessions to be missed in the next days too and it will end up in a draw.

They had no reason to prepare a dead track, as South Africa is not a tough opponent like Australia or England. If they had prepared a track with some sort of assistance to the bowlers, then the chances were that still India would have won. With rain expected to play a disruptive role (I heard that the Indian domestic matches also got washed away today), it will be difficult to get a result. I hope India steps up the scoring rate tomorrow (they still have 10 wickets in hand) and declare their innings after scoring 450-500, rather than giving the batsmen an opportunity to improve their records.

BTW, I had watched all the five matches of the Ashes series which was completed less than a month back. I enjoyed watching those matches. But today's match between India and SA was really boring. And if you want to find reason for why fans are losing interest in test cricket, then you have the perfect example. Such surfaces drive fans away from test cricket.

[teosanru]

I think we should start comparing Rishabh Pant with Rohit Sharma instead of comparing him with MSD or Virat Kohli.

May be Pant is WK batsman so its makes sense when comparing him with Dhoni, instead of Rohit and never heard that anyone comparing Pant with Virat.

~snip~

Actually my point of comparing him with Rohit Sharma was actually due to the graph of career of Rohit Sharma. If you remember in the opening years for a long time Rohit Sharma couldn't actually get any good knocks he was terrible at any place in the side. Moreover, surprisingly, despite of his continuous failures he was still not dropped from the side and given a hell lot of chances until Dhoni made him a great player, I expect something similar to happen with Rishab Pant which is why i pointed the comparison with Sharma.

Rohit back in form. So good to see him getting 100+ on the first day and India not losing one wicket. After a long time seeing the openers do well for the team else it used to be either Shikhar and recently Rohit getting out for a duck.

Good decision to bat first but rain again created a hurdle. Rain was not predicted and while it's so hot now. 4 hours - almost half day wasted.

I predict the score to be 450+ when India decide to declare. Even if they lose wickets, still 400 is on their target.  Looks like they should win by an innings and this time Virat should choose to follow-on.

Despite of the fact that South Africa's batting side doesn't have that much power, they still can't be taken for granted. They are known to fire back even in some unfavorable conditions and I really hope that tomorrow isn't their day. If rain doesn't interrupts regularly then India can even bat the whole day tomorrow and then look for some good bowling day after tomorrow.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Despite of the fact that South Africa's batting side doesn't have that much power, they still can't be taken for granted. They are known to fire back even in some unfavorable conditions and I really hope that tomorrow isn't their day. If rain doesn't interrupts regularly then India can even bat the whole day tomorrow and then look for some good bowling day after tomorrow.

Oh.. common... do you really think that a batting lineup that includes players such as Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram doesn't have any power? Just wait for one or two days and you will get to know what these batsmen are capable of in a flat pitch like the one they have at Vizag. India might score 500 plus and South Africa is also going to score around that. And the match is going to end in a draw.

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~
202/0 is not an outstanding performance? Hilarious. Rohit and Mayank set up the perfect start for India and I highly doubt this will end in a draw. This looks like a win for India all the way at this point. Even if it rains later, I am expecting India to pack up the South African lineup pretty quickly.

It must be raining coz I see 59.1 over bowled. I was not able to see a single ball. Just checking the scores.
3.41 is the run rate which is not bad.
India is in good position in my opinion. They should be winning this match in three days duration assuming two days will be washed away by rain LOL

[7788bitcoin]

India is in good position in my opinion. They should be winning this match in three days duration assuming two days will be washed away by rain LOL

Weather will play a major role in this match and if we are to see a result India must declare the innings with a good first innings of 450 runs and then put the South Africans to bat and see whether India could trouble their batting line up and if India could pick the wicket then we might see a result if not i am expecting a draw as South Africa does have a good batting line up and the pitch was flat on the first day, whether it will assist the spinners in the coming days is yet to be seen.

[romero121]

Now the second century for India has come from Mayank Agarwal. This is his debut hundred in his test career, and this has been scored in 203 balls. The partnership is quite strong, and such a start gives a big confidence to the entire team. South Africa should do something to break the partnership, because after certain score the run rate will surely increase. This will let them score big in a short time which decrease the winning or the draw chance of South Africa.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

Now the second century for India has come from Mayank Agarwal. This is his debut hundred in his test career, and this has been scored in 203 balls. The partnership is quite strong, and such a start gives a big confidence to the entire team. South Africa should do something to break the partnership, because after certain score the run rate will surely increase.

Glad to see Indian openers giving them a good start after a very long time, whether India will stick to this opening partnership is yet to be seen, Mayank Agarwal was performing so well in the domestic circuit for a very long time and finally India sending Rohit Sharma to open the test match and he just crossed 150 runs and he is looking for a double century in his first opportunity as an opener which is always great for Indian fans .

[ene1980]

Finally India lost their first wicket when Rohit Sharma started to be aggressive and lost his wicket stumped, India is in very strong position with over 300 runs and just one wicket lost and they have a long line up of players who are good to play a long innings and i am not sure what the strategy will be, whether they will post 600 plus runs or declare before that is to be seen.

[teosanru]

Despite of the fact that South Africa's batting side doesn't have that much power, they still can't be taken for granted. They are known to fire back even in some unfavorable conditions and I really hope that tomorrow isn't their day. If rain doesn't interrupts regularly then India can even bat the whole day tomorrow and then look for some good bowling day after tomorrow.

Oh.. common... do you really think that a batting lineup that includes players such as Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram doesn't have any power? Just wait for one or two days and you will get to know what these batsmen are capable of in a flat pitch like the one they have at Vizag. India might score 500 plus and South Africa is also going to score around that. And the match is going to end in a draw.

I think compared to the older South African team which consisted of Hashim Amla & AB Devillers too in this side was much stronger than the current team. Moreover that team had much more experience of playing on the subcontinent wickets which is a bit missing in Aiden Markram. He has played just two test matches in Indian subcontinent which were against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka which his performance was miserable. Have a look here:




He has a great home experience but almost no record for away games. Let's see what happens.