Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Haunebu]

Would like to see the faces of all those people who expected a whitewash after the 1st test match. People love jumping to conclusions without thinking things through.

Am expecting India and Australia to win another match each and end this series in a draw. Just a random assumption.

And regarding Natarajan, I want him to be a part of the test squad. But the problem is that the selectors don't want him. He is a competitor to Saini/Siraj, who have powerful backers.

Natarajan still has a long way to go. A couple of good performances are not enough to include him in the test squad. For example, many famous test players were selected in the test format after a long period of time.

[mersal]

Would like to see the faces of all those people who expected a whitewash after the 1st test match. People love jumping to conclusions without thinking things through.

Am expecting India and Australia to win another match each and end this series in a draw. Just a random assumption.

And regarding Natarajan, I want him to be a part of the test squad. But the problem is that the selectors don't want him. He is a competitor to Saini/Siraj, who have powerful backers.

Natarajan still has a long way to go. A couple of good performances are not enough to include him in the test squad. For example, many famous test players were selected in the test format after a long period of time.

Gill was the first positive thing that changed the match to the Indian side to be honest because he is striking the balls more which helped the scoreboard ticking s other players were not in hurry to make their runs. Then better team performance in the batting compared to their worst ever performance which just happened in their previous match. Jaddu another man who came in and stole a place for him in the remaining matches.

[teosanru]

link=topic=5168384.msg55964464#msg55964464 date=1609215628]
Mayank is 13 match old (3 100s + 4 50s + average 50) and Shaw is 5 match (1 ton+ 2 50s + average 42). Mayank had average of 65 in 2018-19 Australian tour, its first Australian tour for Shaw. They both have good record in the domestic, so i wouldn't say they are over hyped but yeah they are definitely going through some bad form.

Shaw is already replaced by Gill and i think if Rohit Sharma is fit then he should also replace Mayank, although Rohit has no match practice. I hope they don't replace Hanuma, i agree he's not performing according to his reputation but he's fine batsman when batting at middle order.

Umesh Yadav is injured so we might see another debutant in the next game. Hope this time Natarajan.

I am surprised no one is talking about KL Rahul. He already is in a good form played well in T20 series. If only keeping is a thing KL Rahul is a better keep than Rishab Pant. I feel that instead of Rishab, KL Rahul deserves a much better spot in the team. After return of Rohit Sharma it is understandable that he won't get a chance to open so he should be tried somewhere in middle order. Mayank Aggarwal has a good track record if you drop someone with this good track record his morale would definitely fall a lot in long term.

KL Rahul had a very bad outing in last tour of Australia, he managed to score only 70ish runs in 3 games and he was selected due to his IPL performance. My first choice is Mayank then Shaw, Rohit and then Rahul. Mayank and Shaw are in bad form so sometimes break helps young players. I have already seen enough of Rahul in SENA countries, there is no doubt that he's great talent but tbh in test format he didn't impressed anyone at all except Kohli and Shastri. It would be very bad call if KL Rahul keeping in the test as he's new keeper even in limited overs cricket and test cricket keeping is not an easy task. In SENA Pant should be their first choice without any doubt.

I am not big fan of Rohit Sharma in the red ball cricket, may be in subcontinent but in SENA countries as an opener? it's big no for me. IMHO he's not good batsman when ball starts moving or swing. Having said that I don't mind if team management want to try him as an opener, but only if they are willing to try Sehwag type of experiment similar to Sehwag because you never know and he deserves at least 1 chance as opener in Australia. If he clicks then he could play for next 2 year most as he's already 32ish. If this experiment fails then tell him to focus on limited overs cricket only.

Rahul and Rohit could fit in middle order though but Indian middle order ( Pujara - Rahane - Vihari) is good, Would say it's best package India got right now as far as SENA countries are concern.

@Vishnu I think you clearly forget his last outing? Numbers are not in his favor but he made some useful runs according to team needs, some time spending time at crease is equally important.

As far as I remember Nair was opener, not sure what's the connection between opener and middle order batsman selection? Selection doesn't work like that.

I think one tour is just too less to judge whether someone is a good fit for a location or not. Yes, there is cut-throat competition at this point in time in the team to get a spot in the playing XI but you never get top players by just giving them chances in 8-10 matches. The Rohit Sharma we know today got countless chances before he could prove himself as one of the best ODI batsmen in the world. Even Players like MS Dhoni didn't scored a century in the very first tournament. I think judging players merely on the basis of one tournament is a pretty bad criteria. But the competition is so damn high even our India-A team could somewhere be at number 4-5 in the world.

[vella85]

Congrats to India on winning the second test match. Now they have all the momentum going into the Sydney test match which looks like it will go ahead now even with the concerns of the virus. It will be another pitch that should suit India and this gives them a chance to go 2-1 in the series as I just don't see India playing as well in Brisbane as like I said Australia have a very good record in Brisbane and haven't lost there in years. I also think Warner will come back into the Australian team which could help sure up the opening spot and Will Pucovski could make his test debut.

[7788bitcoin]

Now this should be very simple and straight forward for the Indians. Congratulations for leveling the series 1-1. Australia has only themselves to blame for their poor performance. India was playing without many of their key players and yet Australia could not perform in a satisfactory manner. They need a complete rethink on their batting strategy, against the Indian bowlers.

The first two matches were dominated by bowlers and in the first Test if the Indian batsman batted sensibly and was able to score some runs then it would have being a close match as the Australian batsman are also struggling and the same happened in the second Test but their new captain Rahane played the defining match winning innings and the way in which he was able to manage his bowlers was outstanding.

[Sithara007]

The first two matches were dominated by bowlers and in the first Test if the Indian batsman batted sensibly and was able to score some runs then it would have being a close match as the Australian batsman are also struggling and the same happened in the second Test but their new captain Rahane played the defining match winning innings and the way in which he was able to manage his bowlers was outstanding.

Actually both the Indian and Australian bowlers did well. The difference is that the Indian middle and lower order added crucial runs, while the Australian batsmen generally failed to make significant contributions. Rahane's innings was obviously the game changer, but we can't ignore the contributions made by Ravindra Jadeja as well. He made the runs when the team need them the most.

[pakhitheboss]

Would like to see the faces of all those people who expected a whitewash after the 1st test match. People love jumping to conclusions without thinking things through.

Am expecting India and Australia to win another match each and end this series in a draw. Just a random assumption.

And regarding Natarajan, I want him to be a part of the test squad. But the problem is that the selectors don't want him. He is a competitor to Saini/Siraj, who have powerful backers.

Natarajan still has a long way to go. A couple of good performances are not enough to include him in the test squad. For example, many famous test players were selected in the test format after a long period of time.

Gill was the first positive thing that changed the match to the Indian side to be honest because he is striking the balls more which helped the scoreboard ticking s other players were not in hurry to make their runs. Then better team performance in the batting compared to their worst ever performance which just happened in their previous match. Jaddu another man who came in and stole a place for him in the remaining matches.

For me it was Gill, Jadeja and Rahane who were responsible for the second test win. Plus the fielding on Indian side did improve from the previous test. Bowlers from both side bowled brilliantly but indian batsmen changed the game.

[bryant.coleman]

Congrats to India on winning the second test match. Now they have all the momentum going into the Sydney test match which looks like it will go ahead now even with the concerns of the virus. It will be another pitch that should suit India and this gives them a chance to go 2-1 in the series as I just don't see India playing as well in Brisbane as like I said Australia have a very good record in Brisbane and haven't lost there in years. I also think Warner will come back into the Australian team which could help sure up the opening spot and Will Pucovski could make his test debut.

Pucovski didn't made a lot of runs during the warmup matches. But given the horrible state of the Australian batting lineup, any new addition should be welcome. What bothers me is the poor run from Steve Smith. Just like India, who are heavily dependent on Virat Kohli, the Australians are also over dependent on Steve Smith. But the Indians were able to win a test match even without Kohli, while the Australians lost despite Smith playing for them.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

I think one tour is just too less to judge whether someone is a good fit for a location or not. Yes, there is cut-throat competition at this point in time in the team to get a spot in the playing XI but you never get top players by just giving them chances in 8-10 matches. The Rohit Sharma we know today got countless chances before he could prove himself as one of the best ODI batsmen in the world. Even Players like MS Dhoni didn't scored a century in the very first tournament. I think judging players merely on the basis of one tournament is a pretty bad criteria. But the competition is so damn high even our India-A team could somewhere be at number 4-5 in the world.

This is 3rd tour for KL Rahul, his first tour was way back in 2014-15. In last away season 2018-19 Indian management gave him complete season despite his failures. He failed in SA, England , somehow he managed to score ton in the last game, it was lost game so this ton doesn't count much but because of this 100 he again got chance in Australia and failed miserably. Just to give you example of his backing, Kohli-Shashtri dropped Pujara, Rahane and Bhuvi in few games just to fit Rahul-Pandaya in the team, result India failed to win in SA and England, India was supposed to win in SA 2-1 and 3-2 in the England.

Congrats to India on winning the second test match. Now they have all the momentum going into the Sydney test match which looks like it will go ahead now even with the concerns of the virus. It will be another pitch that should suit India and this gives them a chance to go 2-1 in the series as I just don't see India playing as well in Brisbane as like I said Australia have a very good record in Brisbane and haven't lost there in years. I also think Warner will come back into the Australian team which could help sure up the opening spot and Will Pucovski could make his test debut.

Burns is out for good.. if Warner coming back then who will open the inning with him? Wade and Warner both are left hand batsmen so 2 lefty opener is not a good idea. Harris is also left handed so Will Pucovski should get a chance and move Wade to down the order.

[UmerIdrees]

Pakistan lost the first test match today against NZ. For a moment i thought that  Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah will save the match as they resisted for nearly 8 overs against the NZ bowling. Pakistan need to improve their batting, bowling and especially fielding if they want better results in next matches.

[JSRAW]

Pakistan lost the first test match today against NZ. For a moment i thought that  Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah will save the match as they resisted for nearly 8 overs against the NZ bowling. Pakistan need to improve their batting, bowling and especially fielding if they want better results in next matches.

Pakistan lost the game but they fought well there, at least for draw if not for win. 2 previous visitors India and Windies lost badly there. I hope now PCB and misbah (PCB especially) give some respect to Fawad Alam. He's debuted in 2009 and played only 6 tests so far (2 100s).... you can imagine the drama here.

^^ Speaking of PCB and their fuckery. I failed to understand that why didn't they include Fawad Alam in Playing XI? As far as i heard he's very solid opener. Is Misbah making his life miserable in the squad or its something else?

[coin_1122]

Would like to see the faces of all those people who expected a whitewash after the 1st test match. People love jumping to conclusions without thinking things through.

Am expecting India and Australia to win another match each and end this series in a draw. Just a random assumption.

And regarding Natarajan, I want him to be a part of the test squad. But the problem is that the selectors don't want him. He is a competitor to Saini/Siraj, who have powerful backers.

Natarajan still has a long way to go. A couple of good performances are not enough to include him in the test squad. For example, many famous test players were selected in the test format after a long period of time.

Gill was the first positive thing that changed the match to the Indian side to be honest because he is striking the balls more which helped the scoreboard ticking s other players were not in hurry to make their runs. Then better team performance in the batting compared to their worst ever performance which just happened in their previous match. Jaddu another man who came in and stole a place for him in the remaining matches.

For me it was Gill, Jadeja and Rahane who were responsible for the second test win. Plus the fielding on Indian side did improve from the previous test. Bowlers from both side bowled brilliantly but indian batsmen changed the game.

Not only batsmen but also blowers did their job in the 2nd test match because new bowler Siraj utilized his bowling skills on Australian pitches. Gill, Jadeja and Rahane played some brilliant knock in order to defend the Ausis, otherwise, it is impossible for the Indians to level the series. Overall Indian did their part to level the series.

[eaLiTy]

For me it was Gill, Jadeja and Rahane who were responsible for the second test win. Plus the fielding on Indian side did improve from the previous test. Bowlers from both side bowled brilliantly but indian batsmen changed the game.

You forgot the start, Ajinkya Rahane giving the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin in the 10th over and he changed the tempo of the match by picking the wickets of Matthew Wade and Steven Smith in quick succession and it completely opened the match, Mohammed Siraj impressed me a lot with his wonderful debut bowling and he was troubling the batsman.
Umesh Yadav is injured and hopefully we will see another debut in the next match and hopefully i would like to see Nataraj making his debut but i think he is not picked for the squad and he is staying to help the batsman in the nets and hence the opportunity goes to Navdeep Saini.

[mersal]

For me it was Gill, Jadeja and Rahane who were responsible for the second test win. Plus the fielding on Indian side did improve from the previous test. Bowlers from both side bowled brilliantly but indian batsmen changed the game.

You forgot the start, Ajinkya Rahane giving the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin in the 10th over and he changed the tempo of the match by picking the wickets of Matthew Wade and Steven Smith in quick succession and it completely opened the match, Mohammed Siraj impressed me a lot with his wonderful debut bowling and he was troubling the batsman.
Umesh Yadav is injured and hopefully we will see another debut in the next match and hopefully i would like to see Nataraj making his debut but i think he is not picked for the squad and he is staying to help the batsman in the nets and hence the opportunity goes to Navdeep Saini.

Indian bowlers did exceptionally well in this test series along with contribution from every bowlers at any ends as well as at any stage of the match. Only the fielding and batting was the issue in the first match but they managed to overcome on the second match. Hope the new bowler also will do the same in the next match.

[teosanru]

~snip~

I think one tour is just too less to judge whether someone is a good fit for a location or not. Yes, there is cut-throat competition at this point in time in the team to get a spot in the playing XI but you never get top players by just giving them chances in 8-10 matches. The Rohit Sharma we know today got countless chances before he could prove himself as one of the best ODI batsmen in the world. Even Players like MS Dhoni didn't scored a century in the very first tournament. I think judging players merely on the basis of one tournament is a pretty bad criteria. But the competition is so damn high even our India-A team could somewhere be at number 4-5 in the world.

This is 3rd tour for KL Rahul, his first tour was way back in 2014-15. In last away season 2018-19 Indian management gave him complete season despite his failures. He failed in SA, England , somehow he managed to score ton in the last game, it was lost game so this ton doesn't count much but because of this 100 he again got chance in Australia and failed miserably. Just to give you example of his backing, Kohli-Shashtri dropped Pujara, Rahane and Bhuvi in few games just to fit Rahul-Pandaya in the team, result India failed to win in SA and England, India was supposed to win in SA 2-1 and 3-2 in the England.

I think there needs to be made a balance in the team obviously dropping Pujara and Rahane to fit in KL Rahul in the side is a bit foolishness. But keeping a player in the squad for no reason doesn't makes sense. Moreover KL Rahul isn't the only example there are many other players Karun Nair is also such an example. It's just too much competition in the team to choose the best among best. Even Hanuma Vihari has similar statistics to that of Rahul. I think it's just that everyone has their own favourites including us and the selectors.

[SATWAT]

For me it was Gill, Jadeja and Rahane who were responsible for the second test win. Plus the fielding on Indian side did improve from the previous test. Bowlers from both side bowled brilliantly but indian batsmen changed the game.

You forgot the start, Ajinkya Rahane giving the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin in the 10th over and he changed the tempo of the match by picking the wickets of Matthew Wade and Steven Smith in quick succession and it completely opened the match, Mohammed Siraj impressed me a lot with his wonderful debut bowling and he was troubling the batsman.
Umesh Yadav is injured and hopefully we will see another debut in the next match and hopefully i would like to see Nataraj making his debut but i think he is not picked for the squad and he is staying to help the batsman in the nets and hence the opportunity goes to Navdeep Saini.

Indian bowlers did exceptionally well in this test series along with contribution from every bowlers at any ends as well as at any stage of the match. Only the fielding and batting was the issue in the first match but they managed to overcome on the second match. Hope the new bowler also will do the same in the next match.

Currently Indian teams preforming completely opposing as they was doing in past right now bowlers doing great job and batsmen and fielders doing completely bad job even these two was their weapons in past if they able to handle some good in batting then surely they can win this series because after watching this test my feeling is Australian completely out of touch and they can lost this series which could be great win for Indians without any star player.

[Haunebu]

You forgot the start, Ajinkya Rahane giving the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin in the 10th over and he changed the tempo of the match by picking the wickets of Matthew Wade and Steven Smith in quick succession and it completely opened the match, Mohammed Siraj impressed me a lot with his wonderful debut bowling and he was troubling the batsman.

Smith is struggling against Ashwin and he himself admitted this. Check this link out.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.hindustantimes.com/cricket/no-spinner-has-done-that-to-me-in-my-career-steve-smith-narrates-how-he-has-let-ashwin-dictate-terms-in-test-series/story-Pzh3jqOwI3cxsXHoJoXAXI_amp.html

Ashwin is a critical part of the test squad and Smith himself admitting this proves that. Great to see him performing so well consistently despite getting criticised heavily due to mankading etc in the last couple of years.

[vella85]

You forgot the start, Ajinkya Rahane giving the ball to Ravichandran Ashwin in the 10th over and he changed the tempo of the match by picking the wickets of Matthew Wade and Steven Smith in quick succession and it completely opened the match, Mohammed Siraj impressed me a lot with his wonderful debut bowling and he was troubling the batsman.

Smith is struggling against Smith and he himself admitted this. Check this link out.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.hindustantimes.com/cricket/no-spinner-has-done-that-to-me-in-my-career-steve-smith-narrates-how-he-has-let-ashwin-dictate-terms-in-test-series/story-Pzh3jqOwI3cxsXHoJoXAXI_amp.html

Ashwin is a critical part of the test squad and Smith himself admitting this proves that. Great to see him performing so well consistently despite getting criticised heavily due to mankading etc in the last couple of years.

Yeah Smith does seem to be fighting himself in this series. I think a lot has to also do with the hype around Smith before the series with many saying that he is primed ready to make a lot of runs when in fact its been the opposite. I think this can also play on his mind as he is expected to perform and score hundreds all the time, well that's what most want from him and when he is in a slump like he is now it takes a lot to get out of it. There is no doubt that it can all change but right now Ashwin and the Indian team do have him covered. It will be interesting to see how Smith goes in his home test match in Sydney as that's where he could break out of this form slump he is in.

[Sithara007]

I think there needs to be made a balance in the team obviously dropping Pujara and Rahane to fit in KL Rahul in the side is a bit foolishness. But keeping a player in the squad for no reason doesn't makes sense. Moreover KL Rahul isn't the only example there are many other players Karun Nair is also such an example. It's just too much competition in the team to choose the best among best. Even Hanuma Vihari has similar statistics to that of Rahul. I think it's just that everyone has their own favourites including us and the selectors.

Pujara and Rahane are players who are more suited for the test format, while KL Rahul is more suited for shorter formats such as T20Is and ODIs. But I agree that there is a lot of competition for every slot in the national team. The player pool is huge and there is no dearth of talented players. And this means that despite having a lot of talent, if you don't enjoy the patronship of Kohili/Shastri, you may not feature in the team.

[JSRAW]

Pakistan lost the game but they fought well there, at least for draw if not for win. 2 previous visitors India and Windies lost badly there. I hope now PCB and misbah (PCB especially) give some respect to Fawad Alam. He's debuted in 2009 and played only 6 tests so far (2 100s).... you can imagine the drama here.

They lost the match my a considerable margin (101 runs), and just one more test match remains in this series for them. They lost the T20 series 2-1, and now they have lost the first test match. Individual brilliance was shown by a few players, but they need to win the matches to regain their lost glory. Fawad Alam is 35 years old, and I am not sure how much international career is left for him.

I was implying that PCB ruined his career with the petty politics and completely ignored him for 1 decade but he's still fighting despite his age.

I think there needs to be made a balance in the team obviously dropping Pujara and Rahane to fit in KL Rahul in the side is a bit foolishness. But keeping a player in the squad for no reason doesn't makes sense. Moreover KL Rahul isn't the only example there are many other players Karun Nair is also such an example. It's just too much competition in the team to choose the best among best. Even Hanuma Vihari has similar statistics to that of Rahul. I think it's just that everyone has their own favourites including us and the selectors.

I am not against favoritism overall if players performing every now n then but if any player failing on regular basis then its a red flag. You are giving long rope to some players and keeping some out because they failed couple of times. (Karun,Ashwin,Hanuma, Bhuvi etc)

Rahul already got countless chances at the top order at-least 13ish tests (26 innings) continuously despite failing in majority of games, his only 100 came when team didn't have anything to lose. If in next game KL Rahul gets another chance at the top order then its possible that Rohit might replace Hanuma Vihari at the middle order because he's considered a blue eyed boy. Its also possible that this could click in favor of team but not fair in long run when selecting team. I know Hanuma Vihari didn't have big numbers to show but he always batted according to team requirement. He was asked to open in tough condition when every opener failed to perform and even batted down the order when team needed, so far he proved himself worthy at the number 6 in his 10ish test career. 

I agree we have fair amount of players contesting for top order, (Mayank-Shaw are out of form) Rahul failed so far and Rohit is yet to tested in SENA countries, that's why i want to see Rohit at top order in the next test and prove himself if he's capable to bat against new ball or not. He did exceptionally well in sub-continent but he's not alone and list is freaking long for Indian batsmen.