Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[SATWAT]

After such a horrible start, Australia managed to reach 166/2. I wasn't impressed with his performance during the warmup matches, but today he handled the Indian bowlers really well (aided by some poor fielding from the other side). Now it is up to the top Australian partnership of Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Tomorrow we will get an idea about which way this match is going to swing.

If Indian batting able to handle situation then most chances we are going with Draw option otherwise after watching today fielding its going to be for Australia because if you are dropping catches then you have nothing to do just wait for some big burden of runs and feel pressure like Pakistan done few days back.

[mersal]

After such a horrible start, Australia managed to reach 166/2. I wasn't impressed with his performance during the warmup matches, but today he handled the Indian bowlers really well (aided by some poor fielding from the other side). Now it is up to the top Australian partnership of Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Tomorrow we will get an idea about which way this match is going to swing.

If Indian batting able to handle situation then most chances we are going with Draw option otherwise after watching today fielding its going to be for Australia because if you are dropping catches then you have nothing to do just wait for some big burden of runs and feel pressure like Pakistan done few days back.

AUS is going to post a huge total I guess, if the rain didn't stop the play then probably they might be unbeaten at 300+. Two new test bowlers managed to get each wicket still the line up looks weak against such a huge record team on a particular venue.

[JSRAW]

AUS is going to post a huge total I guess, if the rain didn't stop the play then probably they might be unbeaten at 300+. Two new test bowlers managed to get each wicket still the line up looks weak against such a huge record team on a particular venue.

It needs to be seen how much they will manage, because most of their batsmen (including Steve Smith) seems to be out of form. Will Pucovski batted sensibly today, along with Marnus Labuschagne. But the Australian fortunes will depend a lot on the ongoing partnership between Smith and Labuschagne. Other lower order batsmen such as Paine and Wade are also not in good form, so I am not expecting much from them.

It should be close to 400, batting is going to be more comfortable from day 2 and Aussie already going at 3+ run rate. So close to 400 shouldn't be big task even if they bat only 2 sessions.

India would be very happy if they restrict them under 350 as average total in Sydney is close to 400ish runs. (Edit: in recent years)

[bryant.coleman]

It should be close to 400, batting is going to be more comfortable from day 2 and Aussie already going at 3+ run rate. So close to 400 shouldn't be big task even if they bat only 2 sessions.

India would be very happy if they restrict them under 350 as average total in Sydney is close to 400ish runs. (Edit: in recent years)

Anything above 300 is going to put Indian in a difficult situation. It is not that hard anyway. Steve Smith is not in good form and only Marnus Labuschagne has scored runs on a consistent basis. If India manages to get one or two quick wickets at the start of play tomorrow, then they may be able to restrict Australia to 290-300. Momentum is with India after the second test and they needs to make sure that it stays that way.

[JSRAW]

It should be close to 400, batting is going to be more comfortable from day 2 and Aussie already going at 3+ run rate. So close to 400 shouldn't be big task even if they bat only 2 sessions.

India would be very happy if they restrict them under 350 as average total in Sydney is close to 400ish runs. (Edit: in recent years)

Anything above 300 is going to put Indian in a difficult situation. It is not that hard anyway. Steve Smith is not in good form and only Marnus Labuschagne has scored runs on a consistent basis. If India manages to get one or two quick wickets at the start of play tomorrow, then they may be able to restrict Australia to 290-300. Momentum is with India after the second test and they needs to make sure that it stays that way.

Bhai I think you didn't get to watch the game live, pitch is almost flat. Batsmen were middling every ball except 5-6 balls in whole day and the way Marnus and Smith are batting, it wouldn't be surprise if one of them reach the 3 fiqure.

[onrise]

It should be close to 400, batting is going to be more comfortable from day 2 and Aussie already going at 3+ run rate. So close to 400 shouldn't be big task even if they bat only 2 sessions.

India would be very happy if they restrict them under 350 as average total in Sydney is close to 400ish runs. (Edit: in recent years)

Anything above 300 is going to put Indian in a difficult situation. It is not that hard anyway. Steve Smith is not in good form and only Marnus Labuschagne has scored runs on a consistent basis. If India manages to get one or two quick wickets at the start of play tomorrow, then they may be able to restrict Australia to 290-300. Momentum is with India after the second test and they needs to make sure that it stays that way.

Bhai I think you didn't get to watch the game live, pitch is almost flat. Batsmen were middling every ball except 5-6 balls in whole day and the way Marnus and Smith are batting, it wouldn't be surprise if one of them reach the 3 fiqure.

Could not got to see the game today, well under such situation OZ are heading towards a big score and India may only feel good about today is that they got Warner very early atleast else he would also have been in those 3 figure mark. If in next couple of days also we do expect the Rain then some overs will be out of the play. If OZ tomorrow do not get all out then India may have a difficult time unless they could manage to bat well and build good partnership like OZ team.

[Iranus]

@Indymoney mate, I totally agree with you. Many thought that since the new Prime Minister of Pakistan was a former cricketer, he might take appropriate steps for the development of cricket. We don't know if he has taken any action. But so far I have not seen any improvement in Pakistan's game. On the contrary, they are declining day by day. At the moment all forms of corruption must be stopped from the board of Pakistan. Then it is hoped that in the next few years the Pakistan team will regain its reputation.

You are blaming the decline of Pakistani cricket on the administration. IMO, it is not that easy. Management is not the only reason why the performance is going down. I had already pointed out other factors in my previous posts. The poor quality of domestic cricket and lack of proper cricketing infrastructure are some of the reasons. The Pakistani first class cricket still remains in a very bad state. Unless the quality of domestic cricket is improved, I don't expect any miracles in the long term.

I agree with you. Pakistan's domestic cricket is not that much developed. But still, Pakistan has enough talented players. It is the responsibility of the cricket board to guide them properly. If these talents are lost, they will not be able to return to the truck in the next few years. They need to take the necessary steps so that the talents they have will not be lost. Then they have to improve their domestic cricket.

[Haunebu]

Didn't watch the India-Australia test live and decided to check the news and the first thing that almost all news outlets displayed was Pant and his dropped catches. Pant must feel embarrassed on so many levels.

Feel really sad for him. Looks like he is the new meme-boy after Shaw. The game is in Australia's hands currently, but I feel this match might end in a draw due to rain interference.

[teosanru]

It should be close to 400, batting is going to be more comfortable from day 2 and Aussie already going at 3+ run rate. So close to 400 shouldn't be big task even if they bat only 2 sessions.

India would be very happy if they restrict them under 350 as average total in Sydney is close to 400ish runs. (Edit: in recent years)

Anything above 300 is going to put Indian in a difficult situation. It is not that hard anyway. Steve Smith is not in good form and only Marnus Labuschagne has scored runs on a consistent basis. If India manages to get one or two quick wickets at the start of play tomorrow, then they may be able to restrict Australia to 290-300. Momentum is with India after the second test and they needs to make sure that it stays that way.

Bhai I think you didn't get to watch the game live, pitch is almost flat. Batsmen were middling every ball except 5-6 balls in whole day and the way Marnus and Smith are batting, it wouldn't be surprise if one of them reach the 3 fiqure.

Yes, I saw the highlights this pitch is so much different from what we saw in the previous two matches. Batting was a real battle in the previous two matches in this game it looks like a cakewalk but I think I expected something from Warner as he was returning back to the team but nevertheless Smith has settled down a bit in this match along with Labuschagne I think if Rain permits this could be a really irritating match for bowlers. I am feeling bad for Navdeep Saini who had to play his Debut on such a flat pitch.

The game is in Australia's hands currently, but I feel this match might end in a draw due to rain interference.

I think so. The match may end in a draw due to rain. If the Indian team sees that they cannot win the match, then they will do their best to draw the match. I think the rain will help India. The Australian team is in a good position now.

Yes looks pretty much an obvious result but if there is a draw then the next match would be quite interesting as both the teams will try to give their best to win the match. If India doesn't bat at least 30-40 overs tomorrow with 100 runs on Board chances are it will be a draw.

[Indymoney]

I agree with you. Pakistan's domestic cricket is not that much developed. But still, Pakistan has enough talented players. It is the responsibility of the cricket board to guide them properly. If these talents are lost, they will not be able to return to the truck in the next few years. They need to take the necessary steps so that the talents they have will not be lost. Then they have to improve their domestic cricket.

To tell the truth, the domestic cricket is in a bad state in all the countries in South Asia. In terms of quality, the domestic tournaments such as Ranji Trophy and the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is far behind county cricket of England or Sheffield Shield of Australia. I would even say that the Plunket Shield of New Zealand and Sunfoil series of South Africa is more competitive than these Asian tournaments.

Your statement is 100% right because in Sub-Continent they never develop any good set up for domestic level and its hurting very badly for decades but still boards are not serious about this all because they have only profit taking projects if they want to improve cricket then surely its some time taking thing but can change things very positively for them in long run just try to catch all domestic set up and bring on same level with some funds its just for few years then they can take good profit from this as well.

[ene1980]

Bhai I think you didn't get to watch the game live, pitch is almost flat. Batsmen were middling every ball except 5-6 balls in whole day and the way Marnus and Smith are batting, it wouldn't be surprise if one of them reach the 3 fiqure.

I hope Marnus Labuschagne could go on to score a century as he got starts in the series but was not able to capitalize and convert them into big innings and Steven Smith failed miserably in the first two matches and hopefully this will be a comeback performance as well and the occasional drop catches from the Indian fielders will help them as well .

[SaShiRaJaVu]

the occasional drop catches from the Indian fielders will help them as well .

You do not need to worry about dropped catches, Rishabh Pant is there behind the stumps and yesterday he dropped two and more to come in the match and i consider him as the worst wicket keeper India ever produced, there is no point in keeping him in the team if he is going to drop catches and that too in a crucial position and they need to replace with a specialist who really know to collect the ball rather than a batsman who drops catches every match.
I saw a stat that he dropped 9 catches in 20 catches that came his way in Test matches and he should be crowned as the worst keeper in history along with Kamran Akmal .

[vella85]

Will Pucovski started test match career started off in the right direction scoring a half century on debut. He was looking good to go on and score a century but it wasn't to be. India really need to break up this partnership of Labuschagne and Smith if they want to restrict Australia to under 400 runs but if they can't then we could see a big total for Australia of 450+. This is Smith's home test match which is what I mentioned a few posts back and he always seems to play well at the SCG and that he could return to form which he is looking likely at the moment.

I must say that if the reports are true about the Indian team not wanting to quarantine in Brisbane after this match and risk the match being call off I think is wrong by the team. That is the rules in Queensland and at the end of the day the Indian team shouldn't act this way because there is a pandemic right now and they should follow the rules. I just don't understand why they would think this way anyway if the reports are true.    
 

[7788bitcoin]

Rain is playing a factor in this match, when Australia looked like they had a momentum in the match because of the top order performance, rain is pouring in to delay the proceedings and i wont be surprised if the match ends up in a draw as India have a good batting line up considering the pitch is not helping the bowlers.

Edit: The match started again. 

[JSRAW]

Glad that ball went to Rahane and not Pant  

I must say that if the reports are true about the Indian team not wanting to quarantine in Brisbane after this match and risk the match being call off I think is wrong by the team. That is the rules in Queensland and at the end of the day the Indian team shouldn't act this way because there is a pandemic right now and they should follow the rules. I just don't understand why they would think this way anyway if the reports are true.    
 

This series is going too friendly so need some tension at least for the last game, some of Aussie media do behaving like tabloid though and Indian media is already a tabloid  . Good thing is BCCI and CA acting responsibly and discussing matters.

IMO if Brisbane facilitating crowds at the ground then its kinda weird that players are kept in tight quarantine. As far as i know new restrictions came in middle of the tour may be 1st or 2nd test?  So it makes sense that Indian players creating a fuss, as far as they are concerned they already finished the quarantine once and going again in the quarantine for the last stage seems too much to ask, bit of relaxation shouldn't hurt at least let'em hang out and eat together.  

-----
Edit

Wow Jadeja gets the another, first Marnus now Wade..

[Yudhisthir]

Impressive and disciplined bowling by the Indian bowlers and Australian batsmen playing real test.
Rain and slow scoring game, it's moving towards a draw for Australia vs India as Australia would pull it's 1st inning all the way to the end of 2nd day. The only way there would be a result is to bowl out India early which is very unlikely considering the team and the pitch. It could move into the last test to decide the winner here.

[mersal]

Wow Jadeja gets the another, first Marnus now Wade..

Jadeja is getting more impressive these days, he strikes two good batsmen, and the one who is middling the balls right from the start now only the wicket of Smith will be the target by Indians. As of now Bumrah and Siraj attacking the batsmen with aggressive fielding like slips and gully hope they will find another one and will restrict the OZ with something under 320 then IND will be much happy.

[Sithara007]

Australia once again threw away a very good chance of getting to a big score. From 206/2, they have now collapsed to 268/6. Their middle order has failed once again. Wade/Green/Paine made a total of 14 runs between them. Cameron Green was very impressive during the warmup matches, but I don't know what happened to him after that. He has performed poorly, both in the batting and bowling departments.

[mersal]

Australia once again threw away a very good chance of getting to a big score. From 206/2, they have now collapsed to 268/6. Their middle order has failed once again. Wade/Green/Paine made a total of 14 runs between them. Cameron Green was very impressive during the warmup matches, but I don't know what happened to him after that. He has performed poorly, both in the batting and bowling departments.

After a long partnership it is very common to lose wickets in quick session so we can't blame much and the credit goes to Jadeja who took wickets early and put OZ under pressure which was later shattered by pace attack. As I predicted OZ reached 320+ and only one wicket remaining in OZ but the bad thing is Smith is still holding his bat in the middle.

[JSRAW]

Excellent inning from Smudge, Champion batsman finally found his hand again . Good comeback from Indian bowlers, they did excellent job wrapping Aussie inning under 350. Its below par score in Sydney when batting first, average score of batting first is close to 450 runs so job well done. How good was Jadeja today with the ball and field, Smith run out was amazing.

Now its all up to batmen.