Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Sithara007]

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.

338 is not a bad total, but at one point it looked as if Australia would struggle to cross the 300 mark. They made it, thanks to Steve Smith. For India, both Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj failed to impress. I think Siraj should concentrate on his game rather than on the theatrics. Bumrah and Saini did well, but it was Jadeja who kept Australia to a sub-350 total.

[pakhitheboss]

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.

338 is not a bad total, but at one point it looked as if Australia would struggle to cross the 300 mark. They made it, thanks to Steve Smith. For India, both Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj failed to impress. I think Siraj should concentrate on his game rather than on the theatrics. Bumrah and Saini did well, but it was Jadeja who kept Australia to a sub-350 total.

338 is still a good target! Yes, Indian bowlers were able to restrict Australia from reaching 350 thanks to Jadeja but a couple of few wickets in the early over and India will be struggling to reach that target. I am keen to see how the opening pair performs in this test, especially Rohit Sharma.

[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.

338 is not a bad total, but at one point it looked as if Australia would struggle to cross the 300 mark. They made it, thanks to Steve Smith. For India, both Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Siraj failed to impress. I think Siraj should concentrate on his game rather than on the theatrics. Bumrah and Saini did well, but it was Jadeja who kept Australia to a sub-350 total.

Not bad but still below par score at this pitch. I think Siraj bowled well, he kept things tight and didn't gave much options to score. Sir Jadeja is beauty indeed.

Anyway good start for India with the bat. I have a feeling that India going to get good lead after finishing their first inning. 

[bryant.coleman]

It is difficult to tell who is having the advantage right now. India has lost two quick wicket, and now it is up to the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to build the innings. Hanuma Vihari is at no.5, but after that the batting strength gets weaker. Rishabh Pant is not in good form, and Jadeja is at no.7. Whoever gets the first innings lead will be having an advantage in this match.

[mersal]

It is difficult to tell who is having the advantage right now. India has lost two quick wicket, and now it is up to the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to build the innings. Hanuma Vihari is at no.5, but after that the batting strength gets weaker. Rishabh Pant is not in good form, and Jadeja is at no.7. Whoever gets the first innings lead will be having an advantage in this match.

It was pretty good start actually but given 2 quick wickets when few overs left before the stumps, now India need to build a partnership to get some lead in this innings. Only one over left in today's game as now India is at 96/2 and Pujara again showing that why he is an important test batsman for India. Kept middling every balls while defending it and scored his first runs after 33 balls.

[AjithBtc]

It is difficult to tell who is having the advantage right now. India has lost two quick wicket, and now it is up to the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to build the innings. Hanuma Vihari is at no.5, but after that the batting strength gets weaker. Rishabh Pant is not in good form, and Jadeja is at no.7. Whoever gets the first innings lead will be having an advantage in this match.

Before the two quick wickets, the openers had made a good start scoring good. The two consecutive wickets have fallen at 70 and 85 runs. As in the quote, Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara are the wall of Indian cricket team same as Rahul Dravid who takes forward at hard situations.

[Haunebu]

It is difficult to tell who is having the advantage right now. India has lost two quick wicket, and now it is up to the experienced duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to build the innings. Hanuma Vihari is at no.5, but after that the batting strength gets weaker. Rishabh Pant is not in good form, and Jadeja is at no.7. Whoever gets the first innings lead will be having an advantage in this match.

None of them have the advantage in my opinion. As expected, this match will probably end in a draw thanks to rain interference unless wickets tumble like crazy from either side which I don't think will happen thanks to the batting friendly pitch currently.

If Pant held on to those catches, Australia would have posted a target below 300 thanks to early pressure most probably.

[ene1980]

I was expecting Australia to score above 350 runs with the way Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith was batting but one wicket just exposed the entire batting lineup as they lost the next 7 wickets and added 132 runs. Just three players scored above 50 runs shows their pathetic form and India had a good start but Australia was able to pick two wickets, tomorrow morning will determine how the match will go.

[Iranus]

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.

If we talk about the domestic cricket of the countries of this subcontinent, I think nowadays Bangladesh is focusing more on organizing domestic cricket. Several of their domestic leagues are being held. Although there are many domestic leagues in India, BCCI seems to be losing interest in organizing domestic leagues. They are more interested in organizing IPL. They are focusing more on the money. On the other hand, Pakistan's cricket board haven't any interest to organize any domestic league.

[SATWAT]

I was expecting Australia to score above 350 runs with the way Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith was batting but one wicket just exposed the entire batting lineup as they lost the next 7 wickets and added 132 runs. Just three players scored above 50 runs shows their pathetic form and India had a good start but Australia was able to pick two wickets, tomorrow morning will determine how the match will go.

Today Indian bowlers was more then good because most of peoples was prediction 400+ but restricting Australia under 350 is great job specially by Jadeja now its all on batting how they response because if they able to do some good target then surely they can bring Australia under pressure which could be great for them in this series because without Kohli no one was expecting things like this but now they are doing great without Kohli mean chota packet bara damaka.

[onrise]

I was expecting Australia to score above 350 runs with the way Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith was batting but one wicket just exposed the entire batting lineup as they lost the next 7 wickets and added 132 runs. Just three players scored above 50 runs shows their pathetic form and India had a good start but Australia was able to pick two wickets, tomorrow morning will determine how the match will go.

What an amazing comeback by team India. Looking at yesterday's end of day thought today whole day OZ will bat and end up making a huge score and might declare the innings. But blowers came back strongly and picked up quick wickets in middle order and this did not allow them to score big runs. India started off well and the day would have been better if India might just had lost 1 wicket instead of losing 2nd wicket early. Tomorrow challenge for India would be to bat safely and play whole entire day if possible and do not fall like pack of cards with this good start they manage to got it.

[Clement Kaliyar]

Before the two quick wickets, the openers had made a good start scoring good. The two consecutive wickets have fallen at 70 and 85 runs. As in the quote, Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara are the wall of Indian cricket team same as Rahul Dravid who takes forward at hard situations.

If India needs to win the match or to have an advantage in the match Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane needs to play a longer innings and they are the most accomplished players in the Indian team. The openers started well but they were not able to capitalize the start they got and lost their wickets. The pitch looks like helping the batsman but i was surprised when Australia lost quick wickets and the star of the day was Ravindra Jadeja.

[7788bitcoin]

If India needs to win the match or to have an advantage in the match Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane needs to play a longer innings and they are the most accomplished players in the Indian team. The openers started well but they were not able to capitalize the start they got and lost their wickets. The pitch looks like helping the batsman but i was surprised when Australia lost quick wickets and the star of the day was Ravindra Jadeja.

For India to have an upper hand in the match Pujara and Rahane needs to perform but the problem is that Cheteshwar Pujara is under immense pressure to perform as he was not in good touch and if he can overcome that then it will help the team. Wish there is no more rain interruption if not we might not even see a result in this match.

[Indymoney]

Before the two quick wickets, the openers had made a good start scoring good. The two consecutive wickets have fallen at 70 and 85 runs. As in the quote, Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara are the wall of Indian cricket team same as Rahul Dravid who takes forward at hard situations.

If India needs to win the match or to have an advantage in the match Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane needs to play a longer innings and they are the most accomplished players in the Indian team. The openers started well but they were not able to capitalize the start they got and lost their wickets. The pitch looks like helping the batsman but i was surprised when Australia lost quick wickets and the star of the day was Ravindra Jadeja.

Now they have some good advantage if they able to take some lead this could be great for them because they have to be on crease in fourth inning which is never been good so current inning is going to decide outcome of this match lets watch how they response after very good bowling batting line us is also not bad just need to stay on for long time runs will come without any problem.

[ene1980]

~
 they can bring Australia under pressure which could be great for them in this series because without Kohli no one was expecting things like this but now they are doing great without Kohli

Kohli might be cursing his decision to return to India , If there are a few matches that goes against India's way when Kohli returns then there will be pressure from the selectors to replace him as a captain.

What an amazing comeback by team India. Looking at yesterday's end of day thought today whole day OZ will bat and end up making a huge score and might declare the innings. But blowers came back strongly and picked up quick wickets in middle order and this did not allow them to score big runs.

I saw a few dropped catches from Pant and most probably they took the catches that came and so is the reason they were able to fold the Australian batting line up than expected. Good to see Smith returning to form but the middle order is a big disappointment. Even India does not have a solid middle order but they are scoring runs when needed.

[vella85]

The Australian middle has let the team down once again. I can't remember that last time Australia had such a poor middle order performance in a test series as they have always had a good strong middle order so I think there needs to be changes. It was nice to see Smith return to form but as I said he does play well at his home ground. The match can go either way right now and I would say that its even, if Indian can score runs today and get a lead then I think Australia will be under a lot of pressure especially if India knock over the top order quickly when they get to bowl again so even a lead of say 100+ runs could be enough for India in this match. Hopefully the rain holds off and that we get a result in the match.

[eaLiTy]

The Australian middle has let the team down once again. I can't remember that last time Australia had such a poor middle order performance in a test series as they have always had a good strong middle order so I think there needs to be changes.

When was the last time Australia was struggling to find the perfect openers, just when Hayden and Langer retired, they never had a long pair along with Warner and when the big names like Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey retired they were not able to find a suitable replacement in the middle order and every series they are experimenting with new players and they are still searching for those talents.

[7788bitcoin]

Australia picked the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane and now the Indian middle order will be tested. Pujara is playing a real Test and he faced 93   balls for his 14 runs and he needs to stay in the crease for a much longer period of time if India needs to reduce their deficit as they still trail by 220 runs and if Australia is able to pick a couple of quick wickets then they will have the momentum and can win the match.

[JSRAW]

Australia picked the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane and now the Indian middle order will be tested. Pujara is playing a real Test and he faced 93   balls for his 14 runs and he needs to stay in the crease for a much longer period of time if India needs to reduce their deficit as they still trail by 220 runs and if Australia is able to pick a couple of quick wickets then they will have the momentum and can win the match.

I love to watch him but at batting pitch i always fell asleep when he starts to defend, bat and bat. Although now he's started playing a shots, which is requirement as they are going bit slow.

When was the last time Australia was struggling to find the perfect openers,

Every test cricket nation has a more or less same problem for quite some time.

Edit
Poor Vihari!! Don't know what was he thinking, that i didn't expect. Indian middle order repeating same mistake as Australia and they don't even have enough runs on the board. Now India is in trouble.

Edit

Good session for Australia, they kept thing really tight for Pujara/Rahane/Vihari. Pujara did started ticking the scoreboard now. India would be disappointing  that they didn't cashed out enough after 70 runs opening partnership.

[Sithara007]

There is still no definite advantage to any of the two sides and even now it is difficult to predict who will be able to get the first innings lead. The partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant has added 46 runs till now, and Ravindra Jadeja is yet to bat. But the Australian bowlers look lackluster, especially Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon.