Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[teosanru]

~snip`

Yes exactly by morale I meant that atleast the people who perform recently should get a seat in the squad obviously you can't keep the big guns out but yes even my side is pretty similar just like you mentioned. But you said na Saha will cement his place that's why I was curious that how would Saha fit in? I just think that you might not see 3 spinners in the very first match. But let's see Subcontinent has always been about spin when it comes to test matches spinners bowl like 30 overs continuosly in a spell.

I still think that Saha is strong contender if 3 spinners are playing and might get in the playing XI. We are struggling to figuring out the final XI. Just imagine what selectors are going through. Tbh its freaking nightmare for them after historic win in Australia.

Haha true indeed. I think this is the problem with a good bench strength. When you get back the experienced lads you are now confused who to choose. Bowlers like Natrajan might not get to bowl in test matches until atleast 6 fast bowlers become unfit. I think India can easily play two tours simultaneously.

I still think that Saha is strong contender if 3 spinners are playing and might get in the playing XI. We are struggling to figuring out the final XI. Just imagine what selectors are going through. Tbh its freaking nightmare for them after historic win in Australia.

Rishab Pant's keeping is not that bad but his batting skills are surely better than Saha. Moreover, his past form do make him a strong contender for starting XI

Exactly i feel pretty much the same thing these days. Mu point of view of Rishab Pant has entirely changed after the Australian tour.

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[Indymoney]

Pakistan did a tremendous job today, they were struggling at 33 for 4 and they pulled up 88 runs lead and still got 2 wickets in the banks. Fawad alam proved once again that why he's class batsman even at home turf, after all he had 10+ years experience behind him.

Fawad Alam rescued the Pakistan team with a century, there are many reports coming out about how his career is destroyed by the Pakistani selectors as he scored a century in his debut and now he is in the team after 10 years and he is performing consistently in the domestic circuit and yet he was not selected in the team until recently. Pakistan does lack the batting talents and he should be in the team and hopefully they scout for young talents and groom them.

Unpredictables and Chokers doing really hard work for each other but after today play I am feeling unpredictables done some better job just because of Fawad, Rizwan and Faheem these guys bring back in this match very smartly but still some long way to go because batting in last inning is never been easy if these 2 last wickets give nearly 30 to 40 runs then surely its could be great advantage for Pakistan but still they have to bowl very good in second South African inning.

[bryant.coleman]

Rishab Pant's keeping is not that bad but his batting skills are surely better than Saha. Moreover, his past form do make him a strong contender for starting XI

Saha is 36 years old and he has only 1-2 years of international career left. That also should be considered while the slot of wicket keeper is decided. Very few of the teams go with a specialist keeper nowadays. The preference is for a keeper, who can bat as good as the others in the top/middle order. Pant is a good batsman, but he has made costly mistakes when he kept wickets. But my take is that his keeping skills will get better with experience.

[SaShiRaJaVu]

~
This bloke averages 200ish at the home ground, although data is not big and he scored his tons against weaker opponents (SL, Ban). Still one can expect fine inning from the Babar so i thought why not haha anyway i already lost a bet lol will try again, hope he score at least 1 ton in this series.

Babar Azam will show his class in the series and i am impressed with the way the Pakistan tail end players played building a 55 runs partnership in the last wicket, not sure whether the pitch has turned to a batting track as South Africa started well and the Pakistan tail was able to put runs on the board.
South Africa still trail by 94 runs and the match depends upon how Pakistan is able to restrict them.

[JSRAW]

~
This bloke averages 200ish at the home ground, although data is not big and he scored his tons against weaker opponents (SL, Ban). Still one can expect fine inning from the Babar so i thought why not haha anyway i already lost a bet lol will try again, hope he score at least 1 ton in this series.

Babar Azam will show his class in the series and i am impressed with the way the Pakistan tail end players played building a 55 runs partnership in the last wicket, not sure whether the pitch has turned to a batting track as South Africa started well and the Pakistan tail was able to put runs on the board.
South Africa still trail by 94 runs and the match depends upon how Pakistan is able to restrict them.

If tail is wagging then its nightmare for every bowling team.

But we shouldn't forget that No 11 Yasir Shah has a century in the red ball cricket so he knows thing or two about batting, he was pushed down because Shaheen came out to bat as night watchman yesterday it didn't work for Pak but Yasir Shah did click.

Proteas batting good as well, guess pitch would play more trick in next 2 days.

SA : 164/1 Lead is 6 runs

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Edit
Pakistan fighting back.. 3 quick wickets 185/4

[ene1980]

South Africa is playing carefully but they just lost a couple of quick wickets. They are not having any substantial lead either and they have just lost another wicket which is pathetic, i was expecting a good fight back but it looks like they are tired of batting any longer  .

Finally Pakistan might win the match after some disappointing series, with the inconsistencies you can only confirm once the match is over .

[pakhitheboss]

South Africa is playing carefully but they just lost a couple of quick wickets. They are not having any substantial lead either and they have just lost another wicket which is pathetic, i was expecting a good fight back but it looks like they are tired of batting any longer  .

Finally Pakistan might win the match after some disappointing series, with the inconsistencies you can only confirm once the match is over .

Yeah the chance of Pakistan winning this match is vey high. I think for a change they are not inconsistent. South Africa on the other hand have been struggling a lot. The have already lost 4 wicket and they might lose a few more if they play like this.

[onecall123]

South Africa is playing carefully but they just lost a couple of quick wickets. They are not having any substantial lead either and they have just lost another wicket which is pathetic, i was expecting a good fight back but it looks like they are tired of batting any longer  .

Finally Pakistan might win the match after some disappointing series, with the inconsistencies you can only confirm once the match is over .

Yeah the chance of Pakistan winning this match is vey high. I think for a change they are not inconsistent. South Africa on the other hand have been struggling a lot. The have already lost 4 wicket and they might lose a few more if they play like this.

But, South Africa got decent start. Some losses put you in week zone so South Africa lose their strong position. South Africa needs to came back in game with big partnership. Let's see how they bats tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning will extremely crucial for both teams.

[Indymoney]

South Africa is playing carefully but they just lost a couple of quick wickets. They are not having any substantial lead either and they have just lost another wicket which is pathetic, i was expecting a good fight back but it looks like they are tired of batting any longer  .

Finally Pakistan might win the match after some disappointing series, with the inconsistencies you can only confirm once the match is over .

Yeah the chance of Pakistan winning this match is vey high. I think for a change they are not inconsistent. South Africa on the other hand have been struggling a lot. The have already lost 4 wicket and they might lose a few more if they play like this.

But, South Africa got decent start. Some losses put you in week zone so South Africa lose their strong position. South Africa needs to came back in game with big partnership. Let's see how they bats tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning will extremely crucial for both teams.

Second inning start was very good from Van Dussen and Markram both bring back South Africa in good position but last hour change things again in Pakistan favor just 29 runs lead and 4 top order batsmen back in pavolion is not good for South Africa now if De kock Maharaj and Bavouma able to stay on crease for some time and they crossed 325+ mark then we can feel some interest in this match otherwise its going to be one sided affair with visitors unable to handle spinners here in sub continent.

[onrise]

South Africa is playing carefully but they just lost a couple of quick wickets. They are not having any substantial lead either and they have just lost another wicket which is pathetic, i was expecting a good fight back but it looks like they are tired of batting any longer  .

Finally Pakistan might win the match after some disappointing series, with the inconsistencies you can only confirm once the match is over .

Yeah the chance of Pakistan winning this match is vey high. I think for a change they are not inconsistent. South Africa on the other hand have been struggling a lot. The have already lost 4 wicket and they might lose a few more if they play like this.

But, South Africa got decent start. Some losses put you in week zone so South Africa lose their strong position. South Africa needs to came back in game with big partnership. Let's see how they bats tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning will extremely crucial for both teams.

SA started off well and are now 187/4. At one point they lost their second wicket on 175 but quick couple of wickets later put them 4 down. SA leading by 29 runs and require minimum 250 runs lead and play off tomorrow first session as well. Because winning for SA chances at this point is unlikely and playing for draw seems to be the case. On other hand if Pakistan must chase something like 200 as well in 50 overs tomorrow, they have chance of winning the test match.

[teosanru]

South Africa is playing carefully but they just lost a couple of quick wickets. They are not having any substantial lead either and they have just lost another wicket which is pathetic, i was expecting a good fight back but it looks like they are tired of batting any longer  .

Finally Pakistan might win the match after some disappointing series, with the inconsistencies you can only confirm once the match is over .

Yeah the chance of Pakistan winning this match is vey high. I think for a change they are not inconsistent. South Africa on the other hand have been struggling a lot. The have already lost 4 wicket and they might lose a few more if they play like this.

But, South Africa got decent start. Some losses put you in week zone so South Africa lose their strong position. South Africa needs to came back in game with big partnership. Let's see how they bats tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning will extremely crucial for both teams.

SA started off well and are now 187/4. At one point they lost their second wicket on 175 but quick couple of wickets later put them 4 down. SA leading by 29 runs and require minimum 250 runs lead and play off tomorrow first session as well. Because winning for SA chances at this point is unlikely and playing for draw seems to be the case. On other hand if Pakistan must chase something like 200 as well in 50 overs tomorrow, they have chance of winning the test match.

The problem for SA is spin once again. The batting seemed pretty easy for SA until there were pacers with the new ball. But once Yasir Shah and Naumann Ali have started bowling this is becoming a pretty difficult encounter for South African batsmen now. Only hope left for them is the captain Q'de Kock. I am pretty disappointed with Faf so far in this series his failure to perform really has lead to some great batting troubles for South Africa now. I think it's almost a 80% lost match for South Africa until the Keshav Maharaj and the skipper can put a big partnership. Even 250 doesn't look like a great target to me if Pakistan is left with 4 sessions.

[Sithara007]

South Africa is having a lead of 29 runs with 6 wickets in hand. The last recognized batting pair is at crease (I would not call quota product Temba Bavuma as a proper batsman, since his test batting record is pathetic). But then, Pakistan is always known for losing matches they could have won otherwise. I just hope that they will be able to bowl out South Africa quickly and chase the target without losing too many wickets today.

[JSRAW]

South Africa is having a lead of 29 runs with 6 wickets in hand. The last recognized batting pair is at crease (I would not call quota product Temba Bavuma as a proper batsman, since his test batting record is pathetic). But then, Pakistan is always known for losing matches they could have won otherwise. I just hope that they will be able to bowl out South Africa quickly and chase the target without losing too many wickets today.

Keshav Maharaj is night watchman, hardly a batsman and occupying the crease. I would be surprise if he hang out much longer as new ball is just 5 overs away. Temba Bavuma is not impressive overall but if he and De-cock manage to form a partnership then they might have some chance, otherwise its Pakistan game.
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Edit

And first ball of the day, Maharaj is gone...

[bryant.coleman]

Keshav Maharaj is night watchman, hardly a batsman and occupying the crease. I would be surprise if he hang out much longer as new ball is just 5 overs away. Temba Bavuma is not impressive overall but if he and De-cock manage to form a partnership then they might have some chance, otherwise its Pakistan game.
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Edit

And first ball of the day, Maharaj is gone...

Quinton de Kock is gone as well. With 4 wickets remaining, South Africa is having a lead of 50 runs. They need another 100 runs at least, in order to have the slightest chance of winning this match. The remaining batsmen (Rabada/Nortje/Ngidi) are all genuine tailenders. But then again, it is Pakistan on the other side and therefore nothing is guaranteed yet.

There was a time when the South African team had plenty of pace-bowling all rounders (Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener.etc).. but those days are long gone. They badly need such players.

[JSRAW]

~snip~
And first ball of the day, Maharaj is gone...

Quinton de Kock is gone as well. With 4 wickets remaining, South Africa is having a lead of 50 runs. They need another 100 runs at least, in order to have the slightest chance of winning this match. The remaining batsmen (Rabada/Nortje/Ngidi) are all genuine tailenders. But then again, it is Pakistan on the other side and therefore nothing is guaranteed yet.

There was a time when the South African team had plenty of pace-bowling all rounders (Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener.etc).. but those days are long gone. They badly need such players.

Not gonna happen anytime soon. They are committed to strengthen quota policy, not even on player level but selection committee, coaching staff etc. One of the reason likes of Jacques Kallis coaching England team.

@Sithara007 Your quota boy adding some valuable runs for proteas. 

[Iranus]

After a terribly poor performance against New Zealand, it looks like Pakistan will win against South Africa. South Africa is leading by 76 runs, but they have lost 6 wickets. They don't seem to be able to give more than 150 targets. Pakistan should win this match easily

[aysg76]

After a terribly poor performance against New Zealand, it looks like Pakistan will win against South Africa. South Africa is leading by 76 runs, but they have lost 6 wickets. They don't seem to be able to give more than 150 targets. Pakistan should win this match easily

Yes, it seems like Pakistan will win but it's cricket, you can't predict until you have fixed something.

[7788bitcoin]

After a terribly poor performance against New Zealand, it looks like Pakistan will win against South Africa. South Africa is leading by 76 runs, but they have lost 6 wickets. They don't seem to be able to give more than 150 targets. Pakistan should win this match easily

New Zealand is a really difficult team to beat in their home turf and the issue is that Pakistan never showed any signs of fight back while India with a depleted team was able to defeat Australia. Pakistan is playing in their turf and they should win the match as Pakistan just need 88 runs to win the match. The spinners bowled really well in this match and hopefully Pakistan will cross the finishing line without loosing much wickets.

[onecall123]

-snip-
Yes, it seems like Pakistan will win but it's cricket, you can't predict until you have fixed something.

Pakistan need another 66 more runs to win and until now go forward without losing any single wickets, I guess there will be no drama. Easily go 1-0 up in the series, however disappointed with De cock performance.

[onrise]

-snip-
Yes, it seems like Pakistan will win but it's cricket, you can't predict until you have fixed something.

Pakistan need another 66 more runs to win and until now go forward without losing any single wickets, I guess there will be no drama. Easily go 1-0 up in the series, however disappointed with De cock performance.

Pakistan defeated South Africa by 7 wickets. I never imagined that Pakistan would be able to beat a team like South Africa in a Test match. Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam played very well. If they can maintain such a great performance, Pakistan will be able to get good results in the upcoming matches as well.

What an amazing day of cricket we had today and Pakistan picked up today 6 wickets for SA for just 58 runs. SA never got chance today to settle down as Pakistan came today with thought of winning the match itself and that showed on the pitch. Nauman and Yasir bowled magnificently and picked 5 and 4 wickets respectively. With just 88 runs to win Pakistan dint start well and had 2 wickets down for 23. But later on Azhar and Babar innings helped them to make this finally an easy win with 7 wickets remaining.