Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Sithara007]

Joe Root is fighting the odds alone Ashwin is bowling so good. Pitch is offering such an uneven bounce than you can even see Ashwin bowling a lot of bouncers. If England could score 130 I will be surprised. But Kuldeep Yadav is once again my biggest question for the day. He hasn't got bowling even today. What could be the possible reason for this?

Not really surprising. Kohli/Shastri don't want him in the test squad, as they prefer another spinner. Also in the first test, Kohli was not happy at the criticism directed against him for picking Nadeem ahead of Kuldeep. Even during the first innings, he got only 6 overs, while Ashwin/Axar got more than 20 overs each. Now this is how the things work in the Indian team and we can't do much about it. Feels bad for Kuldeep, but he needs to make use of whatever opportunity he gets.

[teosanru]

Joe Root is fighting the odds alone Ashwin is bowling so good. Pitch is offering such an uneven bounce than you can even see Ashwin bowling a lot of bouncers. If England could score 130 I will be surprised. But Kuldeep Yadav is once again my biggest question for the day. He hasn't got bowling even today. What could be the possible reason for this?

Not really surprising. Kohli/Shastri don't want him in the test squad, as they prefer another spinner. Also in the first test, Kohli was not happy at the criticism directed against him for picking Nadeem ahead of Kuldeep. Even during the first innings, he got only 6 overs, while Ashwin/Axar got more than 20 overs each. Now this is how the things work in the Indian team and we can't do much about it. Feels bad for Kuldeep, but he needs to make use of whatever opportunity he gets.

I don't really think this happens on field. Selection into the playing XI can involve likings and politics but you can't do politics while choosing bowlers. I am pretty sure that Kohli isn't doing this merely because he doesn't likes Kuldeep. Maybe leg spin is the reason why Kohli isn't in favour of Kuldeep. Both Ashwin and Axar are comfortable in spinning the ball in both directions while Kuldeep primarily shines because of his unorthodox style which batsmen might have understood. Therefore Kohli is Skeptical about him.

By the way here he is starting his spell in 43rd over.

[bryant.coleman]

Kuldeep is known to be equally effective against both right-handed and left-handed batsmen, but with two right handed batsmen at the crease now, off-spinners may not be that effective. I would have expected Kohli to give him more opportunity. Anyway, Indian bowlers are doing really well right now, and therefore I don't want to comment on the controversial topics. These topics come in to picture if they fail to take wickets. That is not the case now.

[JSRAW]

~snip~
But Kuldeep Yadav is once again my biggest question for the day. He hasn't got bowling even today. What could be the possible reason for this?

The way he was introduced to attack after all the resources, its safe to say that Captain doesn't trust him much nowadays.

And the way Kuldeep bowling  he's not posing any threat to batsmen when compared to Ashwin-Axar duo, guess he's in low on confidence. I hope he pick up couple of wickets here.

And Siraj dropped a Root.... Poor Kuldeep
English batsmen only playing sweep... Now kuldeep got the wicket.

ENG: 116/7

[Vishnu.Reang]

The way he was introduced to attack after all the resources, its safe to say that Captain doesn't trust him much nowadays.

And the way Kuldeep bowling  he's not posing any threat to batsmen when compared to Ashwin-Axar duo, guess he's in low on confidence. I hope he pick up couple of wickets here.

And Siraj dropped a Root.... Poor Kuldeep

If he doesn't have the backing of Kohli or Shastri, then his international career is essentially finished. Look at what happened to Karun Nair. He was picked in the test squad despite opposition from Kohli and scored a triple century against England. And no one knows where this guy is now. Another example is Natarajan. Kohli preferred Saini/Siraj over Natarajan, because the former pacers are from RCB. And the same thing happened. Natarajan is out of the squad now and Siraj/Saini are in.

[mersal]

ENG: 116/7

Perfect Revenge from team India, so now the series is going to be 1-1 at end of this match. So the remaining two matches will become more exciting, especially the next scheduled to play on Feb 29 at Ahmedabad. Because that is going to be the decider of another finalist for WTC. Can Ashwin get another 2 wickets please because he scored a century as well as 8 wickets as of now so reaching 10 will be another history for sure.

[bryant.coleman]

ENG: 116/7

Perfect Revenge from team India, so now the series is going to be 1-1 at end of this match. So the remaining two matches will become more exciting, especially the next scheduled to play on Feb 29 at Ahmedabad. Because that is going to be the decider of another finalist for WTC. Can Ashwin get another 2 wickets please because he scored a century as well as 8 wickets as of now so reaching 10 will be another history for sure.

England is going down by around 350 runs. India has made it a habit of winning test series, after losing the initial match. And regarding Ashwin, I am not sure whether he will be getting an opportunity to complete his 5-wicket haul, because Axar and Kuldeep are taking quick wickets. Only three wickets remain for England now and the remaining batsmen are all tail-enders - Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and Olly Stone. BTW, the case of Moeen Ali is very unique. He started off as a batting all rounder, then got transformed in to bowling all rounder and finally ended up as a full-time bowler.

[aysg76]

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I think tomorrow will be the day of Axar. He will take his maiden 5 wicket haul and will lead India to victory.
But Of course, Ashwin will be Man of the Match because of his fantastic performance.

England 116-8. Root's gone. Axar strikes again. The win is so close.


And it's 5 wickets for Axar.
149-9

I think Kuldeep will play a major role in pink ball test. He has great credibility and the way he is bowling well. He deserves more chances.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

I think Kuldeep will play a major role in pink ball test. He has great credibility and the way he is bowling well. He deserves more chances.

Pink ball game favors fast bowlers so if next pitch favoring seamers then i doubt if Kuldeep is going to be selected in team or in squad. Indian might fancy 3 seamers (Bumrah-Ishant-Siraj) and 2  spin allrounder ( Axar-Ashwin) in the squad.

And its 1-1

Man of the match should be Ashwin.

Natarajan is out of the squad now and Siraj/Saini are in.

You thinking too much bhai. Saini is out from the test squad and Natarjan is in limited over squad.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Humiliating defeat for England. They lost the match by 317 runs in the end. I thought that at least they will be able to keep the losing margin below 300. But perhaps that was too much to ask from them. Ashwin missed his 5-wicket haul, as Axar picked up the same. Overall, it was a terrific all round performance from the Indian team - both in batting and bowling.

Natarajan is out of the squad now and Siraj/Saini are in.

You thinking too much bhai. Saini is out from the test squad and Natarjan is in limited over squad.

Hmm.. may be you are right. It can be a coincidence and as you have pointed out Natarajan has been included in the ODI squad. But still I would like to see team selection powers taken away from Kohli and Shastri.

[Haunebu]

Spectacular performance by India in literally every single department. What an amazing comeback. Ashwin deserves man of the match for his all-round performance. Wonder what excuse Vaughan will come up with next.

In my opinion, England are over-dependent on Root in the batting department in tests though I don't see any issues with their bowling department.

[bryant.coleman]

Spectacular performance by India in literally every single department. What an amazing comeback. Ashwin deserves man of the match for his all-round performance. Wonder what excuse Vaughan will come up with next.

In my opinion, England are over-dependent on Root in the batting department in tests though I don't see any issues with their bowling department.

Ashwin is always unplayable with the ball when he is playing in India, but this time he performed with the ball as well. But it was surprising the way the England batsmen collapsed. After such a good performance in the first match, what went wrong with the second match? Perhaps dropping Dom Bess was not a good idea. But his replacement (Moeen Ali) did pretty well with the ball.

[onecall123]

Spectacular performance by India in literally every single department. What an amazing comeback. Ashwin deserves man of the match for his all-round performance. Wonder what excuse Vaughan will come up with next.

In my opinion, England are over-dependent on Root in the batting department in tests though I don't see any issues with their bowling department.

Totally agreed. Absolutely all round performance by Indian team, bounce back in a hard way. An excellent performance by Ashwin both with the ball and the bat.
Ashwin is like their backbone nowadays. whenever India wins, Ashwin performs more than 50% as compare to the whole team.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Bad news for India is that they won't receive any extra points for the massive victory margin. They get the same points as England received for winning the first test match. Every single point matters here, because outcome of the next two matches will decide who will qualify for the World Test Championship finals, to take on New Zealand at Lord's. Right now India are having better odds, but who knows? If England wins the toss for the third test match, then they will be having a good chance of a win.

And another important factor to consider here is that the next test match is going to be played D/N. As JSRAW pointed out, this may give some advantage for the fast bowlers (England is in a better position in this regard, with Broad/Anderson/Stone performing much better than the Indian pacers such as Siraj and Sharma). So it's not over yet. The team that gets complacent will fail to qualify. 

[JSRAW]

Bad news for India is that they won't receive any extra points for the massive victory margin. They get the same points as England received for winning the first test match. Every single point matters here, because outcome of the next two matches will decide who will qualify for the World Test Championship finals, to take on New Zealand at Lord's. Right now India are having better odds, but who knows? If England wins the toss for the third test match, then they will be having a good chance of a win.

And another important factor to consider here is that the next test match is going to be played D/N. As JSRAW pointed out, this may give some advantage for the fast bowlers (England is in a better position in this regard, with Broad/Anderson/Stone performing much better than the Indian pacers such as Siraj and Sharma). So it's not over yet. The team that gets complacent will fail to qualify.  

What's that suppose to mean?

Its 4 test match series and 120 points were on stake from the start. I didn't hear anything related to -receiving extra point-. Although slow over rates could cost you some points (Aussie were on receiving end)

Some news coming out that Shami-Saini is now available for the selection. Both were injured, if Ahmedabad pitch(Shardul thakur's home ground) is seamer friendly then Shami should replace the Siraj.

England already announced their squad.

At start i said 2-1 India. But now its seems that its either 3-1 India or 2-2 for both teams. Draw is out of the equation.

[bryant.coleman]

^^^ He probably meant that the winning team will receive 30 points in the WTC Points Table, irrespective of the margin. It doesn't matter whether you win the match by 1 run, or by 300 runs. In the end you will receive 30 points and not a decimal more or less. BTW, in India drawn match is always a possibility and in that regard I can't agree with you. Obviously the pitch for the first two matches gave a lot of support for the bowlers. But it is not necessary that the ground conditions will remain the same for the next two matches.

[mersal]

^^^ He probably meant that the winning team will receive 30 points in the WTC Points Table, irrespective of the margin. It doesn't matter whether you win the match by 1 run, or by 300 runs. In the end you will receive 30 points and not a decimal more or less. BTW, in India drawn match is always a possibility and in that regard I can't agree with you. Obviously the pitch for the first two matches gave a lot of support for the bowlers. But it is not necessary that the ground conditions will remain the same for the next two matches.

Pink ball test gives more advantage for the batsmen due to better visibility and shape so we can expect high run-scoring game on both the innings. Ticket sales already begin with 50% norm as capacity due to covid social distancing.I guess India need to win the remaining two matches or at least a win with a draw for entering into WTC finals which is the same for ENG as well.

[eaLiTy]

Pink ball game favors fast bowlers so if next pitch favoring seamers then i doubt if Kuldeep is going to be selected in team or in squad. Indian might fancy 3 seamers (Bumrah-Ishant-Siraj) and 2  spin allrounder ( Axar-Ashwin) in the squad.

I have seen some matches played in the stadium during the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the pitch favors the spinners and some of the fast bowlers were economical as well, it is difficult to say how the pitch behaves for a Test match but spinners will be effective in the final two days and even in this match Kuldeep Yadav did not get much opportunity as he got only 12 overs the entire match while Ashwin bowled 41.5 overs and Axar Patel bowled 41 overs as well.

If majority of the load is shared by two bowlers then they should add another batsman who could bowl those overs rather than picking another fast bowler.

[onrise]

Spectacular performance by India in literally every single department. What an amazing comeback. Ashwin deserves man of the match for his all-round performance. Wonder what excuse Vaughan will come up with next.

In my opinion, England are over-dependent on Root in the batting department in tests though I don't see any issues with their bowling department.

This was the good comeback by team India and after losing the first match, this win will boost them and with the series 1-1 this makes the other 2 test match now more exciting as now anything is possible. Series draw, or either of the team winning the series and will need to wait till 4th test is over.  Ashwin was just fabulous in this match and rightly was named the Player of the match. Good to see his all-round performance after long time.

[GbitG]

Spectacular performance by India in literally every single department. What an amazing comeback. Ashwin deserves man of the match for his all-round performance. Wonder what excuse Vaughan will come up with next.

In my opinion, England are over-dependent on Root in the batting department in tests though I don't see any issues with their bowling department.

This was the good comeback by team India and after losing the first match, this win will boost them and with the series 1-1 this makes the other 2 test match now more exciting as now anything is possible. Series draw, or either of the team winning the series and will need to wait till 4th test is over.  Ashwin was just fabulous in this match and rightly was named the Player of the match. Good to see his all-round performance after long time.

A very spirited comeback by India in this test match but I also think toss is also very important for win in test matches now we are moving for Pink ball games first time playing in India its very interesting hopefully this win give them some good confidence and they will fight hard for next wins as well because now they need just one win for spot in WTC Final 2021.