Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Haunebu]

The schedule for the next WTC is out very quickly people and it looks like NZ will begin defending their title in July itself. They deserve a longer break in my opinion.

https://www.insidesport.co/icc-wtc-2021-23-schedule-champion-new-zealand-to-begin-title-defence-in-india-virat-kohli-and-co-to-start-in-august/

India will kick off their campaign in August. We will have to wait until 2023 to witness the end of the 2nd edition of WTC. My random prediction is that Australia will win the 2nd edition.

[eaLiTy]

I agree with you. The Indian team is very confident. It's good to be confident, and we should all be confident in ourselves. But the players of the Indian team are overconfident. They must have played a warm-up match before playing against a strong opponent like New Zealand. India's squad is very strong, but one must have an idea about the strength of the opponent.

The COVID situation might have halted their plans on conducting a warm up match before the WTC final against New Zealand but from i understand from news media the BCCI has requested the ECB to conduct two warm up matches before the England India series that starts in August and hopefully they will conduct the warm up matches.

Indian bowlers were not in their best form during the WTC finals and a warm up match would have helped them to adjust to the line and length necessary for the pitch and climate situation.

[JSRAW]

The schedule for the next WTC is out very quickly people and it looks like NZ will begin defending their title in July itself. They deserve a longer break in my opinion.

https://www.insidesport.co/icc-wtc-2021-23-schedule-champion-new-zealand-to-begin-title-defence-in-india-virat-kohli-and-co-to-start-in-august/

India will kick off their campaign in August. We will have to wait until 2023 to witness the end of the 2nd edition of WTC. My random prediction is that Australia will win the 2nd edition.

ICC still made no changes in rules, which is kinda frustrating and not in favor of some teams. Some team still playing  like 2 test match series and some still going with old bilateral commitment which is 4-5 tests series;

for ex :

Ind vs Eng - 5 tests
Aus vs Eng - 5 tests
Aus vs Ind - 4 tests

Compare this with Kiwis upcoming series against India - only 2 match series

Are you kidding me? World Champion team still playing 2 games on away series on the other hand teams like Eng-Ind-Aus playing 4-5 games. In ideal world it should be same match series for every single team. At least BCCI could have given NZ 2 more tests but no they won't cause NZ market is not lucrative as Aus or Eng, disappointing.

[pakhitheboss]

That was a poor performance from india on the day and it disappointed me. India should have shown more responsibility. They could have saved the match but i though all of the batsmen were looking over confident and there are no plan on how to go about in the 2nd innings.

That is the current Indian team - always overconfident and arrogant. They refused to play warm-up matches and didn't took their opponents seriously. In the end, Virat Kohli has another loss in the final of an ICC tournament to his name. I want to know whether there will be any change in their attitude for the upcoming T20 world cup. I don't expect any, due to the culture of complacency that has developed over the past few years. There is simply no accountability. At least the coach should have been kicked out after such a pathetic loss.

I agree with you. The Indian team is very confident. It's good to be confident, and we should all be confident in ourselves. But the players of the Indian team are overconfident. They must have played a warm-up match before playing against a strong opponent like New Zealand. India's squad is very strong, but one must have an idea about the strength of the opponent.

It seems you are comparing the team with the captain. The Indian team is confident but the captain of Indian team is over confident😁😁. There is nothing wrong in being confident, being over confident is always an issue. I won't compare every format with the test series for the Indian team but, I think the team has an arrogant captain. .

[Vaskiy]

That was a poor performance from india on the day and it disappointed me. India should have shown more responsibility. They could have saved the match but i though all of the batsmen were looking over confident and there are no plan on how to go about in the 2nd innings.

That is the current Indian team - always overconfident and arrogant. They refused to play warm-up matches and didn't took their opponents seriously. In the end, Virat Kohli has another loss in the final of an ICC tournament to his name. I want to know whether there will be any change in their attitude for the upcoming T20 world cup. I don't expect any, due to the culture of complacency that has developed over the past few years. There is simply no accountability. At least the coach should have been kicked out after such a pathetic loss.

I agree with you. The Indian team is very confident. It's good to be confident, and we should all be confident in ourselves. But the players of the Indian team are overconfident. They must have played a warm-up match before playing against a strong opponent like New Zealand. India's squad is very strong, but one must have an idea about the strength of the opponent.

It seems you are comparing the team with the captain. The Indian team is confident but the captain of Indian team is over confident😁😁. There is nothing wrong in being confident, being over confident is always an issue. I won't compare every format with the test series for the Indian team but, I think the team has an arrogant captain. .

We can't term it to be arrogance. From my view I find the captain lacking confidence. I state this based on the experience on watching the Indian cricket on different matches. In close matches the captain used to bite the nails and he'll be in complete burning

[ene1980]

The schedule for the next WTC is out very quickly people and it looks like NZ will begin defending their title in July itself. They deserve a longer break in my opinion.

India will kick off their campaign in August. We will have to wait until 2023 to witness the end of the 2nd edition of WTC. My random prediction is that Australia will win the 2nd edition.

So every two years we will be having a Test championship and a single match format is fine as long as we get the results and we do not want to see any team sharing the trophy. Australia is not performing like they used to in the past, even India came with a weak team and defeated them in their home grounds and they need to play aggressive cricket they used to play in the past, i give England the chance but it all depends upon where the final is conducted.

[Sithara007]

ICC still made no changes in rules, which is kinda frustrating and not in favor of some teams. Some team still playing  like 2 test match series and some still going with old bilateral commitment which is 4-5 tests series;

for ex :

Ind vs Eng - 5 tests
Aus vs Eng - 5 tests
Aus vs Ind - 4 tests

Compare this with Kiwis upcoming series against India - only 2 match series

Are you kidding me? World Champion team still playing 2 games on away series on the other hand teams like Eng-Ind-Aus playing 4-5 games. In ideal world it should be same match series for every single team. At least BCCI could have given NZ 2 more tests but no they won't cause NZ market is not lucrative as Aus or Eng, disappointing.

Here the fault is with the ICC. How can they squeeze the WTC to just 2 years? I would have favored at least 4 years. There are 9 test playing teams in the top division, and an average of 3 tests against each of the opponent would mean 24 test matches in 2 years. When the international calendar is already packed with franchise T20 leagues and bilateral tours, this sort of requirement is unviable. Ideally they should be reducing the number of test matches, as they are not preferred by the younger fans and a majority in the older generation.

[Haunebu]

Are you kidding me? World Champion team still playing 2 games on away series on the other hand teams like Eng-Ind-Aus playing 4-5 games. In ideal world it should be same match series for every single team. At least BCCI could have given NZ 2 more tests but no they won't cause NZ market is not lucrative as Aus or Eng, disappointing.

Corrupt BCCI as usual. I would like to see a 5 match series between India and NZ too after their recent encounters. Majority of the BCCI members need to be replaced with better people in my opinion.

Here the fault is with the ICC. How can they squeeze the WTC to just 2 years? I would have favored at least 4 years.

4 years? Are you serious? 2 years itself is a long time and the effect was pretty visible in the final between India and NZ which didn't meet the hype. ICC made the right decision in this context.

Teams need to further adjust their schedule by prioritising matches with certain teams over others.

[bryant.coleman]

4 years? Are you serious? 2 years itself is a long time and the effect was pretty visible in the final between India and NZ which didn't meet the hype. ICC made the right decision in this context.

Teams need to further adjust their schedule by prioritising matches with certain teams over others.

2 years would make sense if the existing setup of 9 teams is divided into two divisions. Else, 8 test tours in 24 months is asking for too much. And apart from the pig 3 (plus New Zealand), test cricket is dying elsewhere. Recent test matches involving countries such as Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh have failed to attract any interest from the cricket fans. I would suggest creating a top tier, with pig 3, New Zealand and one other team (preferably South Africa or Pakistan) and then placing the remaining 4 teams in the second tier.

[JSRAW]

ICC still made no changes in rules, which is kinda frustrating and not in favor of some teams. Some team still playing  like 2 test match series and some still going with old bilateral commitment which is 4-5 tests series;

for ex :

Ind vs Eng - 5 tests
Aus vs Eng - 5 tests
Aus vs Ind - 4 tests

Compare this with Kiwis upcoming series against India - only 2 match series

Are you kidding me? World Champion team still playing 2 games on away series on the other hand teams like Eng-Ind-Aus playing 4-5 games. In ideal world it should be same match series for every single team. At least BCCI could have given NZ 2 more tests but no they won't cause NZ market is not lucrative as Aus or Eng, disappointing.

Here the fault is with the ICC. How can they squeeze the WTC to just 2 years? I would have favored at least 4 years. There are 9 test playing teams in the top division, and an average of 3 tests against each of the opponent would mean 24 test matches in 2 years. When the international calendar is already packed with franchise T20 leagues and bilateral tours, this sort of requirement is unviable. Ideally they should be reducing the number of test matches, as they are not preferred by the younger fans and a majority in the older generation.

Not 24 test match.

Each team playing 3 home series and 3 away series (6 series) so it would be 18 test match over 2 years if we go by 3 match formula. Team like India, Australia, South Africa already played 15-18 test match in last WTC cycle ( For SA-Aus Some match got cancelled due to covid). So i think 18 match for each team can do the trick and it seems okay thing to ask. Only potential roadblock is high profile series such as Ashes or Border-Gavaskar trophy which do earn fair amount of revenue.  

Point is every team should play same amount of test cricket. It doesn't feel right when England playing 20+ test and NZ or other teams are fielding for only 11 tests in one WTC cycle.

[bryant.coleman]

Not 24 test match.

Each team playing 3 home series and 3 away series (6 series) so it would be 18 test match over 2 years if we go by 3 match formula. Team like India, Australia, South Africa already played 15-18 test match in last WTC cycle ( For SA-Aus Some match got cancelled due to covid). So i think 18 match for each team can do the trick and it seems okay thing to ask. Only potential roadblock is high profile series such as Ashes or Border-Gavaskar trophy which do earn fair amount of revenue.  

Point is every team should play same amount of test cricket. It doesn't feel right when England playing 20+ test and NZ or other teams are fielding for only 11 tests in one WTC cycle.

I would say that even 18-20 sounds a bit on the higher side. Among the younger generation, you will find very few fans of test cricket. Among people like me, the interest remains high at least when a high profile series like the Ashes or Border-Gavaskar gets going. But if ICC sticks with the least popular format of cricket and allots a large part of the calendar, then eventually it will result in financial loss and a decrease in overall popularity for the sport.

[7788bitcoin]

Corrupt BCCI as usual. I would like to see a 5 match series between India and NZ too after their recent encounters. Majority of the BCCI members need to be replaced with better people in my opinion.

Why do you think that a cricket board is corrupted, do they charge money to select the players, i really cannot understand these accusations and there should be an audit that is taking place and if they are really corrupted we should have heard by now because you cannot hide everything for a long period of time.

4 years? Are you serious? 2 years itself is a long time and the effect was pretty visible in the final between India and NZ which didn't meet the hype. ICC made the right decision in this context.

The reason for not meeting the hype was the weather delays and that killed the entertainment factor till the last day and everyone was expecting a draw and the last day was really interesting, may be the expectation that the match would go into a draw might have killed the hype but it lived up because we saw a winner and New Zealand deserved the cup.

[Sithara007]

4 years? Are you serious? 2 years itself is a long time and the effect was pretty visible in the final between India and NZ which didn't meet the hype. ICC made the right decision in this context.

Teams need to further adjust their schedule by prioritising matches with certain teams over others.

I am serious about the 4 year period. Because I don't want the teams to spend more time playing test matches, when the popularity of this format is at all time low. The international calendar is already packed and if you add too many test matches, then you will find a lot of players retiring from the test format to concentrate on T20. I don't understand why the ICC is so adamant to give priority to test cricket. In today's world, 99% of the individuals don't have enough time to spend 40 hours on a single match, which may or may not give a definite outcome.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

I would say that even 18-20 sounds a bit on the higher side.

On average its 9-10 tests per year, looks manageable imo

Home-Away series for every team.

Looks like Pakistan got excellent deal this time. They're playing every SENA countries at home condition and then away series against Bangladesh-Srilanka at sub-continent. Good chance to get on top of the list.

NZ got couple of tough opponent when playing away.

[pakhitheboss]

~snip~

I would say that even 18-20 sounds a bit on the higher side.

On average its 9-10 tests per year, looks manageable imo

Home-Away series for every team.

Looks like Pakistan got excellent deal this time. They're playing every SENA countries at home condition and then away series against Bangladesh-Srilanka at sub-continent. Good chance to get on top of the list.

NZ got couple of tough opponent when playing away.

What? Not a single match between PAK and IND!

If only they could have scheduled one between the two teams, We haven't seen these two teams playing for a long time now. Hopefully they will play in the upcoming T20 WC.

[Sithara007]

On average its 9-10 tests per year, looks manageable imo

In case all the countries have a separate squad for the test format, then this is OK. But in case of India, where players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma needs to take part in all the three formats (T20, ODI and test) on top of IPL, it may be pushing them to the limit. I would have been happy with 6-7 test matches per year. 10 per year is spending 50 days per year on test matches every year. Why that much time needs to be allotted to a format, which is not as popular as the shorter formats?

[Juggy777]

~snip~

I would say that even 18-20 sounds a bit on the higher side.

On average its 9-10 tests per year, looks manageable imo

Home-Away series for every team.

Looks like Pakistan got excellent deal this time. They're playing every SENA countries at home condition and then away series against Bangladesh-Srilanka at sub-continent. Good chance to get on top of the list.

NZ got couple of tough opponent when playing away.

What? Not a single match between PAK and IND!

If only they could have scheduled one between the two teams, We haven't seen these two teams playing for a long time now. Hopefully they will play in the upcoming T20 WC.

@pakhitheboss in case you have forgotten India don’t play Pakistan, due to terror related issues which led the Indian Government banning all sport ties between the two. Also it’ll be interesting to see India vs Pakistan in the t20 World Cup, but I fear security reason may lead to cancellation of this match, what do you’ll think?.

[Sithara007]

@pakhitheboss in case you have forgotten India don’t play Pakistan, due to terror related issues which led the Indian Government banning all sport ties between the two. Also it’ll be interesting to see India vs Pakistan in the t20 World Cup, but I fear security reason may lead to cancellation of this match, what do you’ll think?.

Even if India and Pakistan face each other in the T20 World Cup, the match will be taking place in neutral territory and the Indian government will be having no objections. The ban covers only bilateral series. The Indian government hasn't given permission for the Indian team to visit Pakistan for the bilateral series and similarly they are not allowing the Pakistanis to visit India. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has raised complaints on multiple occasions related to this, to the ICC. But the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.

[Maidak]

@pakhitheboss in case you have forgotten India don’t play Pakistan, due to terror related issues which led the Indian Government banning all sport ties between the two. Also it’ll be interesting to see India vs Pakistan in the t20 World Cup, but I fear security reason may lead to cancellation of this match, what do you’ll think?.

Even if India and Pakistan face each other in the T20 World Cup, the match will be taking place in neutral territory and the Indian government will be having no objections. The ban covers only bilateral series. The Indian government hasn't given permission for the Indian team to visit Pakistan for the bilateral series and similarly they are not allowing the Pakistanis to visit India. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has raised complaints on multiple occasions related to this, to the ICC. But the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.

The conflict between India and Pakistan has been going on since the partition. And there is no possibility of resolving the conflict soon. They have met 6 times in the last 6 years and all the matches have been held in a third country. The two teams will also face a third country in the T20 World Cup.

[Vishnu.Reang]

The conflict between India and Pakistan has been going on since the partition. And there is no possibility of resolving the conflict soon. They have met 6 times in the last 6 years and all the matches have been held in a third country. The two teams will also face a third country in the T20 World Cup.

One thing that I don't understand is that why this issue is only limited to cricket. In other sports such as football and hockey, both the countries face each other quite regularly. IMO, there is no need to mix politics in to cricket, as it can be mutually detrimental to both the sides. I am in favor of BCCI resuming cricket ties with the PCB. But the prevailing sentiment in India is vehemently against any such resumption. And the current Indian government is also not much interested in it. I guess the attitude is more conciliatory in Pakistan.