Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[topman21]

Pakistan could not win despite going close to victory. England lost Babar Azam by 26 runs in the second Test. Mark Wood's 4 wickets in the second innings won England. The Test could have gone either way. Pakistan needed 157 runs to win. England on the other hand needed 6 wickets. In the end, England won.  Ben Stokes won the second Test by beating Pakistan by 26 runs. With that, England won the three-test series with one test remaining.

[pakhitheboss]

Meme team because of Rambo's strategy and team performance.

Bro! Your level of sarcasm has outplayed my intelligence. Meme team is too cruel for them. I would say, "Not clown but they are still Joker."

-At pindi PCB created a dead wicket for draw and England rolled them over royally.
-Then Created a spin track at Multan and English pacer got a majority of wickets, at the same time Pakistani seamers didn't claim a single wicket.

PCB is too much into international politics whereas the ground reality is that they nither have the muscles nor they have talent to prove they can be seriously taken. Most of the time they are like an empty vessel which only sounds but doesn't have anything to prove its existence.

[fullhdpixel]

The ability to lose an easy win cricket match can only be displayed by this team. Of course there have been instances when they have won a match which every cricket fan knew they would lose. Such inconsistency has hampered Pakistan cricket performance for a few years now. PCB is busy constantly fighting with other boards or ICC. It is better they concentrate more on finding talents and nurturing them.

Getting defeated so easily on your home ground is the one big humiliation and I think Pakistan doesn't get bothered with such humiliation otherwise they would have not repeated the same mistake.

I have now become a big fan of Ben stokes captaincy. Not only he is one hell of an all rounder but he has proven that he can be a hell of a test team captain.

In last five test matches at home they lost three and draw other two which mean they are not fully prepared for this format, and they need big changes specially mindset which is not going to help them in case of selection with Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam you are playing with Salman Agha and Mohammad Nawaz is not make any sense here as I check on social media and other sources Babar is now under pressure due to his personal friends are consistently joining national team instead of talented players specially Shoaib Malik talking about this frequently and few other legendary Pakistani cricketers are also talking about this all regularly which is the biggest concern for them right now and his captaincy is also not good in test format which is another issue hopefully they will talk about this and bring some changes specially Sarfraz Ahmad also looking for his chance into test format

[pakhitheboss]

The ability to lose an easy win cricket match can only be displayed by this team. Of course there have been instances when they have won a match which every cricket fan knew they would lose. Such inconsistency has hampered Pakistan cricket performance for a few years now. PCB is busy constantly fighting with other boards or ICC. It is better they concentrate more on finding talents and nurturing them.

Getting defeated so easily on your home ground is the one big humiliation and I think Pakistan doesn't get bothered with such humiliation otherwise they would have not repeated the same mistake.

I have now become a big fan of Ben stokes captaincy. Not only he is one hell of an all rounder but he has proven that he can be a hell of a test team captain.

In last five test matches at home they lost three and draw other two which mean they are not fully prepared for this format, and they need big changes specially mindset which is not going to help them in case of selection with Azhar Ali and Fawad Alam you are playing with Salman Agha and Mohammad Nawaz is not make any sense here as I check on social media and other sources Babar is now under pressure due to his personal friends are consistently joining national team instead of talented players specially Shoaib Malik talking about this frequently and few other legendary Pakistani cricketers are also talking about this all regularly which is the biggest concern for them right now and his captaincy is also not good in test format which is another issue hopefully they will talk about this and bring some changes specially Sarfraz Ahmad also looking for his chance into test format

Regardless of test matches do you think they were prepared of the T20WC? I doubt it as they get so many winning oppertunity but the Pakistani tram will always make it difficult for them to win a match. Just review all the past cricket matches regardless of the format and you will find that they take most of thier game for granted or believe that the almighty will win the match for them. Do you think such an attitude will help them in the future? I doubt!

[topman21]

He took 10 wickets with the least number of overs, a new world record for Pak spinners. Bajimat made his debut. Abrar Ahmed hit the shelves with 7 wickets in his first Test. On the first day of the England-Pakistan second Test in Multan, England were overwhelmed by the Pakistani spinners. Under his control, England's innings ended with only 281 runs. And Pakistan's spinners made the world record by Arbar's hand.Pak spinners made a record of taking 10 wickets by bowling the least number of overs in the first innings of a Test. Pakistan's three spinners Abrar Ahmed, Zahid Mahmud and Mohammad Nawaz bowled a total of 41.4 overs on this day. Along with that, they took a total of 10 wickets. Among them, Abrar alone took 7 wickets. Zahid Mahmud took three wickets. Nawaz did not take any wickets.

[noormcs5]

He took 10 wickets with the least number of overs, a new world record for Pak spinners. Bajimat made his debut. Abrar Ahmed hit the shelves with 7 wickets in his first Test. On the first day of the England-Pakistan second Test in Multan, England were overwhelmed by the Pakistani spinners. Under his control, England's innings ended with only 281 runs. And Pakistan's spinners made the world record by Arbar's hand.Pak spinners made a record of taking 10 wickets by bowling the least number of overs in the first innings of a Test. Pakistan's three spinners Abrar Ahmed, Zahid Mahmud and Mohammad Nawaz bowled a total of 41.4 overs on this day. Along with that, they took a total of 10 wickets. Among them, Abrar alone took 7 wickets. Zahid Mahmud took three wickets. Nawaz did not take any wickets.

England won by 26 runs and we can call it a close win. However, if we rule out the wickets by Abrar Ahmed, then England would have won by big margin again.

Pakistan's team has no clue, not only in their batting and bowling but also they fail to make the right pitches according to their strength.

What's more bad for them is that they still have one more test to play. I think England is in the position to whitewash the series and that too in Pakistan's home ground.

[UmerIdrees]

Pakistan team has become a Joke!

Meme team for sure but terming them a "Joke team" would be too harsh IMO as i felt they fought well in this test despite ruining their chances today.

Meme team because of Rambo's strategy and team performance.

-At pindi PCB created a dead wicket for draw and England rolled them over royally.
-Then Created a spin track at Multan and English pacer got a majority of wickets, at the same time Pakistani seamers didn't claim a single wicket.

Both of you, pakhitheboss and JSRAW i would call the Pakistan team unlucky not to win this test match. Even playing poorly we still manage to come so close to winning the match. A loss by 26 is not a big loss and also we had one bad decision which could have made the difference in the end.

Joel Wilson wrongly gave Saud Shakeel out at 94 as the bowl clearly touching the ground.

Don't you think Joel Wilson giving this OUT was a JOKE in itself?

[Haunebu]

Looks like Australia and South Africa will end up playing against each other in the WTC 21 - 23 finals since the other teams need to win way more matches and require a good degree of luck to go their way.

Sri Lanka or India could still end up occupying the second spot despite their chances being low at the moment.

[JSRAW]

Looks like Australia and South Africa will end up playing against each other in the WTC 21 - 23 finals since the other teams need to win way more matches and require a good degree of luck to go their way.

Sri Lanka or India could still end up occupying the second spot despite their chances being low at the moment.

According to me, it would be Australia vs SA/IND final at the Ovals, unless Sri lanks pull a rabbit out of the hat and clean sweep the Kiwis at the away tour, which seems unlikely to me.

But still, India needs to win a minimum of 5 matches out of 6 (which looks achievable). If they manage to win all 6 matches then they are directly going into finals and we'll have new WTC champions Australia lol.

[vvikkass]

Pakistan team has become a Joke!

Meme team for sure but terming them a "Joke team" would be too harsh IMO as i felt they fought well in this test despite ruining their chances today.

Meme team because of Rambo's strategy and team performance.

-At pindi PCB created a dead wicket for draw and England rolled them over royally.
-Then Created a spin track at Multan and English pacer got a majority of wickets, at the same time Pakistani seamers didn't claim a single wicket.

Both of you, pakhitheboss and JSRAW i would call the Pakistan team unlucky not to win this test match. Even playing poorly we still manage to come so close to winning the match. A loss by 26 is not a big loss and also we had one bad decision which could have made the difference in the end.

Joel Wilson wrongly gave Saud Shakeel out at 94 as the bowl clearly touching the ground.

Don't you think Joel Wilson giving this OUT was a JOKE in itself?

We saw similar type of things in ICC ODI World Cup in 2019. As long as cricket is controlled be big 3, umpires and every rule will favour these big 3 teams. But I would say Pakistan performance was not upto standards in both test and that's why they are out from test championship. It was golden chance for Pakistan to win test championship which they missed.

[KennyR]

Pakistan team has become a Joke!

Meme team for sure but terming them a "Joke team" would be too harsh IMO as i felt they fought well in this test despite ruining their chances today.

Meme team because of Rambo's strategy and team performance.

-At pindi PCB created a dead wicket for draw and England rolled them over royally.
-Then Created a spin track at Multan and English pacer got a majority of wickets, at the same time Pakistani seamers didn't claim a single wicket.

Both of you, pakhitheboss and JSRAW i would call the Pakistan team unlucky not to win this test match. Even playing poorly we still manage to come so close to winning the match. A loss by 26 is not a big loss and also we had one bad decision which could have made the difference in the end.

Joel Wilson wrongly gave Saud Shakeel out at 94 as the bowl clearly touching the ground.

Don't you think Joel Wilson giving this OUT was a JOKE in itself?

One wrong decision have changed the game. Once the wicket is being given, they should not analyse the wicket further. Because, it creates hate among the audience as well as makes the players feel bad. All the efforts went useless losing at a small margin. We can't blame the wicket keeper, because they doesn't know clearly whether it landed into the hands or not. As said, this is a big joke because in most cases England have succeeded with similar decisions from the umpires.

[Mahdirakib]

For Pakistan to win this match, they should play attacking cricket. If you play defensively, chances are that you will lose wickets, so at least maintain your run rate. Pakistan's batsmen Saud Shakeel and Nawaz are both well-settled right now, so they may continue to rule the game. Could Saud Shakeel save the day this time? There are only 95 more runs to go. However, we cannot exclude the other factor because the batting lineup of Pakistan could collapse at any time.

Pakistan was getting close to the victory for the partnership of Nawaz and Saud Shakeel, but their batting lineup has collapsed again today. Pakistan had lost the first test match in the same way. They should focus more on their batting for the test matches. England will win the third test match too if Pakistan team can't improve their batting section.

[LittleBitFunny]

I really feel bad for Saud Shakeel, he deserved his maiden century but unfortunately faced a tough decision. It could've been gone either way if the soft signal wasn't out. Anyway, i hope we'll see more of Shakeel in the future, he performed like a champion under pressure.
England needs 3 wickets and Pakistan is just 64 runs away from victory.

England inching close to yet another test victory as they need 1 more wicket to win and Pakistan need 36 more runs to win this game. This is second test for Saud and he has done good in both innings. Can he be the batsmen in the middle order which Pakistan is looking for years? Pakistan really need to do some overhauling in the batting lineup and focus be given on bowlers that can remain fit for long time. Already young bowlers like Afridi and Naseem are struggling to maintain fitness. Anyways its a good recovery from England since the last Ashes and Ben is proving to be a good captain for England.

I am very disappointed with Pakistan's batting performance today. When I last checked the scoreboard, Pakistan were 278 for the loss of 5 wickets. They needed just 76 runs to win. I don't think Pakistan will lose this match too badly. I expected Pakistan to win this match. But they failed to collect only 76 runs for 5 wickets. Pakistan's batting lineup is weak in all three formats. Pakistan management should focus more on their batting line-up. Otherwise, this team will not be able to win against weak teams in the future.

It's true that Pakistan batting lineup is not good enough to win the match, overall team depends on Baber , if baber score team will be if he mistakenly got out and didn't score a decent score then it's confirmed that Pakistan will lose the match, PCB should take a look on batting lineup because soon the ODI world cup is on the way and if they didn't prepare himself then I am quite woory that Pakistan will failed to qualify for semifinals or any big stage.
The best performer from Pakistan side was Suad Shakeel who score 94 but unfortunately due to small mistake ho got departure by wood to pavilion, another strong performance by Imam who score 60 while he was injured but he do his best...

Babar Azam, Imam Ul Haque and Saud Shakeel have performed well in these two series. But it wasn't enough to win. Mohammad Rizwan failed in both matches. The team expects better performance from an experienced batsman like him. But he lost form. We are not getting the expected performance from Rizwan. If the Pakistan management does not solve their batting weaknesses quickly, the team will face big problems in the future. However, while the batting line-up is weak, Pakistan's bowling line-up is very strong. And in the important matches Pakistan can win because of the excellent performance of the bowlers.

[Sithara007]

According to me, it would be Australia vs SA/IND final at the Ovals, unless Sri lanks pull a rabbit out of the hat and clean sweep the Kiwis at the away tour, which seems unlikely to me.

But still, India needs to win a minimum of 5 matches out of 6 (which looks achievable). If they manage to win all 6 matches then they are directly going into finals and we'll have new WTC champions Australia lol.

All of India's matches are scheduled to be hosted in the sub-continent. They have two test matches to be played in Bangladesh and another 4 to be played in India (against Australia). It is possible to win 4-5 matches out of 6, but I am not certain at this point. For the test series between India and Australia, the latter will be having a major handicap because they don't have a quality spinner. Nathan Lyon doesn't look like he can trouble the Indian batsmen. Zampa is not that suitable for test cricket. Then there are emerging spinners such as Mitchell Swepson and Arjun Nair, but they are too inexperienced to be included for such an important tour.

[JSRAW]

According to me, it would be Australia vs SA/IND final at the Ovals, unless Sri lanks pull a rabbit out of the hat and clean sweep the Kiwis at the away tour, which seems unlikely to me.

But still, India needs to win a minimum of 5 matches out of 6 (which looks achievable). If they manage to win all 6 matches then they are directly going into finals and we'll have new WTC champions Australia lol.

All of India's matches are scheduled to be hosted in the sub-continent. They have two test matches to be played in Bangladesh and another 4 to be played in India (against Australia). It is possible to win 4-5 matches out of 6, but I am not certain at this point. For the test series between India and Australia, the latter will be having a major handicap because they don't have a quality spinner. Nathan Lyon doesn't look like he can trouble the Indian batsmen. Zampa is not that suitable for test cricket. Then there are emerging spinners such as Mitchell Swepson and Arjun Nair, but they are too inexperienced to be included for such an important tour.

Historically Leg spinners hardly make any dent against the Indian team. Late great Shane Warne is a fine example, he was a mighty leggie against all teams but whenever he came to India he never did well against Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman and leaked plenty of runs with very little success under his belt.

On the other hand off-spinners (Graeme Swann) and part-timers (Clark) did well in India so Nathon Lyon would be okay. Ashwin surely going to outbowl him similar to the last Indian tour of Australia but the former should be fine on patches. Australia's best bet would be Nathan Lyon leading the spin attack with a couple of part-timers, maybe they should add Maxwell along with Swepson instead of Zampa.

One thing is sure, BGT is going to be very competitive and spectators are in for a treat.

[pakhitheboss]

Why did BABAR AZAM got mercilessly booed by Pakistani fans with ZIMBABER?

I was not aware of this trolling by Pakistani fans. Found out about it on YouTube while surfing randomly. The YouTube algorithm just randomly showed me how Pakistani fans shouted ZIMBABER on the ground in the second test match as Baber Azam got out cheaply. What suprised me was that such kind of trolling are done by Indian when Pakistan plays overseas. What suprised me was that it happened on their homeground.

I do not support such kind of incident as it is a game and many times batters are not in form but Babar Azam hasn't performed well with big teams and for past few years, he has lost his form as for me. This is kind of weird as he was said to be the Pakistani Kholi and to some extent better than him by Pakistani media. At the moment both of them should be better off sitting in their home than playing cricket.  

Now coming to the point. If anyone can share the stats to support that he got most of his test match records playing against big teams then I would give that individual some merits.

[Haunebu]

What suprised me was that such kind of trolling are done by Indian when Pakistan plays overseas. What suprised me was that it happened on their homeground.

I do not support such kind of incident as it is a game and many times batters are not in form but Babar Azam hasn't performed well with big teams and for past few years, he has lost his form as for me. This is kind of weird as he was said to be the Pakistani Kholi and to some extent better than him by Pakistani media. At the moment both of them should be better off sitting in their home than playing cricket. 

Which world are you living in? Trolls are freaking everywhere(Online and Offline) which is why these kinds of situations are very, very common in literally every part of the world.

Honestly, team fans themselves are some of the biggest trolls if the player that he/she is supporting didn't perform well. These pathetic fools expect players to consistently perform in order to meet their crazy expectations.

Social media and other online platforms made trolling worse over the years.

[JSRAW]

Why did BABAR AZAM got mercilessly booed by Pakistani fans with ZIMBABER?

I was not aware of this trolling by Pakistani fans. Found out about it on YouTube while surfing randomly. The YouTube algorithm just randomly showed me how Pakistani fans shouted ZIMBABER on the ground in the second test match as Baber Azam got out cheaply. What suprised me was that such kind of trolling are done by Indian when Pakistan plays overseas. What suprised me was that it happened on their homeground.

I do not support such kind of incident as it is a game and many times batters are not in form but Babar Azam hasn't performed well with big teams and for past few years, he has lost his form as for me. This is kind of weird as he was said to be the Pakistani Kholi and to some extent better than him by Pakistani media. At the moment both of them should be better off sitting in their home than playing cricket.  

Now coming to the point. If anyone can share the stats to support that he got most of his test match records playing against big teams then I would give that individual some merits.

He's called Zimbabar because of his ODI average against Zimbabwe, the main reason his average inflated drastically, despite that IMO he's not a bad player in ODI but trolls always look for weak points. Another reason is the majority of tons he made in UAE (another home ground) and Pakistan.

It's not related to his test career although it's also true that most of his test tons came at flat decks and didn't do much except 1 (80-ish % sure) against Aussie in their last pak's tour when the match got draw and it was one of the flattest deck, guess pitch got demerit points.

ODI stats
Performance in countries


Performance by opponents


Home-Away record. This is wrong metric in case of Pakistan because UAE is considered an away territory here but technically it was the home ground for Pakistan for a decade or so and he scored 5 tons there)

[Naficopa]

Why did BABAR AZAM got mercilessly booed by Pakistani fans with ZIMBABER?

I was not aware of this trolling by Pakistani fans. Found out about it on YouTube while surfing randomly. The YouTube algorithm just randomly showed me how Pakistani fans shouted ZIMBABER on the ground in the second test match as Baber Azam got out cheaply. What suprised me was that such kind of trolling are done by Indian when Pakistan plays overseas. What suprised me was that it happened on their homeground.

I do not support such kind of incident as it is a game and many times batters are not in form but Babar Azam hasn't performed well with big teams and for past few years, he has lost his form as for me. This is kind of weird as he was said to be the Pakistani Kholi and to some extent better than him by Pakistani media. At the moment both of them should be better off sitting in their home than playing cricket.  

Now coming to the point. If anyone can share the stats to support that he got most of his test match records playing against big teams then I would give that individual some merits.

He's called Zimbabar because of his ODI average against Zimbabwe, the main reason his average inflated drastically, despite that IMO he's not a bad player in ODI but trolls always look for weak points. Another reason is the majority of tons he made in UAE (another home ground) and Pakistan.

It's not related to his test career although it's also true that most of his test tons came at flat decks and didn't do much except 1 (80-ish % sure) against Aussie in their last pak's tour when the match got draw and it was one of the flattest deck, guess pitch got demerit points.

ODI stats
Performance in countries


Performance by opponents


Home-Away record. This is wrong metric in case of Pakistan because UAE is considered an away territory here but technically it was the home ground for Pakistan for a decade or so and he scored 5 tons there)

Babar Azam is a very mature and experienced batsman and he has given some outstanding performances in his cricket career. In recent test he has made good runs but obviously only Babar can't male his team win  its a team effort and all of them have to perform to make team win.
Now in recent test series in Multan Pakistan lost by small margin and most controversial thing is Saud shakeel wicket which is given wrong by third umpire . If Saudi shakeel stayed on the wicket Pakistan would have won the match.
But now this discussion is useless Pakistan Is a wonderful team and definitely not for someone's useless memes and trolls.

[WatChe]

He's called Zimbabar because of his ODI average against Zimbabwe, the main reason his average inflated drastically, despite that IMO he's not a bad player in ODI but trolls always look for weak points. Another reason is the majority of tons he made in UAE (another home ground) and Pakistan.

It's not related to his test career although it's also true that most of his test tons came at flat decks and didn't do much except 1 (80-ish % sure) against Aussie in their last pak's tour when the match got draw and it was one of the flattest deck, guess pitch got demerit points.

Its time for Pakistan to do some key changes in there squad like give some rest to Muhammad Rizwan and bring back Sarfraz. I dont think there is anyone who can replace Babar as captain but this is also fact that Babar has done too much damage to the team because of his favoritism. Only those players are included in team which have good terms with Babar. Despite poor performance of Rizwan he is still given chances only because he has good relations with Captain Babar.