Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[Haunebu]

India won as expected thanks to the usual performers. Bumrah was exceptional while Ashwin is so freaking close to cracking 500 wickets in tests. Hoping for a tighter contest in their next encounter.

Also, Sri Lanka decimated Afghanistan pretty comfortably in their one-off test match. So many tests, so little time!

[elevates]

India won because of the 143 runs lead they got in first inning and this in turn is because of Yashasvi Jaiswal double century. In first innings a part from Yashasvi Jaiswal there is not even a single half century from any indian batsmen. Likewise in second innings, a apart from Shubman Gill century there is no half century in the entire batting. But in the end its India who came out victorious and they will be happy to level the series.

@JSRAW Shubman Gill has played a test spot saving innings and will not be dropped at least in next 3 matches of this series.

Yeah, you are write apart from Jaiswal and Gill none of the other batters batted well. If they had then India would have won by a huge margin, India won with 106 runs that England was not able to get. I mean if every batter of the Indian side had contributed that number of runs could have been 300 or 400. It is not that easy to understand test cricket and by your point, you do not have a clue how tough is test cricket. Gill was out of form and he was out of confidence this 100 would help him get his confidence back, not sure about his form. He still may get dropped if Kohli makes a comeback in the third test, there is a lot of competition between batters in the Indian team as there are too many talents waiting for their selection.

[AirtelBuzz]

Has anyone watched the Test match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka?

In the Test match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan by a huge margin of 10 wickets. Afghanistan were not able to bat well in the first match of this series for which they were bowled out for 198 runs in the first innings. On the other hand, they scored 439 runs in the first innings which was too many runs. Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal both completed centuries for Sri Lanka. There was only one match in the Test series between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in which the Sri Lanka team defeated Afghanistan to win the Test series. The ODI series between the two will start on February 9 Let's see how much the two teams can dominate in this series.

[Patrol69]

A convincing victory by India in the second test of 106 runs. The star of this win is Bhumrah, Jaiswal and Gill and for me it was all because of Bhumrah that India. Till yesterday it looked that England had the slight upper edge but today the Indian bowling was perfect. Ashwin started with wickets and Bhumrah ended it. A great comeback by the Indian team in this series, three more matches left both teams have won 1 match each.

The second Test match between India vs England ended on the fourth day with India defeating England by 106 runs in the second match. When India lost 6 wickets in a short run, their defeat was almost certain. Because to chase such a big target and win, you have to play by holding the wicket but England failed there. Jasprit Bumrah bowled brilliantly for India in the second match, because of his brilliant bowling, Team India was able to keep the England team below the set target. Jasprit Bumrah bowled brilliantly in this Test match and picked up several wickets due to which he was adjudged Man of the Match. 

The series between India and England is tied 1-1 so far, with three more matches to go, I think we may have to wait until the last match to confirm the team that will win the series.

[Ayers]

Has anyone watched the Test match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka?

In the Test match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan by a huge margin of 10 wickets. Afghanistan were not able to bat well in the first match of this series for which they were bowled out for 198 runs in the first innings. On the other hand, they scored 439 runs in the first innings which was too many runs. Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal both completed centuries for Sri Lanka. There was only one match in the Test series between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in which the Sri Lanka team defeated Afghanistan to win the Test series. The ODI series between the two will start on February 9 Let's see how much the two teams can dominate in this series.

I was very disappointed with the performance of the Afghanistan batsmen. Afghanistan batted very badly in the first match. The team managed to collect only 198 runs for 10 wickets. But seeing their comeback in the second innings, I thought the team might be able to collect big.

Afghanistan collected 106 runs from their opening pair. Afghanistan collected 108 runs from the second wicket pair. Afghanistan lost two of their wickets at 214. But none of the subsequent batsmen could play a big innings. After losing the second wicket at 214, Afghanistan's innings stopped at 296 runs. If Afghanistan could have scored 400 runs, the match would have been competitive.

The Sri Lankan team batted at a target of only 56 runs. It was a very small target. Sri Lanka's two openers batted responsibly. So Sri Lanka collected 56 runs without losing any wicket.

[BitcoinsGreat]

Stokes gone, it was sad to see him getting run-out though, with him goes the remnant chances for England to win this match.

They should play in a calm mood because in calm conditions they can do good in peace, and Ben Stokes was batting but he didn't make any runs because lunch time was coming, I hope after lunch Ben Stokes build wonderful innings but not to be, and his partner will start with Ben Stokes is not found and it will also found after lunch but England team completely collapsed after the lunch.

[JSRAW]

JSRAW Shubman Gill has played a test spot saving innings and will not be dropped at least in next 3 matches of this series.

Yeah, you can't drop a batter after scoring a ton. Although he needs consistency, neither he nor the team India can't afford his 30-35 run knocks in the next 10 innings.

IMO, 30+ runs in each inning is rather consistent, add once in a while 50s and 100s and you are gold.

Another point of discussion would be whether you want 2 seamers or not, knowing that your 2 seamers Siraj and Mukesh hardly bowled in the last 2 matches so you could also strengthen your batting by adding a specialist batter or batting allrounder (Sundar), in that case, you could go with 1 seamer.

Bumrah as one seamer looks to be fine, Mukesh was rather expensive and batsman had no trouble with him, almost like there was no advantage of having him in the team, he got one wicket in two innings that too of the tail-end batter (i.e, of Bashir today). Remove the Mukesh's one wicket and Siraj had similar scenario in first match.

Not good enough IMO. He's Pujara's replacement at number 3 and Pujara had the same kind of run with the bat in 2023 (2022 Puji was doing well) and he's phased out by management, so you need to do a little better and outbat all the candidates.

Just read an article that Bumrah might be rested and Siraj could replace him.
https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/129394/bumrah-could-be-rested-for-third-test-against-england

[noormcs5]

New Zealand vs  South Africa

The New Zealand vs South Africa match turned out to be completely one-sided. New Zealand's batsmen have done a great batting.
Although the two openers did not get off to a good start, New Zealand scored 511 runs in the first innings thanks to the excellent batting duo of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson. New Zealand collected 232 runs from Williamson-Rachin pair. Williamson scored 118 runs and Rachin Ravindra scored 240 runs.

Along with the batsmen, New Zealand's bowlers are also bowling well now. South Africa lost four top-order batsmen to manage just 74 runs. Now at the crease are Bedingham and Peterson. The South African team will probably be defeated by the innings margin.

The second day of the test match between New Zealand and South Africa ended and today we see a lot of things like Rachin Ravindra's double century and the bowling of New Zealand, how they picked four wickets of South African batsmen.

Mitchell Santner took a wicket and Matt Henry also picked a wicket, and the player who took 2 wickets was Kyle Jamieson and the best and most experienced player of New Zealand Tim Southee didn't take any wicket, we had very hopes with him but the new players make us happy by taking wickets and in today's bowling attack Tim Southee didn't do anything. In response to 500 runs by the NZ, the scorecard of 80 for four wickets down looks embarrassing for South Africa.

[tsaroz]

We have result on 4th day of the test cricket for two different games today. India bowled out England early to secure a win by 106 runs. Yashasvi Jaiswal's double century in first innings was the key to Indian's success. Both the team performed poor on bating in the 2nd inning. Now the series is on 1-1 equalizer and there are three more test matches to go.

On the only test match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Sri Lanka had a 10 wicket win chasing a small aggregate from Afghanistan. The century from Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal on the 1st inning of Sri Lanka was important. None of the other player did so well in terms of batting. Afghanistan itself is a easier opponent for Sri Lanka.

[AirtelBuzz]

Stokes gone, it was sad to see him getting run-out though, with him goes the remnant chances for England to win this match.

They should play in a calm mood because in calm conditions they can do good in peace, and Ben Stokes was batting but he didn't make any runs because lunch time was coming, I hope after lunch Ben Stokes build wonderful innings but not to be, and his partner will start with Ben Stokes is not found and it will also found after lunch but England team completely collapsed after the lunch.

England collapsed completely when the fifth and sixth wickets fell for 194 runs. All the players in the England team except Zak Crawley were out of form i.e. all played badly. We saw impatient batting from the England batsmen in this match which led to their 106-run loss to India in the second Test match. In the second Test match between India and England, Jasprit Bhumra bowled brilliantly as he took a total of nine wickets in two innings, earning him the Man of the Match award.

[fullhdpixel]

New Zealand has made another historical 511 Runs target in 1st innings against South Africa in their 1st Test match. South Africa won the toss and New Zealand was send to bat. New Zealand was trying to score but Devon Conway(1) and Tom Latham(20) gone with few runs. And then the thrilling was started with Kane Williamson(118) and Rachin Ravindra(240). I guessed Rachin Ravindra for century but wasn't ready for his double century. What a brilliant player. 511 runs was total made by team New Zealand. And South Africa already started batting but due to pressure of huge Target, they already lost their top batsman at 80-4 runs only. I'll be a super harder for South Africa to win this test even if they do well in 2nd innings.

On this batting track we have no ideal performance from the New Zealand batting lineup just Williamson and Ravindra done good job and their team able to touch figure of 511 with young debutant South African Neil Brand having 6 wickets on his debut which is good from him but with their performance look like most chances we will have huge defeat for the Second string South African side because their batting is not good and New Zealand is having well organized attack which can destroy them two times in just one or day and most chances we will have this match's end on third or fourth day of the match because South African are under development and things are not good after having draw series at home against India.

[Nanga Parbat]

Has anyone watched the Test match between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka have easily achieved the target in their first partnership. Now Afghanistan need to improve their skills, so that they can perform better in the next matches.
Both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are strong teams, but Afghanistan  had sent Sri Lanka down in the second innings.

[tbterryboy]

Afghanistan lost their momentum against Sri Lanka in the first session. After the departure of set batters, their middle order failed miserably. Prabath Jayasuriya took 5 wickets and destroyed the Afghan middle order. SL needed 56 runs to win the match in the fourth innings, and they did it quite easily.
Overall, a good day of cricket ended.

In the only Test between Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka, Afghanistan set a target of just 56 runs to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets. Meanwhile, Afghanistan started the fourth day at 199/1, I thought Afghanistan would bat well on the fourth day and take a big lead. On the fourth day, he lost all wickets for just 97 runs. Without Afghanistan's first and second wicket pair, they could not form a big partnership, Afghanistan were bowled out for 296 runs. Ibrahim Zadran batted brilliantly and scored 114 runs for Afghanistan in the second innings. Prabath Jayasuriya bowled brilliantly in the second innings, he took 5 wickets with 107 runs in 47 overs. Anyway, the ODI series between the two teams is going to start from next Friday, hopefully there will be a competitive performance.

This is really heartbreaking performance from the Afghanistan as they were once at 214 for 2 then suddenly we have them at 296 for all not good day for them with doing impressive on third day of the match but fourth day bundled out with lost the match by 10 wickets good comeback by Sri Lanka even they are also not good for the top teams, but they have done good job now we will have three ODI and three T20i between these two teams which will be interesting for the fans.

Prabath Jayasuriya win the man of the match award as he takes 8 wickets for the winning team, Afghanistan surely needs to figure out their internal issues otherwise they can go down in near future just because of these conflicts like West Indies.

[AirtelBuzz]

but Afghanistan  had sent Sri Lanka down in the second innings.

According to you, I don't understand how Afghanistan destroyed Sri Lanka in the second innings. @Nanga Parbat You may not have watched this match well enough to provide accurate information. If you watch the highlights of this match you will understand that Afghanistan batted first and scored only 198 runs in the first innings then Sri Lanka scored 436 runs in their first innings. Afghanistan batted slightly better in their second innings than the first innings as a result of which they scored 296 runs. Sri Lanka needed just 56 runs to win this match which they collected without losing a wicket and won by ten wickets against Afghanistan.

[Bitcoin Smith]

Not good enough IMO. He's Pujara's replacement at number 3 and Pujara had the same kind of run with the bat in 2023 (2022 Puji was doing well) and he's phased out by management, so you need to do a little better and outbat all the candidates.

Just read an article that Bumrah might be rested and Siraj could replace him.
https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/129394/bumrah-could-be-rested-for-third-test-against-england

Pujara can be a nightmare for the opposition even though he is not scoring runs, he could hold one end rock solid that frustrate bowling unit for sure but the T20 mindset made everything to be changed. So Gill scored a ton and might not be replaced but I feel the team will back Iyer too in the next match and just go with same fragile unit with the hope of one man can save the match for them.

I saw commentators discussing about resting Bumrah too and that's indeed because he is our premium bowler and we can't afford to have him in the injury list when T20 WC just few months away.

Another Rumour that spreads, Virat might miss the entire series too.

[Minor Miner]

New Zealand vs  South Africa

The New Zealand vs South Africa match turned out to be completely one-sided. New Zealand's batsmen have done a great batting.
Although the two openers did not get off to a good start, New Zealand scored 511 runs in the first innings thanks to the excellent batting duo of Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson. New Zealand collected 232 runs from Williamson-Rachin pair. Williamson scored 118 runs and Rachin Ravindra scored 240 runs.

Along with the batsmen, New Zealand's bowlers are also bowling well now. South Africa lost four top-order batsmen to manage just 74 runs. Now at the crease are Bedingham and Peterson. The South African team will probably be defeated by the innings margin.

The second day of the test match between New Zealand and South Africa ended and today we see a lot of things like Rachin Ravindra's double century and the bowling of New Zealand, how they picked four wickets of South African batsmen.

Mitchell Santner took a wicket and Matt Henry also picked a wicket, and the player who took 2 wickets was Kyle Jamieson and the best and most experienced player of New Zealand Tim Southee didn't take any wicket, we had very hopes with him but the new players make us happy by taking wickets and in today's bowling attack Tim Southee didn't do anything. In response to 500 runs by the NZ, the scorecard of 80 for four wickets down looks embarrassing for South Africa.

The South African batsmen should have batted very carefully and tried to stay at the crease. Because New Zealand has a huge collection. If the South African batsmen do not play well, the South African team will have to accept a shameful defeat.

We haven't seen better batting from South Africa's top order. Although Tim Southee did not get any wicket, the top three bowlers of the New Zealand squad, Jemieson, Henry and Santner bowled brilliantly. Their bowling was very controlled. So the South African batsmen are not able to stay at the crease for long. Looking forward to see how South African batsmen Bedingham and Petersen will bat in the first session tomorrow.

[Haunebu]

Sad to see Ashwin get so close to 500 and pretty much reach it until Hartley's decision got reversed. Excited to see him reach it in the next test.

Just read an article that Bumrah might be rested and Siraj could replace him.
https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/129394/bumrah-could-be-rested-for-third-test-against-england

Hot damn! If they actually rest their best bowler, I would be surprised and that would be a gutsy move considering the fact that none of the other seamers are in his league at the moment.

[fuguebtc]

The second day of the test match between New Zealand and South Africa ended and today we see a lot of things like Rachin Ravindra's double century and the bowling of New Zealand, how they picked four wickets of South African batsmen.

Mitchell Santner took a wicket and Matt Henry also picked a wicket, and the player who took 2 wickets was Kyle Jamieson and the best and most experienced player of New Zealand Tim Southee didn't take any wicket, we had very hopes with him but the new players make us happy by taking wickets and in today's bowling attack Tim Southee didn't do anything. In response to 500 runs by the NZ, the scorecard of 80 for four wickets down looks embarrassing for South Africa.

The South African batsmen should have batted very carefully and tried to stay at the crease. Because New Zealand has a huge collection. If the South African batsmen do not play well, the South African team will have to accept a shameful defeat.

We haven't seen better batting from South Africa's top order. Although Tim Southee did not get any wicket, the top three bowlers of the New Zealand squad, Jemieson, Henry and Santner bowled brilliantly. Their bowling was very controlled. So the South African batsmen are not able to stay at the crease for long. Looking forward to see how South African batsmen Bedingham and Petersen will bat in the first session tomorrow.

South Africa is playing right trash to be honest. Because the performance from them is not good at all. There is a big lead ahead of them and they are not being able to level. They have already lost four wickets for only 80 runs. I don't think they will actually be able to get anywhere near the total, 511 that was posted by their opponent. And there is a very big chance that they will have to play a  follow on innings. And that is definitely going to be a little frustrating for South Africa in my opinion. But of course they have the capability to make a comeback. first thing they will have to do is survive the first session of the next day.

[Sithara007]

South Africa is playing right trash to be honest. Because the performance from them is not good at all. There is a big lead ahead of them and they are not being able to level. They have already lost four wickets for only 80 runs. I don't think they will actually be able to get anywhere near the total, 511 that was posted by their opponent. And there is a very big chance that they will have to play a  follow on innings. And that is definitely going to be a little frustrating for South Africa in my opinion. But of course they have the capability to make a comeback. first thing they will have to do is survive the first session of the next day.

Since their regular players are busy with SA20, CSA sent a very inexperienced squad to New Zealand. Even the captain (Neil Brand) is making his debut in this match. A total of 6 players are making their test debut for South Africa in this match (apart from Brand, others are Clyde Fortuin, Edward Moore, Ruan de Swardt, Raynard van Tonder and Tshepo Moreki). No wonder that New Zealand was able to get to an imposing total of 511. Apart from Brand, the other bowlers were very ordinary. South Africa is inching towards an innings defeat.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

Pujara can be a nightmare for the opposition even though he is not scoring runs, he could hold one end rock solid that frustrate bowling unit for sure but the T20 mindset made everything to be changed. So Gill scored a ton and might not be replaced but I feel the team will back Iyer too in the next match and just go with same fragile unit with the hope of one man can save the match for them.

I saw commentators discussing about resting Bumrah too and that's indeed because he is our premium bowler and we can't afford to have him in the injury list when T20 WC just few months away.

Another Rumour that spreads, Virat might miss the entire series too.

Fortunately or unfortunately management has moved on and looking at the future so India's batting lineup is in a transition period. They will announce the squad again in the next couple of days, let's see what the Rohit-Dravid duo is thinking. No updates on Kohli so no one has any idea.

Sad to see Ashwin get so close to 500 and pretty much reach it until Hartley's decision got reversed. Excited to see him reach it in the next test.

Just read an article that Bumrah might be rested and Siraj could replace him.
https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/129394/bumrah-could-be-rested-for-third-test-against-england

Hot damn! If they actually rest their best bowler, I would be surprised and that would be a gutsy move considering the fact that none of the other seamers are in his league at the moment.

Nothing is sure atm, just speculation because in recent times India also adopted workload management for seamers.