Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod]

[JSRAW]

The Percentage points gap between the top 3 looks all right.

We should see some decent change in the next week, depending on the NZ vs AUS contest. India could remain in 2nd spot even if they lose the last test against England. However, they need match points desperately because they had to share points with the Windies (That draw might hurt) and they are also playing against Australia in an away series.

I feel that every team would be hoping for India to be in the top 2 because of their tendency to choke in the finals these days. New Zealand and Australia are circling around them like vultures currently.

On the other hand, England seem like they are pretty much out of the race at this point thanks to their consecutive losses recently.

SENA countries would hope that because the venue is in England and it suits their batting and bowling attack. Doubt if any subcontinent team or Windies want to face India in any condition, not that they are in a race but still.

One off test in SENA is a tough deal. Against top teams, India loses its first match in almost every test series even at home because they hardly play warm up games because of a tight schedule.

[Swordsoffreedom]

Source- India Today

The first and only Test match of the Afghanistan vs Ireland series has started. Afghanistan team is not in good form. The team has performed poorly in ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka a few days back. However, as Ireland is a relatively easy opponent, Afghanistan team is considered as the favorite in this series.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has won the toss and decided to bat. But the team faced a batting disaster in the beginning. The team lost two important wickets of Noor Ali and Rahmat Shah to collect only 11 runs. Noor Ali collected 7 runs, Rahmat Shah failed to collect any runs. Afghanistan has now collected 21 runs after losing 2 wickets.

[WatChe]

The first and only Test match of the Afghanistan vs Ireland series has started. Afghanistan team is not in good form. The team has performed poorly in ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka a few days back. However, as Ireland is a relatively easy opponent, Afghanistan team is considered as the favorite in this series.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has won the toss and decided to bat. But the team faced a batting disaster in the beginning. The team lost two important wickets of Noor Ali and Rahmat Shah to collect only 11 runs. Noor Ali collected 7 runs, Rahmat Shah failed to collect any runs. Afghanistan has now collected 21 runs after losing 2 wickets.

It's good for test cricket that teams like Afghanistan and Ireland are playing test against each other. Such tests will give them necessary test experience that will help them when playing against strong test teams. Afghanistan is a strong team in T20 only and they fail to perform well when it comes to ODI and test matches.
Afghanistan had a trouble in the start but they have recovered well from two early loses. Ibrahim Zadran along with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi are on the crease and they have together scored 53 runs so far.

[AirtelBuzz]

I was also surprised by how Afghanistan played against Srilanka. It is a possibility that since the series happened in Srilanka which is known for notorious and tricky pitches they might have not anticipated it. Today is a one-of-test match against a team that shouldn't be a threat to Afghanistan. I doubt they will lose this match and yes they are still a team who are improving day by day.

I have already said that Afghanistan is improving day by day in their cricket but recently their performance is not good as we got the proof in today's match as well. Today in the only Test match between Afghanistan and Ireland, Afghanistan team came to bat first. While batting in this match, Afghanistan stumbled early with their first wicket falling for 11 runs and the second wicket falling for 11 runs but now they have managed it. Mark Adair struck early in Afghanistan's batting fortress. As Afghanistan lost three wickets out of 68 runs, Rahman Ullah Gurbaz has come to bat at the moment and he will be accompanied by Afghanistan's opening batsman Ibrahim Zandran.

[Sithara007]

The Irish had a great start, but then they threw away the advantage. Mark Adair in his opening spell picked up the wickets of Noor Ali Zadran and Rahmat Shah to leave Afghanistan reeling at 11/2. But then Hashmatullah Shahidi and Ibrahim Zadran managed to stabilize the innings. Shahidi was nabbed by Barry McCarthy a few minutes back, but now Rahmanullah Gurbaz has arrived at the crease and he is looking quite confident out there. The biggest disappointment was Craig Young. He still hasn't got his line and length right.

[JSRAW]

^^ They are collapsing like a house of cards so hardly any opportunity missed for the Irish.

Seamers are just feasting on Afghans. Set batter Ibrahim Zadran was looking good from one end but now he's too sitting in the dugout and will watch their inning wrap up quickly.

[Bureau]

^^ They are collapsing like a house of cards so hardly any opportunity missed for the Irish.

Seamers are just feasting on Afghans. Set batter Ibrahim Zadran was looking good from one end but now he's too sitting in the dugout and will watch their inning wrap up quickly.

Zardan is gone after scoring 53 runs and the tail-enders are now batting. Afghans are nowhere near the 150, they are at 111 runs with 7 wickets gone. Is this test cricket being played or T20? The Afghans do have a few good bowlers and hopefully, they might be able to defend a low score. Ireland bowlers have done a good job in getting hold of the Afghanistan batters. 

[DanWalker]

^^ They are collapsing like a house of cards so hardly any opportunity missed for the Irish.

Seamers are just feasting on Afghans. Set batter Ibrahim Zadran was looking good from one end but now he's too sitting in the dugout and will watch their inning wrap up quickly.

Zardan is gone after scoring 53 runs and the tail-enders are now batting. Afghans are nowhere near the 150, they are at 111 runs with 7 wickets gone. Is this test cricket being played or T20? The Afghans do have a few good bowlers and hopefully, they might be able to defend a low score. Ireland bowlers have done a good job in getting hold of the Afghanistan batters. 

After a poor performance against Sri Lanka, I thought the Afghanistan players would return to form against a relatively weak side, Ireland. But in today's match the performance of the team's batsmen is more weak. And we didn't expect such bad batting from Afghanistan players at all.

Afghanistan lost 7 wickets to collect only 111 runs. Apart from Ibrahim Zadran, no other batsman could bat better. Zadran was dismissed for 53 runs. But Karim Janat is still at the crease. He is an experienced batsman. If karim plays a big innings, maybe the team can collect 170-180 runs. But I would say Afghanistan are more likely to lose all their wickets before 150 runs.

[synchronym]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

[Essential10]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

In the only Test between Ireland and Afghanistan, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat. The decision to bat after winning the toss was correct but Afghanistan's batsmen did not play well. Rahmat Shah, Noor Ali Zadran out when team scored 11 runs and Afghanistan fell under the pressure this couple of wickets fell in Mark Adair's over. Shahidi and Ibrahim Zadran put on 55 runs in the third wicket partnership but Shahidi could not last long. Ibrahim Zadran tried to hold on to an edge but was out for a personal 53 after the team's 90 runs for six wickets. Afghanistan's team score is now 139/9. Mark Adair has bowled brilliantly, he has already taken four wickets. I think the situation in Afghanistan would not have been the same if they had included experienced players in the team.

[Swordsoffreedom]

The first and only Test match of the Afghanistan vs Ireland series has started. Afghanistan team is not in good form. The team has performed poorly in ODI and T20 series against Sri Lanka a few days back. However, as Ireland is a relatively easy opponent, Afghanistan team is considered as the favorite in this series.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi has won the toss and decided to bat. But the team faced a batting disaster in the beginning. The team lost two important wickets of Noor Ali and Rahmat Shah to collect only 11 runs. Noor Ali collected 7 runs, Rahmat Shah failed to collect any runs. Afghanistan has now collected 21 runs after losing 2 wickets.

It's good for test cricket that teams like Afghanistan and Ireland are playing test against each other. Such tests will give them necessary test experience that will help them when playing against strong test teams. Afghanistan is a strong team in T20 only and they fail to perform well when it comes to ODI and test matches.
Afghanistan had a trouble in the start but they have recovered well from two early loses. Ibrahim Zadran along with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi are on the crease and they have together scored 53 runs so far.

We have seen a decline in Afghanistan's overall performance in recent times. Their performance against Sri Lanka was very poor. And as usual we saw poor batting by Afghanistan players against Ireland. Afghanistan managed to collect only 155 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored 53 runs and Karim Janat scored 41 runs. Besides, no other batsman could stay at the crease for long
Mark Adair bowled well in this match. He gave away 39 runs in 16.5 overs and took 5 wickets. Besides, Craig Young and Campher picked up 2 wickets each.

Ireland's batsmen are batting with enough responsibility. Ireland collected 68 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. Campher scored 33 runs and Harry Tector scored 20 runs and is now batting.

[onecall123]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

Afghanistan only managed to score 155 runs before getting all out. Their performance against Ireland mirrors their struggles in the recent Test match against Sri Lanka. It's clear that Afghanistan still lacks the readiness and maturity needed for Test cricket. While they perform well in white-ball cricket, they struggle with the red ball format. To improve as a Test cricket team, they need players with the temperament suited for this format. On the other hand, Ireland's batters have responded well and seem poised to take the lead against Afghanistan. I wouldn't be surprising if Ireland ends up winning this one-off Test match.

[JSRAW]

~snip~

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clarifying that. I believe Ishan Kishan was one of them who was neglecting domestic stuff for the IPL.

Chahar and Bishnoi also pulled the same stunt.

Updates

BCCI is not holding back anymore and walking the talk by making an example of players like Ishan Kishan or to some extent Shreyas Iyer. For now no annual contract for Either of them

There were signs of many young players taking everything casual in domestic cricket because of their IPL contracts. This Ishan Kishan's drama Opened the Pandora Box, now players will think twice about skipping Ranji etc.

[Popkon6]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

In the only Test between Ireland and Afghanistan, Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat. The decision to bat after winning the toss was correct but Afghanistan's batsmen did not play well. Rahmat Shah, Noor Ali Zadran out when team scored 11 runs and Afghanistan fell under the pressure this couple of wickets fell in Mark Adair's over. Shahidi and Ibrahim Zadran put on 55 runs in the third wicket partnership but Shahidi could not last long. Ibrahim Zadran tried to hold on to an edge but was out for a personal 53 after the team's 90 runs for six wickets. Afghanistan's team score is now 139/9. Mark Adair has bowled brilliantly, he has already taken four wickets. I think the situation in Afghanistan would not have been the same if they had included experienced players in the team.

Today's only Test match, Afghanistan team has done a lot of financing. The key to playing a Test match is to keep wickets and perform for a long time, but the Afghanistan team lost all wickets on the first day, scoring only 155 runs in the first innings. Afghanistan team has been performing poorly throughout the season. Ireland started the day very well scoring 90 runs for just 2 wickets. Mark Adair of the Ireland team picked up five wickets alone which is the biggest role for the Ireland team.

[Haunebu]

BCCI is not holding back anymore and walking the talk by making an example of players like Ishan Kishan or to some extent Shreyas Iyer. For now no annual contract for Either of them

There were signs of many young players taking everything casual in domestic cricket because of their IPL contracts. This Ishan Kishan's drama Opened the Pandora Box, now players will think twice about skipping Ranji etc.

Damn. That seriously sucks. Both of them are great players(Especially Shreyas Iyer) which is why I don't really agree with BCCI's decision here. Crazy cramped schedules are making players reconsider their priorities.

This is why I completely understand why Iyer and Kishan decided to skip domestic stuff in favor of IPL etc.

[JSRAW]

BCCI is not holding back anymore and walking the talk by making an example of players like Ishan Kishan or to some extent Shreyas Iyer. For now no annual contract for Either of them

There were signs of many young players taking everything casual in domestic cricket because of their IPL contracts. This Ishan Kishan's drama Opened the Pandora Box, now players will think twice about skipping Ranji etc.

Damn. That seriously sucks. Both of them are great players(Especially Shreyas Iyer) which is why I don't really agree with BCCI's decision here. Crazy cramped schedules are making players reconsider their priorities.

This is why I completely understand why Iyer and Kishan decided to skip domestic stuff in favor of IPL etc.

Ishan's drama was in the open so it does make sense.

But kinda surprised by Iyer's exclusion. He must have done something to piss off the management and surely his poor form in the test is not one of them. I mean dude was in red hot form in the ODI WC so clearly deserved the contract, the national contract is not about money per se but reputation.

[LDL]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

Afghanistan performed relatively well against Sri Lanka but we never imagined that they would perform so badly against Ireland. However, the Afghan fans cannot accept that a team like Afghanistan will be all out with Ireland for 155 runs. Mark Adair, one of Ireland's leading bowlers, picked up five wickets in 16 overs. However, it goes without saying that Ireland have fared better than Afghanistan in this Test.

[synchronym]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

Afghanistan performed relatively well against Sri Lanka but we never imagined that they would perform so badly against Ireland. However, the Afghan fans cannot accept that a team like Afghanistan will be all out with Ireland for 155 runs. Mark Adair, one of Ireland's leading bowlers, picked up five wickets in 16 overs. However, it goes without saying that Ireland have fared better than Afghanistan in this Test.

When the Afghanistan team was bowled out for 155 against Ireland, I realized that Afghanistan's performance may have been due to the lack of experienced players in the team. Afghanistan team is in this situation due to not having important players like Mohammad Nabi Fazalhaq Farooqi Rashid Khan in the team. Because we all know that Afghanistan team is performing very well now so this kind of performance against Ireland is really very disappointing. Afghanistan's poor performance against Ireland is mainly due to Afghanistan's lack of some key experienced players. Of course, best wishes to the Afghanistan team for better performance in the next matches.

[Marvell1]

Afghanistan's batsmen have given a very disappointing performance as they started batting in the first Test match against Ireland. Afghanistan batsmen should have batted more responsibly. Afghanistan's batsmen have had a bad performance against Sri Lanka in the Test match, so Ireland's opponents have batted very badly. The way they are batting, it looks like Afghanistan will be all out before they can even score 200 runs. Ibrahim Zadran scored the highest runs for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's current score is 121 for 7 in 40 overs.

Afghanistan performed relatively well against Sri Lanka but we never imagined that they would perform so badly against Ireland. However, the Afghan fans cannot accept that a team like Afghanistan will be all out with Ireland for 155 runs. Mark Adair, one of Ireland's leading bowlers, picked up five wickets in 16 overs. However, it goes without saying that Ireland have fared better than Afghanistan in this Test.

Sri Lanka is a big team. And their players were in good form too. Hence Afghanistan lost both ODI and T20 series. Afghanistan could not even win a single match in the ODI series.

But Ireland is a relatively small team. At least this team's players are far behind Afghanistan's players. However, Afghanistan's players have played very poorly in this Test match. The team managed to collect only 155 runs on this pitch. It's not enough. Afghanistan players should have collected at least more than 220.

The performance of Ireland's batsmen is quite good. At the end of the first day, the team collected 100 runs after losing 4 wickets. Ireland team is only 55 runs behind. Harry Tector and Paul Stirling will bat early next day. These two batsmen are two of the most experienced batsmen in Ireland's squad. I think Ireland can take a lead of 70-100 runs.

[Bitcoin Smith]

~
Ishan's drama was in the open so it does make sense.

But kinda surprised by Iyer's exclusion. He must have done something to piss off the management and surely his poor form in the test is not one of them. I mean dude was in red hot form in the ODI WC so clearly deserved the contract, the national contract is not about money per se but reputation.

I read that Shreyas Iyer is gonna lead the team Mumbai in Ranji Semi's against Tamil Nadu so he might have been asked by the team management to regain some form like what they asked to Ishan Kishan as well. Good to see some Youngsters got the chances as well but making series shuffles in the team combination when there are only few months away from T20 WC is kind of dangerous in my opinion but still IPL will be the decider and one who make a statement with their performance will likely to make a comeback.