Topic: Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod] - page 1058. (Read 151956 times)

TBH I expected a bit of a fight from the South Africans. I did expect a result not a draw but I didn't expect the match to be over by 2nd session 

They are constantly losing their best players to Kolpak. And the "transformation quota" requirement is not helping things as well. Here in India, we have 60% to 70% of the government jobs and seats in educational institutions reserved for people from lower castes. This has resulted in illiterate people becoming doctors and engineers. The system has been destroyed inside out. South Africa has gone a step further by enforcing quotas in sports teams (not just cricket, these quotas exist in rugby, basketball.etc as well). Two decades back, they were regarded as the strongest cricket side (especially during the 1999 world cup). Now they have lost their position and is no longer regarded as one of the top 3 sides.

Yes i am lucky to see that South Africa is able to score more than 100 runs now and just two wickets needed to wrap this match, wondering how long South Africa can improve the 9th wicket partnership as they are reaching a 50 runs partnership now which is the highest this innings for them   .

If there is a couple of top class spinners in the South African side then India will not score easily like that in the second innings. They are coming in the subcontinent wicket with a single spinner and expect to contain the Indian batsman is the dumbest decision they can make as India is known to play spinners really well.

Yup the part timer is good and keep on taking wickets for the team.

That's a pure disaster how South Africa played today.  Today's match was supposed to be a draw but these South African are unpredictable like the pakistanis. 

I know many of us will lose their bet as most of us were going for draw 

^^Well South African batsmen not trying enough today. strange to see they didn't pick Shami's reverse swing despite the fact that he only ball wicket to wicket same as Philander. Faf's dismassal was ugly.

Part time bowler took 4 wicket today but let's bash Ashwin he only took 1 wicket

That's right, but Indian team too had played in the same pitch scoring 323 losing just four wickets. This is not about the pitch, the players aren't good enough to play against the bowling of the Indian cricket team. In the first innings even after the fall of early wickets they stood strong to reach a score of 431. Considering the same even after the early wickets I believed they'll make themselves strong. This time nothing seems supportive to the South African team.

South Africa is struggling and it looks like they will not score even 100 runs in their second innings as they have already lost eight wickets while scoring 70 runs. Mohammed Shami was swinging the ball on the final day and i was really surprised and the pitch was really difficult to bat and now Jadeja has taking wickets as if he is bowling to club batsman  .

@SaShiRaJaVu you just got lucky .

Disastrous first session for South Africa so far. They have lost 4 more wickets within just 1 hour of play. More worryingly for them, both Elgar and Faf du Plessis are now back in the pavilion. And Quinton de Kock just got cleaned up by Mohammed Shami. Aiden Markram is the only recognized batsman remaining and the tail has started with the arrival of Vernon Philander.

Yesterday I had posted that India made the mistake by delaying the declaration for too long. And looks like I was wrong. If things go on like this, then India will be able to wrap up the match before lunch today. Interestingly Senuran Muthusamy has been sent ahead of the big Vern. I don't think that he'll be able to perform any miracles on his test debut. Another crushing win for India is in the horizon. And I have to say that India completely outplayed the Proteas, in each and every department.

It look like India will win today. Du Plessis is the key player for South Africa and he is gone too. He has been playing too much defensively. SA needs to play their natural game at the start of the day but they couldn't. I think India will try to bowl them out before the start of the 3rd session.

It is a really difficult pitch to hold for a long time and the South African batsman are feeling the Indian pitches and it is not a pitch to chase 300 runs in the final day, you can do those high octane chases in foreign pitches where it is made for seam bowling and in the history of Test match cricket how many chases have we seen, not more than 5 in the history of cricket  . I was not underestimating the South African players but it is an impossible task to chase that much in Indian pitches in the final day when spinners are operating. I was hundred percent confident when i made the bet because i will be surprised if South Africa could defend the entire day  .


It is a matter of time and how long South Africa could bat in this pitch and show their fighting capability.

Three wickets have fallen for South Africa scoring just 20 runs. Very early wickets makes the innings worse, right now Du Plessis have joined Markram. They need to make a strong partnership to make the match end up in a draw. Further if there falls wickets before 100 runs we can see the second innings of South Africa getting over within 200 runs.

The team England had in that Test with Australia was with players who have a one day strike rate of over 100 and you think they will not try to chase a total that can be chased, do you see any players who could go after the Indian spinners in their team if so you can say that there is a possibility, what is the only weakness South Africa had after coming back to international cricket in 1992, they are not known to play spin that well.

Sure i will shave my head like that if South Africa wins .

South Africa require another 384 for a win and India needs 9 wickets. India was playing psychological tricks on South Africa. Note that they declared with a lead of 395. Most of the teams would have declared after achieving targets such as 400 or 450. Now the target looks less than 400 on paper, and this can give a sense of false confidence for the South Africans.

But South Africans are not falling in to this trap. Yesterday, they scored at a rate of 1.2 runs per over, meaning that they are no longer interested in chasing the target. They are only trying to survive the 5th day and take this match to a draw. A draw against India, and that too in a flat track like the one we had in Visakhapatnam is as good as a win for the Proteas.

It will be an interesting day 5 as SA do have the confident's now if they want to go for the win however they have lost their best batsman from the 1st innings so it will be hard for them. If India get a few early wickets then we will see SA try and play for the draw but if SA can form a partnership without losing wickets then we could see another come from behind win this year like we saw in the Ashes however it will be harder with the way the pitch is in this match.

The declaration was a good decision by India to attack the South African players and they have already taken a wicket and it will be difficult for South Africa to face the Indian spinners the entire day which is not an easy task for any players and that too on the final day. India could have went with three specialist spinners as the pitch is helping the spinners really well. First session will determine whether we will see a draw or a win.

South Africa is a good opponent in their home ground and i have not seen them perform well in spinning tracks and India is preparing pitches that will suite their strength and tomorrow is the final day and the pitch will be having patches and tears that will turn irrespective of the way they ball and hence it will be difficult to face.

@SaShiRaJaVu it is a bold step to go half bald in a public forum and i wish South Africa win the match to see how you value your words  .

I think you might be mistake about the whole game of test cricket. This is how things work. If you don't give the other team an opportunity to win the game they go on to draw the game. If India would have batted to take trail upto 500 South Africa would have known in first instance that nothing is left in a match as 500 in day is next to impossible so all they would have done is batted too defensively without taking a bit of risk and with the first innings batting no one can doubt their potential to bat whole day without taking any risks.

By declaring with a few over still left in the day South Africa would still try to achieve 395 as they would think it's achievable and go for some risky shots which could turn the game into India's favour. 395 in a day is still much more than what is achievable so don't you worry about South Africa winning because 400 runs in a day means batting at a Run rate of more than 4 which can be pretty dangerous in the last innings. waiting until end of day would have made it a dead draw as there would have been zero effort by South Africa and the type of pitch this has been Indians would have struggled for wickets. I think it was a great strategic decision by Virat to keep the match alive. I think actual sport is played in the minds of team rather than on the field.

Have you forgotten England's nearly-impossible chase against one of the strongest teams Australia? Here they have 90 overs to chase down 384 runs and plus they managed to get 431 runs in the first innings despite of losing 3 wickets in 20 overs. They need a RR of just over 4 to win the match which isn't actually impossible but they do have a chance to win. Even if they don't manage to get the runs but just manage to have wickets in hand, it will be a draw. I am not so confident of there being absolutely no chances for a win. Even an ODI match win would be possible in just 50 overs on Indian pitches.

I hope what you are predicting comes true but this is cricket. Don't underestimate the opponent that much. And please don't shave your head for a match lol

You are asking too much from south africa. They can't make 384 against Indian bowling attack. I fear that if they lose some early wickets, they might find it difficult to survive this match however if they play the first session safely, then this match would be draw.



I hope a miracle happens and we get to see your shaved head picture.