Topic: Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod] - page 726. (Read 169270 times)

The third test match has entered in a very interesting situation, as Australia have declared there innings on 227. Now Pakistan have to chase a target of 350. Highest target ever chased Pakistan was of 382 against Sri Lanka. It can be anyone game from this point. Hopefully by stumps today we have better positions of both teams.

Australia have already got lead of 300 runs and they still have 8 wickets left and 40 overs of play left. That match well draw or Australia win if Pakistan collapsed just like they collapsed in first innings. If Australia declare innings by stumps today with 400 runs target then Pakistan surely will go for draw.

So far everything is going according to script. Most interesting thing would be Australian collapse, this test match could produce excellent cricket if Aussie get bowled out quickly and Pakistan chasing under 280-300 run target. It would be interesting to see Pakistani approach, so far in this series they didn't show any intent to win the match with the bat, hope this might change in the final inning of decider game.

Arey bhai, why are you using Australia example? May be use SA as an example but not Australia. India just won 2 back 2 test series in Australia.

Yeah Indian record is bad in NZ and they didn't won any series in NZ in this decade but that's what happen when you play in alien condition after 6 years gap. They've toured only 2 times there in last decade, i like to believe that if India team start touring them regularly and start playing long series then this record might improve drastically.

And no i don't think Pakistan is weak team, i've mentioned this countless time that Pakistan has every ingredient to become a top team in red ball cricket but ATM no, they are not top team. They rank 6 and we have only 10 test playing nation who play regularly (Not counting AFG/IRE).

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Group system seems good solution imo. Reposting old discussion.

Exactly that's what I was thinking. The frustration has gone upto an extent that they have started calling Pakistan a weak team like West Indies. When Australia score 400 runs they say they are world top team but when Pakistan score 400 they say pitch is flat. Pakistan has right to make pitch of his own choice, then why this criticism?

The pitches are not so bad as you are trying to comprehend. Looks like you have never seen a five days test match and want to see the result on the third day  

The last match in Karachi was so entertaining as the Pakistani team fought back in the last five sessions and this test match is also in an interesting phase. but not interesting for those who have an IPL mindset.

I can understand the frustrations from the Indians as they are unable to sleep seeing Australia's full squad team playing in Pakistan with no mishaps happenings.

So they beat twice Australia and once England, these stats clearly indicates Pakistan stand among top teams IMO. If someone says that after all these wins Pakistan is a weak team then I would not involve in arguments since that will be of no use.
Yes I do agree that India is unbeaten at home and very strong when they play on there own pitches. But there dilemma is they can't produce same results when touring countries like Aus, NZ IMO.

Two days of play remain. Australia will be cautious, because Pakistan made big totals during second innings in the previous matches. My guess is that they will not declare, unless the lead gets to 400 plus. And that would mean another boring draw in the horizon and the series will end at 0-0 even after three matches. And right now Usman Khawaja is at the crease along with David Warner. While Warner is having a good strike rate, Khawaja is just the opposite. I am not expecting Pakistan to start their second innings before today's tea-break.

I think that gets that Australia will need to set for Pakistan is going to be a little bit tricky because if Australia wants to win I think this time they will have to set up bait for Pakistan and give a relatively achievable score. and I think that could be 300.

That might make the Pakistan players think that they can go for the win and in that process lose quick wickets, but it is going to be a risky play. and obviously, if they want to be in a safe position they can always go for 350 or more.

I think a score of 350 is going to be really good for Australia to defend. But whatever happens, I really want both teams to go for the win in this test match because if this is also a draw I am going to really lose my mind. 

I really hate it when the test cricket does not produce a result. in my mind, I think,  ok all this happening and all this money just to be wasted?

I think if ICC can find a way to eliminate draw from test results test cricket might be e interesting again. but it certainly has to be done in a fair way.

No one got any magic to bring back golden days of test cricket now they need to do something for results like good and supportive pitches and nothing else is possible because as you already mention new generation is having no interest in this game because of its nature and surely it's marketing is stand on as we have few years back even now T10 and T20 Leagues are doing very good but still few countries love this and enjoying, so now it's time for ICC to have some rules about this and stop this for new countries with current teams better chances for having some entertaining results and work on other formats which can generate good finances for them hopefully this will survive for some more decades with his this bore and dead system.

But still, it doesn't seem like the popularity of test cricket has changed a lot. yes, a few more people are concerned about test cricket right now and they are looking at the points table from time to time. but it doesn't mean test cricket is progressing as a whole.  there is no denying that test cricket is just too old and it's not for this generation. and honestly even I don't have any idea how to make it interesting again.

A very complete and comprehensive statement about this match because I was also totally feeling in this way now this match is very interesting, and we have to watch Australia how they start and response for win this series because they are in better position after today's interesting and unexpected collapse on flat pitch even still I am feeling this match is heading for another draw because Australia will take some time which is very important and target less than 400 is never been good for them as they already know what can happen to them in chase.

So, it's all about mind game which is mostly in Australian hands because they better know how to handle these Pakistani in these situations. Most chances they will try to go through for 400 but 350 is also good target for Pakistani batting line up which can collapse again on this pitch.

I don't mind getting into discussion but you have to do your due diligence before making any comment, at least simple google search would do the job otherwise we'll end up in useless arguments and it's not productive IMO.

Pakistan record in UAE since 2013.

That's not dominating record looks like imo.

Pak vs SA,   series draw 1-1 (2013-2014)
Pak vs SL,   series draw 1-1 (2013-2014)
Pak vs Aus,  Pak won 2-0 (2014-2015)
Pak vs NZ,   series draw 1-1 ( 2014-15)
Pak vs Eng,  Pak won 2-0 (2015-16)
Pak vs WI,   Pak won 2-1 (2016-17)
Pak vs SL,   SL won 2-0 (2017)
Pak vs Aus,  Pak won 1-0 ( 2018-19)
Pak vs NZ,   NZ won 2-1 ( 2018-19)

You should have used different example other than India when comparing home records, i don't think its fair comparison because India lives up to almost invincible status at least when playing at home. 14-ish consecutive test series since 2013, England was the last team to beat India in test series. After that India has played around 43-44 tests at home and lost 2 match (Eng and Aus) with single digit draws (don't remember the exact number). The second best home winning streak belongs to Australia (10 series).

Already posted this in here couple of times, may be you missed it.

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Yes, India lost against the South Africa but this only prove that they are not invincible and not world beater at all, specially in SENA countries and they need to up their game, despite beating Aussie twice and leading unfinished series 2-1 against England. But if we look at every test playing team's record you'll find that India was best touring team in last 5-6 years. There is a reason India was holding Test Mace since 2016-17. They lost the Mace in 2021 when NZ won the WTC finals.

If Pakistan is not top team then who else is ? India, who lost everything in South Africa tour and then invited Sri Lanka and Afghanistan at home to regain the form. If that's the criteria for being a strong team then I admit Pakistan is a weak team.
There is hardly any cricket in Pakistan in last ten years and they dominated every series played at UAE

If we're going by the norms then top teams definition is dominating at home and more or less competitive when playing away from home

So atm Pakistan is hardly a top team in the Red ball cricket. They have a long way to go if they want to be a top tier team, ingredients and signs are there to reach the top but they have to play at least 3-4 years of good cricket against top ranking teams.

In future if they manage to conquer at least 2 SENA countries and start dominating at home then i would say yeah they are strong team, till then this sort of statement doesn't hold any weightage IMO. 

People are mostly criticising pitch but no one ignoring that these are two top teams of the current era. Pakistan today collapsed after scoring fair amount of runs prior to that they were all out on 148 runs. Australia will definitely try to give target of 350 runs, anything less then that will be really risky.

Pakistan really trying hard to keep this test match interesting, some fine and very unexpected collapse i would say on batter friendly track. Aussie pacer are picking up some tricks about how to bowl on flat track - Reverse swing-. Unfortunately this was the Pakistan's main weapon in good ol' days when likes of Wasim Akram-Waqar Younis used to run riots in opposition batting line up.

We have 2 full days left, no major delay so 180 overs ( let's say 170-ish overs due to small break etc). Australia lead is 134 runs so they might want to bat at least 60 more overs and if by any chance they manage to add 180-200 runs, given they keep run rate of 3 rpo then we are looking at 314-334 range. If they are on offensive mode then we could also see 350ish range.

If this scenario pans out then final day is going to be very exciting  or what if Australia also face some sort of collapse tomorrow? After all Pakistan bowlers are not dummy.

Pakistan totally surrendered the so-called home advantage. After the conclusion of this series, Australia would be more satisfied. Pakistan will seek a similar result. From the way they started batting with such a defensive attitude, it didn't appear that we are playing for a win. Now, it appears that Australia has the upper hand. Australia leads by 134 runs at the end of Day 3. The third test draw is currently underway!

All the credit goes to the dead pitch, both teams aren't strong enough to bat in this way. However, Pakistani batting lineup has collapsed today. Probably no one expected the collapse like that. Pakistan is all-out in 268 runs from 248/3. These test matches are nothing else than boring. Australia has started with the lead of 123 runs. This match will end as a draw if Australia makes the runs slowly.

You cannot call it a dead wicket. Australians took 7 wickets in the third session today while giving only 20 runs and thus once again shifted this test match in their favor. Now, like the previous test match, Pakistan team will have to play last and survive again if they want to save this test match.

In my opinion, Australians can give 350+ runs target to Pakistan if they bat at a good run rate in the first two sessions tomorrow on the 4th day.