Topic: Test Cricket Prediction and Discussion Thread [self - mod] - page 877. (Read 152926 times)

The first two matches were dominated by bowlers and in the first Test if the Indian batsman batted sensibly and was able to score some runs then it would have being a close match as the Australian batsman are also struggling and the same happened in the second Test but their new captain Rahane played the defining match winning innings and the way in which he was able to manage his bowlers was outstanding.

Congrats to India on winning the second test match. Now they have all the momentum going into the Sydney test match which looks like it will go ahead now even with the concerns of the virus. It will be another pitch that should suit India and this gives them a chance to go 2-1 in the series as I just don't see India playing as well in Brisbane as like I said Australia have a very good record in Brisbane and haven't lost there in years. I also think Warner will come back into the Australian team which could help sure up the opening spot and Will Pucovski could make his test debut.

I think one tour is just too less to judge whether someone is a good fit for a location or not. Yes, there is cut-throat competition at this point in time in the team to get a spot in the playing XI but you never get top players by just giving them chances in 8-10 matches. The Rohit Sharma we know today got countless chances before he could prove himself as one of the best ODI batsmen in the world. Even Players like MS Dhoni didn't scored a century in the very first tournament. I think judging players merely on the basis of one tournament is a pretty bad criteria. But the competition is so damn high even our India-A team could somewhere be at number 4-5 in the world.

Gill was the first positive thing that changed the match to the Indian side to be honest because he is striking the balls more which helped the scoreboard ticking s other players were not in hurry to make their runs. Then better team performance in the batting compared to their worst ever performance which just happened in their previous match. Jaddu another man who came in and stole a place for him in the remaining matches.

Would like to see the faces of all those people who expected a whitewash after the 1st test match. People love jumping to conclusions without thinking things through.

Am expecting India and Australia to win another match each and end this series in a draw. Just a random assumption.

Natarajan still has a long way to go. A couple of good performances are not enough to include him in the test squad. For example, many famous test players were selected in the test format after a long period of time.

KL Rahul had a very bad outing in last tour of Australia, he managed to score only 70ish runs in 3 games and he was selected due to his IPL performance. My first choice is Mayank then Shaw, Rohit and then Rahul. Mayank and Shaw are in bad form so sometimes break helps young players. I have already seen enough of Rahul in SENA countries, there is no doubt that he's great talent but tbh in test format he didn't impressed anyone at all except Kohli and Shastri. It would be very bad call if KL Rahul keeping in the test as he's new keeper even in limited overs cricket and test cricket keeping is not an easy task. In SENA Pant should be their first choice without any doubt.

I am not big fan of Rohit Sharma in the red ball cricket, may be in subcontinent but in SENA countries as an opener? it's big no for me. IMHO he's not good batsman when ball starts moving or swing. Having said that I don't mind if team management want to try him as an opener, but only if they are willing to try Sehwag type of experiment because you never know and he deserves at least 1 chance as opener in Australia. If he clicks then he could play for next 2 year most as he's already 32ish. If this experiment fails then tell him to focus on limited overs cricket only.

Rahul and Rohit could fit in middle order though but Indian middle order ( Pujara - Rahane - Vihari) is good, Would say it's best package India got right now as far as SENA countries are concern.

@Vishnu I think you clearly forget his last outing? Numbers are not in his favor but he made some useful runs according to team needs, some time spending time at crease is equally important.

I am surprised no one is talking about KL Rahul. He already is in a good form played well in T20 series. If only keeping is a thing KL Rahul is a better keep than Rishab Pant. I feel that instead of Rishab, KL Rahul deserves a much better spot in the team. After return of Rohit Sharma it is understandable that he won't get a chance to open so he should be tried somewhere in middle order. Mayank Aggarwal has a good track record if you drop someone with this good track record his morale would definitely fall a lot in long term.

Mayank is 13 match old (3 100s + 4 50s + average 50) and Shaw is 5 match (1 ton+ 2 50s + average 42). Mayank had average of 65 in 2018-19 Australian tour, its first Australian tour for Shaw. They both have good record in the domestic, so i wouldn't say they are over hyped but yeah they are definitely going through some bad form.

Shaw is already replaced by Gill and i think if Rohit Sharma is fit then he should also replace Mayank, although Rohit has no match practice. I hope they don't replace Hanuma, i agree he's not performing according to his reputation but he's fine batsman when batting at middle order.

Umesh Yadav is injured so we might see another debutant in the next game. Hope this time Natarajan.

Shaw is just 21 and lacks the experience. So, for him it will take time especially when playing against the best side on their ground is never easy. Between Mayank and Shaw would be interesting to see if there would be any changes in 3rd test match like will anybody else be given chance or will stick to same winning combination

Rahane has impressed and proved why he should be regular with the India team. And good comeback by India after being lost badly in 1st test match.

Both Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw failed to get runs in Australia. And I was quite surprised when Agarwal was picked ahead of KL Rahul, despite his poor performance in the second test. Anyway, Rohit Sharma will be in the squad for the third test, so in all probability Mayank will be dropped. And regarding Prithvi Shaw, I don't think that he'll get another chance in this series.

I think both Agarwal and Shaw are over hyped. They both were paired by the Indian management to open the batting but both have failed miserably and I do not think they will get another chance after this series.

The Indian team management is most focused on Mayank Agarwal in this series. Everyone thought that Agarwal might be the opener of India team in the future. But he has so far failed miserably. He has scored only 31 runs in 4 innings in 2 Test matches. So far he is not fully ready for the Indian national team.

Series win is going to be too much to ask from the Indian team, when they are playing without some of their star players. Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane are batting now and India should be able to get to the target without losing anymore wickets. I was expecting them to reach the target without losing any wickets, but then Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara showed unnecessary haste. Mayank Agarwal has now made a total of 31 runs from 4 innings so far in this series.

Winning 1 game as captain not going to change anything for Rahane, series win might start some discussion tho. No one should forget that at one time Kohli-Shastri duo dropped him due to couple of bad games.

And 2nd wicket down for India.....lol

I have no doubt regarding the outcome. Congratulations to the Indian players, as they deserve this victory. It was a team effort, with both the bowlers and the batsmen contributing to the win. Now they need to keep the momentum going for the remaining test matches. And it will be interesting to know whether Rahane will remain as the test captain when Virat Kohli becomes available again.

After 3 overs, India will be able to score 13 without losing any wickets. This match is easy to win for team India. They needed only 57 runs.

Yeah, should be straight forward as pitch became a complete road.. Even Aussie tail batted well against 2nd new ball. Having said that, last game memories still fresh lol so fingers crossed.

I think Aussie should drop Burn in the next game. Smith failure is bit surprising to me, happy as Indian fan but disappointing as cricket fan. I hope he bounce back but please after this series. 

Australia's second innings came to an end. They were able to score 200 runs. They did only 195 in the first Innings. Australia has given India a target of only 70 runs. This is not a very big target for the team India. But if India is careless, it will be difficult for them to deal with this target. As we saw in the previous Test, India's batting was a disaster. And their second innings ended with just 36 runs. So India must bat very carefully for 70 runs.

Now this should be very simple and straight forward for the Indians. Congratulations for leveling the series 1-1. Australia has only themselves to blame for their poor performance. India was playing without many of their key players and yet Australia could not perform in a satisfactory manner. They need a complete rethink on their batting strategy, against the Indian bowlers.

Irritating to watch that tailenders still batting and last 3 wickets manage to add almost 100 runs and counting. Don't know what happen to Indian bowling when tailenders comes to bat...

----
Edit
Finally!! India need 70 runs to level the series.