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KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:So India is getting back on the field tonight, kicking off their WTC campaign. Rohit has already confirmed Jaiswal will open, and Gill drop down to 3. When all the talk of Yashasvi taking over from Pujara at 3 was going on, I felt he should open, particularly since the team views Gill as the eventual successor to Virat Kohli at 4. Going forward, I see a top 4 of Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran/Devdutt Padikkal/Rohan Kunnummal, Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Eswaran has been hard done by......Jaiswal was jumped over him
Mayank Agarwal should not be ruled out...he has batted very well in FC and has a decent test match showing also.

And don't forget the favorite boy of seniors and BCCI in KL Rahul...as soon as he is fit he will walk back into the 11

Its been tough on Easwaran. Think Mayank and KL might find it difficult to now fight their way back in. Particularly if Yashasvi has a good start to his career. KL might still make a comeback when Rohit leaves, but I hope Easwaran, Rohan and even Padikkal will make better cases for themselves.
As for Yashasvi jumping over Abhimanyu, though its tough on the latter, think is the right call. Jaiswal scored hundreds on his Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophy debuts. He's versatile and has shown adaptability as indicated by his IPL success. And, its not much noted these days, but he's a handy parttimer with the ball, he very much was for the U-19s, hope he'll get a few chances right away to work on that secondary skill of his...

msp
Good to see you back.
Your presence immediately doubles the Indian perspective.
You are exactly right about Jadeja being a poor starter after an overnight good score.
Hope he breaks this jinx and bats until the end.

NZ's cosy overnight position vanished, as they slumped from 255/4 to 340ao. Only Glenn Phillips really doing anything with the bat.

Since then, Karaunaratne and Chandimal have dominated with the bat. SL are net 45/1.

Bangladesh are 91/6. Even if India had been bowled out for 200, Bangladesh's batting wouldn't have been good enough to challenge.

Good to see you back MSP - as anticipated with India/Bangladesh, some bright spots for the Tigers but they're not in the company of the Indians in this format.

Indian seamers proving vastly superior to BD and It's Bumrah that skews a slight superiority to a vast one.
Akashdeep skids off the seam and nips both new and old ball to pick many clean bowleds in the 2 tests and a Duleep Trophy game I have seen him in.
No help for Ashwin, a bit for Jadeja, though Ashwin had a dropped catch off him

As stumps approaching, India consolidating their position, though they've lost 3 wickets in the 2nd innings, even before reaching 100. Pant and Gill in the middle, Pant playing his shots to get going. Kohli was the last to fall, LBW to Miraz, and though it seemed plumb at the outset, there could have been an edge that even Kohli didn't seem to have realized...

Sri Lanka in complete control at stumps. 237/4, which is a lead of 202. They did have a wobble, losing three wickets for 25, but Mathews and Dhananjaya averted total collapse. They've handled the spinners quite comfortably; it's only O'Rourke, who has taken eight wickets in the game, that SL are really struggling with. Kamindu got out for 13, proving he is human.

India on course for a resounding win. I note Pant is playing, his first test in nearly two years.

Duty281 wrote:

India on course for a resounding win. I note Pant is playing, his first test in nearly two years.

His last test was in Birmingham vs Eng 2022 where he scored 146 & 57 but India lost to Bazballing when Eng chased 378-3

I think he missed about 16 tests in between

KP_fan wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

India on course for a resounding win. I note Pant is playing, his first test in nearly two years.

His last test was in Birmingham vs Eng 2022 where he scored 146 & 57 but India lost to Bazballing when Eng chased  378-3

I think he missed about 16 tests in between

Think Pant's previous test was against Bangladesh at the end of 2022. He missed everything from the Australia visit up to now... The 4 tests against Australia, the 5 matches against England, a couple of games against the West Indies away, the WTC final, 2 against SA...

Good to see Pant & Gill closing in on 100s. India will give BD a chase of 500+
Turned out to be a one sided non contest.
The BD that came back from behind to win 2 tests in Pak nowhere to be seen.

The pitch looks like a cut out from Roland Garos now. Tinge of green gone completely.and it's turning brighter and brighter Orange.
It should spin later today when BD bat.

Bangladesh putting up a better show with the bat in the 2nd innings, but when bad light ended play a bit early, a lot of the good work was undone as they lost 4 wickets... Ashwin, who went wicketless, has taken 3, and Jasprit Bumrah broke the stubborn opening partnership with a good catch from Jaiswal sending Zakir Hasan on his way...
Impressive hundreds from Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill. Pant played well within himself for most of that knock, but eventually outscored Gill, and took on both pace and spin, without exactly looking like he was making an effort to take the bowling on. Gill also played some pleasing shots, and looked a lot better in his defense, than he has done in the recent past.

By the time I woke, Ashwin &Jadeja added 3 more each to their tallies and BD was done & dusted.
Pitch started according some spin since last session yesterday but importantly it was with fizz and decent bounce because of Red Soil.

Next test will be similar grass cover attempted but Kanpur is entirely back soil so when the pitch turns it will be slow and low.
India will keep same composition, hard for Kuldeep and Axar.

I see SL could not put the game behind NZ leaving 274 to chase and win for them.
Ayaz is treated as a UAE and subcontinent specialist by NZ and opens the bowling and bowls pretty much unchanged from an end & ended with a 6fer.
Haven't seen the game....but given NZ's depth it's not beyond them

So it got done and dusted rather quickly. Didn't seem like it would happen this soon when the overnight batters skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan survived the first hour. There was a missed stumping chance of Shakib of Jadeja's bowling, and the bowlers were always in the game. But it seemed India will have a fight on their hand for the remaining wickets.
But then Ravichandran Ashwin came on for his first bowl of the day after the drinks, and struck in his first over to get Shakib. Liton Das came in, looked like getting out on each ball he faced, before ultimately doing so of the 10th delivery! Like Liton, even Mehidy Hasan Miraz didn't seem to trust his defense today and didn't last long. Then Skipper Shanto, who played impressively well for his 82, hold out in the deep. And it was all over in just about 45 minutes after drinks. A 6for to go with his first innings hundred for Ashwin, Jadeja took 3 to finish the test with 5 wickets and a half-century.

Bangladesh's bowling, particularly their pace bowling unit has improved remarkably, and in Mehidy and Shakib, they have a very capable spin unit backed up by Taijul Islam. But the batting remains a major concern. The only real consistent batter in the lineup has been Mushfiqur Rahim who did have a quiet game here. Liton and Mehidy has been contributing usually, despite their terrible show in the 2nd innings here. But Shakib hasn't been in the best of form and seems to have some fitness concerns that limited his bowling output. Mominul hasn't been the same test batter that he once used to be. Shanto looked very impressive in this innings, but has been very inconsistent, and hasn't quite managed to drag that average above 30, though he does seem capable of averaging possibly in the late 30s at least. Neither Shatman Islam, nor Zakir Hasan are established at the top level. Mehidy at 8 is as good as any current number 8s in the world. Liton at 7 also, is among the better wicketkeeper batters in the world. Shakib is Shakib, Mushfiq is Mushfiq. It iss the top order that is the biggest concern for Bangladesh going into the next test and beyond.
Tamim Iqbal was on commentary during the test. If only his back was alright, if only the BCB could sort out all issues with Tamim... Shanto has spoken about a possible Tamim comeback to the Bangladesh team, but with his recent injury history, even if the comeback does materialize, it is not very likely that he'll be adding more test caps to his collection...

Rain has arrived to play spoilsport in the NZ SL game. NZ does have it in them to take the challenge on, but it will be a stiff ask to chase 274 in the last innings in Lanka. Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis are surely not in the Murali-Herath league, but they are quite effective, particularly the former. And then they have skipper DDS and the unique Kamindu to back things up...

I see the Afghans have absolutely spanked South Africa in two ODIs so far in UAE - not even remotely contests. Third one is today

Absolute pasting indeed for the South Africans! They are resting a few of their players, still many of the regulars are in there... SA couldn't even get into the contest...

Williamson and Latham putting together a bit of a partnership after the resumption before Jayasuriya did Williamson in with a good one, KW gone stumped by Kushal Mendis, and with that the rains have returned.

I see another collapse for SL opened the door slightly for NZ, but chasing 275 was always going to be tough on this. NZ currently 96/4 and a long way from success.

India won by the expected big margin...280 runs! Ashwin with 6/88 to back up the first innings ton.

Ravindra's 91*, a stupendous innings, has given NZ a fraction of hope. They're 207/8 at stumps, still needing 68 more.

Ravindra only has Ajaz Patel and O'Rourke with him. Patel can bat a little (three FC fifties), but O'Rourke might be a proper number eleven.

The pitch is taking sharp turn.

It indeed has been an outstanding innings from an ever improving Rachin Ravindra. He has kept New Zealand alive in the game, with small contributions from Williamson, Latham and Blundell. But only Ravindra and Blundell could get a partnership above 50, that too just about. Ajas can bat a bit, and they need 68. If the batters could put together 25 30 runs, that could put a lot of pressure on Lanka.
Don't know why has Sri Lanka not picked the Unretired Vanindu Hasaranga for the series? Is he still injured? Or the Unretirement, as criticised, a farce and drama to escape match ban sanctions? Could have been a handful here, and could very well have done a better job than Ramesh Mendis who despite his 3 wickets, has been a bit all over the shop with his lengths and line...
Also, would have liked DDS to give a couple of overs to Kamindu. The lad can anyways do hardly wrong in test cricket these days...

It's 10%-90% game in favor of Lanka
And it would be a win of miracle proportions if Rachin can pull one from here

Certainly Lanka's game to lose. If New Zealand had a Trent Boult coming in at 11 perhaps, they would have a slightly better chance. This lad O'Rourke seems a fine prospect with the ball, but not sure about his batting...

Why isn't Trent Boult playing......he hasn't retired yet

KP_fan wrote:Why isn't Trent Boult playing......he hasn't retired yet

Its one of those things, Boult hasn't retired from any form of international cricket. But he hasn't signed a contract with NZ Cricket. And he had prefered to play the T-20 Leagues even when NZ was playing a test series. NZ cricket hasn't ruled him out of test cricket, Boult did say he does miss test cricket , they keep selecting him for limited overs, but maintains that their first preference in tests would be for the contracted players...
Devon Conway and even I believe Williamson, have signed incremental contracts and not full contracts, but are picked for tests. I hope they would find a way for Boult as well...

WTC Table
After Lanka's win over NZ today they rise to 3rd place.
India has 4 home games & potentially winning all will take India upto a whopping 80%

A hypothetical 5-0 defeat in Aus will drop India to ~75% and raise Aus to 74%
So India will still finish on top most likely unless they lose a lot of points to slow over rates.


Eng has lost 19 points to slow over rate deduction but for which they would be at 52% and would be still standing clearly above SL @ No.3


Eng is the only side with realistic chance of overhauling Aus....that is if Eng win about 5 of their remaining 6 games and Aus loses the series to or draws with India.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy should be fantastic. India's away wins in the last two add so much context. As does Australia's win the ODI CWC final, in India.

India will be desperate for Bumrah, Shami and Siraj to make it to that tour. Bumrah in particular could be the difference bowling as he has been.

Whilst Australia's fabulous attack are finally aging. These next two Oz summers might be the swansong for that attack of Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon as a unit. BGT and Ashes. The cupboard behind the big three seamers is looking surprisingly bare by Aussie standards. We've seen that brilliant seam attack run out of steam across long series a few times now when they aren't rotated. Will Australia go back to Boland at home though? Or did England find him out a bit by coming down the track and forcing him off that one length he terrorised batters with early on?

Both sides have batters aging out who will want last hurrahs too. Smudge - will he keep opening?Kohli - his record in Oz is magnificent, can he muster a final stand? Rohit - a last big series as skipper? Ussie will turn 38 during this summer too, he's not got as many miles on the clock due to being in and out the side, he's at that age where his reflexes may start to wane though.

It's a series that should be very closely contested anyway, then there are so many underlying storylines to add to that. Similar to the last Ashes in many ways. It was likely to be the last time many of those Australian players came to England and the last time several England stalwarts faced Australia. This is very similar. Lots of iconic names from two fantastic sides are unlikely to face each other in Tests again after this.

The BG trophy will be a battles of bowling attacks and who has more fire-power over 5 tests.
Both sides have BIG-3 pacers  Bumrah/Shami/ Siraj & Cummins/Starc/Hazelwood which is evenly matched.
It's unlikely the BIG-3 will last all 5 games and hence it will come down to who has better depth.
On one spinner pitch Aus's Lyon is better wicket taker than India's Jadeja......only when there is room for 2nd spinner ( Sydney + perhaps 1 more game) is when Aswin plays and tilts scale in India's favor.
India will carry as a part of squad or reserves Akashdeep, Yash Dayal, Harshit Rana, Saini and Reddy.
Further they have a second line of Khalil, Arshdeep, Avesh Khan, Vyashak & Kaverappa to call upon

Aus has Scot Boland, Michael Nesser, Sean Abbot, Nathan Ellis as first line call-ups I believe
and
Riley  Meredith, Ben JDwarshuis, Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson in the second line
And don't discount Cameron Green as a bowler and Aaron Hardy as a bowling allrounder.

Both India and Aus hope that In due course beyond the top-3  on each side, one or two from the 2nd and 3rd line will step up.
BTW strategically I see Eng doing the same, have a wide pool of pacers because it's depth in bowling that you need to go thru a 5 tests series in Aus, they too have realized.

Off-course batsmen need to put reasonable runs on board goes without saying.

PS*
PJ can comment on the seam bowling resources beyond BIG-3 for Aus

Anyone been keeping an eye on Afghanistan vs SA, Afghanistan have handed out a battering or two in that series

Anyone been keeping an eye on Afghanistan vs SA, Afghanistan have handed out a battering or two in that series

Anyone been keeping an eye on Afghanistan vs SA, Afghanistan have handed out a battering or two in that series

Anyone been keeping an eye on Afghanistan vs SA, Afghanistan have handed out a battering or two in that series

KP_fan wrote:The BG trophy will be a battles of bowling attacks and who has more fire-power over 5 tests.
Both sides have BIG-3 pacers  Bumrah/Shami/ Siraj & Cummins/Starc/Hazelwood which is evenly matched.
It's unlikely the BIG-3 will last all 5 games and hence it will come down to who has better depth.
On one spinner pitch Aus's Lyon is better wicket taker than India's Jadeja......only when there is room for 2nd spinner ( Sydney + perhaps 1 more game) is when Aswin plays and tilts scale in India's favor.
India will carry as a part of squad or reserves Akashdeep, Yash Dayal, Harshit Rana, Saini and Reddy.
Further they have a second line of Khalil, Arshdeep, Avesh Khan, Vyashak & Kaverappa to call upon

Aus has Scot Boland, Michael Nesser, Sean Abbot, Nathan Ellis as first line call-ups I believe
and
Riley Meredith, Ben Dwarshuis, Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson in the second line
And don't discount Cameron Green as a bowler and Aaron Hardy as a bowling allrounder.

Both India and Aus hope that In due course beyond the top-3  on each side, one or two from the 2nd and 3rd line will step up.
BTW strategically I see Eng doing the same, have a wide pool of pacers because it's depth in bowling that you need to go thru a 5 tests series in Aus, they too have realized.

Off-course batsmen need to put reasonable runs on board goes without saying.

PS*
PJ can comment on the seam bowling resources beyond BIG-3 for Aus

Think you've covered most of them, KP_f.

I've seen a few of the younger up & comers bowl in limited overs... it's easy to get excited about them but they'll need years of development and continuous hard grind to build themselves up physically and mentally. Some good prospects though. Lance Morris has been slowly recovering from his side strain injury but I hear he is now preparing along with Jhye Richardson (who's also recovering from injuries) for the upcoming white ball season with the aim of getting some red ball cricket down the track.

Here's a brief list for you... it includes batsmen as well.

Future prospects

I'll keep an eye on it.

I'll keep an eye on it.

I'll keep an eye on it.

An Interesting stat that appeared in Twitter
How team's have performed in last 200 tests

Test results in the Last 200 Test matches
Team (Won-Lost-Drawn)
Aus 110-56-34
Ind 100-52-48
SAf 99-63-38
Eng 91-70-39
SL 77-76-47
Pak 74-85-41
NZ 73-76-51
WI 43-107-50

50 for chandimal on day one of second test

Has been a pretty toothless NZ bowling effort on a friendly batting wicket.

178/2, currently, after a comical run out for Karunaratne. Chandimal closing in on a 16th test ton, which would put him level with Dilshan and Atapattu.

306/3 at stumps. Chandimal fell not long after the ton, but Mathews made a typically gritty half-century, and Kamindu made a typically brisk half-century.

NZ's effort was pathetic. Mitchell dropped two simple chances, Blundell missed a stumping, and O'Rourke lost out on a wicket through overstepping. Santner and Ajaz were supremely negative in their bowling, picking up combined figures of 47-6-143-0. O'Rourke showed far he has to go in his development today, serving up a feast of boundary balls. The best bowler was actually Phillips, which probably says a lot.

SL have collapsed twice in the previous test, so they'll need to ensure focus for tomorrow and take their overnight position to 450+ and bat the Kiwis out of the series.

Second test between India/Bangladesh begins in the early hours of tomorrow.

Angelo Mathews occupies such an odd place in my cricket addled brain. I automatically connect him with a young all-rounder who bowled nibbling seamers and was unusually athletic in the field by Noughties standards. Which is actually a tiny portion of his career. He's barely bowled in Tests. Joe Root is a significantly more influential Test bowler. Most his career he's been a tenacious middle order batter, whilst his figure and athleticism drifted closer to the late career Botham end of the spectrum even earlier than Beefy did! He's carved out a fantastic career as a batter, yet my brain needs reminding of that every time I read his name. There's a complete disconnect between the actual cricketer there and what my brain conjures. I'm not sure why. I didn't see Bradd Hogg bowler left-arm wrist-spin and batting 11 in his forties, then think he should still be a lower middle order stick because that's how he started his career 2 decades earlier. I don't primarily remember Steve Waugh as a compulsive hooker batting at 6 or 7 who only kept his place in the team by inexplicably taking wickets by bowling medium pace with Alan Donald's aggression. My brain just put Mathews in a time capsule when he debuted and refused to budge for some reason.

This is a quietly very good Sri Lanka batting line-up. Karunaratne, Chandimal and Mathews have scored a lot of runs at a good average in a period when scoring runs at a good average has been tough. Dhananjaya isn't quite as experienced but has a rock solid record as well. Nissanka looks very talented. Then Kamindu looks the best of the lot, a brilliant young batter.

Ind Vs. BD
Inspite of slight grass cover, some suspected mositure on pitch and overcast conditions...it still does not appear like a bowl first pitch, nor a 3 seamer pitch.
Although both wickets taken by 3rd seamer...& that's largely because Bumrah & Siraj's radar was not spot no.

Ashwin got turn & India have to tighten their lines, pitch half a yard fuller and bring catching cordon a feet or two forward

Another hundred for Kamindu Mendis! Averages 83 now in tests, 922 runs in 8 test matches!

wisden wrote:Another hundred for Kamindu Mendis! Averages 83 now in tests, 922 runs in 8 test matches!

amazing

Just no penetration in this NZ attack today.. I didn't realise how bad Mitch Santner's record was till this morning...yes he keeps it tight but 54 wickets in 27 tests is poor...

KP_fan wrote:

wisden wrote:Another hundred for Kamindu Mendis! Averages 83 now in tests, 922 runs in 8 test matches!

amazing

Has been a remarkable start to his Test career. And he looks a very good player. Caveat being the sample is still quite small and all Asia and England (late summer) conditions as yet. Reckon he will continue to have a good record anyway - but that average is unlikely to stay in the stratosphere for too much longer.

Kamindu needs 43 more to reach 1,000 test runs. If he does that in this innings, his 13th innings in test cricket, he'll have tied with Don Bradman in being the third fastest to 1,000 test runs in terms of innings. The only two to do it faster were Sutcliffe and Weekes, both taking 12 innings.

An incredible start, I think that average will start to normalise, but does look to be a 45-50 average player potentially, and likely fill the middle order gap left when Matthews retires

And Kamindu reaches 1,000 test runs with a six! Fastest to 1,000 test runs in 75 years.

Also, weirdly, that was the first ever innings where SL have scored 500+ v NZ in a test. And the six got them over 600! But a weird stat that. You'd have thought there was some subcontinental road where SL had amassed 500 v the Kiwis before.

Kamindu gets a rare not out to massage his average as well, but they could have let him score 18 more to get a double ton? His test average now 91! I haven't identified any real weaknesses to his game. He's obviously strong v spin, doesn't look too intimidated v pace. Likes front foot and back foot play and has a tremendous range of shots. SL's next series v SA, in SA, might provide a challenge of a different kind.

Also credit to Kusal for his ton, brought up with a six!

Im suprised SL took Asitha off after only two overs..got the wicket of Latham and looked threatning

22/2 at stumps, NZ in need of a miracle.

As is often the case in this scenario, SL's fresh spinners able to extract far more from the pitch than NZ managed. Jayasuriya was unfortunate not to get Williamson; he beat him twice with sharp turning deliveries, but both times they narrowly missed the off stump!

alfie wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

wisden wrote:Another hundred for Kamindu Mendis! Averages 83 now in tests, 922 runs in 8 test matches!

amazing

Has been a remarkable start to his Test career. And he looks a very good player. Caveat being the sample is still quite small and all Asia and England (late summer) conditions as yet. Reckon he will continue to have a good record anyway - but that average is unlikely to stay in the stratosphere for too much longer.

For now he is going like Bradman and with no runs against minnows.
And if you remove Bradman's tests vs the minnows of that time, he has played a fifth of Bradman's total tests.
And Bradman too was never tested on spinning tracks of the sub-continent.

Pity that they didn't let him complete his double century today