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*Official* 1st Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, 05 - 09 Feb 2021

Father Time

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
The best we can put out is.....

Burns
Sibley
Lawrence
Root
Stokes
Pope
Buttler
Bess
Broad/Anderson
Archer
Leach

Top three seriously missing Bairstow & Crawley. The middle order HAVE to make big runs. Burns, Stokes, Pope, Archer. all underdone. India must be huge favourites. Can see this getting away from us. But this team has a lot of grit & heart.
 

Pup Clarke

Cricketer Of The Year
Yep that looks the most balanced XI to me. Think you have to back Bess and see if he can make things happen (as opposed to reverting back to Moeen) - his 5-for in SA proved he can get top batsman out
 

Father Time

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Those who think Moeen Ali should bat at 3 can't follow any English cricket. You need medication if you think that. You think he is a better bat than Dan Lawrence!!! When's the last time he bowled a proper tough spell without getting destroyed?? Bess is a tougher individual on all three counts, has earned & deserved his place, Leach too. Without Crawley & Bairstow, we will need tough runs down the order. The only other possibility is that we play another pace bowler.
 

Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Hoping for a drawn series or a narrow English win. That way we (NZ) get to stay no 1 in the world and get the chance to beat the Aussies in the final.
 

Arachnodouche

International Captain
Gonna have to put up with Kiwis chiming in randomly about their Lord's prospects. I suppose it'll be nice to make it but do Indian fans give much of a **** at this stage about the WTC? Want to win this series first (which obviously ensures a berth) and then do well over the five Tests in England. Final's probably going to be washed out anyway.
 

Daemon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Gonna have to put up with Kiwis chiming in randomly about their Lord's prospects. I suppose it'll be nice to make it but do Indian fans give much of a **** at this stage about the WTC? Want to win this series first (which obviously ensures a berth) and then do well over the five Tests in England. Final's probably going to be washed out anyway.
A lot of folks pretend they’re above caring for it, but I think it’s added a bit more interest to series results. There’s been plenty of discussion around it.

I’d also love to see two teams play a finals at Lords. It’s pretty cool imo, like that time Pakistan ‘hosted’ Australia in England.
 

nzfan

International Vice-Captain
Indian fans, what happened to one J Yadav? Remember he bowled quite well and probably even scored a hundred vs England last time around when England visited India. Whatever happened to him? He looked a very good bat for a lower order batsman.
 

srbhkshk

International Captain
Indian fans, what happened to one J Yadav? Remember he bowled quite well and probably even scored a hundred vs England last time around when England visited India. Whatever happened to him? He looked a very good bat for a lower order batsman.
Got injured and fell down the order a lot.
 

DriveClub

International Regular
Hoping for a drawn series or a narrow English win. That way we (NZ) get to stay no 1 in the world and get the chance to beat the Aussies in the final.
Watch what you wish for, Aus might lose to India at the Gabba but they'll beat the kiwis anywhere in the world with their hands tied behind their backs #lordssobig
 

Chrish

International Debutant
Yeah NZ would much rather play India or England than facing Australia regardless of the venue.
 

Daemon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Indian fans, what happened to one J Yadav? Remember he bowled quite well and probably even scored a hundred vs England last time around when England visited India. Whatever happened to him? He looked a very good bat for a lower order batsman.
J Yadav was framed for ***ual harassment when he became Chief Minister in Season 2 and lost his seat to his niece as a result.
 

centurymaker

Cricketer Of The Year
WTC final is just a one-off match, anyone can win it, a bit of a lottery. Winning it won't necessarily make one better than the rest. One ought to win 'series' and away from home to be considered the best. That's how it has always been.

So I wish that instead of one match, that the WTC final was a 3 match series. So that we could have a deserved winner.

The beauty of Test cricket is that it is a process. You learn and grow as well as acclimatise as a series progresses and sometimes the team who gets destroyed in the 1st match- ends up improving and fighting back to win the series. Teams can often massively underperform in the 1st match,
thats why we don't have one match Test tours. It is not really proper Test Cricket. So one match final is a big compromise and I kind of hope it gets washed out for good. So that it is revamped to have at 2-3 matches!
 

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