What we seek is a good contest between bat and ball and pitches that are likely to produce a result.
Ryan Rickelton scored a maiden Test century as the hosts finished on 269-7 against Sri Lanka on the opening day
Spinner Keshav Maharaj took five wickets as South Africa secured a 109-run victory over Sri Lanka on the last day of the second Test.
While retirement is very much a cricketer's individual call, the counter point will be if the national selectors or the BCCI feel that they need to look at the bigger picture and have only one among Rohit and Virat in the ODI set-up going forward.
India-England will lock horns in a pink-ball Test, beginning February 24 at the Motera Stadium.
India will be under tremendous pressure when they face an equally circumspect Australia in a battle of two out-of-form batting units in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth
Rohit Sharma has certain choices to make in the best interests of the Indian team heading into the fifth and final Test against Australia.
India may have lost the ODI World Cup final to Australia but have increased their lead over them from three to six points, leading the table with 122 points.
Gambhir also made it clear that he would like everyone to show up in the domestic circuit if they "had commitment towards red-ball cricket".
New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson said his side have every chance of derailing India in a major final once again.
Former wicketkeeper Ian Healy predicted a 2-1 win for India in the four-Test series against Australia, starting in Nagpur on February 9, provided the hosts don't prepare "unreasonable wickets".
India won their seventh ICC trophy, while registering their third Champions Trophy triumph.
Stead, himself, urged the board in March to consider a separate limited overs head coach but on Tuesday said such a division was probably not suitable for New Zealand.
'I have a deep affection for Indian cricket. If someone asked me to come back, I wouldn't say no.'
England coach Brendon McCullum on Monday described his Indian counterpart Gautam Gambhir as a "strong leader of men", backing him to achieve success with the national team in near future.
ICC World Test Championship finalists India and New Zealand remain the top two teams in the MRF Tyres ICC men's Test team rankings after the annual update on Thursday.
Virat Kohli-led India beat New Zealand by 372 runs in the Mumbai Test on the fourth day after drawing the opening match in Kanpur, to win the series 1-0.
Senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's five-wicket haul in the second innings has helped him narrow the gap with top-ranked Jasprit Bumrah to 21 rating points at 846 after the fast bowler was rested for the Ranchi Test.
Travis Head channels Gilchrist spirit in WTC Final
Seamer Dane Paterson took a career-best 5-71 and Temba Bavuma was unbeaten on 48 as South Africa closed the third day
India's doping woes came to the fore once again with the country topping the World Anti-Doping Agency's 2023 testing figures among countries which analysed 5,000 or more samples even as the sports ministry promised an "aggressive clean-up" and an amended Anti-Doping Act after addressing objections from the WADA.
Images from Day 3 of the fifth Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Nathan Lyon has identified Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Rishabh Pant as the three "big ones" to watch out for in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series.
Australia wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey is not interested in specialising in long-form work, although he is hoping for another Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) hundred when hosts take on Pakistan in the second Test, saying that "plenty of ODI and T20 cricket is still left in him."
IMAGES from the Day 1 of the third Test played between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday
'Pathum Nissanka is easily one of the best batters to have come out of Sri Lanka in the recent past and he has delivered once again,' he tweeted with an applause emoji.
New Zealand climbed to the top of the World Test Championship (WTC) standings following their thumping 281-run victory over South Africa
The two boxers had failed gender tests at World Championships in New Delhi last year
It was India's fourth loss in the current WTC cycle, causing their PCT to drop from 68.06 to 62.82.
Steve Smith will lead Australia in the fourth and final Test against India as regular captain Pat Cummins remains with his unwell mother back home.
Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu won her maiden women's ODI Cricketer of the Year award, becoming the first female cricketer from the country to win an ICC award.
'He is a brilliant player, the way he started in one-day cricket, he has been exceptional. He has been a huge part of India's success at top of the order.'
India's 40-4 (win-loss) home record in the last decade is awe-inducing but there is an ever-little crack, which is getting more pronounced in the past three years, particularly in the case of star batter Virat Kohli.
Kohli, widely considered one of the batting greats of the modern game, has managed just two centuries in the last five years and only two fifties in his last 12 innings in the longest format.
Tim Southee, once half of the most feared new-ball partnership in the game, brought down the curtain on a glittering 16-year Test career after New Zealand crushed England for a consolation win in Hamilton on Tuesday.
Pujara could get the selectors' nod if Ajit Agarkar and his team decide to fall back on his experience.
Test cricket remains the pinnacle of the game, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said after it was criticised for selecting a second-string squad featuring seven debutants for the country's two fixtures in New Zealand next month.
With a soaring PCT of 52.77, India surpassed South Africa, New Zealand, and Bangladesh, all with a PCT of 50.
Besides, Bangladesh's star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was fined 10 percent of his match fee and received a demerit point for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct.
Afghanistan are the hosts of the game.
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