South Africa were dealt a major blow before the first ball was even bowled, with pace ace Kagiso Rabada ruled out of the opening Test against India due to a rib injury.
Assessing Sai Sudharsan's temperament and Nitish Kumar Reddy's utility in home conditions would be topmost on India's checklist when the high-on-confidence hosts take on a floundering West Indies
India could use the ODI series on the tour, to test out players ahead of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup starting in October, later this year.
The legendary Ricky Pointing has advised Australia all-rounder Cameron Green to keep things simple and not over analyse or tinker with his game in order to find the right approach in Tests.
Skipper Shubman Gill had a long batting stint while the troika of Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel returned to action for India's final training session here on Wednesday before the first Test against the West Indies.
The hosts then raced to 199-6 in 31 overs, effectively batting West Indies out of the contest, before declaring their second innings.
Marlon Samuels was found guilty of breaching the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) Anti-Corruption Code while playing in the Abu Dhabi T10 league in 2019.
Marnus Labuschagne, who was dropped from the Test side during the tour of West Indies in June-July, has since hit three centuries in one-dayers and a couple more in Sheffield Shield for Queensland.
As Jurel basked in the applause from the limited number of spectators, the 34-year-old Pierre celebrated his first Test scalp.
The series promises a fascinating duel between the two modern-day pace greats.
'But I would say given the importance of this series and given the conditions we think we are going to face, he (Nitish Kumar Reddy) might miss out in this Test this week.'
With the scars of last year's home series whitewash against New Zealand still raw, preparing rank turners may invite risk.
All-round India defeat Sri Lanka by 30 runs to take 4-0 lead in women's T20Is series
Images from the 4th T20I between India and West Indies in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday.
We didn't ask for rank turners so need to put in more effort to get bounce and turn: Jadeja
Shubman Gill on Thursday said he would look to imbibe the 'calmness' that his predecessor Rohit Sharma brought to the dressing room
Marco Jansen smashed the records held by legends Matthew Hayden and Vivian Richards for the most sixes hit by an overseas batter in a Test innings in India.
Ravindra Jadeja smashed his way past Mahendra Singh Dhoni to become India's fourth-highest six-hitter in Test cricket, continuing his fine form against the West Indies in Ahmedabad on Friday.
At the top end of the spectrum sits the familiar figure: The 2 crore bracket, where 40 players have thrown their hats in.
Abhishek Sharma smashed the joint third-fastest half-century and broke his own record for most sixes by an Indian in a T20 innings while scoring an unbeaten 148 in Punjab's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Bengal, in Hyderabad, on Sunday.
Sai Sudharsan pulled off a jaw-dropping catch on Day 2.
Mohinder Amarnath will always be remembered as a giant-hearted cricketer who stood tall against the fiercest attacks, carried the bruises with pride, and turned every setback into a comeback.
This is the first time in nearly seven decades that India have suffered two successive series whitewashes at home.
This was no Ranji clash, but a marquee Test opener-an international match that deserved a full house-yet Ahmedabad's 132,000-capacity stadium looked eerily empty.
West Indies all-rounder Roston Chase and middle-order batsman Shamarh Brooks were on Saturday recalled to the squad for their two-Test series in Australia, while former captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul's son Tagenarine earned his maiden call-up.
Spinner Gudakesh Motie set a new benchmark for West Indies cricket with the best return from a Test spinner as he bowled his side to victory, and series success over Zimbabwe, by an innings and four runs in the second test on Tuesday.
Ravindra Jadeja's standout performance in the first Test against the West Indies in Ahmedabad has helped him reach a career-best 25th position in the ICC men's Test batting rankings.
'We need to get a better share of the pie because we were the cash cows for a long time.'
K L Rahul made a solid 74 before retiring hurt as India remained on course to chase a formidable 412-run target set by Australia A on day three of the second unofficial Test in Lucknow on Thursday.
Chase and Greaves took a particular liking to Pakistan's part-timers of Saim Ayub and Salman Agha, with the pair each conceding 33 runs from their spell as the West Indies squared the series at 1-1 ahead of the final match at the same ground on Tuesday.
Marnus Labuschagne said the time for such experiments was over.
Head Coach Sammy wants Windies to emulate NZ in their upcoming two-Test tour of India.
After the proceedings began with light warm-up and catching, the action shifted to the nets where all batters had long stints in the nets while the other pace bowlers too put in the hard yards.
Indian Test skipper Shubman Gill spoke on the team dinner hosted by head coach Gautam Gambhir on Thursday
Rohit will lead Indian in the two-Test series in the West Indies and then perhaps sit with BCCI and decide on his future in traditional format.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi was felicitated with the 'Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar' by the President Droupadi Murmu on Friday
The Proteas arrive high on confidence, having fought out a hard-earned 1-1 draw in Pakistan last month under challenging conditions.
South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad termed his team's tour of India "a very successful one" and expressed hope that the two teams meet once again in the final of the next year's T20 World Cup.
Indian opener KL Rahul ended a long home-soil century drought, scoring his 11th Test hundred in India's opening match against the West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday. He reached 100 off 197 balls, hitting 12 stylish fours.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have agreed to trade veteran seamer Mohammed Shami to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
