India need to win three of the remaining four Tests in Australia to book their place in the WTC 2025 final.
Ravi Shastri guided India to back-to-back series wins in Australia and his short advice to current head coach Gautam Gambhir is to "stay calm" over the course of five Tests Down Under and avoid knee-jerk reactions.
Pace spearhead Harshit Rana received a well-deserved maiden call-up, following his impressive performances.
India play 2 Tests versus Bangladesh, followed by three against New Zealand before the big-ticket five Test Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia Down Under.
Australia's mouthwatering clash with India sees the two behemoths of the modern game go head-to-head in five tests over six weeks with the tourists eyeing a third straight series triumph Down Under.
Shubman Gill's thumb fracture is certainly a "jolt" for India ahead of the series opener against Australia
'We were not thinking about a series win because we were just bowled out for 36.' 'The mood in the dressing room was a bit down. Ravi Bhai organised a team dinner. He arranged for karaoke, he started singing. He sang old Hindi songs. Everybody joined in.'
Dinesh Karthik on Tuesday said head coach Gautam Gambhir's display of aggression in the past has generally come out in "protection of his players".
'Even if we had won the New Zealand series 3-0, it would have meant little because the conditions in Australia are very different, and the team there is very different.' 'In Australia, you just go with a clean slate and start fresh. It doesn't matter what has happened on the previous page.'
'Pressure will always be there because in international cricket, you can't take any series lightly.' 'The margin between winning and losing is very small, and nowadays, the gap between international teams isn't much either.'
Former skipper Ricky Ponting predicted that the Baggy Greens will dominate the Rohit Sharma-led side in the five-match series.
Sunil Gavaskar said if India captain Rohit Sharma misses the first Test against Australia, then Jasprit Bumrah should lead the side for the entire five-match series.
Mohammed Shami is open to playing domestic cricket if needed to make a comeback to the Indian team.
Steve Smith hasn't enjoyed an ideal start in his new role as as opener, with 171 runs from four Tests at an average of 28.
Unprecedented series defeats against Sri Lanka and New Zealand have placed Gautam Gambhir under immense pressure barely three months into his appointment as the head coach of the Indian team.
The future of some senior India players will be decided after the tour of Australia as the BCCI evaluates the shocking 0-3 drubbing against New Zealand at home while rolling out a structured phaseout policy before the start of the next WTC cycle.
The outings of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna will be the primary focal points of India A's four-day match against their Australian counterparts
'Steve had expressed a desire to move back down from that opening position.'
Having made their Test debuts in the same year, Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin will face each other for the eighth time in the longest format during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia began the banter on Monday with Cricket Australia's media wing stoking the fire
By avoiding the follow-on and standing firm against Australia's aggression, India ensured that they stayed alive in the series.
It is understood that the Test squad will be leaving from Mumbai few days after the series and just like it happened during the last tour of South Africa, the BCCI could have a four-day game between India and India A, which people in the know of things feel will provide Rohit Sharma's men with quality match simulation.
'You have to respect if the ball's moving, you have to give it to the fast bowlers and just soak in that pressure and wait for your time to score runs.'
Easwaran compiled an unbeaten 151 off 212 balls, and laced his innings with 12 fours and a six on the third day of the match at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.
There'll be some deterioration, grass will stand up during the game and offer that variable bounce, but in terms of big snake WACA cracks, unfortunately I don't think the weather is going to get us there, says pitch curator Isaac McDonald.
Chappell said the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia "will be as much a battle of wits and endurance as it will be of skill, with each player needing to summon the drive and adaptability of their younger selves."
The world's top two Test teams will clash in a five-match affair starting on November 22 in Perth and India will enter the contest having held the trophy for nearly a decade, which includes winning two consecutive series Down Under.
Hanuma Vihari, part of India's back to back series wins in Australia, reckons the services of veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara will be be dearly missed when the team aims for a hat-trick Down Under later this year.
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
Mayank Yadav should be on the plane to Australia if Mohammed Shami is not available for selection, asserted Brett Lee, one of the most destructive fast bowlers of all time, who has high hopes from the Indian pace sensation on the true, bouncy wickets Down Under.
Mitchell Starc and Steven Smith believe that Virat Kohli is an Australian in the way he thinks, acts, and has the desire to perform in big games.
When you are defending to save a game, a loose delivery comes along and you suddenly opt to play an attacking shot, you are unlikely to hit as well as if you were playing your naturally aggressive game all along. First Pant, then Jaiswal, found that out the costly way, observes Prem Panicker.
Jaiswal has established himself as a vital cog in the Test side with 929 runs in only eight matches this year at 66.35, his two centuries and six fifties putting him as the leading run-scorer for India in 2024.
If one has to analyse Ashwin the cricketer, it is very difficult to ignore Ashwin, the person, who had a very independent mind and a brain that probably ticked 24x7. He believed in de-construction of his art and became craftier one ball at a time.
Virat Kohli has succumbed to spin three times in the first two Tests, while scoring just 68 runs in four innings.
Images from Day 3 of the second Test between India and New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Saturday.
Doeschate emphasised that the cricketers should be kept in the right zone mentally.
Jasprit Bumrah emerged as the lone bright spot with a record haul of 32 wickets.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been included in the Test squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh.
This period saw big stars of the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev fade into the sunset while it was witness to the birth of slew of young Indian cricketers that made their mark home and abroad.
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