Recovering from a shoulder injury, Indian batsman Rohit Sharma, who missed leading the Mumbai Indians franchise in the Champions League T20, is set to miss the limited-overs edition of the West Indies series starting October 8.
India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday said he no longer considers Australian cricketers his friends after being targetted both on and off the field by them in a fiercely-fought Test series that his team won.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara eye top 10 places while Ravindra Jadeja jumps to career-best third position among Test all-rounders.
Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat against an Indian side missing their inspirational skipper Virat Kohli through injury in the fourth and final Test in Dharamsala on Saturday.
India positioned themselves for a massive win in their 500th Test match by polishing off the New Zealand top-order after setting them a colossal 434-run target, on Day 4 in Kanpur.
Indian cricket team hit the nets at Sabina Park on the Wednesday morning, hours after landing in Kingston, and followed a rigorous exercise to get used to the hot and humid conditions. The entire team put in some effort, with different batting and bowling sessions following the regular drill.
Opener Murali Vijay and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will be looking to get into the groove in India 'A''s last first-class engagement, against England Lions at the County Ground in Worcester, starting on Monday.
Virat Kohli took a giant stride towards exorcising the ghosts of 2014 with a masterful century as he single-handedly pulled India out of the woods against England on an eventful second day of the first Test, in Birmingham, on Thursday.
Shikhar Dhawan has said that the South Africa series will be a challenging one but believed that India remained favourites to win. Dhawan also did not endorse the popular view that this Indian batting line-up is not capable of playing quality spin bowling.
Opener Murali Vijay (53 off 113 balls) and Lokesh Rahul (58 off 92 balls) also scored a half century each after the visitors opted to bat after winning the toss.
Indian cricket team, led by skipper Virat Kohli, on Thursday reached St Kitts to play a four-Test bilateral series against the West Indies starting with the opening match at Antigua on July 21.
There seems to be no love lost between India and Australia players as visiting skipper Steve Smith, on Monday, appeared to have used cuss words against Murali Vijay after the home team opener claimed to have taken a catch that was deemed not clean.
Kings XI Punjab released explosive South Africa batsman David Miller after eight IPL seasons along with Englishman Sam Curran and Australian pacer Andrew Tye.
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A batsman of Russell's calibre may just prove to be the difference between the two sides.
India justified their top ranking with their breakthrough overseas win in Australia on Monday and captain Virat Kohli has reasons to be optimistic about leading a team which can dominate Test cricket for years to come.
It will interesting to see how the pitch behaves on Sunday.
Injuries have forced India to make changes to their winning combination. With Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha returning home, the visitors are likely to field a new combination.
'The pitch should have enough for the bowlers to be interested on all days of the Test.'
Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday, rose to a career-high second in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers even as A B de Villiers lost his top spot in the batsmen standings.
India aim to stay afloat against daunting South Africa in the second Test
Stuart Binny and Cheteshwar Pujara led the way with fluent half centuries as India ended day two of their three-day tour game versus Derbyshire at 341/6, enjoying a useful day of batting practice before the first Test begins at Nottingham on July 9.
Virat Kohli's side are determined to keep the momentum rolling into the second clash in Perth and inch closer to a breakthrough series triumph Down Under.
After a 3-0 ODI whitewash and a win in the first T20 International, India would be looking to continue their dominance and complete the clean sweep when they take on a hapless Zimbabwe in the second and final T20 International in Harare.
With the trio of KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay struggling, Rohit was posed a question if he would like to open the innings in Test matches too.
Harish Kotian evaluates the Indian team's performances in the first Test.
They endured a disastrous run the last time around to finish at the bottom of the heap and Kings XI Punjab would be aiming to make amends this season when they begin their campaign against newbies Gujarat Lions in their IPL opener in Mohali on Monday. Kings XI Punjab did not make any big buys this year and have a new captain in South African David Miller in place of Australian George Bailey who was released after leading the side to the last place in the previous season. Virender Sehwag has also retired and he will serve as team mentor this season. The Preity Zinta-owned side continues to lack the team balance as it has not added any significant player, only snapping the likes of all-rounders Farhaan Behardien and Marcus Stoinis, seamer Mohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh. Last season, their batsmen lacked consistency and whenever they did well, the bowlers let the side down. On the other hand, debutants Gujarat Lions have a balanced side with top-class performers in both batting and bowling. They have explosive batsmen in Brendon McCullum, captain Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and a plenty of top-notch all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner.
For the Indian team, the Trent Bridge Test will be their last chance to save the series after being outplayed in the first two Test matches -- by 31 runs Edgbaston and then by an innings and 159 runs at the Lord's.
A win for either side will help it consolidate its position at the top and also seal a spot in Qualifier 1.
Despite being the world's top-ranked Test side India have struggled with their opening combination, which, in turn, has heaped pressure on the middle order.
Delhi's young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant got his maiden Test call-up as he was picked up as the additional glovesman along with Dinesh Karthik after Wriddhiman Saha was ruled out with injury for the upcoming five-match Test series against England.
'We bowled to two outstanding batsmen in good conditions, a very good cricket pitch. But to be able to pick up two wickets at the end certainly has given our dressing room a huge lift tonight'
Check out the images from Day 2 of the fourth Test between Australia and India played at Sydney Cricket Ground
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is keen to send Test specialists, including seasoned fast bowler Zaheer Khan, to South Africa earlier than scheduled for acclimatisation if logistics work out in its favour.
The Tamil Nadu all-rounder, who was part of the team for two Tests during the Test series against Sri Lanka last year, said that sharing dressing room helped him learn a lot.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane credited his spinners for exploiting the slow pitch to the optimum as India sealed the three-match series against Zimbabwe with a comfortable 62-run win in the second ODI in Harare.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be without captain Virat Kohli for at least the initial phase of the Twenty20 tournament as the India skipper recovers from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the series-sealing final test win over Australia in Dharamsala.
India captain Virat Kohli, on Thursday, claimed his comment on friendship with the Australian team was 'blown out of proportion'.
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