Joe Root passed fifty for the fifth time in the series to lift England to 385 for seven and a lead of 237 runs at the close on the second day of the fifth Test against India at The Oval on Saturday.
Having ensured three points by virtue of 104-run first innings lead by the end of the third day, Mumbai decided against sporting declaration reaching 321 for 5 when captains decided to call time.
England fast bowler Stuart Broad took six wickets to skittle out India for 152 and the hosts finished on 113 for three in reply to take control on an absorbing opening day of the fourth Test on Thursday.
Indian batsmen frittered away the initial advantage before reaching 248 for six against a disciplined Australia to leave the fourth and final cricket Test evenly poised, in Dharamsala, on Sunday.
Ishant Sharma bagged seven wickets as India scored a thumping 95-run victory over England in the second Test at Lord's on Monday.
Paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar scalped four wickets as India hit back with two late strikes to wrest the initiative on Day 2 of the second Test against England despite Gary Ballance's gutsy century at Lord's, on Friday.
Kings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 22 runs in a rain-truncated Indian Premier League game in Mohali.
Swapnil Singh broke an eleven-year jinx as he scored his maiden first class century, a knock of 164 without a blemish, to help Baroda take a massive first innings lead of 404 runs against Mumbai on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy Group C match.
India and Pakistan were supposed to play a bilateral series this month but the planned rubber did not go ahead after the Indian government withheld permission for the same.
Skipper Parthiv Patel struck an exemplary fifty, while Axar Patel chipped in with an unbeaten 36, after picking two crucial wickets, as Gujarat edged out Vidarbha by two wickets and advanced to the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-day tournament, in Alur, Karnataka, on Thursday.
Indian bowlers, with the exception of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, were far from impressive as they struggled for wickets on the third and final day of the second tour match against the West Indies Board President's XI which ended in a draw in Basseterre, St. Kitts on Saturday.
The Indian top-order failed to convert good starts but Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane struck morale-boosting fifties ahead of the Test series as the visiting team's two-day practice match against New Zealand XI ended in a tame draw in Whangarei on Monday.
For a visiting cricketer, an India tour conjures up the image of a batsman surrounded by a shoal of fielders and facing relentless spin from both ends and South Africa should not expect anything different in the four-test series starting on Thursday.
Parthiv Patel, the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, who was recalled into the Test side after a gap of eight years in the Mohali game against England, made a mark before the selectors and scored in both the innings. Usually, whenever a cricketer makes a comeback after such a long time, there is bit of tentativeness and lack of self confidence. But not was the case with Patel, who had made his Test debut at the age of 17.
- 'Yuvraj's ommission from the sqaud was shocking' - 'Over the years we just neither showed enough vision nor bothered to nurture talented players' - 'Australia and South Africa have good chance to win'
'We won the last World Cup and the Champions Trophy on the all-round performance -- so the Jajedas, Binnys, Ashwins could play a role in India defending the title' 'Stuart Binny could come in very handy in those surfaces with the seam bowling, as a lower order batsman also or as a floater' 'Yuvraj must be motivated to try and make a comeback'
India opener Lokesh Rahul says the Test series against South Africa beginning next month will be the "biggest challenge" of his burgeoning career.
- 'I still think that he had 2 or 3 more years of cricket left in him' - 'India is going to miss Dhoni the player big time'
'We did a lot of very good things. Just couldn't quite get over the line' 'He's (Hameed) an unbelievable player, pushing me closer to retirement'
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