South African captain Temba Bavuma mixed grit with humour after his team's shock win over India in Kolkata, celebrating his hard-fought fifty and the "small hands" catch that turned the match on its head.
Shubman Gill climbs to career-high No. 5, Kuldeep Yadav enter top 10
South Africa are the World Test champions and skipper Temba Bavuma wants them to play like it and prove their credentials in the two-Test series against India beginning on Friday.
India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar feels the debate over preparing a spin-friendly track at the Eden Gardens for the opening Test against South Africa is pointless as the country has been laying out such wickets for ages.
Shami, 35, was left out of India's 15-member squad for the two home Tests against South Africa, scheduled to commence on Friday at the famed Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Before his most recent snub, Shami had openly expressed his disappointment about being sidelined from India's recent Test fixtures.
Mumbai cricketer Angkrish Raghuvanshi and a few other local players were present at the training when Rohit had two batting nets session at the All Heart Cricket Academy.
'It (the pitch) wasn't free-flowing. You felt comfortable, but the scoreboard wasn't going anywhere.'
The landmark innings also placed Campbell in a rare club of openers who took the longest route to their maiden Test century.
Ignored by the national selectors for T20 set-up, Yashasvi Jaiswal sent another stern reminder to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee with a blistering 48-ball century as defending champions Mumbai crushed Haryana by four wickets in a high-scoring Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Super League B match, in Ambi, Pune, on Sunday.
Shubman Gill said the masterly innings of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli helped him register his maiden win as India's ODI skipper.
In a rain-marred contest at Canberra, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav lit up the night with a couple of towering sixes - enough to take him into an elite club of T20I power-hitters, becoming only the second Indian after Rohit Sharma to reach 150 sixes in the format.
The series promises a fascinating duel between the two modern-day pace greats.
The focus is to bring momentum back into the Indian dressing room: Morne Morkel
'The No. 3 spot can't become a game of musical chairs.'
Not handing the ball to lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah to start the third day's play on a challenging Eden Gardens surface was "questionable", said the legendary Anil Kumble.
'Am I the reason team will lose? Kuldeep might think, I am bowling so well, even after that I am not playing, then am I the problem in this team?'
South Africa will aim for their first Test victory in India in more than 15 years.
Shubman Gill continued his dream run with the bat as he smashed the highest score by an Indian in T20 Internationals.
Pat Cummins captured the sentiment perfectly, calling this potentially the 'last chance' for fans Down Under to witness these legends in action. With both stalwarts set to be 39 and 40 respectively by the 2027 World Cup, every appearance carries added significance. Ro-Ko have been the heartbeat of Indian cricket for over 15 years. Their return brings an emotional lift to the team and raises expectations for the series against the world champions.
'...If Shubman Gill had that kind of a fiery side to him, we would have seen it a little earlier. You don't have to show it when you're the captain.
Shubman Gill struck his 10th Test century, while Ravindra Jadeja picked up three wickets as India dominated Day 2 of the second Test against West Indies, in Delhi, on Saturday.
There is a school of thought that having done the hard yards in the England series, Karun Nair deserves an opportunity against a weaker opposition where a century could boost his career.
Rohit Sharma followed up his knock of 73 in the second ODI in Adelaide with a match-winning unbeaten 121 in Sydney to be named the Player of the Series.
Ravichandran Ashwin exposed India batters' lack of quality to battle ball tweakers by claiming that if legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar or past domestic heroes Amol Muzumdar, the India women's team head coach and Mithun Manhas had played against spinners on such a track, the Test would have gone to four days, unlike India's harrowing 30-run defeat against South Africa at Eden Gardens.
'Don't bring up this whole age issue that he is touching 40.' 'He's fit, batting well and catching brilliantly at slips.' 'What else do you need?'
Ravichandran Ashwin has raised a big question mark over Sanju Samson's place in India's Asia Cup 2025 playing XI, warning that the wicketkeeper-batter's spot could be under serious threat
Earlier this week, the duo arrived in Perth with the first batch of the team and practised relentlessly in the nets.
India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak is livid with the criticism that has been directed towards head coach Gautam Gambhir after India's defeat to South Africa in the opening Test.
India will look to address several lingering selection puzzles when they take on South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday in the first ODI of the three-match series, where Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to the set-up for a short audition that could well shape their 2027 World Cup fate.
With no ODI series in Australia in the next two years, it is impossible to think that the legendary duo will again be seen Down Under in India blues.
Virat Kohli, former Test captain, lauded the team's resilience
As he made that slow walk back, Kohli turned once more to the Adelaide crowd, this time perhaps for the last time. The fans rose to their feet, acknowledging a man who has given them some of modern cricket's greatest memories.
Speculations and debates have sparked over social media since last week, after chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the management's decision to hand over the ODI captaincy from Rohit to Shubman Gill.
Gambhir Leads Chorus as Cricket Fraternity Hails India's Triumph
After falling in the final over of Gujarat Titans' win over Punjab Kings, Shubman Gill was disappointed that he couldn't finish the match for his team.
Showing an insatiable hunger to learn and succeed, Shubman Gill turned to senior players and former greats for insights, embodying the ethos of a student of the game.
With Bumrah leading the charge, India prised out five wickets in the second session to snuff out South Africa's hopes of reaching the 200 mark.
Sai Sudharsan and Dhruv Jurel faced spinners while wearing only one pad to counter the turning deliveries, a method that comes with an element of risk, in Kolkata on Monday.
Domestic veterans Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar and Rinku Singh could keep the team management interested going forward in Test cricket.
The others to arrive after a delayed flight were K L Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy along with some members of the support staff.
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