Rajneesh Gupta surveys the batting landscape in India-Australia Test encounters.
Newly-appointed Australia coach Justin Langer on Thursday said his team can be considered great only if it wins a Test series in India, something that he likened to conquering Mount Everest, last done back in 2004.
Fast bowlers Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark and batsmen Brad Hodge along with David Hussey and wicketkeeper Graham Manou have been dropped from the new contract list announced by Cricket Australia in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Australia skipper Steve Smith has described Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the best death bowlers around. His assessment came after Australia suffered a five-wicket defeat to India in the third One-Day International between the teams in Indore on Sunday.
The second Test between Australia and New Zealand fizzled out in a draw on Tuesday but not before Mitchell Johnson gave one last reminder of his bowling prowess on the day he announced his retirement from international cricket.
Pace bowler Jackson Bird has been recalled by Australia for the first Test against New Zealand after James Pattinson was deemed not quite ready to stand up to the rigours of a full workload, captain Steve Smith said on Thursday.
With more than half the tournament over, rediff.com analyses the performances of some of the top 'lefties' in the IPL who happen to be very much on the right track.
Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith feels it will be extremely difficult to fill up the void created in Indian cricket once Mahendra Singh Dhoni bids adieu to the game in near future.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah found his mojo as India got back to winning ways with a morale-lifting 13-run triumph over Australia in the third and final ODI in Canberra on Wednesday, salvaging some of the lost pride in a 1-2 series defeat.
Adam Voges scored 174 and Shaun Marsh 139 in an unbroken partnership of 317 runs to give Australia a commanding 438 for three at the close of play on the opening day of the first Test against West Indies in Hobart on Thursday.
Usman Khawaja's magnificent 174 helped Australia to a dominant 556 for four declared and an imposing lead of 399 at the end of the second day of the first Test against New Zealand on Friday.
After setting an opening partnership record and declaring their first innings on 583 for seven, South Africa also posted a wicketkeeping record on the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh on Saturday.
Having struggled in the past one year after suspensions of Steve Smith and David Warner, Australia finally seemed to have picked their pieces and playing exactly like a five-time champions ought to.
Australian cricket, in contrast, has been dogged by structural reform in the wake of the ball-tampering saga in South Africa in March and it has resulted in turbulence on the field as well.
Justin Langer was the foundation rock upon which Australia erected towering piles of runs during a golden era of success.
Opener Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddinson will all play their first Tests at Adelaide Oval after selectors wielded the axe following the Hobart humiliation, which gave South Africa an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
New Zealand's cricket team have run a gamut of emotions this week after they slumped to a heavy first Test loss to Australia then won three awards at their country's premier sports awards on Thursday.
Virat Kohli's Indian team will be aiming for another comprehensive show against a depleted Australia when the two sides square-off in the opening encounter of the five-match series, in Chennai, on Saturday.
The Suresh Raina-led side suffered consecutive defeats against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders and title holder Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening two matches.
How do the Aussie and Indian cricketers compare? Rajneesh Gupta presents all the career numbers.
A quick look at the Oscar 2016 nominations.
Australia will start favourites in Thursday's clash but a passionate Bangladesh are expected to make life tough for the holders.
Travis Head, D' Arcy Short and Chris Lynn have been dropped, while the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been rested.
The right-hander's form is a far cry from the man who blasted the Black Caps to the final four years ago on his way to finishing the tournament as the top run scorer.
Paceman Steven Finn's five-wicket haul put England on the brink of a 2-1 Ashes series lead over Australia on Thursday with the tourists facing a desperate battle to avoid a humiliating third Test defeat.
Harbhajan Singh has rated the current Australian team led by Steven Smith as the 'weakest ever' in recent times to tour the Indian sub-continent.
Veteran Western Australian batsman Adam Voges in 17-man tour squad but give the cold shoulder to Glenn Maxwell.
Rain prevented a result at Oval during the ICC Champions Trophy match, in London, on Monday.
Rangana Herath picked four wickets in the second innings to spin Sri Lanka to a 106 win over Australia in the first Test in Pallekele on Saturday.
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India.
A scrappy India will have to lift their game by several notches against an improving Australia when the two fierce rivals clash in a virtual quarter-final cricket match of the ICC World Twenty20, in Mohali, on Sunday.
'The time has come to incorporate Indian sociology into economic policy.' 'The first step in that direction would be to listen to economists trained in India and not just the US and the UK, argues T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Former Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin feels trusting one's technique will be the key for wicketkeepers when they are put under pressure during the four-Test series beginning later this month.
Australia captain Aaron Finch says playing in the sub-continent can be intimidating, but having won an ODI series last year, he says 'Knowing that our game plan is good enough to beat India in India, that gives us a lot of confidence going there.'
Table-toppers Mumbai Indians will be itching to avenge their double defeat against Rising Pune Supergiant in the league stage when the two teams face-off in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
It seems to be a Tom Hanks and Cate Blanchett show all the way!
List of players released by IPL teams ahead of next month's auction for 2020 season:
Australia coach Justin Langer said that England are obviously the red-hot favourites going into the World Cup and said the team deserves to be the number one team in the world.
Rising Pune Supergiants now face an uphill task of taming the rampaging Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League clash, in Pune, on Friday.
Australia will want to steer clear of another defeat at the hands of India when the teams lock horns in the 4th ODI in Bengaluru, so it will only be prudent if they bring in Faulkner for the faltering Richardson and give Agar the boot, says Norma Godinho.
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