On the ropes at 43-4 early in their innings, Pakistan rallied behind spectacular half centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan to post 185 for nine and delight the lively crowd of 30,000 roaring them on at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Rishabh Pant's disappointing outing against Zimbabwe isn't a cause of concern for head coach Rahul Dravid, who hinted that the flamboyant left-hander could start in the T20 World Cup semi-final against England at Adelaide on Thursday.
The first Test of the four-match series, beginning on December 17 will be played at the Adelaide Oval in a day-night contest. Australia have an unbeaten record in day-night Tests having won all the pink ball Tests they have played.
'You might see things quite different from what you usually see' 'I don't mind a bit of chat on the field; a bit of banter'
New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner has revealed how he responded perfectly to the Australian sledgers during the historic day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval.
Australia's bowlers will not shy away from sending down a barrage of short deliveries in the first Test against India, paceman Mitchell Johnson has said.
Opener David Warner thumped a maiden Twenty20 international century as Australia kicked off their home summer with a ruthless 134-run thrashing of Sri Lanka, at Adelaide Oval, on Sunday.
World champions India will clash against hosts Australia in their first warm-up match of the ICC World Cup 2015 in Adelaide on February 8 before they take on minnows Afghanistan at the same venue two days later.
Rohit Sharma smashed 150 as India outclassed minnows Afghanistan by 153 runs in the World Cup warm-up match in Adelaide.
Last week, Team India roared into the final of the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) following an emphatic 3-1 series win over England.
The 21-year-old needed just 11 deliveries to go from 50 to 100, an Australian one-day domestic record, and needed just 11 more balls to bring up his hundred, including taking 32 runs off one over.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Indian openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal looked clueless against the Australian attack in both the innings.
Australia and India are currently gearing up for the four-match Test series. The first Test will get underway on Thursday at the Adelaide Oval and it will be a day-night contest.
Shane Watson has roared back to his classy best.
"You look at the CPL which becomes more important with the next World Cup being there in the Caribbean, and how many players can you get put into that tournament to get an idea of conditions. It is an advantage,"
Jadeja, Shami also return for limited overs series starting Jan 12
Pakistan will join India, England and New Zealand in the semi-finals
Sundaram Ravi retained his place among the 'Elite', while C Shamshuddin was elevated to 'Emerging', in the ICC's panel of umpires for the coming season.
Unbeaten on 72 after another dismal batting display by England on Saturday, Ian Bell said Australia's Mitchell Johnson held no fear for him.
Let's go to Australia with Divyanka!
Will India pick Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel or Yuzvendra Chahal for the semi-final game on Thursday?
'Full credit to our bowling attack again. Nice to get off to a good start. Chuffed with the way we bowled in this Test'
Steve Smith became the fastest man to score 7,000 Test runs on Saturday, shattering a record that had stood since 1946, while moving past Donald Bradman to become Australia's 11th highest scorer.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya will not be considered for India's Test series against Australia starting next week despite starring with the bat in the white-ball series, captain Virat Kohli said.
As India and Bangladesh gear up for their first-ever day-night Test, veteran umpire K Hariharan said that the match officials should worry about the twilight period.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, on Wednesday, called for severing all sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama terror attack which left 40 CRPF personnel martyred.
Australia captain Michael Clarke is fit to lead the side into the first Test against India on Tuesday and his return is a "huge boost" for the hosts, fast bowler Mitchell Johnson said.
Mitchell Starc claimed his second hat-trick of the match to lead New South Wales to a 171-run victory over Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield on Tuesday.
David Warner and Glenn Maxwell struck blistering centuries as Australia flexed their batting muscles to expose defending champion India's bowling limitations in a World Cup warmup match in Adelaide on Sunday.
Johnson sidelined for Aus tour of UK
India might be left with a mountain of runs to climb in the first Test in Adelaide but fielding coach R Sridhar was confident that the batsmen will make up for the bowlers' poor show.
It may be possible that both Bumrah and Shami will play the ODIs where they can bowl their 10 over quota and then switch to Test match mode
Australian all-rounder Shane Watson says he will be 'extremely surprised' if captain Michael Clarke does not score a hundred in honour of the late Phillip Hughes in the first Test against India, starting Tuesday.
Virat Kohli smashed his 39th one-day international century as India claimed a dramatic six-wicket victory over Australia at a sweltering Adelaide Oval on Tuesday to level up the three-match series at 1-1.
Indian cricket team's much-anticipated tour of Australia will begin either in Adelaide or Brisbane instead of favoured Perth after Western Australia state government made it clear that there won't be any relaxation in quarantine guidelines in their territory.
India all-rounder Hardik Pandya was reprimanded by the ICC for celebrating aggressively after taking a wicket during the first Twenty20 International against Australia in Adelaide, on Tuesday.
Left-arm pacer Thangarasu Natarajan earned his maiden call-up to the Indian Test squad after he was named as the replacement for the injured Umesh Yadav for the last two games against Australia.
Usman Khawaja hit Australia's first century of the series and Peter Handscomb scored a half-century on debut as the hosts reached 307 for six with a lead of 48 at end of the second day of the day-night third Test against South Africa in Adelaide.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland believes there will be more day-night Tests in the future
