Swing and seam friendly conditions, a lack of truly scary Australian bowlers and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum's retirement are all themes that will resonate when the first Test gets underway in Wellington on Friday.
His retirement will leave a hole at the top of New Zealand's batting order in limited-overs matches, while it could also change the way they approach games in future.
Laxman said Kohli leads by example as far as work ethic is concerned but tends to be a bit defensive in field settings besides the issue of changing the squad too often.
Australians survived a barrage of bouncers under lights from Indian pacers before the match ended in a draw at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
India will need to bat 90 plus overs on the final day of the third Test and score another 309 runs with Pujara and Rahane aiming to save the match
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum sounded upbeat about an unchanged team - from the side that beat the West Indies recently - for the first Test of the two-match series against India starting in Auckland on Thursday.
BJ Watling will be retiring from international cricket after the tour of England.
Statistical highlights from Day 1 of the opening Test between India and New Zealand in Auckland on Thursday.
Young opener Shubman Gill and pacer Mohammed Siraj will make their Test debuts in the second Boxing Day Test against Australia, starting in Melbourne, on Saturday.
Morgan paid tribute to Brendon McCullum, saying the former New Zealand captain had made a deep impact on his leadership style.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum expected to wake up on Thursday feeling "a bit dusty", hopefully with his cricket gear still intact rather than ceremonially burnt to a cinder and looking ahead to not doing a lot.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has slammed Shaun Marsh's topsy-turvy batting statistic in Test format by comparing it with former fast bowler Glenn McGrath's poor batting records.
Rohit achieved the feat in style, clobbering leg-spinner Ish Sodhi over the fine-leg boundary for a six during India's chase of 159 runs in the second Twenty20 International against New Zealand in Auckland
Karthik will be surrounded by cricketing brains all around him with the 2019 England World Cup winning skipper as his deputy, and New Zealand great Brendon McCullum as the head coach.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 is all set to resume on Sunday with Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) locking horns against each other.
Images from Day 1 at the Australian Open.
Former West Indies great Brian Lara has named Brendon McCullum as skipper of his Dream World Cup XI, which has three Indians in it.
India discard Dinesh Karthik has tendered an "unconditional apology" for violating BCCI's Central clause by watching a Caribbean Premier League game from the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned Trinbago Knight Riders' dressing room.
Ishant is returning to the Indian squad after recovering from an ankle injury sustained during a Ranji Trophy clash last month.
CSK has been a part of 10 out of 12 seasons of IPL and have never finished lower than semi-finals or play-offs.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the first Test against Australia?
Shubman Gill said it can be 'quite intimidating' to play cricket in Australia but asserted that his team will not back down when faced with either sledging or short-pitched deliveries during the four-Test series, starting in Adelaide on December 17.
Ajinkya Rahane will not be bogged down by the pressure of captaincy if he leads India in the last three Tests against Australia in Virat Kohli's absence, said batting great Sunil Gavaskar.
Eoin Morgan could well be the 'ice' to Andre Russell's 'fire' as England's World Cup winning captain gets ready to complement the pyrotechnics of the big-hitting Jamaican when Kolkata Knight Riders take the field in this year's Indian Premier League.
Australia's top batsman Steve Smith says he is returning to the Big Bash League domestic tournament for the Sydney Sixers with an eye on next year's Twenty20 World Cup on home soil.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, cricket in Pakistan, like the rest of the world, has been halted since March 15, and the PCB is banking on the virtual initiative to give a peek into its players' fitness.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has been named to lead his country in his final one-day series against Australia next month, providing he can prove his fitness.
A Dismayed New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Monday that national captain Brendon McCullum was not under investigation for match-fixing, as reported earlier by a British daily, and added that he had only given testimony to the International Cricket Council on the understanding that it would be kept confidential.
New Zealand will stick with their crash, bang, wallop brand of cricket in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against West Indies because it gives them the best chance of winning, captain Brendon McCullum said on Friday.
Brendon McCullum, who has just come off another successful and lucrative Indian Premier League campaign, has revealed that to him Test cricket is sacred and something people have to protect.
A frenetic first innings set up New Zealand's 122-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test on Monday, but captain Brendon McCullum was pleased with the way his bowlers stuck to their task without tangible reward.
'The players all appreciate -- we all appreciate -- the fact that despite the pandemic and the restrictions, because of all of this protocol that has been put in place, the IPL season is still happening.'
Pakistan's new head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has changed the diet and nutrition plans for players in the domestic tournaments and in the national camp.
New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum has revealed before a court in London that he felt shocked when his idol, Chris Cairns, approached him regarding fixing a match.
New Zealand seamer Trent Boult on Wednesday said that it will be difficult to find a charismatic leader like Brendon McCullum, while admitting that current skipper Kane Williamson is going "through pretty tough time" as a captain. Asked to compare the two, Boult gave an elaborate explanation. "Kane is a classy player and has been ranked as a top batsman for a reason. In a way, he has had pretty tough time walking into the role of captaincy. It has been a learning experience for the whole team to be honest.
Sophie Devine becomes first cricketer to register 5 consecutive fifty plus score in T20I
Gayle who has featured in his 27th World Cup match who had hammered 37 sixes in his 23 World Cup appearances.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum broke the world record for the fastest Test century held jointly by his idol Viv Richards on Saturday without ever being aware he was about to make cricket history.
As much as Brendon McCullum looks back fondly on a stellar career, more than anything he wants to sign off with a series win over Australia starting with the first Test in Wellington on Friday.
