Australia and South Africa, two teams renowned for their batting prowess, will go head-to-head in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, aiming to secure a place in the Champions Trophy semifinals.
Images from Day 3 of the second Test between Australia and South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Jasprit Bumrah dismantled Australia's batting in both innings with eight wickets in the match to bowl India to a huge 295-run victory in the first Test in Perth.
Young spin-bowling all-rounder Cooper Connolly will replace injured Matthew Short in the Australian squad for the knock-out stages of the ongoing Champions Trophy.
Australia bowled out Sri Lanka for 231 in the hosts' second innings and then chased down the target of 75 losing the lone wicket of opener Travis Head.
Dimuth Karunaratne's Test career ended in a whimper as Sri Lanka's most prolific Test opener fell caught behind to Kuhnemann after making 14.
Josh Inglis smashed a maiden ODI century (120 not out) to lead Australia to a thrilling five-wicket victory over England in a high-scoring Champions Trophy match.
'It was a test of character, a true pressure situation, and you responded with a phenomenal team performance.'
In the bowling rankings, Keshav Maharaj and Matt Henry have broken into the top five
Sri Lanka are still 518 runs behind and will need a Herculean effort to avoid the follow-on even though more rain is forecast for Saturday.
With recent matches indicating that chasing teams have fared slightly better, the toss-winning captain may opt to bowl first.
Australia, who have already secured their place in the final of the World Test Championship against South Africa, won the opening Test, also in Galle, by an innings and 242 runs.
Former Australia wicket-keeping great Ian Healy has questioned the tactical acumen of Cooper Connolly, saying he was "angry" with the way the opener handled India's pace spearhead Mohammed Shami in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai.
Starc's withdrawal comes after pace stalwarts Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were ruled out due to injuries.
At Stumps on Day 3, the visitors are struggling at 51/4 with right-hand batter KL Rahul (33*) and team skipper Rohit Sharma (0*) unbeaten at the crease.
Images from Day 4 of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the MCG on Sunday.
The Indian batters' inability to grind it out against a relentless Australian pace attack in testing conditions left the team precariously placed at 51/4 at the end of a rain-marred day three.
Both Pant, who played a key role in India's series victory last time, and Carey are known for their aggressive brand of cricket.
IMAGES from the 2nd ODI played between England and Australia at the Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds, Britain, on Saturday.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka led by example and smashed a belligerent hundred to set up a 49-run victory over a depleted Australia.
Australia's historic pedigree in cricket's biggest tournaments will count for nothing when they run into an Afghanistan side that is fast cementing its place in the game's top table in the Champions Trophy match in Lahore on Friday.
Spinners Dunith Wellalage (3-42) and Maheesh Theekshana (2-26) kept Sri Lanka in the hunt but Dasun Shanaka's side were left to rue a limp performance with the bat.
Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith hailed his side's resounding innings and 242-run victory over Sri Lanka in Galle on Saturday as "near flawless" after the visitors retained the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy.
If Smith is ruled out, then the left-hand batter Travis Head will lead the squad as he is the vice-captain of the side.
Pat Cummins will captain Australia at the Champions Trophy after being named in a preliminary 15-man squad also featuring fellow quick Josh Hazlewood on Tuesday.
Pat Cummins said it's tough to repose full "confidence" on ultra-edge technology but maintained that India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal had clearly edged him
Rahul played a scintillating knock of 77, with some eye-catching drives and peak Test match batting, before getting out to Mitchell Starc in the first session on Day 3.
Australian captain Pat Cummins expressed disappointment over the rain interruptions that prevented a decisive result.
The 30-year-old will now have the chance to soak up a first Test in front of family and friends as Australia look to push for a 2-0 series lead.
Virat Kohli's wife and K L Rahul's wife Athiya Shetty were in attendance and their reaction to Kohli's dismissal has gone viral on social media.
The captain, who had switched positions to number six, once again fell prey to Pat Cummins, edging a delivery to Alex Carey for just 10 off 27 balls in another unconvincing innings.
Glenn Maxwell's hopes of reviving his Test career may be over after the all-rounder missed out on selection in Australia's much-changed squad for the Sri Lanka tour.
It was a frustrating day for the loyal crowd of 16,180 but perhaps more so for the home team, whose chances of forcing a result were progressively eroded.
Usman Khawaja's marathon 160 and Alex Carey's career-best 93 helped Australia rack up 505 for eight against Pakistan on Day 2 of the second Test in Karachi on Sunday.
Both teams have struggled in the ODI format recently. World champions Australia lost to Sri Lanka (0-2) and Pakistan (1-2) in their last two series, while England, now coached by Brendon McCullum in all formats, haven't won an ODI series since their disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign.
'It was probably one of the best barbecues I've seen, to be honest with you. It came out of the blue'
Their pre-tournament decision to fill the squad with five spinners drew a lot of flak from all corners, but it is now proving to be a masterstroke on the slow pitches in Dubai.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the 50 Most Valuable Players in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Two teams with fault lines in their batting, up against two of the best bowling sides in the game today -- the question that determines the outcome is, is your weakness greater than mine?
Alex Carey is content being Australia's preferred white-ball wicketkeeper but hopes to be 'good enough' one day to break into the Test squad. His limited-overs duty has somewhat restricted his first class experience and Carey said shifting from one format to another was not easy.
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