The Indian team kicked off final preparations for the third Test against Australia with a gruelling practice session at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
We have Shubman Gill at one end ready to carry on the mantle but what about his partner?
BCCI tweets "All buckled up South Africa bound".
'They perhaps hoped to get an early wicket, but once they didn't get that, they went into a shell.'
He has been in tremendous form of late with one hundred and three fifties in his last six 50-over games.
'I think it's more about trying to challenge both edges of the bat'
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and KL Rahul were seen having a hit in the nets while Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami had a session with the ball.
Almost the entire Indian team was seen drenched in colours
Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane flopped with the bat as defending champions Mumbai were shocked by Baroda by 84 runs.
Sudeep Tyagi and Siddharth Trivedi, the medium pacers from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat respectively, won't be a part of the Saurashtra Ranji Trophy squad for the first two matches this season.
'The Indian top order should observe Babar and Kane to understand how to handle pacers when the ball is moving around. Both of them possess exceptional skills in playing late.'
'...whether he is a top player or not, it doesn't matter.' 'If I go by a player's name I won't be able to bowl at my best.' 'For me he is just a batter, and my only focus is where I need to land the ball.'
India's batting megastars will be desperate to clear the cobwebs from their head in pursuit of a second successive World Test Championship final berth as they take on Australia in the series-deciding fourth Test in Ahmedabad from Thursday.
Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer combined in a rollicking 159-run partnership to help India wrest back control of the second Test against Bangladesh.
Australia racked up 469 in their first innings and then reduced India to 151/5 to put themselves in the box seat in the World Test Championship final.
The Indian team seemed to enjoy their training session in Centurion as they prepared for the opening Test against South Africa on Sunday.
Images from Day 1 of the pink-ball first Test between Australia and India, in Adelaide, on Thursday.
'It'll be very much a battle again between the very good pace bowling attacks of both sides and how well the top order players of both sides can deal with the ball that will bounce, seam and probably swing a little bit more in the day-night game in Adelaide.'
Eoin Morgan said the current Indian team ranks as "one of the greatest in their own conditions".
Cheteshwar Pujara made 49 and 43 in his two innings as Saurashtra lost to Haryana by four wickets.
India's swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar on Tuesday jumped eight places to a career-best 22 following his impressive show in a lost cause in the first Test against South Africa but Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara slipped in the ICC ranking ladder.
The top Indian cricketers are unlikely to have a national camp at Motera in Ahmedabad prior to this year's Indian Premier League, taking into account their health and safety amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country. There is a high possibility that all the centrally contracted cricketers -- save Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari, who don't feature in IPL -- will be joining their respective IPL teams training camp in Dubai from the start.
Star batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been appointed brand ambassador by the Gujarat State Election Commission to encourage more voters, will exercise his franchise when the voting for the parliamentary polls take place in the state on April 30.
Cheteshwar Pujara missed out on a second successive double hundred but his 182 went a long way in Saurashtra piling up a mammoth 570 in their first innings against Gujarat on the second day of the Ranji Trophy.
Skipper Cheteshwar Pujara hit a scintillating 140 as India 'A' posted 281 for three against South Africa 'A' at stumps on the opening day of the first unofficial Test in Rustenberg.
KL Rahul gave a timely reminder to the Indian team management with a sublime first-class hundred against Select County XI on the opening day of the warm-up game in Durham on Tuesday.
Gill said his team has learnt plenty from the disappointing defeat against the Kiwis.
'We will be quarantining for that much time.'
'Without a team nothing can happen, it takes team work or team effort to win matches.' 'Individuals can perform significantly in helping the team win, but if the rest of the guys don't chip in, there is not much an individual can do.'
'He will be missed by all of us in Saurashtra.'
Ishan Kishan earned his maiden Test call-up, while Suryakumar Yadav was also included for the first two Tests of the four-match series against Australia next month.
Images from Day 2 of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia in Dharamsala, on Sunday.
Star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has also moved up three slots to a career-best 14th position among bowlers after his match haul of 10 for 153 at Mirpur.
An unbroken second-wicket century stand between Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara put India in command on a curtailed opening day in the second Test against South Africa in Durban, on Thursday. Bad light forced play to be called off early, with India sitting pretty on 181 for 1 in 61 overs after electing to bat first.
'Every child's first hero is his father. I was no different. Even today, I remember what he taught me'
Virat Kohli has scored 1,138 runs in overseas Tests this year -- that's the most by an Indian in a calendar year, points out Rajneesh Gupta.
India's batting is a major concern with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggling for runs ahead of the tour of Australia.
Images from Day 3 of the third Test between Australia and India, at the SCG, on Saturday.
India dropped both Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara from the side following the South Africa tour but brought them back rather than grooming youngsters? Rahane scored the bulk of the runs for India in the WTC final but was going back to him and Pujara the right call?
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