India will be under tremendous pressure when they face an equally circumspect Australia in a battle of two out-of-form batting units in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth
BCCI tweets "All buckled up South Africa bound".
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.
'He is like a pillar and the whole team bats around him.' 'In today's world, everyone likes to play their strokes while Pujara is someone who will tire out the bowlers.' 'If you have one batsman who can play out the new ball or play out a spell from a good bowler, then it helps the whole team, it helps the other batsmen.'
Stylish batsman Cheteshwar Pujara comes with the reputation of a good Test cricketer, according to former opener Virender Sehwag, who hoped that the Indian batting mainstay improves his skills in T20 cricket and gets picked by an Indian Premier League franchise in the next season.
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.
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.
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.
England batsman Joe Root and Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath have moved up to second positions in their respective ICC Test player rankings but failed to displace top-ranked batsman Steve Smith and bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.
The Indian team is training hard ahead of their departure for the series in the West Indies. Led by skipper Virat Kohli, India will be playing a 4-match Test series in the Caribbean.
Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer combined in a rollicking 159-run partnership to help India wrest back control of the second Test against Bangladesh.
'I think it's more about trying to challenge both edges of the bat'
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, on Wednesday.
Out-of-favour opener Gautam Gambhir cracked his first century in more than two years as India 'A' came up with a solid batting display to take firm control of the third unofficial Test against the West Indies 'A' in Hubli.
Images from Day 4 of the third Test between Australia and India in Brisbane on Tuesday.
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.
As many as four world-class match-winners are expected to bid adieu to the game one by one in the next couple of years and Gautam Gambhir is in an unenviable position as head coach.
The Indian team seemed to enjoy their training session in Centurion as they prepared for the opening Test against South Africa on Sunday.
Gill said his team has learnt plenty from the disappointing defeat against the Kiwis.
Images from Day 1 of the pink-ball first Test between Australia and India, in Adelaide, on Thursday.
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.
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.
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.
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?
'We will be quarantining for that much time.'
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.
Former Australia Test skipper Tim Paine labelled the SCG pitch as an "absolute disgrace" which was produced for the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Tasmania.
'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.'
Ben Stokes and his team-mates have their task cut out as they look to emulate Alastair Cook-led England's historic India series win in 2012.
Ravi Shastri sounded sceptical about the possibility of players getting extended gap after the IPL or practice games ahead of future WTC final matches.
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.
'Every child's first hero is his father. I was no different. Even today, I remember what he taught me'
'Lyon has over 400 Test wickets and dismissed India's best batter in this crucial moment.'
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.
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.
Fascinating glimpses from Day 5 of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the WTC final against Australia?
Images from Day 3 of the second Test between India and Australia, at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi, on Sunday.
Ravichandran Ashwin revealed how he was left in tears after his wife Prithi broke out the news of mother's hospitalisation.
'If he wants to bat at No 3, especially on Indian tracks where spinners will cause trouble, he will have to rotate strike.'
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