Arun Lal's "very poor pitch" comment on the opening day drew a sharp rebuttal from the Saurashtra Cricket Association on Wednesday after its curator, Mahendra Rajdev, said the Bengal coach erred in his judgement by jumping the gun in the ongoing Ranji Trophy final in Rajkot.
India's batting is a major concern with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli struggling for runs ahead of the tour of Australia.
Lokesh Rahul, who hit two half-centuries in the deciding Dharamsala Test against Australia, on Thursday, jumped 11 places to a career-high rank of 11th in the latest ICC chart for Test batsmen.
Captain Alastair Cook and Haseeb Hameed may have frustrated the Indians with their dogged defence on Day 4 but Cheteshwar Pujara says it will be extremely tough for England to bat through the fifth and final of the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
India will be without captain and batting mainstay Virat Kohli, who decided to skip the first of the two Tests, while batter Rohit Sharma, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will miss both matches.
To keep their minds off the Pune disaster, the team went on a hike at Tamhini Ghat on Monday, and the trek to the Western Ghats seemed to have brought out their inner Platos and Ramanujas.
Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara may have drawn criticism for his slow strike rate during the tour of West Indies but India coach Anil Kumble on Wednesday threw his weight behind the batsman saying he is a vital cog in the team's scheme of things and no one has put pressure on him to score quickly.
'It was during Covid that Ashwin realised that family can also be a part of his life. So he expanded a little bit to give us space which gave him more happiness and stability to deal with a lot of things on the field. That is why he has had a detached attachment over the last few years.'
The Indian squad led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni departed for New Zealand from Mumbai on Sunday for a five-match ODI series followed by a best-of-two Test rubber against the hosts.
Like all cricketers, Krunal had been confined to his house in Vadodara since March 25, when the centre enforced a nationwide lockdown to curb the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Ian Chappell reckoned Indian batsmen need to strike a balance between caution and aggression. Known for his sharp cricketing mind, Chappell's line of thinking is a bit different from that of Kohli.
Keep an eye on these five players during the tournament.
The sub-narratives in the main story will be equally intriguing in the next 13 days.
Virat Kohli joined the national team's training session on Monday at the picturesque Arundel Castle Cricket Club.
Vihari, clearly hampered having pulled up clutching his hamstring after running for a single before tea, scored at a rate that made Pujara look like a limited overs slogger.
Rahul hasn't crossed the 30 run mark in his last 10 innings and his overall career average of 33 after 47 Tests doesn't ooze confidence.
Rohit's 162-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane dragged the hosts back into the contest, before England dismissed both in the final session.
Statistical highlights from the third day's play of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka.
As expected, the Indian selectors decided to stick with the same 16-member squad, which beat Bangladesh in the one-off Test, for the first two matches of the forthcoming four-match Test series against Australia, starting in Pune, on February 23.
India spinner Kuldeep Yadav was inundated with birthday greetings on Twitter.
In a curious case of mistaken identity that could cause serious embarrassment to national selectors, a Saurashtra Cricket Association official on Sunday claimed that little known Punjab player Ravi Inder Singh was thought to be prolific all-rounder Ravindrasinh Jadeja and got selected for the Challenger Trophy.
The 19-year-old Samson and 26-year-old Karn were rewarded for consistent performances in the domestic circuit as well as India 'A' engagements.
It remains to be seen if Rishabh Pant retains his place in the team after his shocking dismissal at a crucial stage in the second innings of the second Test.
The 14th season of the IPL, which was postponed in May this year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume on September 19 in Dubai with a blockbuster clash between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
The 18-year-old right-hander was named in a 12-man squad on Wednesday for the first of the two-Test series and is expected to open alongside Lokesh Rahul.
A look at Team India's nets session in Kanpur on Tuesday.
Indian women cricketers took to social media to laud the Board of Control for Cricket in India for introducing equal match fees for both men's and women's cricketers in a huge step to introduce pay equity in the sport.
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
Five Indian players to watch in the Test series against Australia, which begins in Adelaide on December 17:
India's Test captain Virat Kohli took the field along with team mates for a light session at Green Park, in Kanpur, on Sunday.
Jaiswal's selection comes after an impressive performance in the domestic circuit across various formats,
Opener Mayank Agarwal hit a gritty hundred to rescue India after New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel had put them in a spot of bother with three quick wickets on the weather-hit first day of the second and final Test, at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai, on Friday.
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.
Shepherded by Priyank Panchal's spunky innings, West Zone defied South Zone bowlers while chasing a formidable 298 and finished day four of the Duleep Trophy final at 182 for five.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli's collective failures against the moving ball in England has given rise to doubts about their class and ability and if they are the answer to India's search for batting solidity in the absence of their retired heroes.
India's pace trio took less than three hours to rout the tourists after Mominul Haque's decision to bat backfired.
Images from Day 3 of the fourth and final Test in Delhi, on Saturday.
In Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India, says Haresh Pandya, has a bunch of exciting young batsmen who will go places, individually and collectively.
Images from Day 4 in the first Test between India and New Zealand, at Green Park in Kanpur, on Sunday.
In the batsmen's rankings, Cheteshwar Pujara is the top-ranked Indian at the fourth position while opener Shikhar Dhawan climbed 21 places to be ranked 39th.
