Ahead of the WTC Final next month, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting opened up on India and Australia's chances for the big game.
Team India is all set to take on Australia in the final of the ICC World Test Championship final from Wednesday at The Oval and this 'Ultimate Test' also brings with it a set of milestones that players can establish during the course of the match.
Let us look at the batters who finally managed to hit three figures after a prolonged period of time.
England pacer James Anderson on Thursday surpassed Sachin Tendulkar as the cricketer to play the most number of Test matches on home soil.
India captain Rohit Sharma on Friday said his team was not brave and lacked application in the third Test against Australia in Indore.
Following the massive win, congratulations poured in for the champions from all quarters with Sachin Tendulkar leading the nation in wishing the players.
Indian batters committed themselves to doubles shift in the nets against slow bowlers
India need not lose sleep over Virat Kohli's absence in the last three Tests against Australia but Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara will have to shoulder extra responsibilities, batting great Sunil Gavaskar said.
Pujara took to Twitter to post pictures of him along with his wife getting vaccinated
Gavaskar pointed out the slow approach from the New Zealand players batted in the summit clash as the conditions were not very suitable for batting.
'Rahul needs to play county cricket, but will he skip the IPL?'
Vihari capitalised on the opportunity by playing a knock of 58
Former players Irfan Pathan and Parthiv Patel believe pace bowler Mohammed Shami will the hold the key for India with the ball in the upcoming ICC World Test Championship against New Zealand.
Shami was doing an Instagram Live session with batsman Manoj Tiwary and it was then that the latter asked Shami to name the player who bats the best against him in the nets.
The out-of-favour India batter, who is in sparkling form, is making most of his county stint. He now has scored two hundreds and as many double centuries in his five innings.
India captain KL Rahul said he trusted his batting unit to do the job for the side despite losing seven wickets while chasing a modest 145 on day four of the second and final Test against Bangladesh.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the second Test against South Africa, starting on January 3?
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand, starting on Friday?
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.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (919) continued to lead the batting charts, with the Australian duo of Steve Smith (891) and Marnus Labuschagne (878) rounding up the top three.
After five failures in six completed knocks in South Africa, the two veteran batters surely seem to have played their last Test for India.
It's been more than a decade since India lost a Test series at home - they had lost to England 1-2 in 2012.
'Shane Warne is sick. He was an incredible cricketer but his lack of sensitivity & ignorance on a lot of occasions is baffling.'
The opening round of Ranji Trophy matches will begin from February 17 following a five-day quarantine and the squad size, including support staff, has been capped at 30.
Images from Day 3 of the fourth Test between England and India, at The Oval, on Saturday.
'To be fair to curators, they hardly got time to prepare the wicket. They had a Ranji season here and it was pretty late that it was decided the game will be shifted from Dharamsala. They did not get enough time.'
Sheldon Jackson top-scored for Saurashtra with a 44-ball 64 as they overcame a late challenge from Kerala to win by nine runs and set up a last eight clash against Mumbai.
The Australians 'swept' their way to self-destruction in the face of the Indian spinners' guile in the second Test in Delhi on Sunday.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the first Test against New Zealand, starting on Thursday?
With the Indian players having to stay in the bio-bubble for the next two months during the tour of Australia, some of the players opted to bring in their families to help them cope with the isolation period.
India captain KL Rahul admitted that his team was made to really work hard by Bangladesh to register a comprehensive 188-run win in the first Test of the two-match series in Chattogram on Sunday.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Monday lauded the efforts of Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant and Ravichandran Ashwin in saving the third Test against Australia and urged the Indian team to go for a series win in the final match in Brisbane.
At stumps on Day 3, India were 125/3 in their second innings to extend their lead to 257 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara (50 not out) hitting a gutsy half-century.
Cheteshwar Pujara still feels the sting of last year's drubbing in New Zealand but the batsman says India will be a different proposition when the sides clash again at the neutral venue of Southampton in next month's World Test Championship final.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja dominated with the ball for India while Virat Kohli ended his long wait for a Test century.
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.
Cheteshwar Pujara strongly believes in old adage 'form is temporary but class is permanent' and said it holds true for him and Ajinkya Rahane as their fluent half-centuries kept India in the hunt for a win in the second Test.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur in the nets.
India go into the third Test of the series in Sydney starting January 7 at 0500 IST.
The last time Pujara featured in the lucrative T20 league was for Kings XI Punjab, now re-christened Punjab Kings, in 2014.
