India's captain Virat Kohli will have to think overtime about the balance of his squad, with a long tail, often bushy with runs, and just two openers -- one untested (Rohit Sharma) but very capable and another supremely talented (KL Rahul) but highly reluctant starter.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 3:
Centurion is situated 1300 metres above sea level, which means a higher altitude where bowlers can get tired quickly and in case of four bowlers, there remains a possibility of them getting tired.
In the end, it turned out to be a nightmare with dark clouds hovering over the future of this Indian team and no sign of 'VIBGYOR' in the Rainbow Nation.
The 6'7" seam-bowling all-rounder's inclusion in Australia's line-up was expected after his impressive hundred in the first warm-up game against India A.
Images from Day 2 of the fourth Test between Australia and India, at the Gabba, on Saturday.
Australia's in-depth planning to subdue Cheteshwar Pujara worked out well in the opening Test but spinner Nathan Lyon says it would be a massive challenge to keep the world-class batsman quiet through the remainder of the series.
Batting coach Vikram Rathour on Saturday said that a first innings score of 250-plus will put India in a fighting position against New Zealand, keeping the prevailing conditions in Southampton in mind during the ICC World Test Championship final.
Bess impressed in his maiden outing on Indian soil
Green was attended to by the medical team and was able to walk off the field.
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.
Seniors like Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara came in for a lot of flak for their below-par showing with the bat, while Jasprit Bumrah also failed to live up to expectations.
Has the long due transition phase kicked in for India's Test team?
Some of the Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, coach Ravi Shastri and members of the support staff also landed in Chennai -- where the first two Tests will be played.
'The primary reason India have started travelling better is the arsenal of pace Virat is able to summon.'
Veteran India speedster Mohammed Shami has recovered from his niggles and is fit to play the final Test against England in Manchester, starting September 10.
It was the biggest margin of victory by runs for India in a home match, eclipsing their 337-run win against South Africa in a Delhi Test in 2015.
India coach Rahul Dravid has indicated that the team management may take some tough selection decisions going forward and emphasised on the need to have clear communication with the players.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin struck three early blows to put the hosts on course for a series-clinching victory against New Zealand in the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Ishant Sharma and his pace colleagues wreaked havoc with the pink ball to put India in charge of their maiden day-night Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Rajneesh Gupta gives us all the important numbers from Day 4 of the 4th Test,
The Indian team took to the nets at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday with all of their players going through a rigorous training session.
The team has five stand-bys in Priyank Panchal, KS Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar.
Former India batsman Ambati Rayudu also reached Chennai on Wednesday while the Tamil Nadu players in the squad will join later.
Smith (900 points) is placed second behind New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (919).
After helping Saurashtra win their maiden Ranji Trophy title last month, little did he know that he would be spending all his time at home. Pujara is enjoying the 'forced' break and most of his time goes into entertaining his two-year-old daughter.
The 30-year-old notched up his 16th hundred in his 65th Test at the Adelaide Oval, reaching the 5000-mark landmark in 108 innings, the same as the legendary Rahul Dravid, who made the No 3 slot his own.
India pacer Mohammed Shami says India will be looking to set New Zealand a target only after having enough "back-up runs" in the second innings on the final day of the World Test Championship final, said senior pacer
A round up of the fourth and final day's action of the Ranji Trophy matches on Sunday.
According to Pujara, his nemesis Patrick Cummins bowled the 'ball of the series' about which he couldn't do anything.
All eyes will be on the opening fixture between defending champions Saurashtra and record 41-time champions Mumbai in Ahmedabad with Rahane and Pujara on either side, aiming to make the big scores that have deserted them at the Test level for a while.
'Everyone in the contingent will be undergoing 14-day quarantine in India'
Ganguly is hopeful that Virat Kohli's men will bring the World Test Championship trophy home
India made just one change to their squad as Umesh Yadav replaced Shardul Thakur for the last two Tests of the ongoing four-match series against England.
With the hope of finding their way back into the Indian team, cricketers Rishabh Pant and Suresh Raina recently hit the nets together in Ghaziabad, resuming practice after the prolonged COVID-19 forced break. The season was cut short in March due to COVID-19 and both batsmen will be jostling for space in a more or less settled batting line-up.
Former wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel said India have all the 'bases covered' for the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, to be played in Southampton from June 18 to 22.
Ashwin picked Smith's wicket in the first session of the Boxing Day Test on Saturday for a duck.
The 10 IPL franchises have so far spent above Rs 388 crore collectively
Images from Day 1 of the third Test between India and England, at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.
Only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh have won more matches than Kohli as captain in Test cricket.
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