Steve Smith and David Warner may wake with some relief on Thursday as they greet the final day of their ball-tampering bans
Kohli (886 points) and Rohit (868 points) have gained two and three ratings points, respectively to occupy the top two positions in the batting rankings.
The dew factor will go out of the window but the searing heat will be an issue when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on a better prepared Rajasthan Royals in the first of the 10 IPL double-headers, in Abu Dhabi, on Saturday.
Pandya's absence means that India will have to rejig their bowling attack. Jasprit Bumrah has already been rested for this series, as well as the tour of New Zealand, and this allows the think-tank to conduct one final experimentation with their bowling attack.
Australia opener David Warner became the fifth batsman at the World Cup to get an unexpected reprieve after he dragged a ball on to his stump but the impact failed to dislodge the zing bails in Sunday's match against India.
The second T20 International between India and Australia was called off due to rain at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Steve Smith smashed an unbeaten half-century to power Australia to a seven-wicket victory against Pakistan in the second T20 International in Canberra on Tuesday.
Australian pacer Kane Richardson, who grabbed a five-for felt that the dismissal of Mahendra Singh Dhoni proved to be a turning point as the home team recorded a 25-run win against India.
Australia, who host the T20 World Cup from October 18 to November 15, had won eight games in a row before losing to South Africa by 12 runs in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
David Warner scored an unbeaten half-century in vain as Australia blew a comfortable chase
Check out the Mumbai Indians squad for the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who is a popular name among T20 leagues around the world, was not picked along Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
Australia and Pakistan are currently playing the second match of a two-Test series in the UAE, with Tim Paine's side seeking their first series win in Asia since 2011 after a battling draw in the last match.
With home advantage comes home expectation as Eoin Morgan leads arguably the strongest England side in the history of the tournament which has seen a co-host triumph in the last two editions.
The mood in the Indian camp was summed up best by the skipper after a green pitch was unveiled on eve of the maiden Test at the new facility.
Following is a fact box on the second Test of the four-match series between Australia and India:
Royal Challengers Bangalore's head coach Simon Katich and Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson backed Virat Kohli to stay as the captain despite yet another IPL heartbreak and the criticism around it.
Scroll down to see the list of other awardees and cricketers who glamed up the night in their sartorial best.
Kane Richardson gets nod ahead of Josh Hazlewood as replacement
Will Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa both play the 1st ODI in Chennai on Sunday?
Why New Zealand pulled out of tour match in Sydney on Day 2
Hosts Australia will pull on a classic uniform from the 1980s featuring green strip on bright gold top and pants when they take on India in the three-match ODI series.
The legendary Indian cricketer was the Man of the ODI series, but the Most Valuable Player title went to an unlikely Aussie, point out Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji.
Unbeaten in all the three games they have played so far in the tournament, Gujarat Lions would look to continue with their impressive winning run when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Rajkot on Thursday. The Lions have been in red-hot form in their debut season with convincing wins in all the three games and they would seek to maintain a clean slate tomorrow at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. The home side will also be bolstered by the return of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who did not play in the Lion's seven-wicket thrashing of defending champions Mumbai Indians in Mumbai due to his wedding.
The IPL starts on September 19 and, in all likelihood, all the English and Australian players will land in the UAE via a charter flight on September 17, making them available for their respective team's opening match.
Rohit Sharma's sizzling century went in vain as Australia survived a few anxious moments before pulling off a tense four-wicket win over India in a cricket tri-series ODI match in Melbourne.
The Virat Kohli-led RCB has won five of its eight games on the back of all-round performances but seemingly blundered in the eight-wicket defeat to laggards KXIP on Thursday.
A win over Australia would see the Black Caps through and represent a strong recovery from their six wicket loss to Pakistan at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
England captain Eoin Morgan refused to hit the panic button after defeat by Australia on Tuesday left his team's hopes of reaching the Cricket World Cup semi-finals in the balance. The pre-tournament favourites and hosts have now lost three group games and may need to beat India and New Zealand in their next two matches to make the last four.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list the Most Valuable Players during the India-Australia ODI series.
The likes of Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, and Aaron Finch will be aiming to match the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Hashim Amla, and Marcus Stoinis stroke for stroke on what promises to be another belter of a track.
Australia have their own speedsters in Mitchell Starc, who is level with Archer with 15 wickets, and Pat Cummins (11).
Rising Pune Supergiants now face an uphill task of taming the rampaging Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League clash, in Pune, on Friday.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag, on Tuesday, said that Australian players are more concerned about bagging lucrative Indian Premier League deals during next year's auction which prevented them from sledging their Indian counterparts during the recently concluded series that hosts won 4-1.
Following is a fact file on the first Test match between Australia and India in Adelaide and how the teams have performed at the Adelaide Oval over the years:
Australia will need to defy history to chase down the total and survive the wiles of Ravichandran Ashwin on a fifth day pitch.
The West Indies used plenty of short-pitched deliveries to dismantle Pakistan in their Cricket World Cup opener, but the Caribbean batsmen will get a taste of their own medicine when they face champions Australia, fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile has said.
Having struggled in the past one year after suspensions of Steve Smith and David Warner, Australia finally seemed to have picked their pieces and playing exactly like a five-time champions ought to.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's in-form bowling unit could take a lot of encouragement out of the struggling Australian batting.
Images from Thursday's World Cup match between Australia and the West Indies, at Nottingham.
