But the Rohit Sharma-led team has it's fair share of problems in terms of picking an ideal playing XI.
With Australia still struggling to cope with the retirements of their key players, spin legend Shane Warne has called on the selectors to pump in young blood into the team before it is too late.
The five-match Test series between India and England, starting on August 4, will start the second cycle of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).
Virat Kohli enters the three match ODI series against Bangladesh starting on Wednesday as the highest-ranked batsman on either side, in fourth place in the ICC rankings.
"Everybody has different tags and rankings that go up and down throughout the year, and I suppose they end up with different names. But you come into a tournament on any day, anything can happen, especially looking across all these teams with match winners throughout."
Shastri shared a picture on Twitter on Tuesday along with SRK, Raveena Tandon, and industrialist Gautam Singhania.
Vaughan had also slammed Rohit for not being proactive during the series-opener last week.
Shamar Joseph dismissed the formidable Steve Smith with his very first delivery in Test cricket.
While Kohli has slipped to 10th on the ICC rankings, the Indian great continues to hold a remarkable Test batting record. He has scored 27 Test centuries and 28 half-centuries and currently has a Test batting average of just under 50.
While the lack of information, which is unusual for a major sporting event, might be annoying for fans planning to travel to India
With Indian cricket team geared up for their busiest Test season comprising 17 five-day games, skipper Virat Kohli aptly stated that the coming days will be an indicator as to how they have shaped up as a Test unit. "This is the perfect situation and opportunity to challenge and assess ourselves as a Test team. These months will define how we play as a Test team in coming years," Kohli said at the pre-departure media conference ahead of Indian team's tour of the West Indies. Hailing Anil Kumble's appointment as the team's head coach, the Indian skipper said that now they have a man, who can also tell them how to win Test matches abroad.
Opener David Warner is still looking for his first Test hundred against Sri Lanka while Smith has managed only one century in his last 18 Tests.
England would topple Australia as the world's top test team if they successfully defend the Ashes by the unlikely margin of three victories.
Impressed by the good-natured New Zealand cricketers, India captain Virat Kohli says if his side were to share the number one ICC Test ranking with any team, it will be the Black Caps.
With Virat Kohli stepping down as India's Test captain, the reign of the country's "most successful captain" in the longest format came to an end.
A few days after Pakistan replaced India at the No.1 spot of ICC Test rankings, some Pakistani fans have started mocking the Indian cricket team and captain Virat Kohli on social media websites. A cropped image was posted by a fan wherein Pakistan captain Misbah ul Haq is lifting Kohli in a way seen in entertainment style wrestling. Team India were crowned number 1 Test side and had to win the fourth and last Test against the West Indies to retain their top position in the ranking.
India will enter the Asia Cup as a seven-time champions, most by any team, but adding an eighth title might just not feature on top of their bucket list.
The ICC has rich tributes to Sachin Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket on Saturday after playing his 200th Test match, with its chief executive Dave Richardson saying that "sporting geniuses like Sachin are rare phenomenons".
Kohli has consistently dominated headlines with his extraordinary batting prowess.
'He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows? But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job'.
Giving the 'social challenge' a new twist, the International Cricket Council called Australian batting sensation Marnus Labuschagne a duplicate of his team-mate Steve Smith. ICC used three different photos of Steve Smith indicating different profile pictures for Linkedin, Facebook, and Instagram. However, they replaced his Twitter picture with a duplicate account and used Labuschagne's photo to denote it, terming it as 'duplicate account'.
Umesh climbs to 25th in ICC Test rankings after becoming only the third Indian fast bowler to claim a 10-wicket Test haul on home soil.
The ICC on Thursday announced the nominees to recognise the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket.
England to host New Zealand for two Tests in June.
After the win in their opening match of the series, South Africa led the WTC25 rankings, but the loss in the second Test meant their win percentage fell down to 50%, the same as New Zealand, Australia, and Bangladesh.
It is a tribute to a system so robustly meritocratic that this team represents India's diversity better than any other institution: The Union Cabinet, our chief ministers, the civil services, the leadership of our armed forces and security agencies, the judiciary and more than all of these, our typical newsroom. That is the biggest message from this breathless rise of Indian cricket, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Help captain Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri pick India's playing XI for the Jamaica Test.
'What you've really got to try and get is something that's less complex and a bit more straightforward in order for people to understand.'
Rain threatens to disrupt the first day's play when Sri Lanka and India face-off in the opening Test at Galle on Wednesday.
Shastri has been serving as the head coach of the Indian team since 2017, having got an extension after the 2019 ICC World Cup.
The return of Ajinkya Rahane, Jayant Yadav and Hardik Pandya from injuries which they sustained during the England series will make it a tough choice for Kohli and Anil Kumble when it come sto selecting the final XI.
Former pace great Waqar Younis said it doesn't make sense that the ICC World Test Championship don't feature any match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan. The ICC World Test Championship features nine top-ranked Test teams, who will play six bilateral Test series against mutually chosen opponents with the top two nations with most points at the end of the league clashing in the final in England in June 2021.
Dhoni's journey from a humble ticket collector to a trophy-laden wicketkeeper-batter is an inspiration for aspiring athletes worldwide
New Zealand strike bowler Tim Southee will miss the upcoming One-Day International series against Australia but Blackcaps coach Mike Hesson is optimistic the seamer would recover from a foot injury in time for the subsequent Test series.
International cricket will gingerly ease out of a 117-day shutdown in Southampton next week but the scars of the COVID-19 pandemic will be clearly evident at the Ageas Bowl. An encounter between the fourth and eighth ranked teams in Test cricket is hardly a pinnacle but England's series against West Indies could offer a glimpse into a future where the game plods on under the shadow of the new coronavirus.
Hardik Pandya's leadership skills and India's overall World Cup preparedness will be under focus
South Africa have now lost five Tests in a row, including two shock home losses to Sri Lanka, and are struggling with on-field know-how to dig themselves out of tough situations.
Riding on his stupendous performance in the series against South Africa, India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, on Thursday, rose to a career-high first in the International Cricket Council's Test rankings for bowlers.
The International Cricket Council said that certain comments and actions by some of the West Indies players after clinching the World T20 were "inappropriate, disrespectful and brought the event into disrepute". After clinching the World T20 on April 4 following a thrilling last-over win over England in the finals, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy had launched a scathing attack on West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in an emotional speech at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The ICC, which held its second meeting this year at the ICC Headquarters in Dubai on Sunday, said: "The Board considered the behaviour of some of the West Indies players in the immediate aftermath of the final, and unanimously agreed that certain comments and actions were inappropriate, disrespectful and brought the event into disrepute. "The Board acknowledged an apology by the WICB but was disappointed to note that such behaviour had detracted from the success of what was otherwise a magnificent tournament and final," it added.
South Africa and Australia will contest a four-Test series for the first time in almost 50 years when they clash in March and April 2018, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced on Wednesday. Australia will tour South Africa seeking revenge for their 2-1 home series loss in November and will play four Tests for the first time since being humbled 4-0 on South Africa soil in the 1969/70 season.
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