Rohit Sharma's hopes of a Test comeback took a slight jolt as he was dismissed for a duck on the third and final day of the warm-up match between Board President's XI and South Africa.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead an 18-man squad for the Test series against England. Opener Gautam Gambhir, whose last Test was in 2012, makes a comeback while two uncapped medium pacers - Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh - find a place in the team after Zaheer Khan, who had to set out of the India leg of the Indian Premier League following a back injury, was overlooked.
Ajinkya Rahane, who has not scored a hundred in more than two years, got back among the runs with a patient innings of 54.
Factbox on the four-Test series between India and Australia, which starts at Pune on Thursday:
Not just the 40 points, India will also be eyeing a 3-0 whitewash in the Gandhi-Mandela series.
Please help Messrs Kohli and Shastri pick India's side for the Edgbaston Test.
A ruthless India equalled their biggest victory margin, decimating a lacklustre Sri Lanka by an innings and 239 runs in the second Test to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Siraj was rewarded for his tough decision as he took two wickets on an emotional debut to help India bowl Australia out for 195
For a team that looked at ease all along, it was their first defeat in the UAE leg -- and three from 11 matches this season -- as Delhi struggled to get going against KKR bowlers who made full use of the slow surface after opting to bowl.
India thrashed West Indies by 318 runs in their inaugural World Test Championship encounter but at the onset, there was a debate on the omission of senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The legendary Sunil Gavaskar termed his exclusion as "astonishing".
India's hopes of breaking their ICC trophy drought after 2013, remained unfulfilled as Australia handed them a crushing loss at the WTC Final.
After several losses in the early years of the new century, a resurgent India notched up two consecutive series wins in Australia to become the Aussies' nemesis.
In charge of a house in complete disorder, Virat Kohli will hope that Royal Challengers Bangalore play in the manner that defines his cricket when they meet Delhi Capitals in the IPL match in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Moeen Ali capitalised on an early reprieve to score his fifth Test century and steer England to 284 for four on the opening day of the fifth and final Test against India on Friday. - Scorecard: Opting to bat, England slumped to 21 for two before Moeen added 146 with Joe Root to steady the innings and shared a stand of 86 with Jonny Bairstow to keep the touring side on course for a big total at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
England captain Alastair Cook continued his struggle against Ravindra Jadeja as the tourists reached 68 for two at lunch on the opening day of the fifth and final Test against India on Friday. - Scorecard: With India having already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series, England went into the match seeking to salvage some pride but that determination did not reflect in the casual shotmaking by their top order after Cook opted to bat.
A cultural shift with rising fitness standards are the primary reasons for India's current depth in fast bowling department, said former captain and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. A young Jasprit Bumrah in the company of the experienced Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has made India's bowling one of the world's most potent pace attacks.
It is understood that Kohli, Rahane, Shami, Jadeja will be sweating it out at the nets alongside Ashwin, who has already bowled a whopping 58 overs and taken seven wickets in a County game for Surrey last week.
It will come as little comfort to India after going 2-0 down in the four-match Test series against Australia but the young touring party have already put on a much better showing than the much vaunted 2011-2012 vintage.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels the team needs a 'brave' bunch of youngsters going forward.
Having decimated South Africa inside three days on a turning track in Mohali, India will again look to unleash their troika of spinners to spoil A B de Villiers's landmark 100th match when the two sides meet in the second Test, in Bangalore, on Saturday.
India beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 239 runs in the second Test in Nagpur after the touring side were bundled out for 166 shortly after lunch on the fourth day.
Taking a dig at the T20-driven shorter formats of the game, he said players with incomplete or bad action are winning Man-of-the-Match awards these days.
England start as the favourites but India have a golden chance to reverse the trend and get into gear just before the World Cup.
Bangladesh are expecting that batting coach Neil McKenzie will help them decode the Indian spinners.
Ravichandran Ashwin claimed four for 60 to reduce England to 285 for nine in 88 overs at stumps on Day 1 of the first Test.
Kohli trails Smith by 26 points and will have to produce a string of strong performances to leapfrog the Australian.
Former pacer Ashish Nehra feels the Indian team management can think of handing Jasprit Bumrah his Test debut in the opening game against South Africa as his awkward action and yorkers might prove lethal on the Cape Town track.
'It's not about four or five bowlers; it's the balance that can get you 20 wickets. Like I have kept saying in the past, it depends on conditions' 'Competition for places, nothing like it. It goes to show everyone is one his toes, nobody will rest on his heels'
Shami said the success of the current group boils down to the joy they share in each other's success.
India goes into the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Friday hoping to register their first series victory in the island nation in 22 years.
Veteran opener Gautam Gambhir kept his place, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya was the surprise inclusion in the 15-member Indian squad for the first two matches of the five-match Test series against England, starting in Rajkot, on November 9.
The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators announced a new category 'A+' with an annual retainership of Rs. 7 crore. The top category includes the likes of captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
Former India strength and conditioning coach Shanker Basu believes maintaining fitness without running on the field is going to be quite tricky for the fast bowlers and advised the cricketers against too much screen time during the ongoing lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Basu, who oversaw the fitness transformation of the Indian team between 2015 to 2019, worked extensively with the potent pace attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami, and ensured they don't break down often.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI in the ICC WTC final against New Zealand?
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.
The untimely Mumbai monsoon threatens to play spoilsport as there is a fair chance of first day's play being affected by rain during the second Test between India and New Zealand, starting on Friday.
'We will play about 10 Tests next year and hopefully we will put up much improved show'
Images from the fourth day's play of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on Monday.
Ahead of the four-Test series against Australia, pacer Ishant Sharma says it is vital to learn from whatever India did right on past tours, focus on that and keep doing the same.
India's fast bowlers led by Varun Aaron made full use of the seamer-friendly conditions, as they dismissed an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI for 219 on Day 1 of their opening two-day warm-up match in Adelaide, on Monday.
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