India got off to a horror start in their practice match as youngsters Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill failed with the bat on Day 1 of the three-day game against New Zealand XI at Seddon Park, in Hamilton, on Friday. All the batsmen were dismissed by fast bowler Scott Kuggeleijn as India were reduced to 5/3 in the seventh over.
Australia have barely put a foot wrong in the five-match series and will head to the MCG confident of pushing England toward a second successive whitewash on home soil.
Karun Nair became the second Indian batsman to score a test triple hundred and his 303 not out helped the hosts post a massive 759 for seven before skipper Virat Kohli declared.
Chasing a target of 283, India 'A' knocked off the runs in 39.4 overs.
Rohit Sharma blasted an unbeaten century to power India to a seven-wicket victory which helped the visitors clinch the three-match T20 International series against England 2-1.
Australia will be desperately hoping to play a full game under clear skies when they face arch-rivals England in their must-win Champions Trophy clash in Birmingham on Saturday.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami gave an exhibition of high-quality fast bowling on Saturday, on Day 2 of India's warm-up match against New Zealand XI, sending a warning signal for the home team ahead of first Test in Wellington.
Alastair Cook's side next travel to India, the world's top-ranked team, before hosting South Africa and West Indies in 2017 ahead of their ultimate challenge in a tour of Australia.
The mountain of runs that he has plundered so far in first-class cricket has ensured that the focus will be firmly on Delhi youngster Rishabh Pant as India 'A' take on the visiting England XI, in the second and final warm-up match in Mumbai, on Thursday.
Factbox on the fifth Ashes Test match between Australia and England, which starts on Thursday:
With its traditionally quick and bouncy wicket playing to the strengths of home pacemen, the WACA has been a house of pain for English cricket and Australians will be hoping for more of the same when the ground hosts its final Test.
Cricket Australia XI were 356/6 in 102 overs at stumps in response to India's 358 all out at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. More than the runs scored by CA XI, it was Shaw's ankle injury which gave India major grief as he was ruled out of the first Test in Adelaide starting December 6.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel insisted that the quality of India's bowlers is "far better" than that of the England cricket team.
India made a strong reply with the bat after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up yet another five-wicket haul as the hosts reached 146 for one on the second day of the fourth Test against England in Mumbai, on Friday.
A win on Friday would seal the three-match series for Virat Kohli and Co.
India will eye another dominant performance against hosts England in a three- match ODI series
A calf injury to explosive batsman Lynn opened an unlikely door for 34-year-old White, who played the last of his 88 ODIs in 2015 and has since been critical of a pro-youth policy he felt did not reward the performance of senior players.
'Did the Moneyball philosophy get redefined in the domain of the cash-rich IPL, which has become an integral part of the cricketing ecosystem?' asks Atanu Biswas.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting says England's only hope of winning a Test in the upcoming Ashes series is the day/night match in Adelaide and has predicted a 4-0 victory for the hosts.
England's lower-order gave India a taste of their own medicine on a benign Chepauk track racking up a commendable 477 in their first innings on the second day of the fifth and final cricket Test in Chennai.
The waiting ends for England's new Test captain Joe Root on Thursday when he leads his side out for the start of a four-match series against South Africa at Lord's on Thursday, nearly four months after his appointment.
Facing the prospect of a series defeat at home for the first time in 15 months, skipper Virat Kohli will have a relook at his team combination as hosts India take on a resurgent England in a do-or-die second T20 International, in Nagpur on Sunday.
India will have their task cut out against a vastly improved England
India and England will play three ODI games beginning Sunday. Rajneesh Gupta surveys the career figures of the players who will head to battle in Pune.
Kartik Tyagi blew away Australia's top-order with a sensational spell of fast bowling to power India to a 74-run victory and a place in the semi-finals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, in Portchefstroom, South Africa, on Tuesday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players after the India-England ODI series.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has urged his top order "to go big" in the third Test against England at Edgbaston starting on Wednesday. England levelled the four-match series at 1-1 with a crushing 330-run win in the second Test at Old Trafford - a margin of victory that was testimony to the tourists' batting woes. It was all a far cry from Pakistan's 75-run win in the first Test at Lord's, which featured an inspiring century from Misbah. Poor starts have been a problem for Pakistan in this series.
The Indian opener tops the Champions Trophy MVP table. But Hasan Ali, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma aren't too far behind, note Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji.
Keaton Jennings impressed on his debut for England with a century but off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin brought India back with a late three-wicket burst on the opening day of the fourth cricket Test in Mumbai on Thursday. - Scorecard England were going strong by taking tea at 196 for two but India reduced the visitors to 288 for five at stumps as Ashwin removed Moeen Ali (50) and Jennings (112) in space of three balls and later got rid of Jonny Bairstow (14). Ben Stokes (25) and Jos Buttler (18) were the unbeaten batsmen at close after an unfinished stand of 39 on a track that would be difficult to negotiate with passage of time.
a red-ball warm-up game will be the most welcome distraction for Virat Kohli and his men as a precursor to the two-match Test series starting next week.
Ahead of the first Test between India and England in Rajkot, Rajneesh Gupta looks at the two teams and their numbers.
Unlike in the T20I series, England do not have the option of battling this phenomenon with a practice outing against the spin-bowling machine, Merlyn. With both teams travelling to London on Friday, there might not even be enough time to sit down for some video analysis. In that light, the English batsmen will have to contend mentally with how to play Yadav on Saturday.
India will go for the kill against a determined England in the Garden City, setting the stage for a tantalising series-deciding third and final Twenty20 International in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Images from Day 3 of the second Test between India and England, at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai.
As the teams gear up for the second ODI at Cuttack, the visiting England team will certainly feel a bit deflated after failing to defend a total of 350 despite having got four top-order batsmen back in the hut for less than 100.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the 50 Most Valuable Players in the 2017 Champions Trophy.
India put themselves on the cusp of completing a comprehensive series victory with England caught in a spin web following skipper Virat Kohli's career-best 235 at the end of the fourth day of the fourth cricket Test. - Scorecard Records tumbled one after another as Kohli's third double ton in as many Test series was complemented by Jayant Yadav's maiden hundred with India piling up a mammoth 631 thereby taking a lead of 231 runs. In reply, England were left tottering at 182 for 6 needing another 49 runs to avoid innings defeat as the hosts are now all but assured to regain the Anthony De Mello Trophy that they had lost back in 2012.
Kohli's 147 -- his 15th Test hundred -- and an equally confident 136 by Murali Vijay enabled India to extend their first-innings lead to 51 runs in reply to England's 400.
India pulled the curtains down on England's winter of discontent, in a manner befitting their dominance, as the hosts clinched the five-match series 4-0 with an innings and 75-run victory in the fifth and final cricket Test in Chennai on Tuesday.
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