Pat Cummins tore through South Africa before a Proteas fightback left the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025 on a knife-edge at the end of an absorbing second day at Lord's.
Pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada produced an inspired bowling performance to lead MI Cape Town to their maiden SA20 title with a comfortable 76 runs victory over two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday.
'You have a lot of options if you want to see. You can remove Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill and you can open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad...'
Kagiso Rabada ripped through the West Indies line-up as South Africa clinched an 87-run win over West Indies in the first Test.
WTC-bound SA players to miss play-offs after BCCI asks teams to release them by May 26
India will look to address several lingering selection puzzles when they take on South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday in the first ODI of the three-match series, where Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to the set-up for a short audition that could well shape their 2027 World Cup fate.
'Of course, when you face a quality bowling attack, they can more often than not get the ball in the danger area and it does too much for you. And unfortunately, that's been the case today.'
India A skipper Rishabh Pant will look to build on the gains from the first match, while the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav will aim for crucial red-ball game time in the second four-day match against a Temba Bavuma-led South Africa A in Bengaluru from Thursday.
Star batter Virat Kohli was covering the swing well although he played and missed often until one ball moved away late to send him back to the dressing room, a pleased as punch Kagiso Rabada said after getting his 14th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Armed with a potent spin attack, taking on South Africa seems like competing against a "subcontinent team", Ten Doeschate said, admitting that they need to get better at negotiating the challenge posed by tweakers.
Kagiso Rabada picked up 25 wickets in 12 games in last year's IPL.
Quinton de Kock has reversed his retirement from ODI cricket and has been named in both the ODI and T20I squads for the Pakistan tour.
IMAGES from the first Test played between South Africa and India in Centurion on Tuesday
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between India and South Africa, in Kolkata, on Friday.
Australia's Glenn Maxwell produced an unbeaten half-century in a tense chase to help the hosts edge out South Africa by two wickets in the third and final Twenty20 International and complete a 2-1 series victory in Cairns on Saturday.
India's awe-inspiring batting depth will face a stern test against South Africa's quality spin attack in the first Test, starting in Kolkata on Friday.
Gujarat Titans will be aiming for a top-two spot even as Chennai Super Kings continue planning for the future when the two teams meet in the Indian Premier League match in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
South African pace duo Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje joined the Delhi Capitals squad in Mumbai on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League, starting on April 9.
South Africa will aim for their first Test victory in India in more than 15 years.
The board said no replacement will be brought in for Rabada as there is an extended squad in place in the Bio-Secure Environment (BSE), but George Linde has been retained from the Test team as an extra spin-bowling option for the series.
With South Africa's seam attack featuring Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and Marco Jansen and Australia having Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and the ever-dependable Josh Hazlewood in their lineup, the battle between the two sides' fast bowlers is likely to be critical in determining the outcome of the World Test Championship final, as per ICC website.
Australia took the upper hand in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord's, ending day two on 144-8 in their second innings with a lead of 218 runs after wickets tumbled freely again on Thursday.
Rishabh Pant, who hit two centuries in the Headingley Test, now trails top-ranked batter Joe Root by just 88 points.
South Africa pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada is still bitter about the scheduling fiasco which saw him miss the two-Test series in New Zealand.
Kuldeep slips to third in ODI rankings, Maharaj regains top spot
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction saw some foreign names earning big bucks, headlined by Aussie all-rounder Cameron Green
CSA's director Enoch Nkwe changed his stance, saying higher-level talks were happening between CSA, the BCCI, and IPL franchises, suggesting CSA had little choice in the matter.
Ravichandran Ashwin on Tuesday expressed disappointment over Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the Asia Cup squad
Ryan Rickelton posted the joint seventh-highest score by a South African in Tests with 259 as his side ran up a huge 615 before reducing Pakistan to 64/4 at the close on Day 2.
Australia is on the cusp of scripting another milestone. If the Baggy Greens trounce the Proteas, they will become the first team to defend the WTC mace successfully.
Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Green smashed blistering hundreds as Australia steamrollered South Africa by 276 runs in the third and final One-Day International.
Six uncapped players named in South Africa ODI squad
A look back at a few memorable showdowns in the last decade and half that had the quintessential crests and troughs of Test cricket.
Top-order batter Rassie van der Dussen will lead South Africa during next month's Twenty20 tri-series with New Zealand and hosts Zimbabwe, with four uncapped players in the squad, Cricket South Africa said on Thursday.
Expect some fireworks for the highly-versatile Cameron Green along with Quinton de Kock, Matheesha Pathirana, Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi.
The New Zealand all-rounder, who has returned home, "sustained a groin injury during the IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 6", according to a statement from the Titans.
The kitty has become popular with viewers and has gone viral with one particular cheeky comment from Lahori Guy who tweeted: 'Black Cat contributed more in Karachi Stadium than Babar Azam.'
Kagiso Rabada claimed the key wickets of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav at crucial junctures, to turn the game in Punjab Kings's favour.
The 25-year-old Gill is a front-runner favourite to replace Rohit Sharma as next Test captain ahead of England tour, starting June 20.
Pietersen doubled down on his criticism, calling out the Proteas for going into a shell rather than trying to wrest back momentum.
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