Indian cricket team stands a chance of making big gains in terms of International Cricket Council (ICC) Test ranking if they manage to register a 3-1 victory over Australia in their ongoing four-match series.
India's formidably consistent match-winners have a date with history in the New Year when they take on an out-of-sorts South Africa in the second Test in Johannesburg from Monday in pursuit of a coveted first-ever series win in the Rainbow Nation.
For someone who smashed 1000 first-class runs in a month's domestic cricket in the 2017-18 season, it shouldn't come as a surprise that a heavy duty scorer like Mayank Agarwal knows a thing or two about the art of conversion, believes Cheteshwar Pujara.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 1st Test played between South Africa and India at Centurion on Sunday.
Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock's showing represented an important turning point for South Africa's relatively inexperienced batting line-up as they head into an important summer that also includes a home Test series against England.
India captain Virat Kohli remained in second spot behind Steve Smith while Alastair Cook jumped nine places to be eighth in the latest ICC Test rankings after his unbeaten double century in the ongoing Ashes.
Former Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson has labelled the Decision Review System (DRS) as a `failure` after all-rounder Mitchell Marsh's controversial leg before dismissal during the opening Test of the three-match series against South Africa at the WACA Ground in Perth. The incident took place on the fifth day of the first Test when Marsh was originally given not out after he was struck low on the pads of a Kagiso Rabada delivery. However, the decision was over-turned when the ball-tracking technology showed it to be hitting more than 50 per cent of Marsh's leg stump and he was sent back to the pavilion.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
England must chase down a world-record 474 to win the second Test while South Africa have two full days to bowl them out after the tourists' batsmen provided the strongest possible platform for victory on the third day in Nottingham on Sunday.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the fourth Test between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg on Monday
IMAGES from Day 3 of the fourth Test between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Australia moved one wicket from victory in the first Test against South Africa on Sunday after Mitchell Starc's swing bowling decimated the hosts' lower order and dampened their hopes of an unlikely recovery.
South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis described Kagiso Rabada's performance as "phenomenal" after the young paceman helped turn a parlous situation on day two of the first Test against Australia into a thumping 177-run victory on Monday. The tourists had done well to get to 242 all out after being 5-81 on day one but were looking down the barrel of a heavy defeat when Australia raced to 158 without loss on day two. Matters got worse when, having finally broken the opening partnership, South Africa's pace spearhead Dale Steyn was forced off the field with a shoulder fracture that ruled him out of the series.
Mitchell Marsh hit successive sixes off the last two deliveries as Perth Scorchers from Australia beat South Africa's Dolphins by six wickets in a group league match of the Champions League T20 in Mohali on Saturday.
Images from Sunday, Day 4 of the second Test between India and South Africa, in Pune.
Firebrand fast bowler Dale Steyn will seek to become South Africa's greatest wicket-taker in Tests when they take on Pakistan in the first match of a three-game series at Centurion Park in Pretoria on Wednesday.
PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi is in the UK meeting with the British legal firm for advise. PCB's chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmad has also flown to London for the same purpose.
Images from the first One-Day International between South Africa and India, in Paarl, on Wednesday.
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between Bangladesh and South Africa, in Abu Dhabi.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami picked up a five-wicket haul while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja took four in South Africa's second innings to hand India a convincing 203-run victory, in the opening Test.
Virat Kohli's talismanic presence will be the shot in the arm that India would need in their bid to win the historic first-ever away Test series against South Africa.
Images from the second One-Day International between South Africa and India, in Paarl, on Friday.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the opening Test between South Africa and India, in Centurion, on Wednesday.
The win was England's first against South Africa at Lord's since 1960.
South Africa have slipped to number six in the world, behind fifth-placed Sri Lanka, and have a host of questions to answer, not least around a brittle top six and the balance of the side.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the 3rd Test played between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town on Sunday
'For all of us it is just about converting and I am not different to any one of those players when I get to 50, I want to get a hundred'
Virat Kohli's men ticked almost all the boxes during their 203-run win in the opening encounter in Visakhapatnam and they would like to maintain the same intensity in their bid to seal the series in Pune itself.
With Pakistan chasing 136 for victory, the 39-year-old left arm spinner showed his class with a match-winning six for 43 in the second innings for a match haul of 11 wickets.
India's three-match ODI campaign against South Africa starting on Thursday where the hosts would be aiming to put the 'New Zealand Nightmare' behind them.
England debutant Toby Roland-Jones wreaked havoc as he picked four wickets to have South Africa reeling at 126 for 8 at stumps on Day 2 of the third Test at the Oval on Friday.
Testimony presented before the Bhima Korgaon Commission over the last two months reveals the background to the violence that broke out on January 1, 2018.
He joins an elite group of players who have made a century in their 100th Test -- the others being Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Alec Stewart, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ricky Ponting (both innings) and Graeme Smith.
Unless they getting their batting and bowling woes sorted out soon, the 2023 World Cup looks another distant dream for the Men in Blue.
Rabada, the number one ranked Test bowler, could still play if he succeeds in his appeal against an International Cricket Council (ICC) decision to award him three demerit points for his reaction to dismissing Steve Smith in the second Test.
India will be desperately hoping that Rohit replicates his limited overs success in the traditional format
Kagiso Rabada claimed five wickets as South Africa crushed Australia by a huge margin of 177 runs, to win the first Test against Australia, on Day 5 in Perth, on Monday.
After a jittery start, Chennai Super Kings will look for a turnaround to get their campaign back on track when they take on South African team Nashua Dolphins in a Group A match of Champions League T20 in Bangalore on Monday.
Hardik Pandya stood tall amid ruins with his all-round prowess but hosts South Africa were still very much in command with a current lead of 142 runs against India after an enthralling second day in the first Test in Cape Town
The former opening batsman joined as DOC in December last year following the suspension of CEO Thabang Moroe and has since signed a two-year deal with the option of extending for a third term.
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