Queensland quick Michael Neser looks set to make his Test debut against New Zealand on Thursday with Australia considering an unconventional five-man attack for the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The hosts, who can clinch the three-match series with a second successive victory, are wary of the surface at MCG where bowlers had to really toil for any success in recent times.
Tributes from across the world have been pouring in for Warne, with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling him "one of our nation's greatest characters".
The trial began at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle as the first participant received the investigational vaccine.
India captain Virat Kohli held on to his second position while stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane broke into the top 10 after gaining five places in the latest ICC men's Test batting ranking released on Thursday.
"India's task is yet to be completed. The journey has just begun. Even teams like the Netherlands are not weak teams. In T20, it's anybody's game. If you win the tournament then only you can say the mission is complete and as an Indian team we have done the job," he said.
Virat Kohli's unbeaten 82 guided home to a thrilling win off the last ball against Pakistan.
The new stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad, which will be completed in two years, will become the biggest cricket stadium in the world with seating capacity of 1.10 lakh.
Pakistan's stand-in captain Mohammad Hafeez hit a fighting fifty to set up a comprehensive six-wicket victory against Australia in the second one-day international on Sunday that levelled the five-match series.
Match referee Mike Procter reported the curator to the International Cricket Council for repairing the pitch before the start of final day's play.
Don't look to survive, look to score runs against Shaheen Afridi, says Gautam Gambhir
But just like everyone wants a slice of '92 from Babar's team, the core of this current English team also has a date with history
Family, sportspeople and entertainers bid farewell to Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne at a private funeral held at his hometown in Melbourne on Sunday.
Melbourne Cricket Ground management says a person who attended India-Australia Women's T20 World Cup Final on March 8 diagnosed with COVID-19.
It was a bitter pill for James Anderson and England's bowlers, who had battled hard to limit Australia to 267 and give their batsmen a chance to set the home side a chase.
He was a central figure in India's epic turnaround during the 2020-21 tour of Australia but stand-in captain of that series Ajinkya Rahane says "someone else took the credit" for decisions he made to resurrect the team after the nightmarish 36 all out in the Adelaide Test.
Virat Kohli was named as the ICC men's player of the month for October following following a series of star performances as India charged their way to the T20 World Cup semi-finals.
Three major upsets that highlighted this World Cup.
Pakistan will join India, England and New Zealand in the semi-finals
Regular knock out defeats at global events gives rise to serious questions
Images from the T20 World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Ireland, in Hobart, on Sunday.
The BCCI boss also said that a separate IPL for women in two years' time is on the cards.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against India.
The flip-flop has finally ended and Rahul Dravid would indeed open the innings in the Boxing Day Test against Australia at the MCG in Melbourne on Wednesday.
The wicket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is like a subcontinent track. Batsmen struggled while playing on it this week in the Pura Cup clash between Victoria and New South Wales.
The Test batting chart is headed by Australia's Marnus Labuschagne (915 points), followed by England captain Joe Root (900) while New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson (879) dislodged Steve Smith (877) from the No. 3 slot.
Pakistan's former Test pacer and acclaimed coach Aaqib Javed wants PCB to pick brains of Indian curators, who have been regularly preparing rank turners in their own backyard.
Australia great Ricky Ponting says India are reaping the rewards of sticking with Virat Kohli, who bounced back in style to ignite hopes for their second World Cup title in the T20 format after 15 years.
Wives and partners of team members cheering on their men.
Pujara was the dominant figure with his second century of the series, a dogged but faultless 106 off 319 balls
The Australian wicket-keeper batswoman caught a ball, which was dropped from a drone, 80 metres above the MCG surface to break the previous record of 62 meters set by an Englishman Kristan Baumgartner in 2016.
Australia were dismissed for 98 in their first innings just before tea on the opening day of the fourth Ashes test against England at the MCG on Sunday.
Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli struck rousing centuries to drive India to 462-8 at stumps on Day 3, trailing Australia's mammoth first innings total of 530 by 68 runs with two wickets in hand, in the third Test.
Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar reckons that ground conditions will dictate which spinners are to be played in the XI.
'...the one that turned the match firmly in India's favour was the Johnny Mullagh medal-winning contribution from Rahane. The captain's century came at a time when India could easily have faded to a two-nil deficit, and it was this performance that gave his team the conviction that victory was attainable.'
History is also a bit against India when it comes to results at the business end of the ICC events.
In fact, the first over that Kagiso Rabada bowled, it seemed that the ball was hitting the bat rather than bat hitting the ball.
The four-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy that promises a lot of twists and turns, engrossing sub-plots and probably career-defining performances.
Shane Warne's three children paid a heart-wrenching tribute to the spin king
Paine summarised that maybe Taylor knows the person who is in charge of dealing with ball-tracking, and was heard saying 'maybe, he knows the bloke'.
The Indian cricket team kicked off the New Year with an energy packed practice session for the third Test against Australia in Sydney.
