Joe Root continued with his purple patch during the first Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston, bringing up his 30th Test century.
Archer produced a sustained period of aggressive fast bowling in both of Australia's innings in the drawn second Test at Lord's, felling both Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
Despite the pair making certain of selection, doubts remain in other areas of captain Tim Paine's team, with opener Matt Renshaw picking up a head injury after being struck by the ball during the tour game that ended on Tuesday.
Ahead of the WTC Final next month, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting opened up on India and Australia's chances for the big game.
India retained their number one spot and captain Virat Kohli remained static at second in the ICC rankings. India have 116 rating points, six more than New Zealand with third-placed Australia accumulating 108 points.
Khawaja to battle Head for openers' spot as Australia name squad for first two Tests.
The tourists were left on 20-2 after seven overs going into the second day.
A series win in Australia will certainly put Kohli on a higher pedestal even though the quality of the home team's batting line-up suffered adversely due to the bans of former skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner.
'When you don't score runs in India, obviously you will get flak. KL Rahul hasn't been the only one'
Australian captain Aaron Finch is confident Glenn Maxwell's ODI absence won't last long.
Australia came into the match better prepared and executed their plans to perfection while the Indians hit the panic button once the toss went against them.
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.
Australia were all out for 263 on Day 1 of the second Test at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi, February 17, 2023.
'He is a really exciting talent and probably the guy I am looking forward to seeing the most this summer. I have seen the Aussies a lot and I have seen a lot of the Kiwis, but I am really excited to see him'
Siraj became the 298th player to play Test cricket for India
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc picked up his second five-wicket haul in the match to lead Australia to a comprehensive 366-run victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka and a 2-0 series win.
'It'll test us out, no doubt, against a good Indian outfit .... They beat us out here last time and they're a very good side'
Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik believes the time is ripe for Ravichandran Ashwin to make his first appearance of the series in he fourth Test at The Kia Oval, commencing Thursday.
The two groups will unite late on Thursday night and with the opening ODI slated for Friday, the players will have no scope to wriggle in a practice session as one unit.
Rohit Sharma was four not out, with Shubman Gill yet to score, after the injury-decimated tourists bowled Australia out for 294 in their second innings.
Smith's tally of 774 runs from seven innings with a Bradmanesque 110-plus average in a bowler-dominated series illustrates how he single-handedly carried Australia's run-scoring burden.
Their confidence soaring high after five Test wins in a row, Australia skipper Time Paine says they can't wait to host India for a "mouth-watering" series later this year but revenge is certainly not on their minds. Australia had suffered their first ever Test series against India at home in the summer of 2018-19 when they missed prolific batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner, who were serving bans following a ball-tampering scandal that shook world cricket.
Usman Khawaja batted bravely for nearly nine hours to make 141 and help Australia salvage a draw in the first Test against Pakistan, in Dubai, on Thursday.
Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas claimed three quick wickets as Australia hobbled their way to 136-3 on Wednesday, chasing a mammoth target of 462 in the first Test in Dubai.
Images from the ICC World Cup match between Afghanistan and Australia, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
Wade will instead head to New Zealand with Australia's Twenty20 squad for a five-match series starting on Feb. 22 in Christchurch.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that IPL final will be held in Mumbai and not Ahmedabad.
Pacer Jhye Richardson picked up five wickets as Australia beat England by 275 runs in the day-night second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval on Monday to go 2-0 up in the five-match series.
'...according to me Australia should have gone to India earlier. The preparation was not up to the mark at all. If you couldn't go to India, you should have gone to the UAE at least to prepare for a tour like this.'
England captain Joe Root defended his decision to bat first in the opening Ashes Test against Australia and stood by the selections in their bowling unit despite going down to a heavy nine-wicket defeat at the Gabba on Saturday.
Australia's hopes of winning back respect and moving on from a ball-tampering scandal that plunged the team into disgrace face their first test on Sunday when Tim Paine's rebuilding side meet Pakistan in the series-opener in Dubai.
Cheteshwar Pujara is set to play his 100th Test match when India take on Australia for the 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Kohli is now five points clear after Smith's knock of 36 in the Adelaide Test
Denly fell six runs short of his maiden Test century and Ben Stokes made a sparkling 67 in bright sunshine at The Oval to put England in a strong position to level the series at 2-2.
Batting great Rahul Dravid feels with 'impactful' Steve Smith and David Warner back in their ranks this time around, India will face stiff challenge in their Test tour of Australia later this year. The disgraced duo of Smith and Warner missed India's historic away Test series win over Australia in 2018 because of their one-year bans for their involvement in the infamous ball-tampering episode in South Africa.
Under-pressure Australia batsman Usman Khawaja is "frustrated" after failing to convert a number of starts in the Ashes series but insists his batting is in a good place as he looks for form in the tour match against Derbyshire on Thursday.
Smith's condition worsened and Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed he is not fit to play in the third Test, which starts on Thursday.
Cummins hopes the conditions this time would be in Australia's favour, saying they would need to get the likes of Pujara out of his comfort zone to stop India.
'Whatever he does, it will be the right thing because he knows what lies ahead'
After defeats in their opening two matches, Australia came roaring back, winning their next nine games in succession
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