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.
Tendulkar reminded that along with the mindset, it is also about ability, which Sehwag had in abundance.
Pace bowler Mitchell Starc's patchy form is among the few worries for a rampaging Australia in the ongoing ODI series against India but skipper Aaron Finch on Tuesday threw his weight behind the seasoned campaigner, saying there is no need to panic just yet.
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.
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.
Washington Sundar is ready to bowl 50 in an innings if that's what the side wants of him.
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.
Smith was struck on the neck by a Jofra Archer bouncer during his innings on Saturday, forcing him to retire hurt, but he returned to the crease 40 minutes later and added 12 runs before being dismissed for 92.
IMAGES from the 3rd ODI between India and Australia played in Bengaluru on Sunday
Images from Friday's second One-day International between India and Australia, at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, in Rajkot.
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.
Veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha and young opener Prithvi Shaw are unlikely to be picked for the remaining Tests in Australia as India look to ring in wholesale changes after the batting debacle in Adelaide.
Australian captain Aaron Finch is confident Glenn Maxwell's ODI absence won't last long.
Smith's (28) ODI haul of 568 runs at 63.11 from 10 innings were enough to pip Finch (23) who scored 673 runs at 56.08 from 13 innings.
India would eye nothing less than a clean sweep when they take on an Australian side significantly weakened by injury blows, in the third and final T20 International, in Sydney, on Tuesday.
A series win will be an ideal confidence booster for India before the visitors hit Test match mode.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that IPL final will be held in Mumbai and not Ahmedabad.
India's vacant cupboard of all-rounders will give Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri numerous points to ponder.
'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'
Superb centuries from Alex Carey and Glenn Maxwell lifted Australia to a dramatic three-wicket victory over England on Wednesday as the visitors clinched the one-day international series 2-1.
Sohail and Asad Shafiq (80) put on 150 for the fifth wicket on a placid track at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium as Australia's bowlers toiled in the intense heat.
A few bruised egos will eye redemption when India square off against Australia in the second Test in Melbourne from Saturday, ready to bounce back in skipper Ajinkya Rahane's hour of reckoning after their batting debacle in the series opener in Adelaide.
India's pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who has been sidelined with injury fell to sixth in the latest ICC Test rankings, Starc up to career-best fifth spot.
Dashing opening batsman David Warner won his third Allan Border Medal, while Ellyse Perry claimed her second Belinda Clark Award at the Australian Cricket Awards, in Melbourne, on Monday.
Following is a fact box on the final Test of the four-match series between Australia and India
Kohli is now five points clear after Smith's knock of 36 in the Adelaide Test
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.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list the Most Valuable Players during the India-Australia ODI series.
Labuschagne is expected to bat at number three, with Smith to return to his favoured number four slot.
Pujara has been criticised for his ultra-defensive approach in the series so far and instead of propping up his team's response to Australia's first innings total
Australia made a good start before a dramatic collapse saw them slip from 144 for two in the run chase to be 207 all-out.
'Whatever he does, it will be the right thing because he knows what lies ahead'
Debutant Pakistan off-spinner Bilal Asif ripped through the Australian middle-order with six wickets as the visitors were bowled out for 202 on the third day of the first Test, in Dubai, on Tuesday.
Chappell still believes that Australia might have a slight edge in Test matches
'They have got so much talent. And in the last 10 years when they have not been playing home Test matches (for security reasons), they have done a remarkable job to be as competitive as they have and continue to bring on the level of talented players they have.'
'I think there'll be a huge fallout from this (defeat). There's not too many times that you lose to the second or third (choice) side.'
Left chasing shadows in the first two games, a listless Indian team would most certainly tweak its bowling combination in order to avoid a second successive clean-sweep when it takes on Australia in the third and final ODI, in Canberra, on Wednesday.
India captain Virat Kohli will end the year at the top of the ICC Test ranking chart for batsmen but five-day specialist Cheteshwar Pujara slipped a place to fifth. With 928 points, Kohli is way ahead of second-placed Australian maestro Steve Smith (911) and New Zealand's inspirational skipper Kane Williamson (822), while Australia's Marnus Labuschagne, who has amassed 1,085 runs in 11 Tests this year, improved a place to grab the fourth spot.
Cheteshwar Pujara is confident that history will repeat itself in Australia this time.
'If there were ever a PR exercise to fix the seemingly irreparable image of Australian cricket in the aftermath of the most notorious on-field scandal in recent memory, then this is it,' observes Dhruv Munjal.
