With the stakes so high, neither side is wasting any opportunity to get an edge.
Captain Brendon McCullum is expected to be fit for New Zealand's ICC World Cup clash against Afghanistan next Sunday despite being hit on the arm in Saturday's game against Australia.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann on Wednesday said the home side is liking the charged up atmosphere created by the newly-appointed Indian captain.
After their best-ever show at IPL 7, Kings XI Punjab will look to continue their aggressive brand of cricket when they start their campaign against Hobart Hurricanes in a Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 in Mohali on Thursday.
Check out how these cricketers decorate their bodies.
'I haven't seen anyone sort of carry on so much as a captain when his side takes a wicket. It's really over the top but it's good in a way. You can see some passion about what he's trying to do'
Joe Root and Ian Bell are the two candidates to replace Jonathan Trott at No 3 in the England batting order for this week's second Ashes Test in Adelaide, batting coach Graham Gooch said on Monday.
England crumbled meekly to 107 for eight in reply to Australia's 481 to put the touring side firmly on course for victory in the final Ashes Test after a dramatic second day at The Oval on Friday.
Pace spearhead Trent Boult led the way with three wickets after David Warner's brisk half-century laid the foundation as Sunrisers Hyderabad recorded a 20-run win over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League in Mohali, on Monday.
Hashim Amla's blistering stroke-play and Morne Morkel's fearsome bowling put South Africa in control of the second Test against Australia as they closed the third day on 192 for four on Saturday.
Teams play safe, retain star players, total purse at Rs 148 crore versus Rs 198 crore last year
James Pattinson will replace fellow-quick Mitchell Starc in the Australia team for this week's opening test against West Indies, captain Steve Smith said on Wednesday, reviving a promising career that had stalled because of injury.
Iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar, on Sunday, joined a host of former players in slamming average rating given to the Perth stadium pitch, saying only such tracks can revive Test cricket.
Top order batsman Shaun Marsh was called into the Australia squad for the third Test against New Zealand on Wednesday along with pace bowler James Pattinson and left arm spinner Steve O'Keefe.
Nathan Lyon's wish to see the end of some England careers after another Ashes whitewash could easily come true if the tourists' struggling senior players fail to lift quickly, former Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson said.
Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Joe Root, Hashim Amla and Lasith Malinga were among the big names who went unsold at the IPL auction.
Phillip Hughes's tragic death cast a shadow over an eventful year that saw Ashes rivals Australia and England brawl on the field and bond off it, joining India to pull off a bloodless coup and take charge of the game.
Pacer Umesh Yadav conceded that the Indian bowlers' plans went awry as they sent down too many short balls, allowing the Australian tail-enders to stage a comeback and put up imposing 505 in the first innings of the second Test in Brisbane on Friday.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup
Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian in former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum's all-time cricketing eleven, which is led by West Indian great Vivian Richards.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team comes into the match with two wins on the bounce and, like always, will be tough to beat at their 'den'.
The uncapped pair are the newcomers in captain Steven Smith's 15-man squad, which includes 10 players with less than 10 Tests, as Australia look to rebuild following a string of retirements after the Ashes defeat in England.
Injured fast bowler James Pattinson has returned to the Australia set-up when he was named on Tuesday for the One-day series against England in January.
Virat Kohli became only the second Indian batsman after Sunil Gavaskar to score three Test hundreds in a series against Australia.
Rajasthan Royals would be keen to adapt quickly to their new 'home ground' when they lock horns with last season's runner-up Kings XI Punjab in their campaign opener in the Indian Premier League in Pune.
Playing tennis-ball cricket in his formative years has helped him bowl his yorkers with good control, revealed Mumbai Indians pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Images from the 2nd One Day International between India and Australia at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Sunday, September 24.
Mumbai Indians' hopes of starting Indian Premier League's season 10 well got a boost with information received that West Indies T20 specialists, Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons, would reach in time for their lung-opener against Rising Pune Giant on April 6.
Enjoying one of the best phases in his career so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore's inspirational leader Virat Kohli is ready to play through pain against Kings XI Punjab with multiple stitches in his split webbing in another must-win IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli sustained split webbing in his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB's play-off qualification hopes alive. "I might need 7-8 stitches," Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB's manager Avinash Vaidya said that India's No 1 batsman will be playing in this crucial encounter.
Even on paper, there is not much to choose, especially with Pune beating MI thrice this season including a comprehensive victory in Qualifier 1. But a impressive show by Mumbai in the final cannot be ruled out.
India's limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who remains a sought after personality in the endorsement world despite his retirement from Tests, has been duped by one of the many brands he endorses -- Spartan Sports -- of over Rs 20 crore. It has been reliably learnt that a three-year bat and sponsorship deal worth Rs 13 crore has gone sour with Australia-based Spartan Sports, a sporting gear and equipment company, regularly defaulting on payments. With the royalty clause on Dhoni's bat deal included, the owed amount goes well over Rs 20 crore.
Getting his team composition right will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's primary aim as Rising Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League cricket tournament encounter, in Mohali on Sunday.
English skipper Eoin Morgan expressed disappointment in the manner his side surrendered in the tri-series final to Australia by 112 runs but said that they will come back stronger in the World Cup beginning on February 14.
'It is just a case of trying to put a real focus on the cricket rather than the noise that comes with it.'
Sandeep Sharma scalped three crucial wickets as Kings XI Punjab produced a disciplined bowling display to compensate for their batting failure and notch up a comfortable 23-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL match in Abu Dhabi.
Australian fast bowler Clint McKay has announced retirement from international and domestic cricket. McKay, who will continue to ply his trade with Leicestershire in England's County Championship, played a single Test for Australia against the West Indies in 2009, as well as six T20 Internationals, but the fast bowler excelled in the 50-over format, finishing with an outstanding bowling record in 59 ODIs. He became a key fixture in Australia's one-day side from 2009 - where he picked up the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni on international debut in Hyderabad - to his last match for Australia in early 2014, taking 97 wickets at 24.37, including a hat-trick against England. Over that period, only Mitchell Johnson took more ODI wickets for Australia than McKay, who was named Australia's ODI Cricketer of the Year at the Allan Border Medal awards in 2013. The 33-year-old was disappointed he wasn't selected to play more international cricket, though optimistic about Australia's bowling stocks looking forward. "Yeah it was difficult to take," McKay told cricket.com.au about losing his spot in Australia's ODI team. "But that's sometimes how things pan out.
Australia must stifle their attacking instincts in the subcontinent and 'bore' batsmen into giving up their wickets, captain Smith has said.
Virat Kohli became only the third Indian to score a hundred on his captaincy debut as the visitors responded resolutely to Australia's mammoth first innings total by reaching 369 for five on the third day to leave the first cricket Test evenly poised at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Joe Burns will bat at number six when he makes his debut for Australia in the third Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, starting on Friday. The 25-year-old, regarded as one Australia's most promising young batsmen, replaced injured all-rounder Mitch Marsh in one of two changes to the Australian team that won last week's second Test in Brisbane. Paceman Ryan Harris, who missed the second Test because of a thigh problem, returns at the expense of Mitchell Starc.
Perennial under-achievers Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab will look to recover from opening losses and put their campaign back on track.
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