Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of this week's third Test against India in Melbourne with uncapped batsman Joe Burns coming into the 13-man squad to replace him.
India's batting ace Yuvraj Singh commanded the highest price, Royal Challengers Bangalore paying a massive 14 crore for him, while Dinesh Karthik was a surprise pick at 12.5 crore by Delhi Daredevils.
Australia have put fast bowlers Doug Bollinger and Nathan Coulter-Nile on standby for next week's third Ashes Test against England in Perth should any of the current pacemen break down during the second Test in Adelaide, starting on Thursday.
Rediff.com has the best sports images from the events in the week gone by snapped right here...
The two-day players' auction for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League is finally over. At the end of it all, Yuvraj Singh emerged the most expensive of the 154 players that went under the hammer in Bangalore. Royal Challengers Bangalore acquired him for a whooping Rs 14 crore.
Australia have decided to put captain Michael Clarke under wraps with fast bowlers Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle ahead of next week's Ashes opener, withdrawing the trio from domestic fixtures to prepare for the test in Brisbane.
Test captain Michael Clarke labelled Ryan Harris 'as good as anyone who has played for Australia' after the fast bowler announced his retirement on Saturday because of injury.
While Shaun Marsh gets another go at resurrecting his career
Batsman David Warner has been dropped from Australia's one-day international squad while paceman Mitchell Starc will fly back home because of lower back soreness, the country's cricket board said on Sunday.
Check out the images from the second semi-final between Australia and India at the ICC World Cup at the Sydney Cricket, on Thursday.
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, English batting star Kevin Pietersen and South African speedster Dale Steyn were among the biggest names to be released by their respective franchises ahead of the Indian Premier League's 10th edition next year. As many as 140 cricketers, including 44 overseas players, have been retained, while 63 were let go by the eight franchises for season 10.
Former Australian cricketer Geoff Lawson feels India would need a combination of tight technique and tough minds to get the better of the Aussies.
Unfazed by an aggressive Virat Kohli, Australian opener David Warner said the Indian is free to play the way he wishes and the ICC is there to manage if anybody crosses the line.
After making impressive debuts in their respective openers, Rising Pune Supergiants and GujaratLions will test each others' strengths when the two new entrants clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in Rajkot on Thursday. The two teams feature a lot of faces from the suspended Chennai Super Kings and at least six players, who played in the same side till last year, will now be in opposite camps. Close friends and CSK teammates Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina will now be devising strategies as rival captains. Both have admitted that playing in a jersey other than 'yellow' has been very "emotional" but have promised to give their all for their new teams. The Dhoni-led Pune Supergiants were very convincing and dominant when they handed defending champions Mumbai Indians a nine-wicket drubbing. They did not even require their middle order, packed with Dhoni himself and players such as Steven Smith, to come out with the top-order delivering it for them comfortably.
Australia have achieved what Steve Smith set out to do when he assumed the captaincy last year by climbing to the top of the test rankings after beating New Zealand on Wednesday with the batsman admitting the trick now "was to stay there". The seven-wicket victory coming just after lunch on the final day at Hagley Oval sealed a 2-0 series win against Brendon McCullum's side and confirmed Australia's ascendancy to the pinnacle of test cricket for the first time since July 2014. "It's a good start for us. We want to win every series we play and winning away from home is a big goal of mine and the team's," Smith told reporters. "We came here at the start of the series wanting to win 2-0 and we knew if we did that we would be number one in the world. "I guess the challenge for this group now is to extend that gap and try and play some very good cricket home and away." Smith, who first captained the side for three tests against India in Michael Clarke's absence at the end of 2014, assumed the role in a full time capacity after his predecessor retired following the Ashes series loss to England last year.
Two-nil down and with a harried captain insisting his team was neither dead nor buried, there was an unnerving sense of deja vu at the WACA as England made their final preparations on the eve of the third Ashes Test on Wednesday.
Australia captain Michael Clarke said the way his side bounced back at the World Cup after their defeat by New Zealand should encourage them following a crushing loss in the first Ashes Test.
Virat Kohli is expected to captain India in all formats at some point but before that happens, the star batsmen must start taking more responsibility towards his team, former India spin great Erapalli Prasanna said.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly lashed out at people who attacked Anushka Sharma for Virat Kohli's failure with the bat in the cricket World Cup semi-final against Australia, saying that it showed their immaturity.
Images from Day 1 of the second Test between India and Australia played at the Gabba on Wednesday
Publicly labelled 'soft' by former Test bowler Shane Warne only a few months ago, paceman Mitchell Starc has come of age.
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Australia have named swashbuckling batsman Aaron Finch captain of the Twenty20 cricket team, replacing George Bailey, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Monday.
While Australia's top cricketers were in attendance, the real eye-catchers of evening were their stunning wives and girlfriends. Take a look.
'We got around Sidds this morning and he came out and gave it his all as well like he always does'
Impressed with Josh Hazlewood's performance during his five-wicket haul on Test debut, Australian pace legend Glenn McGrath has said that the New South Wales seamer can become a member of the 200-wicket club if he continues the good work.
Pakistan-born Fawad Ahmed is likely to make his full Australia debut over the next month after being named as the specialist spinner in the squad for six one-day and two Twenty20 internationals against England on Thursday.
The Australian media were united in their view that the Mitchell Johnson-inspired humiliation of England at Lord's marked a decisive shift in the balance of power in the Ashes series.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has emerged as one of the five players nominated for the LG People's Choice Award ahead of the ICC annual awards.
Had he been the captain, Ponting says he wouldn't have allowed Kohli to get a good start.
I am lauding the Australians for the way they tampered the verbal spats.
Recalled Jonny Bairstow says he's in 'best form'.
As the global cricket community prays for Australia cricketer Phillip Hughes' recovery from a severe head injury, fast bowlers rushed to the defence of Sean Abbott, whose short-pitched ball struck the batsman and left him fighting for his life.
'I would say Rahane is aggressive in his own quiet way'
Australia took the final seven wickets to dismiss New Zealand for 295 and win the first Test by 208 runs before lunch on the final day on Monday, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
James Faulkner has earned his reputation as Australia's man for every occasion the hard way. Whether it's with bat or ball, the all-rounder has become the player Australia's team can always rely on to get them out of pickle.
Disappointed after his side's fifth defeat in six matches this IPL season, Kings XI Punjab's Australian import Glenn Maxwell said ordinary bowling and fielding has let the team down.
Gearing up for the pace test that awaits India in Australia come December, batsman Rohit Sharma said the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle would be a tough challenge to deal with but the Indians are no longer intimidated by bouncy tracks Down Under.
Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Ferozshah Kotla.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 2:
The little known Thangarasu Natarajan's life changed in a matter of few minutes as Rs 10 lakh base price saw a quantum 30-time jump reaching Rs 3 crore.
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