Defending champions Mumbai Indians finally snapped their losing streak on the back of a collective batting effort as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the Indian Premier League.
Shreyas Iyer's dream Test debut has put India in pole position in the opening Test against New Zealand but it also presented his team with a selection headache for the second and final test in Mumbai next week.
Images from Day 1 of the second Test between India and England, at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai.
Virat Kohli's position as India's ODI captain, his Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane's future as vice-captain in the longest format along with 100-Test man Ishant Sharma's place will be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the jumbo squad for the tour of South Africa later this week.
The duo of Vyas and Desai took the opposing bowlers to the cleaners throughout the innings while stitching a massive first-wicket partnership of 282 runs.
Ishant Sharma's lack of rhythm can be attributed to lack of game time and it would take a couple of Test matches for him to get back into the groove, India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said.
A summary of Ranji matches played on Tuesday.
Kohli's 147 -- his 15th Test hundred -- and an equally confident 136 by Murali Vijay enabled India to extend their first-innings lead to 51 runs in reply to England's 400.
Saurashtra entered the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy by virtue of the first innings lead over Karnataka in the quarter-final match which ended in a draw in Rajkot on Thursday.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will lead India in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur, starting November 25, before regular skipper Virat Kohli returns to take charge from the second Test in Mumbai.
Suryakumar Yadav and Aditya Tare hit unbeaten half-centuries to put Mumbai in a commanding position against Madhya Pradesh on day three of the Ranji Trophy semi-final in Cuttack, on Monday.
In the other matches, Manipur trounced Nagaland by 10 wickets in the battle of newcomers while Jammu and Kashmir defeated Andhra Pradesh by five wickets.
The spotlight will, however, continue to be on the 33-year-old Kohli in Mohali with the contest against Sri Lanka being his 100th Test match for the country.
Virat Kohli has scored 1,138 runs in overseas Tests this year -- that's the most by an Indian in a calendar year, points out Rajneesh Gupta.
Livingstone was picked by Punjab Kings for Rs 11.5 crore
Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham said bowlers love playing under captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni because he knows their strength and how to get the best out of them.
It was the biggest margin of victory by runs for India in a home match, eclipsing their 337-run win against South Africa in a Delhi Test in 2015.
Debutant Shreyas Iyer was guts, aggression and flair rolled into one during an unbeaten knock of 75, which was nothing short of a baptism by fire, as India ended on 258 for four on the first day of the opening Test against New Zealand in Kanpur on Thursday.
It is understood that Kohli, Rahane, Shami, Jadeja will be sweating it out at the nets alongside Ashwin, who has already bowled a whopping 58 overs and taken seven wickets in a County game for Surrey last week.
Besides Agarwal, New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel and Australian pacer Mitchell Starc were also short-listed for the award.
There is a possibility that India might play three pacers in the pink-ball Test.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who was left out of the first Test, is back in the mix as Shardul Thakur seems to have done his hamstring some damage during the training session at Lord's on Monday.
All eyes will be on 41-year-old Wasim Jaffer, who is only 853 runs shy of 20,000 first-class runs.
'Everyone in the contingent will be undergoing 14-day quarantine in India'
A summary of the first day's play at different venues in the Ranji Trophy.
New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel claimed the rare honour of bagging all 10 wickets in an innings before India demonstrated their own bowling might to take control on Day 2 of the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
Unseasonable rain in Mumbai has also meant that both teams have not been able to practise outdoors since Wednesday and the weather conditions could have an impact on the team selection, according to Kohli.
The dominance of Saurashtra's bowlers could be gauged from the fact that Himachal lost their first seven wickets for just 22 runs.
A summary of the first day's proceedings in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
Sachin Tendulkar's sparkling half-century was the highlight of India's dominating performance as the hosts closed in on another crushing victory over West Indies, on Day 2 of the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on Friday.
'For us, it's about finding that perfect balance but if someone like Shardul is not available, then we definitely need to think how to pick up 20 wickets and not try to plug in another guy, who can give us some runs with the bat. I think we are very comfortable how first Test went'.
The BCCI on Monday shared a clip of the team's gym session on Twitter.
'I have seen him evolve and mature, both as a person and a captain.'
Some of the Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, coach Ravi Shastri and members of the support staff also landed in Chennai -- where the first two Tests will be played.
'Remembering the bravehearts and the innocent civilians who lost their lives'
It is learnt that Shubman has been told that he would bat in the middle-order in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur, where Ajinkya Rahane will lead the team in the absence of Virat Kohli, who is on a break.
India have a real shot at winning their first ever away series against South Africa,
'Important things like concentration, having a balanced mind, staying calm at all times, all these important things he learnt from his mother.' Arvind Pujara, the master batsman's dad, has been much praised for instilling the right values in his only child, but he tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian that it was his late mother Reena who is majorly responsible for Cheteshwar's success.
The best-selling author was all of us :))) at the Virushka reception.