Khawaja and Smith steadied the ship batting through the second session.
Joe Burns and Steve Smith capitalised on perfect batting conditions to score centuries as Australia reduced New Zealand's lead to just seven runs at the end of day two of the second test on Sunday. Neil Wagner dismissed both batsmen in identical fashion in the final half-hour to give his side some late reward for a day of toil under a cloudless Christchurch sky. Burns, who had been dismissed early in his innings only to have the decision overturned on review, was well caught low down by Martin Guptill at square leg for 170, his highest test score and third century. Smith also fell to a short ball in Wagner's next over for 138, his 14th test century, caught by the same fielder. Adam Voges was on two with nightwatchman Nathan Lyon on four as the visitors ended the day 363 for four, having all but mowed down New Zealand's first innings 370.
Cheteshwar Pujara's masterful 193 and Rishabh Pant's magnificent unbeaten 159 extinguished Australia's hopes of winning the SCG Test.
Nathan Lyon grabbed four wickets and Jackson Bird claimed his first victim of the series as Australia restricted England to 238 for nine at stumps on Day 1 of the fourth Ashes Test on Friday.
Dhananjaya de Silva hit a maiden century and combined with Dinesh Chandimal to resurrect Sri Lanka's innings after a poor start against Australia on the opening day of the third and final Test on Saturday.
David Warner made 88 not out and featured in two significant partnerships to lead Australia's robust reply to Bangladesh's first-innings total of 305 in the second and final Test on Tuesday.
Rohit Sharma acknowledged that there has been a lot of talk about KL Rahul's prolonged lean patch and that the batter needs to devise his own methods of scoring runs on slow turners.
Australian media can't have enough of 'miracle man' Stokes after Headingley thriller, compare him to Ian Botham.
The visitors, who are 2-0 behind in the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, finished the frenetic opening day 47 runs ahead with six wickets in hand.
Captain Virat Kohli became the second fastest to 25 Test centuries before Usman Khawaja helped Australia extend their lead to 175 runs to give the hosts a slight upperhand at stumps on Day 3 in Perth on Sunday.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar came down heavily on India opener Rohit Sharma for throwing his wicket away with a reckless shot, on Day 2 of the fourth and final Test against Australia, in Brisbane, on Saturday.
Former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson feels that Indian team will be 'nervous' considering the pacer-friendly conditions of Dharamsala where Steve Smith and his boys should feel more confident.
Australia will field the same team in the second Ashes Test against England, captain Steve Smith said on Friday, with uncapped local seamer Chadd Sayers and quick Jackson Bird again missing out.
Shreyas Iyer stroked his way to an unbeaten half-century in an otherwise unimpressive batting display by India 'A' in reply to Australia's first-innings total of 469 for seven declared on the second day of the three-day practice game in Mumbai.
Australia have named the following 17-man squad for the five-Test Ashes series against England, which begins at Edgbaston on Aug. 1.
Scott Boland will become the first indigenous Australian Test player since Jason Gillespie played his last match in 2006 when he receives his baggy green cap on Sunday.
Peter Siddle has been brought into Australia's squad while uncapped fast bowler Kyle Jamieson has been called into the New Zealand squad.
Rohit shot down suggestions that India had rolled out a 'doctored pitch' for the contest.
Legendary wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist believes Australia will play all-rounder Cameron Green as a pure batter at No 6 in the first Test against India.
Australia appealed for a catch off Cheteshwar Pujara's inside edge at short leg by Matthew Wade, off the bowling of Nathan Lyon, which was turned down by umpire Wilson following which the hosts opted to take the review.
Usman Khawaja will replace Travis Head in Australia's middle order for this week's fourth Ashes Test against England in the only change to the side that wrapped up the series in Melbourne last week.
The ICC added that Australian batter Travis Head was fined 15% of his match fee for using bad language in the 77th over of their first innings on Thursday, when he was beaten by a ball from England all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Ravichandran Ashwin will become only the 14th Indian player and 77th overall in world cricket to complete the milestone of 100 Test matches.
Baroda off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya, whose bowling style is quite similar to Ravichandran Ashwin, has flown to Bengaluru for the visitors' four-day training camp in Bengaluru after Australia's coaching staff had seen his clips on Instagram.
Australia captain Steve Smith brushed off concerns about his fitness on the eve of the fifth and final Ashes Test against England on Wednesday before Mitchell Starc's return to spearhead the pace attack was confirmed as the only change to his team.
Having dismissed Australia for a paltry 145 in their first innings, Pakistan stretched their lead to a daunting 281 by stumps on day two with Zaman's 66 and an unbeaten 54 by Ali taking them to 144-2.
The 6'7" seam-bowling all-rounder's inclusion in Australia's line-up was expected after his impressive hundred in the first warm-up game against India A.
Part-time off-spinner Glenn Maxwell can see himself playing a bigger role behind specialist spinners Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa.
Khawaja made 71 before giving debutant leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay his first Test wicket.
A series win will be an ideal confidence booster for India before the visitors hit Test match mode.
'I cannot believe that D'Arcy Short has been left out of the side. I don't know what he's done wrong. He can bowl and his batting at the top is dynamic. He's in terrific form, and he and Finch make an awesome partnership at the top'
McDonald 'disappointed' with McCullum's comment post Bairstow dismissal
Cummins had tested negative for RT-PCR but was asked to isolate accordingly to the COVID rules of South Australia
The 30-year-old Holland played two Tests in Sri Lanka in 2016 but has not appeared for his country in any format since.
Australia will take the same 12-man squad to Perth for the third Ashes Test this week after humbling England by 218 runs to win the second match in Adelaide on Monday.
As India go in to the four-match Test series against Australia that commences in Adelaide on Tuesday, here is a factbox.
As India took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series, a dejected Allan Border opened up on the visitor's loss.
With Kane Williamson likely to miss the Test, New Zealand will have a lot of work to do in the 3rd Test in Sydney.
Australia's bowlers struck twice in quick succession in a devastating spell against England at Edgbaston on Sunday, before heavy rain prevented any further play.
Those players not involved in the Indian Premier League, as well as coaching and support staff, will make the Adelaide Oval their home once the white-ball tour of England concludes following Wednesday's third ODI in Manchester.
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