Australia moved within 201 runs of victory in the fourth Ashes Test with all 10 wickets in hand after routing England's second innings for 179 to wrest back the momentum on a roller-coaster fourth day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
India lost the crucial wicket of opener Murali Vijay after Steven Smith led Australia's fightback with a magnificent century on his captaincy debut. He received able support from Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc, who both scored half-centuries. At close of play on Day 3 in the second Test , India were 71 for one in their second innings. Check out some images from the day's play.
Images from Day 1 of the pink-ball first Test between Australia and India, in Adelaide, on Thursday.
In recent years, India's batters have struggled against spin.
India scored 105 in the first innings and 107 in the second in the Pune Test. This is their lowest aggregate in a completed Test match at home.
Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe took 12 wickets in the match to help Australia beat India by 333 runs in Pune on Saturday as the tourists took a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series between the world's top-ranked sides.
Finch and Khawaja put on 209, a record opening stand for Australia while chasing in ODIs, bettering Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist's 206 against West Indies in 2001.
After a high-scoring first Test in Adelaide, which India lost by 48 runs to trail the five-match series, a green-top awaits the visitors at the Gabba, starting December 17.
Harbhajan Singh has rated the current Australian team led by Steven Smith as the 'weakest ever' in recent times to tour the Indian sub-continent.
Penpix of players in Australia's Ashes squad.
Australia coach Justin Langer said that England are obviously the red-hot favourites going into the World Cup and said the team deserves to be the number one team in the world.
Usman Khawaja is doubtful for the day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide later this month after the Australian top order batsman re-injured his left hamstring while fielding at the WACA on Saturday.
Photos from Day 2 of the 3rd Test played at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday
Replacement paceman Kyle Abbott took 6-77 as South Africa completed an innings and 80-run humiliation of Australia the second Test in Hobart on Tuesday to seal the three-match series with a game to spare.
India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is confident that senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be able to change their style of bowling that suits South African pitches during their upcoming tour, starting on January 5.
Australia ripped through South Africa's top order in the first hour, dismissed the tourists for 242 by tea and reached 105 without loss at close on the back of some Dave Warner fireworks on the opening day of the first Test on Thursday.
Steven Smith and Shaun Marsh scored unbeaten half-centuries to launch a strong response from Australia after Dinesh Chandimal's patient hundred pushed Sri Lanka's first-innings total to 355 on the second day of the third and final Test on Sunday.
The duo has been left out of Australia ODI squad for UAE despite bans ending before tour end
Rahane also pointed how the coach's contribution was the key to the team's success.
Earlier, Nathan Lyon kept Australia in the contest, claiming six for 82 to help bowl out Bangladesh for 221 after the hosts had resumed on 45 for one.
Virat Kohli might have come under sharp criticism from various quarters for his on-field aggressive behaviour but former Australia spinner Brad Hogg defended the India captain, saying the visiting team derives energy from him.
India captured Australia's last two wickets after a rain-delayed start to day five of the third Test on Sunday to complete an emphatic 137-run win and take a 2-1 series lead.
Opening batsman Chris Rogers wants an unchanged Australian team for the fifth and final Ashes Test as a reward for the eleven players who beat England in the first four matches to emphatically wrest back the urn.
England captain Alastair Cook became the youngest cricketer to reach 8,000 Test runs as the tourists moved serenely to 54 without loss at lunch after dismissing Australia for 204 early on the third day of the fourth Ashes Test on Saturday.
Jonny Bairstow kept his head with a fine century for England but Steve Smith showed a captain's poise to guide Australia to 203 for three at the close of day two of the third Ashes Test on Friday.
Australia called up uncapped paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile for the first Test against West Indies on Tuesday as a replacement for left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc, who was ruled out of the series due to a broken foot.
India would have been better served with a frontline spinner in their side, pace spearhead Mohammed Shami said.
Babar Azam fell one run short of his maiden century as Pakistan set Australia a mammoth victory target of 538 on day three of the second and final Test.
Cheteshwar Pujara has set an example for others with his first-innings century
A rejuvenated India shorn of Virat Kohli turned the tables on Australia to claim the second Test in Melbourne with a rousing eight-wicket victory within four days and breathe life into the series.
All-rounders Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have been excluded from a 25-player squad for an intra-Australia clash that will go a long way to deciding the makeup of Tim Paine's Ashes side.
Australian batsman Steve Smith reckons that with the Gabba track starting to play a few tricks, an engrossing final day is in store in the fourth and deciding Test against India.
Images from Day 2 of the 2nd Ashes Test played at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, on Thursday.
'No more red ball... it doesn't swing, it doesn't do anything, goes soft after 25 overs. It has been pathetic for so long now. Except for the Dukes ball in England, it has been rubbish.'
Rohit maintains that turning tracks remain the team's strength and wants the struggling batters to find a way to score on them.
'It won't be easy like the other matches but confidence is the main thing... If we took that confidence into the ground and deliver to our best, you never know'
Pujara was placed sixth, down one rung, with 791 points, while Rahane occupied the ninth spot after slipping a couple of positions with 759 points.
'We are looking at them every single day. We are comfortable with the protocols with what they are for SA (South Australia).' The only limit on Australia's players in Adelaide are that they head out in public in small groups.
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is against shortening of Test matches as he believes that four-day Tests might lead to more draws.
With thumbs down from currently the most influential international cricketer, ICC might find it difficult to implement 'four-day Test'.
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