With Kohli and Rohit misfiring, the pressure has mounted on opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and India's middle order to put the kind of scores on the board their bowlers can defend.
India's Ravichandran Ashwin continued to hold on to the top spot in the all-rounders' table and also retained his second position in the bowling list in the latest ICC Test rankings. Premier off-spinner Ashwin stood out with 31 wickets in four Tests in India's 3-0 triumph over South Africa in the home series, and has a Test batting average of 31.68 with a highest score of 124. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up 23 wickets in four Tests against South Africa, is the only other Indian bowler to be figuring in the top-10 list, which is still headed by England's Stuart Broad.
The Indian cricket team and its premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin held on to their numero uno status in the latest ICC Test rankings for teams and bowlers respectively.
Former India all-rounder Suresh Raina feels middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav will be sorely missed in the upcoming Champions Trophy, as he could have provided the 'X-factor' in Dubai, where Rohit Sharma's side will play all its matches.
Ravichandran Ashwin was India's best player in the series and he contributed with both bat and ball to emerge as the new all-round hope that India have been so desperately in the last so many years.
'He (Ashwin) will bowl to the same spot but the way it gets there and whether it hits the seam or hits the lacquer varies and the ball reacts very differently.'
Spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin's tight spells with the ball were instrumental in Delhi Capitals scoring a narrow three-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings.
'It does not matter even if you are the world's best, because if you have tired legs, obviously you cannot execute your plans as well you would want to. So, it's great learning for workload management for all of us,' said India's fielding coach R Sridhar.
Pat Cummins took five wickets as Australia maintained their unblemished record in 'Pink-ball' Tests with a thumping 10-wicket victory over India in the second Test in Adelaide on Sunday to level the five-match series 1-1 in just two-and-a-half days.
He had said earlier that he was ready for the Yo-Yo test.
Shami had been picked in the initial squad for the two Tests, but was forced to withdraw due to fitness issues.
Reader Mayur Selarka sent us this picture.
The new red-soil pitch at Chepauk perfectly aligned with Indian team's vision to give more practice to their pacers ahead of the all-important tour to Australia.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from second T20 between India and South Africa.
India opener Mayank Agarwal and New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel have made huge progress in the ICC Test Player Rankings after outstanding performances in the second Test of their ICC World Test Championship series in Mumbai.
Chennai Super Kings off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been fined five per cent of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire's decision in Saturday's IPL match between his side and Kings XI Punjab at the M A Chidambaram Stadium.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, on Sunday, became the fastest Indian and second overall to take 200 wickets, reaching the milestone in his 37th Test.
Virat's 248 runs in the second Test, the highest by an Indian captain against England. Ashwin, only the second Indian bowler to take 50 wickets in consecutive years. Rajneesh Gupta looks at the numbers from the Vizag Test.
India fight back against Australia as 17 wickets tumble on opening day
India face Australia in the WTC final at The Oval in London on Wednesday, June 7.
Indian captain Virat Kohli has had an ordinary Test series against Australia with scores of 0, 13, 12 and 15 in the two matches so far and has slipped one place to fourth, logging 847 points.
The club also announced the termination of contracts for its other two overseas players, South African spinner Keshav Maharaj and West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran.
India spinners plotted England's downfall on a dustbowl in Chennai, recording a massive 317-run win over the visitors on Tuesday.
Ashwin ended with nine wickets in the ongoing first Test, including 6 for 61
-He has 30 five-wicket hauls in international cricket, the 10th highest in the format and the second highest by an Indian next to Anil Kumble (38). Muralitharan has the highest number of five-wicket hauls (77).
'We are locked down as there is hope that we will return to some normalcy, we are all confined to our homes, we all have hope in future, we will have to anticipate what is coming ahead of us, we will be required to be mentally switched on as anything can happen.'
Delhi Capitals senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin spoke to head coach Ricky Ponting on the controversial issue of 'Mankading' in which the bowler runs out the batsman at the non-striker's end if he sets off for a run before the ball is bowled.
India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir finds himself caught between a rock and hard place.
The Marylebone Cricket Club, custodians of the laws of cricket, on Tuesday, said Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was under no obligation to warn Jos Buttler before 'Mankading' him in the Indian Premier League match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Rodney Hogg were engaged in a war of words with the former Australian pacer saying that the Indian spinner was successful against South Africa mainly due to the spin-friendly wickets during the Test series.
Rewarding Ravichandran Ashwin for his stupendous show in the just-concluded Test series against the West Indies, the BCCI, on Monday, decided to bestow the Dilip Sardesai award on the off-spinner.
In the series, Kuldeep scored 97 valuable runs down the order and took 19 wickets at an average of 20.15.
'Bumrah's 2024 exploits were a masterclass in skill, precision, and relentless consistency,' ICC said in a statement.
Australian batting mainstay Steve Smith conceded that he has let seasoned Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dictate terms in their duels so far, something that 'I have probably never let any spinner do in my career.'
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers to take note of at the end of the first day's play in the third Test between India and South Africa.
Statistical highlights after day three of the second cricket Test between India and New Zealand in Bangalore on Sunday.
Basking in the glory of becoming India's third highest Test wicket-taker, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has revealed that he feared his career would not survive the chaos unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
RR could not have asked for a better start to the season, registering four consecutive wins from as many games.
Yuzvendra Chahal, not normally known for his fielding, took a superb catch to leave his Rajasthan Royals' team-mates pleasantly surprised.
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