India will look to reprise their home template of big first-innings totals and sustained spin in the short two-Test series against South Africa beginning in Kolkata on Friday.
Application required in Test cricket was missing, says Kumble after India's batting collapse
'It (the pitch) wasn't free-flowing. You felt comfortable, but the scoreboard wasn't going anywhere.'
Traditionally carved from top-quality willow, famous bat-makers, source the bulk of their willow wood from Kashmir.
South Africa pulled off a sensational victory inside three days of the opening Test against India on Sunday and the manner of it would go a long way in silencing those who doubted their credentials as the reigning world test champions.
K L Rahul on Saturday conceded that Indian batters' repeated struggles against spin, especially on home tracks, remain a concern.
India's awe-inspiring batting depth will face a stern test against South Africa's quality spin attack in the first Test, starting in Kolkata on Friday.
Jurel's consistent batting has made him a strong contender for a place in the playing XI as a specialist batter.
India A registered a fighting three-wicket win over South Africa A in the first four-day match, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Marco Jansen demolished the Indian batting line-up with a six-wicket haul before South Africa extended their lead on Day 3 of the second and final Test.
He walked in at a crucial juncture when the team needed him the most. But it was not to be. The 27-year-old lasted just five deliveries before he was sent back.
'I definitely believe the kind of form he is in, the way he is batting, it will strengthen the Indian batting line-up.'
'Never knew golf could be this much fun.'
Not handing the ball to lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah to start the third day's play on a challenging Eden Gardens surface was "questionable", said the legendary Anil Kumble.
Pant's gritty fifty keeps India A together in chase of 275
Ravichandran Ashwin exposed India batters' lack of quality to battle ball tweakers by claiming that if legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar or past domestic heroes Amol Muzumdar, the India women's team head coach and Mithun Manhas had played against spinners on such a track, the Test would have gone to four days, unlike India's harrowing 30-run defeat against South Africa at Eden Gardens.
'I've been thinking a lot about giving back, and what better time than now!'
'...there's something better and meaningful to explore.'
Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen made Indian finger spinners' look ordinary in good batting conditions with invaluable lower-order contributions as South Africa seized control of the second Test.
South Africa will aim for their first Test victory in India in more than 15 years.
Memes, angry tweets, and sarcastic jabs poured in, with some calling him a 'fraud' and others even demanding he return the Rs 27 crore paid by the franchise.
Dhoni and Sangakkara, two contemporaries who relentlessly stayed in contention for the number one spot during their era, went head-to-head in the 2011 World Cup final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
On one of India's most challenging surfaces in recent memory -- a dry, unpredictable turning track where every ball felt like an event, Temba Bavuma played one of the defining innings of his career.
With Bumrah leading the charge, India prised out five wickets in the second session to snuff out South Africa's hopes of reaching the 200 mark.
After bowling out SA A for 309, overnight 299/9, in the first session, India succumbed to their own waywardness, and the relentlessness of off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen (5/61), to concede an innings lead of 75.
'We would like to believe and back ourselves to know these conditions or adapt to these conditions a lot faster even if we find them slightly different, as compared to, say, somebody who is brought up in Johannesburg and has played all his cricket at the Wanderers ground.'
Smashes second fastest T20 hundred by an Indian batter at India A's Asia Cup Rising Stars match against UAE on Friday.
India will be desperate for a quality replacement for the crucial No. 4 slot with Shubman Gill likely to be ruled out for the must-win second and final Test against South Africa.
India bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted his side was "surprised" by how quickly the Eden Gardens surface "deteriorated" after a dramatic second day in which 15 wickets fell and the opening Test swung sharply in India's favour.
'You saw Yashasvi Jaiswal start in the second innings, did you see the first three balls, the kind of shots that he attempted?'
Sack Gambhir before he damages any more careers, if you must. But it cannot stop there. The project ahead must be bigger, more ambitious, and far more urgent: Rebuilding the spine of Indian cricket from the grassroots up, and giving the Test team the seriousness it deserves. Only then will Indian cricket stop lurching from one crisis to another and begin, once again, to imagine greatness, suggests Prem Panicker.
The series promises a fascinating duel between the two modern-day pace greats.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between India and South Africa, in Kolkata, on Friday.
Abhimanyu Easwaran made the future path all the more tough with his second duck of the match, while Sai Sudharsan concluded his lukewarm preparation for the South Africa Test series with an underwhelming 23 off 38 balls.
Pant picked up the injury on the opening day of the Old Trafford Test when he attempted a reverse sweeps against Chris Woakes. Despite the injury, the following day he returned to bat and scored a fighting half-century.
Dhruv Jurel made a strong case for his continued presence in the senior Test eleven with his second hundred in as many innings against South Africa A while fortifying India A's position on the third day of the four-day match in Bengaluru on Saturday.
It was also his third hundred in the last seven innings after going past three digits against Australia A at Lucknow and the West Indies at Ahmedabad.
With a mic in one hand and the captain's armband on the other, Rishabh Pant is ready to bring the entertainment to IPL 2025!
This was India's fourth defeat in the last six Tests at home and in all four Tests -- including three against New Zealand -- their batters have flopped against spin.
Rishabh Pant posted a heartfelt message for Chris Woakes, who had left him with a severe injury during the fifth Test in Manchester early this year.
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