Shami, 35, was left out of India's 15-member squad for the two home Tests against South Africa, scheduled to commence on Friday at the famed Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Before his most recent snub, Shami had openly expressed his disappointment about being sidelined from India's recent Test fixtures.
This Test series, between India and South Africa, is Fletcher's biggest test yet, of what he has been doing behind the scenes for so long a period.
South Africa got off to a sedate start after Michael Clarke's sterling century and some spectacular rearguard action powered Australia to 445 in their first innings on day two of the third and final Test in Sydney on Sunday. In reply, South Africa lost Neil McKenzie (23) to Peter Siddle and Graeme Smith (30 retired hurt) to injury before reaching 125 for one at stumps.
England must chase down a world-record 474 to win the second Test while South Africa have two full days to bowl them out after the tourists' batsmen provided the strongest possible platform for victory on the third day in Nottingham on Sunday.
The hastily-arranged Test series between India and South Africa will start on February 6 in Nagpur, BCCI announced on Friday.
The victorious South African team were fined for maintaining a slow over-rate in the second Test against India, which concluded in Pretoria, on Wednesday.
South Africa all-rounder Marco Jansen says stopping world-class batters like Virat Kohli becomes almost impossible once they settle in.
IMAGES from Day 3 of the 3rd Test played between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town on Saturday
Australia ended the third day of the third test on 102 for two, still trailing South Africa by 340 runs with eight wickets remaining in Cape Town on Saturday.
Dhananjaya de Silva enhanced his rapidly-growing reputation with an unbeaten 43 as he kept South Africa's strike bowlers at bay to see Sri Lanka to 181 for seven in their first innings at the end of the second day of the first Test on Tuesday. The 25-year-old, who hit a six with his first scoring shot when he made his Test debut against Australia in July, brought Sri Lanka within 105 runs of South Africa's first innings total of 286 before bad light stopped play for the day.
South Africa batsman Quinton de Kock doesn't want his team to lose sleep over an expected spin threat but warned the players to "prepare for the worst" during their tour of India this month.
Vernon Philander is becoming the 'new Jacques Kallis', said South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis.
Faf du Plessis, Chennai Super Kings' find of the IPL 5 season, has been rewarded by South Africa with captaincy of the country's 'A' team in the upcoming two four-day Tests against Sri Lanka 'A' and the triangular one-day series in Zimbabwe.
Pacer Vernon Philander claimed six for 21 as South Africa thrashed Australia by a huge margin of 492 runs to claim the four-match series 3-1, in Johannesburg, on Tuesday.
South Africa will play a minimum of 23 warm-up one-day internationals against five different countries to boost their preparation for next year's World Cup, the country's cricket board said on Monday.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma revealed that he received an apology from Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant for an offensive comment during the Kolkata Test.
A toe injury suffered before the fourth T20I is set to keep Gill out of the final T20I here as India would want to take a cautious route, more so when there is a ready replacement for the top order slot in Sanju Samson.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis lauded his "relentless" bowlers for their match-winning performance against Australia in Hobart on Tuesday and dedicated the series win to absent Proteas Dale Steyn and AB De Villiers.
Genome sequencing has confirmed that the nine people have been infected with the new variant, Health Secretary Vaibhav Galriya said.
Former West Indies batting great Brian Lara has criticized South Africa's 'blockathon' approach against India during the fourth and final Test at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, in New Delhi.
India 'A' will play a one-day tri-series involving Australia 'A' and South Africa 'A' followed by two four-day matches against the hosts.
Images from Day 3 of the 4th Test played between South Africa and England in Johannesburg on Sunday.
New Zealand have left Doug Bracewell out of their 15-man squad for a One-day international series in South Africa to manage the seamer's workload, the country's cricket board said on Friday.
Pant boost for Delhi as keeper-batter returns for Vijay Hazare Trophy
South Africa frustrated England's attempts to force a result on the final day of the first test at Lord's on Monday with more stubborn defence on a somnolent pitch to earn a draw. A rearguard action, which started on Saturday evening when South Africa followed on 346 runs in arrears, ended on Monday with the visitors 393 for three in their second innings.
'When you are playing on spin-friendly pitches, you need to prepare differently.'
AB de Villiers hit an unbeaten century to guide South Africa to a successful record-breaking run chase of 414 -- the second biggest run chase in Test history against Australia at the WACA in Perth on Sunday. De Villiers was unbeaten on a cracking 106 and debutant JP Duminy was not out on 50 as South Africa produced a great batting display on the fifth and final day to win the opening Test by a comfortable six-wicket margin.
Australia pace spearhead Pat Cummins says his injury-forced withdrawal from the T20 World Cup was also driven by a desire to be completely fit for the upcoming Test season.
He hit a valuable 72 after Gary Kirsten retired hurt to lift South Africa to 320 all out on day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan.
India and South Africa begin their battle for the No.2 spot in the ICC rankings with the first Test in Chennai.
Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma picked three wickets each as India dismissed South Africa for 265 on Day 1 of the third Test. The visitors frittered away a solid start and were bundled out at the fag end of the day on a Green Park track that has given enough indication that it will deteriorate rapidly.
Graeme Smith plundered a fighting 154 not out to lead his South Africa team to a five-wicket victory over England that clinched the Test series at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Save Shreyas Iyer, who will take a lot more time to get fit, others are expected to represent their state teams.
The World Cup winners' medal is the latest addition to Verma's trophy cabinet, which also includes the 2023 Under-19 World Cup, the 2022 Asia Cup, the 2022 Asian Games gold medal and the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver.
Harshit Rana was on Wednesday reprimanded and handed out one demerit point by the ICC for his aggressive behaviour after dismissing South African batter Dewald Brevis during the first ODI.
Robin Smith established himself as a belligerent middle-order batter known for his ability against fast bowlers.
South African batting consultant Justin Sammons hailed Dean Elgar's stubborn resistance against a fearsome Indian attack, saying the skipper's show with the bat will be key if the hosts have to win the Wanderers Test.
They have been badly handicapped by injuries to their captain Graeme Smith and all rounder Jacques Kallis.
Steyn replied to a tweet from a user who pointed out that Chris Morris was not named in the squad as he made himself unavailable for the T20I series.
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