Australia won't be too disappointed after losing to India as they have time to dissect this loss, fine tune their process, tinker with batting orders and bowling options and manoeuvre things around before the semi-finals come around, writes Steve Waugh.
Captain Aaron Finch will lead an equally strong batting line-up also featuring the talents of David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell.
Australia are perhaps fortunate that there is such a short gap between Tests given the navel-gazing that is likely to follow their first defeat in the opening test of a home Summer for 28 years.
Rising Pune Supergiant head coach Stephen Fleming described their showing in the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League as a grand finish to a good competition.
Looking at the infamous gate, many fans across the stadium were seen holding the banner 'Sandpaper for Sale'.
'We had one hour of chaos there and that cost us that Test match when we'd played pretty good cricket. We came here and doubled down on what we'd set out to achieve at the start of the tour.'
While others have faded somewhat recently, Kohli has been burning brightly, and pulling ahead of his peers.
Images from Day 4 of the third Test between Australia and India in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Images from the first One-Day International between England and Australia, at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Thursday.
Australia captain Steve Smith on Tuesday apologised for letting his "emotions slip" during the aggressively-contested but lost Test series against India, saying that he was in his "own bubble" at times.
Steve Smith, on Thursday, said there is no bad blood between him and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was replaced by the Australian as skipper of the Pune Supergiant for the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League.
This was not the first time that Steve Smith and the Australian team resorted to unfair measures in a Test match to gain advantage over their opponents.
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.
Glenn Maxwell pulled out of RCB's previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad stating that 'physical and mental toll probably just wore me down a little bit'.
Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma sought to play down Rising Pune Supergiant and Mumbai Indians' head-to-head record, where the enviable mingles with the undesirable, on the eve of the title clash of IPL-10.
Australia captain Steve Smith played down a tense stand-off in pay negotiations between the players' union and the national cricket board, saying his team is highly motivated to cut a deal and play the Ashes against England.
'I think we've adopted some good plans and played some very good cricket so far in this series. This wicket is no different' 'I've not seen a cricketer who can predict the outcome after seeing a pitch. I think it's hard to assess how much it will turn or seam. That's why it's said cricket is a complicated sport'
Cricketing fraternity, on Thursday, applauded Australia batsman Steven Smith for hitting a century against England, on Day 1 of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, on Thursday.
Skipper Steve Smith scored a controlled 133, Mitchell Johnson a game-changing 88 and Australia's tail wagged vigorously as the hosts barged their way back into the second Test against India on day three in Brisbane on Friday.
Smith, playing for the Toronto Nationals, showed few signs of rust in his 41-ball innings of 61, which included eight fours and a six, before being stumped and leaving the field to a standing ovation.
Cricket Australia has come under pressure from the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) to end the bans following the release of the Longstaff review.
Banned former Australian captain Steve Smith, on Wednesday, said Cricket Australia executives James Sutherland and Pat Howard played a key role in spreading the toxic 'win at all costs' culture
IMAGES from the match between Australia and The Netherlands, played in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Australian captain Steven Smith has expressed disappointment over his controversial dismissal in his side's defeat in a do-or-die game against India at Mohali on Sunday. Smith was adjudged caught behind by umpire Marais Erasmus on two at Mohali, off Yuvraj Singh's first delivery of the tournament. The Aussie skipper looked clearly furious as he left the ground shaking his head. "It didn't feel like I hit that but that's the game of cricket. I got given out. It was the umpire's call and that was it. It was a bit disappointing," Smith said. Smith, who will be playing in the same Indian Premier League team (Rising Pune Supergiants) as Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni refrained from reading much into the loud appeal by Dhoni from behind the stumps.
All-rounder Aaron Hardie will travel with rest of the Australia squad to India as cover for Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis.
Australia led England by 12 runs at the end of a tense and fluctuating second day to leave the final Ashes Test at The Oval on a knife-edge on Friday.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann said more thought needed to be given to the positioning of the "spidercam" TV camera after his captain Steve Smith spilled a key catch in the fourth Test against India on Thursday.
Rohit makes his way back into Test squad for Sri Lanka series
The injured and banned duo of Steven Smith and David Warner are unlikely to take part in Australia's final two ODIs against Pakistan despite serving out their one-year suspensions.
Opener David Warner and all-rounder Mitch Marsh will be rested for the five-match Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka next month to prepare for the upcoming tour of Pakistan.
'...there'll be nerves and a bit of pressure, but that's all part of it, and I'm just excited to see what it all brings.'
Australia captain Steve Smith said the players drafted in for the third-Test victory over South Africa had energised the team and contributed to a "good start" to the new era of Test cricket in the country.
Steve Smith believes India is one of the toughest places to play Test cricket and winning a five-day format series in the country is a major career goal for him. Smith also heaped praise on India's spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, describing him as a difficult bowler to face in the subcontinent.
The seeds of India's defeat were sown in Melbourne, where Bumrah had to bowl 53.2 overs -- 24.4 in the second innings on the back of 28.4 in the first innings. With just three days to recover, that was an inhuman burden on a bowler who had bowled 151 overs in this series.
A century stand from Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja propelled Australia to a nine-wicket victory over Ireland in their one-off One-Day International played at Willowmoore Park on Tuesday. Ireland won the toss and elected to bat but were bowled out for 198, a target that never looked enough against the Australians, who posted 199 for one for the loss of opener David Warner (48), with almost 20 overs to spare.
Pakistan's experienced wicketkeeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed laid out the team's plans to ruin Australia's star batter David Warner's farewell Test series.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the second Test against Australia in Adelaide?
Pat Cummins is looking at the upcoming five-Test series against India as a chance to 'make amends' for the successive defeats at home against their fierce rivals.
Australia have achieved what Steve Smith set out to do when he assumed the captaincy last year by climbing to the top of the test rankings after beating New Zealand on Wednesday with the batsman admitting the trick now "was to stay there". The seven-wicket victory coming just after lunch on the final day at Hagley Oval sealed a 2-0 series win against Brendon McCullum's side and confirmed Australia's ascendancy to the pinnacle of test cricket for the first time since July 2014. "It's a good start for us. We want to win every series we play and winning away from home is a big goal of mine and the team's," Smith told reporters. "We came here at the start of the series wanting to win 2-0 and we knew if we did that we would be number one in the world. "I guess the challenge for this group now is to extend that gap and try and play some very good cricket home and away." Smith, who first captained the side for three tests against India in Michael Clarke's absence at the end of 2014, assumed the role in a full time capacity after his predecessor retired following the Ashes series loss to England last year.
Australia captain believes the result could have been different had Steve Smith and David Warner been available for the home side in Melbourne.
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