Australian cricket was rocked on Thursday by the death of a teenage player hit by a ball during training at his Melbourne club.
Rohit Sharma hit a magnificent 121, while Virat Kohli stroked 74 in India's emphatic nine-wicket victory against Australia in Sydney.
India's decorated off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin failed to fetch any buyers for himself and went unsold in the ILT20 Season 4 auction on Wednesday.
The circumstances in which he has arrived in Australia don't make Rohit a certain starter at the top of the order.
Kim Clijsters came through a major test of her early season form to reach the Sydney International final with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Alisa Kleybanova on Thursday.
'That is how he developed his concentration and focus.'
Pacer Umesh Yadav was on Thursday ruled out of the remainder of the series against Australia due to the calf injury he sustained during the second match in Melbourne and the Indian team management is likely to prefer Shardul Thakur over left-arm pace sensation Thangarasu Natarajan for the third Test.
Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has agreed to play the entire upcoming season of the Big Bash League for Sydney Thunder, just a day after he went unsold at the ILT20 auction in Dubai, ESPNcricinfo reported.
Australia captain Pat Cummins said on Monday he was more likely than not to miss the first Ashes Test in Perth next month and is not absolutely certain of being fit for the second in Brisbane.
Australia has been battling hundreds of huge bushfires for several weeks with the resultant thick smoke regularly casting a pall over the country's cities.
Shubman Gill has struggled for consistency in Test cricket, averaging 35.05 for a tally of 1893 runs in 32 Tests, with five centuries and seven fifties.
Cummins remains a doubtful for the Ashes opener at Perth starting on November 21 but Marsh is among the players who would be in fray for selection for the opening Test of the five-match series.
On Saturday, Rohit and Virat turned back the clock, delivering a vintage special with their refined strokeplay to silence their critics.
The 32-year-old Cummins would be watching the action unfold from the sidelines due to a back injury.
The 21-year-old was added to the Australian for the fourth and final Test against India keeping in consideration the turn that the Sydney track traditionally offers for spinners.
Sydneysider Warner went into the current series with question marks over his form due to a lack of test runs, but a rapidfire 164 in the first innings of the opening test in Perth erased any doubts over his position in the team.
Ravindra Jadeja has taken 56 wickets against Australia, the most by a left-arm spinner from the subcontinent in his first 10 Tests against Australia, notes Rajneesh Gupta.
Virat Kohli, 36, and Rohit Sharma, 38, are active internationally only in the 50-overs format but their future beyond the three-match series is uncertain.
Jasprit Bumrah is likely to play the first, second and fourth Tests.
'Rohit has been dropped two Tests back and then to bring him back, it's a little bit strange to drop Pujara'
Cummins, who was previously optimistic of taking part in a significant chunk of the series, appears to have no chance of playing the series opener in Perth from November 21 and could even miss all five Tests, leaving superstar batter Steve Smith as his stand-in captain.
The star batter's aggression has been a fire to forge inspiration and motivation, but it has also led to some unnecessary controversies in the red-ball format.
Former England pacer Stuart Broad on Tuesday spiced up the leadup to the Ashes series, starting in Perth on November 21, claiming that the battle is between "the worst Australian team since 2010" and the "best England team since 2010".
Harbhajan Singh has strongly criticised the Indian team management for their handling of pacer Jasprit Bumrah
He returned to India on Sunday to attend to his wife Ritika, who delivered a baby girl.
Ravichandran Ashwin is set to create history as the first capped India men's player to play in the Australia's Big Bash League.
The SCG may be perfect for the under-performing trio -- Pujara, Dhawan and Ashwin -- to regain their touch.
'Only he knows whether he has the hunger to go on.'
The Aussies also named a 14-player group for the first two T20I matches against India, with Nathan Ellis and Josh Inglis earning recalls after they missed the recent T20I series with South Africa.
Aus ODIs: Bumrah, Gill workload to be discussed, battle between Jaiswal and Abhishek
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg believes that the aggressive tone of the ongoing Test series between India and England will be a huge selling point for the match-day tickets of the upcoming Ashes.
India's young guns are fearless and mentally hardened by the IPL exposure. But true mettle will be tested when adversity strikes -- and this time, there will be no Kohli to stir up the crowd, no Rohit to deliver a captaincy masterstroke, and no Ashwin to conjure wickets out of nowhere.
Bumrah shared a picture of him hitting the gym at the National Cricket Academy as he recuperates from the lower back injury that forced him out of the Champions Trophy.
'It was good fun. I was obviously really nervous. Super stoked for the boys to get the win.'
Two fast-bowling all-rounders look to be in a battle for one spot, while a decision between Prasidh Krishna and left-armer Arshdeep Singh could be condition-dependent.
Jasprit Bumrah seems to have found a new companion in coffee.
'India is much stronger in white ball than the red ball. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli... they know that these youngsters are pushing them.'
Australia held their nerve in a tense chase, edging past India by two wickets to seal the series 2-0 despite a late fightback from the visitors on Thursday in Adelaide.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances