The maestro, who played an incredible 200 Tests in his illustrious career, said even though India have had some quality seamers but never had the 'luxury' of an attack of such variety.
Rookie seamer Ishwar Pandey was named in India's Test and ODI squads for the tour of New Zealand. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the team on the tour, which starts with the first One-Day International in Napier on January 19, 2014.
The selectors may allow the India off-spinner to complete his remaining two matches for Worcestershire in English county cricket.
Having sealed the series with a comprehensive win in the second T20I at Lucknow riding on skipper Rohit Sharma's brilliant ton, the home team would look to give reserve bench players like Shreyas Iyer, MS Washington Sundar and the uncapped Shahbaz Nadeem an opportunity before it embarks on the tour of Australia.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify India's Most Valuable ODI Players during the 2018-2019 season that has so far featured 22 games.
Virat Kohli's passion is unmatched and his game sense could only be compared to the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, said Indian team's head coach Ravi Shastri.
Despite resting several of their top players, Mumbai Indians managed to outclass Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs in their last round league match to finish top of the standings in the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
Formidable India will hope to get more answers for their unsettled middle-order puzzle when they take on a reeling West Indies in the five-match ODI series, starting Sunday and ticking off the home team's countdown to the 2019 World Cup.
Spoilt for choice with a pool of top quality performers in their ranks, formidable India are overwhelming favourites against minnows Bangladesh in a proverbial 'David vs Goliath' one-off cricket Test that starts in Hyderabad on Thursday.
With the bitter war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party intensifying, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday dubbed the BJP as a "party of thieves" and accused it of "looting the natural resources" of Chhattisgarh.
A round-up of results from the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.
Jadeja, Shami also return for limited overs series starting Jan 12
Factbox on the four-Test series between India and Australia, which starts at Pune on Thursday:
India have endured series losses in South Africa and England over the last nine months but have still managed to remain the number one side in the longest format.
Anil Kumble has said his team is all geared up for the 15 Tests in the upcoming season.
Former captain Vinay Kumar hit an unbeaten 83 and shared a crucial 97-run stand for the last wicket Ronit More (10) to help Karnataka take a 39-run first innings lead against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead an 18-man squad for the Test series against England. Opener Gautam Gambhir, whose last Test was in 2012, makes a comeback while two uncapped medium pacers - Ishwar Pandey and Pankaj Singh - find a place in the team after Zaheer Khan, who had to set out of the India leg of the Indian Premier League following a back injury, was overlooked.
Jasprit Bumrah's form and fitness will be one of India's primary concern during the World Cup in England and the Gujarat pacer may get some well deserved rest for a few games during the twin ODI series against Australia and New Zealand.
England opener Keaton Jennings struck a century on debut before off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin led an Indian fightback with late wickets to leave the visitors 288 for five on the first day of the fourth Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on Thursday.
The raucous chants Jeetega bhai Jeeetega Hindustan Jeetega was met with the counter Jeetega bhai jeetega Pakistan Jeetega.
Down 0-2 in the five-Test series against India, England captain Alastair Cook feels his team needs to go back to the first match at Rajkot and pick a few pointers from that match.
"Every match is important and poses a different challenge, there's nothing like preparation. We will go match by match. If we do better here then we will think of the SA series," he said.
Sunil Narine hammered a quickfire half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The Indian bowling was a pleasant surprise in the recent World Cup but a bigger pool of genuine fast bowlers and spinners needs to be created for the team to be a consistent force in the future, feels the legendary Erapalli Prasanna.
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India.
Delhi's performance at home is woeful, but having registered a win after two consecutive losses at the Kotla, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit is high on confidence.
Do you think India should play five bowlers?
India and England will play three ODI games beginning Sunday. Rajneesh Gupta surveys the career figures of the players who will head to battle in Pune.
Pacer Mohammad Shami, who is recuperating after shoulder surgery, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, back with a re-modelled action, are among 30 players named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's senior selection committee for a preparatory camp ahead of the South African team's upcoming tour of India.
CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed the game against SRH due to a stiff back but is likely to be back for Sunday's match against Virat Kohli-led RCB.
Perhaps for the first time, India's pace strength is not centred on any one individual, or set of individuals.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh made a comeback to the Indian team, while Virat Kohli took over the captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the forthcoming three-match ODI and T20I series against England, starting in Pune, on January 15.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would be eager to avenge their twin defeats in the league stage when they face old foes Mumbai Indians in the IPL Qualifer 2 in Bengaluru, on Friday.
The school management also removed all the security staffs.
Talented Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma made a comeback to the Test squad for the West Indies series, which will also mark the farewell and landmark 200th Test of batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, next month.
As India take on Sri Lanka in a three Test series, Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would look to assert their supremacy, while Sunrisers Hyderabad will have revenge on mind when the two teams clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday. Both Sunrisers and KKR finished their league engagements on 16 points each but the Gautam Gambhir-led side ended fourth behind Sunrisers due to inferior net run rate. But going into the do-or-die game, KKR have psychological advantage over the Sunrisers having beaten them on both the occasions during the league stage. KKR thrashed Sunrisres by eight wickets in their first meeting this season and came out victorious by 22 runs in a must-win match last Sunday to qualify for the play-offs.
Yuvraj Singh is hopeful that he can make a 'meaningful contribution' in India's Champions Trophy title defence during the June 1-18 marquee event in England.
After leading the team to their sixth consecutive bilateral series victory, a satisfied Kohli said he was satisfied with the overall performance of the team.
A near-perfect series for Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
