Australia head coach Justin Langer on Wednesday hinted that the Indian Premier League could be responsible for the large number of injuries suffered by India in the ongoing four-match Test series.
'Since we cannot trust the net bowlers about their exposure to COVID, it would be ideal to go with a large contingent as we can be assured of all the players' safety as they will be in a bio-secure environment.'
To everyone's surprise, the team management didn't play him during the high-scoring first T20I in Mohali, raising doubts whether he has still attained peak fitness or not.
Ahead of Saturday's event, here's a lowdown of ready references for the auction.
Fit again Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari made their way back into the Indian Test squad, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya was left out for next month's IIC World Test Championship final against New Zealand and the five-match series against England.
Joe Root hit an unbeaten century as England beat India by 86 runs to level the three-match series at 1-1, in Lord's in London, on Saturday.
'Once he failed in the Australia series at home, there was very little chance for him but selectors didn't want to change things ahead of WTC final.'
The change in format may bring about some strategic shift in the playing eleven for India with captain Virat Kohli expected to open the innings.
With the second Test set to start on Wednesday, here is a quick fact check on how both teams stand at the Gabba.
When was the last time we saw an IPL top 50 table without the names of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, M S Dhoni, and with Rishabh Pant getting almost the last empty seat? ask Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji as they list the 50 Most Valuable Players after the first 29 IPL 2022 games.
Pacers Umesh Umesh and Ishant Sharma shared four wickets between them in absence of injured R Aswhin as Essex batsmen made India toil hard by reaching 237 for five on the second day of the three-day practice game, in Chelmsford, on Thursday.
Kolkata Knight Riders will be desperate to press the reset button and snap their three-match losing streak when they face Chennai Super Kings in the IPL match in Kolkata on Sunday.
Kohli's deputy Ajinkya Rahane will lead India in the final three Tests.
Former India pacer Rudra Pratap Singh believes the defending champions have found form at the right time and sent out a warning to other teams in the ICC World Cup.
'Everyone in the contingent will be undergoing 14-day quarantine in India'
Former wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel said India have all the 'bases covered' for the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, to be played in Southampton from June 18 to 22.
Ganguly convinced the Bangladesh Cricket Board to agree to a Day/Night Test just a few days before their team was to land in India.
Putting up an all-round show, Kolkata Knight Riders consolidated their fourth position in the points table with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Images from the IPL 2023 match between Kolkata Knight Riders and SunRisers Hyderabad played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday
On a high after Rinku Singh's phenomenal knock, Kolkata Knight Riders will be gunning for a hat-trick of victories when they face a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It was history in the making as Quinton de Kock scored a century and shared a record opening stand with skipper K L Rahul.
Pakistani pacers have managed to subdue the rival batsmen en route to the Champions Trophy final but Gautam Gambhir does not see them posing any serious threat to Indian batsmen in the title clash on Sunday.
It wasn't very difficult to read between the lines as to what he meant after Ravindra Jadeja was preferred in the West Indies.
India captain Virat Kohli chalked up his seventh double hundred in Tests before his pacers claimed a few early wickets to leave South Africa reeling, on Day 2, of the second Test against South Africa at Pune.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand, starting on Friday?
Rohit Sharma may have been in and out of the team often during his seven-year career, but India skipper Virat Kohli is of the view that the talented Mumbai batsman could be the X-factor at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Playing in their first home game of the season, KKR clinched a crushing 81-run win over RCB.
Fast bowler Umesh Yadav, who took four wickets in the first innings to help India enforce the follow-on, said considering the slow nature of the pitch, bowling as many maiden overs as possible was their plan to create pressure on the West Indies' batsmen.
Images from the IPL 2023 match between Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali on Saturday.
Ravindra Jadeja was called up to the Indian team as the replacement for Axar Patel for the first three ODIs in the five-match series against Australia starting in Chennai, on Sunday.
The Most Valuable Player Index table is telling another (worrying?) story: Performance from players in teams that are not going to make the top four is dropping somewhat alarmingly. The IPL is gruelling and cruel. It can do wonders to your career, but can also seriously hurt your international prospects if you get injured in a match that is essentially inconsequential. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after Game 63.
Virat, Ishant set to return for England series starting Feb 5 as selection for first two Tests takes place on Tuesday.
India's bowling coach Bharat Arun claimed the team's fast-bowling strength has never been more 'exciting' with new find Khaleel Ahmed being the latest addition to the stocks.
History has not seen a cricketing rivalry as fierce as this this century, every ball bowled every run taken, coming with no quarter given. Ahead of India's five Test tour of Australia, Norma Astrid Godinho/Rediff.com takes a walk down memory lane, recounting India's sojourns Down Under from 1947 to 2021, in a 4-part series.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis walked for the toss along with Temba Bavuma as the proxy captain, who was given the responsibility of calling the toss.
SunRisers Hyderabad has the biggest purse while Kolkata Knight Riders has the slimmest purse.
Virat Kohli may have scored a match-winning century against Pakistan in their opening game of the World Cup, but ask former Australian fast bowling great Brett Lee and he would tell you that the Indian ace should try and curb his natural affinity for aggressive strokeplay.
If MI have their problems to sort out, having lost at the death in all three games so far, RCB too have their own shortcomings to address with only one win in three games under their belt.
Kushwaha retorted saying that he could not leave the party without his share in the "paternal property".
India head into the third Test with momentum after dampening Australia's Christmas cheer with a dominant eight-wicket win in the second match in Melbourne.
