Australia's pacemen Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins ripped out England's top order with a masterclass of textbook bowling to put their side in sight of a 2-0 Ashes lead on Saturday.
Two teams with fault lines in their batting, up against two of the best bowling sides in the game today -- the question that determines the outcome is, is your weakness greater than mine?
Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas claimed three quick wickets as Australia hobbled their way to 136-3 on Wednesday, chasing a mammoth target of 462 in the first Test in Dubai.
While it is generally his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has made this habit of hitting the winning runs - in some style too, Ajinkya Rahane had that honour in Rising Pune Supergiants' match against the Delhi Daredevils.
Playing down comparisons drawn with Australian wicket-keeping great Adam Gilchrist, South Africa batting mainstay Quinton de Kock has insisted that he just focuses on playing his own game.
Travis Head returned from COVID-19 to smash a belligerent 101 and Cameron Green made 74 to revive Australia after a top-order collapse on the opening day of the day-night final Ashes Test against England on Friday.
Following is a fact box on the final Test of the four-match series between Australia and India
Back in the mix after one and half years, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha justified the selector's faith by rocking Australia A top-order with three quick wickets as the visitors reached 185 for four against India A at stumps on the second day of the first unofficial cricket Test in Chennai.
Travis Head (61 batting) and Pat Cummins (10) kept Australia in the game with a 50-run partnership in the last session but India walked away with the advantage after the latter fell towards the end of day's play.
Here are some pictures of the two getting into some unwanted action on Day 4 of the 2nd Test...
'We tried to be positive and play our shots. The team needed this knock, so I tried to bat for as long as I could.'
Babar Azam's glorious unbeaten 102 kept Pakistan alive but Australia remained on course for victory in the second Test in Karachi on Tuesday.
India have never won the first Test of a series in Australia and will be looking to come hard at Australia on Day 5. Rajneesh Gupta has all the numbers from the fourth day of the Adelaide Test.
Afghanistan will now join South Africa and India for the series starting later this month.
Glimpses from Day 2 of the second Test between India and Australia at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi, February 18, 2023.
Jasprit Bumrah destroyed Australia with a six-wicket haul to give India a huge 292-run first innings lead.
Finch and Khawaja put on 209, a record opening stand for Australia while chasing in ODIs, bettering Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist's 206 against West Indies in 2001.
Steve Smith continued his build up for the fourth Ashes Test by heading straight to the practice nets after being dismissed in Australia's tour match against Derbyshire on Thursday.
The ICC's rating is presumably due to the uneven bounce that became more prevalent later in the recently-concluded second Test between Australia and India.
Warner is poised to wrap up his Test cricket journey with the upcoming third Test against Pakistan at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Glenn Maxwell equalled the fastest fifty by an Australian in Twenty20 internationals as the tourists clinched a four-wicket win against Sri Lanka on Friday that secured a 2-0 series victory.
Penpix of players in Australia's Ashes squad.
Having struggled in the past one year after suspensions of Steve Smith and David Warner, Australia finally seemed to have picked their pieces and playing exactly like a five-time champions ought to.
Pat Cummins admits he would relish taking the prized wicket of England captain Joe Root in this week's opening Ashes Test in Brisbane even if he had not earned a late promotion into the Australian captaincy.
Left-arm spinner Nauman claimed a career-best 6-107 on a flat track where bowlers struggled for success.
Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood has voiced his support to Ricky Ponting's suggestion that restrictions must be imposed on bat sizes in test cricket to negate an unfair advantage for the men at the crease.
The hard-hitting 27-year-old becomes the fifth Australia player to leave the Indian Twenty20 tournament early following the departures of captain Steve Smith, John Hastings and Mitchell and Shaun Marsh
India captain Virat Kohli said his team will look to address its recent batting collapse and come back stronger in the last two games of the five-match ODI series.
The fifth and final ODI against Australia will be one last chance for Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja to do something special and stake their claim for a place in the World Cup team
Images from Day 4 of the second Test between Australia and South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday.
Kevin Pietersen could not deny Sydney Thunders a Big Bash League triumph but his blistering 74 for Melbourne Stars in Sunday's tense final reminded England what they will be missing at this year's Twenty20 World Cup in India.
Ashwin has taken 24 wickets in the series so far with an innings left to bowl, but his 6/91 in 47.2 overs will certainly go down as one of his best efforts on a flat deck
Kedar Jadhav and Mahendra Singh Dhoni struck unbeaten fifties to help India pull off a tricky chase and beat Australia by six wickets in the first One-day international on Saturday.
Cummins said his approach to leadership is quite similar to England's Eoin Morgan.
Peter Handscomb struck his maiden ODI hundred and Ashton Turner smashed a blistering 84 not out to secure Australia's series-levelling four-wicket victory against India in the high-scoring fourth one-day international in Mohali on Sunday.
Australia captain more relieved than happy after his first win as Test captain
Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has said hosts India will be the toughest team to beat in next month's World Twenty20 Championship due to their familiarity with the conditions.
Australia opener Matt Renshaw is a doubt for the series-opening Test against Pakistan after suffering a head injury in a tour match in Dubai.
IMAGES from the 1st ODI played in Sydney on Saturday
