India A pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was involved in a verbal altercation with Australia A leg-spinner Adam Zampa at the fag end of the home team's mammoth chase of 335 runs during the second match of the cricket tri-series in Chennai.
Joe Root continued with his purple patch during the first Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston, bringing up his 30th Test century.
India 'A' off-spinner Baba Aparajith struck late to claim five wickets, but it was opener Cameron Bancroft's strokeful 150 that powered Australia 'A' to a crucial first innings lead on Day 2 of the second four-day unofficial cricket 'Test' in Chennai on Thursday.
Our selection was wrong, says Aussie spin great Shane Warne.
The two players were eligible for Aaron Finch's national side after their 12-month suspensions for ball-tampering ended last month.
Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who took three wickets to take apart the Australian top order, has put South Africa in the driver's seat at the end of Day Four of the first Test here at the WACA on Sunday. - Scrorecard: The Proteas closed in on a first Test victory by reducing Australia to 169 for four, still 369 runs behind, at the end of the fourth day. Rabada, who took the price scalps of Shaun Marsh (15), Steven Smith (34) and Adam Voges (1), ensured that his side did not take their foot off the Aussie throats.
It will be a battle of survival for the two national captains as Virat Kohli's struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore square off against a fledgling Pune Supergiants led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in an IPL encounter for the bottom-rung teams in Bengaluru on Saturday. With five defeats in seven games, RCB are currently placed at a lowly seventh spot in the table with four points while Pune are just a notch above in sixth spot courtesy their third win against Delhi Daredevils, on Thursday. It has been a tough journey for the two superstars of Indian cricket as their franchises have dished one disappointing performance after another. RCB with perhaps the most intimidating batting line-ups has had to taste defeat because of a pedestrian bowling attack that has failed to defend 180 plus scores in most of the matches.
Australia survived a middle-order meltdown to beat Bangladesh by three wickets in a World Twenty20 Super 10 match on Monday to get their campaign up and running.
Australian captain Aaron Finch is confident Glenn Maxwell's ODI absence won't last long.
Chasing India's 251 to level the five-match series, Australia got off to a strong start before the hosts roared back into the contest with some disciplined bowling.
Australia have dropped out-of-form limited overs specialist Glenn Maxwell from the squad for the one-day international series in Sri Lanka next month, the country's cricket board announced on Sunday.
Selectors name the Test squad on Thursday but will have to rely on their gut rather than hard numbers
Captain Steve Smith scored a breezy 44 to guide Australia to a six-wicket win over South Africa in the final Twenty20 International on Wednesday and a 2-1 series victory.
'It's a long series, our bowlers have had a really big workload and we feel we're going to need Mitch's bowling at some point.'
IMAGES from Day 1 of the opening Ashes Test played between England and Australia at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Friday.
Rising Pune Supergiants all-rounder Rajat Bhatia has said no side can do much if the players get injured but it gives chance to other players to showcase their talent.
Since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, Australia's on-field histrionics had been toned down under the leadership of the wicketkeeper-captain.
Australia need five wickets in the second Test to secure a series-levelling victory with India's daunting run chase on a menacing pitch teetering at stumps on day four on Monday.
Paceman Mitchell Starc retains his place in the side despite what was perceived to be a sub-par performance in Adelaide, and will be looking for a strong performance in conditions which are expected to favour his skills at the new Perth Stadium.
Peter Handscomb was also happy with the fact that Australia have been able to chase down big totals in the tour irrespective of formats.
The 21-year-old is now level with Englishman Jack Russell (vs South Africa at Johannesburg in 1995) and South Africa's AB de Villiers (vs Pakistan at Johannesburg in 2013).
Former captain Ricky Ponting said Aaron Finch and uncapped Marcus Harris should open the batting for Australia in the upcoming four-Test series against India.
After several losses in the early years of the new century, a resurgent India notched up two consecutive series wins in Australia to become the Aussies' nemesis.
Australia are hopeful T20 captain Aaron Finch will be available for the World T20, but say it's too early to declare him fully fit for the tournament in India next month. Finch injured his left hamstring during Friday night's loss to India at the MCG, ruling him out of the final T20 match against India and the series in New Zealand. While the injury doesn't require surgery, Cricket Australia's medical staff are yet to give Finch clearance for the World T20, which starts on March 8.
Quinton de Kock shone on a gloomy day in Hobart with a sparkling century that propelled South Africa to a commanding 203-run lead over Australia at lunch on day three of the second Test on Monday. - Scorecard: The wicketkeeper-batsman's 104, in a defiant 144-run partnership with Temba Bavuma, frustrated Australia's bowlers for nearly the entire session at Bellerive Oval before he was bowled by Josh Hazlewood. Bavuma was 74 not out at the break, with paceman Vernon Philander on three, the Proteas having taken full advantage of a bloodless bowling display to push to 288 for six.
India put together their second highest team total on Australian soil, piling up 622/7 declared on the second day of the match. Their highest team total, 705/7 declared, was also incidentally scored at this venue, in 2004.
Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has urged selectors to be patient with the rookies in Steven Smith's team as they battle to cement places in the wake of a string of retirements.
Earlier, Nathan Lyon kept Australia in the contest, claiming six for 82 to help bowl out Bangladesh for 221 after the hosts had resumed on 45 for one.
Australia are still pondering over their final selection for the game at Bristol.
'To be fair to curators, they hardly got time to prepare the wicket. They had a Ranji season here and it was pretty late that it was decided the game will be shifted from Dharamsala. They did not get enough time.'
Ajinkya Rahane steered Rising Pune Supergiants home with an unbeaten half-century as the visitors outclassed Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets to keep their hopes alive, in the Indian Premier League in Delhi, on Thursday.
Factbox on the four-Test series between India and Australia, which starts at Pune on Thursday:
Bracing for a challenging Test series against India who are having a dream run in the last 18 months, Australian players slogged it out in nets in Wednesday, two days after landing in Mumbai for the four-match rubber starting on February 23 at Pune.
The Australians 'swept' their way to self-destruction in the face of the Indian spinners' guile in the second Test in Delhi on Sunday.
Fitting the disgraced duo of Steve Smith and David Warner into Australia's World Cup squad will be "bloody hard" given the side's resurgence without them, according to captain Aaron Finch. Both Smith and Warner are eligible to return to the national side after their 12-month suspensions for ball-tampering ended on Thursday.
Captain Aaron Finch scored a century as Australia beat Pakistan by eight wickets in the opening One-Day International between the countries at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday. Chasing 281 to win, the tourists reached their target with an over to spare and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, with Finch making 116 and Shaun Marsh unbeaten on 91.
Cheteshwar Pujara is set to play his 100th Test match when India take on Australia for the 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Images from the ICC World Cup match between Australia and South Africa at Old Trafford on Saturday
CCTV footage from the players' tunnel at Kingsmead showed Australia vice-captain David Warner and South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock involved in a fiery exchange as players climbed the stairwell to their dressing rooms during the tea break.
Uncapped leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson , 23, joins lead spinner Nathan Lyon and left-arm orthodox Ashton Agar and Steve O'Keefe.
