England Head Coach Brendon McCullum revealed his team may have been victims of their own thoroughness, conducting "five to 10 training sessions" in the extended break between Tests after losing the opener in Perth inside two days.
Middle-order batter Kavem Hodge returns to the Test squad but there was no room for Khary Pierre with spin bowling expected to play a limited role in the series.
As India gear up for the T20 World Cup at home, the selectors have backed a squad built on impact, and versatility.
England's fightback to draw the last Ashes series 2-2 is a useful reminder to Australia that they cannot afford to take their foot off the gas with a 2-0 lead this time around, Cameron Green said on Sunday.
India have long curated home tracks that accentuate turn, but the assumption their own batters would master such conditions no longer appears safe following their defeat in the opening Test against South Africa.
India's awe-inspiring batting depth will face a stern test against South Africa's quality spin attack in the first Test, starting in Kolkata on Friday.
Foreign investors fled Indian equities in 2025 at a scale never seen before, pulling out a record Rs 1.6 lakh crore (USD 18 billion) as volatile currency movements, global trade tensions, especially potential US tariffs, and stretched valuations eroded risk appetite, though flows are expected to turn sustainably positive in 2026.
At a loss to explain South Africa's capitulation in the series-opener, their batting coach Ashwell Prince said the visitors simply failed to answer the questions posed by India's "formidable" bowlers while being dismissed for their lowest T20I total of 74 Cuttack.
Washington is learning about batting: Doeschate, as all-rounder focusses on big-hitting at nets
In keeping with workload management for frontline pacers, spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is also likely to be rested from the three-match ODI series, which carries little significance in the build-up to the T20 showpiece.
In a first for Assam, a man has survived a confirmed king cobra bite, thanks to rapid medical intervention despite the absence of species-specific antivenom.
It was a wild ride while it lasted but the 'Bazball' revolution that enlivened English cricket for three years collapsed in 11 days on Australian soil in an Ashes defeat as harrowing as any in the modern era.
'It's better to have it in our control than anyone else's and watch that situation, so we've played good cricket to deserve to be in that situation, and we'll go out and try and play our best game of cricket tomorrow.'
Shubman Gill is set to make a comeback during the upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa, starting in Cuttack, on December 9.
Recalling the special moment that broke the Internet, Rohit on Friday described it as a culmination of their emotions of 'doing everything together' for years.
India require a victory in the third and final ODI to avoid a second successive series defeat against the Proteas after succumbing 0-2 in the preceding Tests.
'You have a lot of options if you want to see. You can remove Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill and you can open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad...'
Mahendra Singh Dhoni made the players feel comfortable by backing them, while Virat Kohli's aggression and uncompromising standards proved vital in moments of crisis.
Apricots aren't just nutritious. Health sites, like Cleveland Clinic, place them in the superfood category.
2025 will go down as one of the most unsettling chapters in Indian cricket -- not merely because of who retired, but because of how and when it happened.
A record-extending 52nd ODI century by Virat Kohli and a rapid 57 from Rohit Sharma paved the way for India's victory in the series-opener in Ranchi.
Virat Kohli's elder brother Vikas Kohli took a veiled jibe at India Coach Gautam Gambhir as the team continued to struggle on home soil in the longest format.
India bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted his side was "surprised" by how quickly the Eden Gardens surface "deteriorated" after a dramatic second day in which 15 wickets fell and the opening Test swung sharply in India's favour.
'When you are playing on spin-friendly pitches, you need to prepare differently.'
Left-arm spinners, all-rounders, and pacers who mastered their craft and left a mark in Test cricket.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said India may have missed a trick by not playing Kuldeep Yadav at Lord's and Manchester, as quality spinners come to the fore on the last two days of a Test match.
South Africa's head coach Shukri Conrad is backing his spin troika of Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy and Simon Harmer to match their seasoned counterparts from India and "make history of our own" in the upcoming Test series
former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra believes IPL teams should have full control over pitch conditions in their own backyard.
'From every point of view, they have faced an extremely difficult couple of years, and the setback they have suffered is irreversible.' 'This reality has begun to set in even amongst the top-level cadres. That is why, in recent times, we have witnessed a huge number of senior-level cadres emerging from the jungle and deciding to renounce violence and join the mainstream.'
Who do you think should be part of the Indian team for the fifth Test against England?
Application required in Test cricket was missing, says Kumble after India's batting collapse
Virat Kohli's second successive ton during the second ODI against South Africa here seemed "inevitable" as the stalwart got off the mark with a six, carrying the confidence of his first-game heroics, feels former India captain Sunil Gavaskar.
The two four-day games will be held at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru from October 30 to November 9.
'We have seen that stablecoins lack the basic attributes of money, their advantages are neither unique nor unambiguous and their risks are all too real.'
Marco Jansen picked 12 wickets in the two Tests at an average of 10.08 including a six-wicket haul in the first innings of the Guwahati Test, while Jasprit Bumrah managed eight wickets in the series.
Shubman Gill has been guilty of taking too much load on himself since his T20 comeback and the Indian team wants him to bat as freely as he does in the IPL, said assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate.
The second and final Test starts in Guwahati from Saturday with India trailing 0-1 after the defeat on a challenging Eden Gardens pitch in Kolkata.
India will look to address several lingering selection puzzles when they take on South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday in the first ODI of the three-match series, where Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to the set-up for a short audition that could well shape their 2027 World Cup fate.
Calling it "the destruction of Test cricket", former India spinner Harbhajan Singh says under-prepared and excessively bowler-friendly surfaces like the one used at Eden Gardens, prevent the genuine development of players.
The focus is to bring momentum back into the Indian dressing room: Morne Morkel
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances