Rest of India won the Irani Cup for a sixth consecutive time on Wednesday, crushing a hapless Rajasthan by 404 runs with a superb bowling performance on the fifth and final day in Jaipur.
Virender Sehwag (74 not out; 11x4) played all the shots in the book, including the traditional late cut, while Sachin Tendulkar (36;7x4) executed drives, upper cuts and stepped out to spinners, something he did with majestic grace all through his illustrious career.
Playing two medium pacers on a drab Chennai wicket didn't make sense. Australia at least could say pace is their strength, but for Team India it made no sense.
Images from the third day's play of the second Test between India and New Zealand being played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore
Struggling New Zealand captain Ross Taylor urged his batsmen to put up a brave front and adopt aggressive approach to counter Indian spin duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha in the second Test beginning on Friday.
Images from Day Two of the opening Test between India and New Zealand at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Uppal on Friday.
Veteran batsman Sachin Tendulkar and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan are both occupying 12th spot to be the highest-placed Indian cricketers in the latest ICC Test batsmen and bowlers rankings list, respectively, issued on Tuesday.
Former India players Pragyan Ojha and Ashok Dinda were on Saturday involved in an ugly feud ahead of Bengal's Ranji Trophy group league encounter against Tamil Nadu in Rajkot and both nearly came to exchanging blows during the training session. Both players are important in Bengal's scheme of things and the team management, which includes skipper Manoj Tiwary, coach Sairaj Bahutule and manager Sameer Dasgupta, spoke to them and conveyed that this behaviour was unexpected.
Manoj Tiwary and Ajinkya Rahane, who impressed during the last edition of the Indian Premier League, also made it to the 15-member squad, as did pacer Ashok Dinda and leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.
Indian captain MS Dhoni is confident that his inexperienced bowling attack will deliver in the four-Test series against Australia which starts on December 26.
India registered a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over England on Day 5 of the first Test in Motera, Ahmedabad, on Monday.
India recorded a comfortable nine-wicket win in the first Test at Motera on Monday. So, what India do right, and England do wrong at Motera. Discuss the day's play, and the first Test, with India Abroad's Bikash Mohapatra on Rediff ZaraBol.
Having forced to follow-on, England ended the third day on 111 for no loss, still 219 runs adrift of India's total in the first Test at Ahmedabad, on Saturday.
Both are 26 years of age. They have nothing in common when it comes to their bowling styles, one being an off-spinner and the other a left arm leg-spinner. However, both bowling in tandem have, in the last year, fetched Team India rich dividends.
Selection Committee chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth on Thursday lauded the youngsters, particularly the spin duo of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, for their good show in the first Test against the West Indies.
Harbhajan Singh, who was dropped for the ODI series against England, has been ignored for the first Test against the West Indies, beginning November 8 at the Ferozeshah Kotla, in Delhi.
Team India discards -- Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra, and the Pathan brothers -- will get another opportunity to stake a claim in the national team at the annual NKP Salve Challenger Trophy which gets underway in Nagpur on Monday.
Images from the second day's play of the second Test between India and New Zealand being played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore
By scoring over 300 runs New Zealand batted themselves to a comfortable position but Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha said they too did a good job by taking six wickets on a pitch which did not help the bowlers much.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up a career-best 12 wickets as India crushed New Zealand by an innings and 115 runs within four days in the opening Test.
Young left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has said that he and Ravichandran Ashwin can together take forward the legacy of great Indian spinners of the past as they are bowling well in tandem.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's career-best figures of 6-31 helped India to enforce the follow-on against New Zealand on third day but inclement weather stood in the path of hosts' victory in the first Test being played in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha took full advantage of a spinning track to rip through New Zealand's top order and put India in the driver's seat by the end of the second day in the opening Test in Hyderabad on Friday.
The Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was rushed to a hospital on Thursday morning after being hit on the neck during the team's net session at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
Indian paceman Ishant Sharma may be dropped for the Adelaide Test as the side may opt for two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha and two seamers.
Wasim Akram wished Sachin Tendulkar a speedy recovery after the latter was shifted to the hospital, days after testing positive for coronavirus.
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur on Wednesday.
The T20 World Cup is slated to be held in India in October-November 2021.
Indian batting legend Rahul Dravid turned 39 on Wednesday. As his team-mates wished him in Perth, he must have surely asked for victory in the third Test, starting at Perth on Friday, as a birthday gift.
India's leading left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha feels that it's about time that the perception about him being only effective in longer version changes as he aims to cement his place in shorter formats as well.
Spin is going to play huge part on the upcoming tour of Australia, and, says Harish Kotian, India's young spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha will have to adapt quickly and deliver.
Sachin Tendulkar remained the highest-ranked Indian batsman at the 12th spot in the latest ICC Test charts released on Tuesday.
Rajneesh Gupta lists India's innings victories after the innings and 15 runs over the West Indies in the second Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.
Harbhajan Singh, till recently a regular in the national team, appears destined to stay on the sidelines with debutant R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha doing exceedingly well in the opening cricket Test against the West Indies.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday completed another milestone as he pipped Syed Kirmani to become the Indian wicketkeeper with highest number of dismissals in his kitty.
After missing out on the One-day series, Harbhajan Singh should be back in contention as discussion surrounding the ace off-spinner's inclusion for the first Test against West Indies in New Delhi would be the hot topic when the selectors meet, in Kolkata, on Friday.
The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) expressed disappointment over the non-inclusion of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in the 15-member Indian team for the ICC Cricket World Cup starting next month.
The Indian cricket squad had a rigorous training session at the Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham on Monday, with left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha turning up at the nets after joining the team as Harbhajan Singh's replacement.
Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly is in favour of drafting left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in the India side for the Perth Test in place of a struggling R Ashwin.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha said that there's not much help from the 22-yard strip at the Eden Gardens and the Indian batsmen will be able to eke out a draw under current circumstances.
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