The latest round of uncertainty emerged in Sydney on the eve of the final Test against Australia with India’s media spokesperson opening Virat Kohli’s press conference by stating that R Ashwin had not recovered fully from his abdominal strain before providing an update two hours later that he was in the thirteen,
Test skipper Tim Paine urged Australia's public to give Steve Smith and David Warner a second chance, saying he hoped "they're welcomed back" into the national team.
Australia have opted to wait before naming their final XI for the fourth and final Test at Sydney Cricket Ground with captain Tim Paine stating that a final look at the surface will decide how the team combination pans out.
India’s pace bowling attack has been very good for some time now. Before this year their four-man arsenal of Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar—playing far more than a supporting role to Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja—had been instrumental in India’s rise to the top of the Test rankings. Between 2016 and the end of 2017, despite India playing all of their 23 Tests in Asia and the Caribbean—the least hospitable conditions for fast bowling—only South Africa’s quicks had a lower bowling average than India’s 29.18 in that period.
Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar is set to miss handing over the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to skipper Virat Kohli at the end of the fourth Test at the SCG
New Zealand have put a line under their Test series win over Sri Lanka and switched to World Cup mode with the first of three One-Day Internationals in Tauranga
South Africa and Pakistan must resolve selection headaches ahead of the second Test starting at Newlands on Thursday.