https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30476598/aus-vs-ind-3rd-t20i-virat-kohli-matthew-wade-lbw-review-denial-strange-one-umpire-said-done
They were still contemplating the review when it played on the big screen, at which point the timer didn’t run out. If the timer had ran out, the on field umpires wouldn’t have taken it upstairs, to begin with.
I am pretty sure most people here would have the exact opposite opinion, if Australia were denied a review, for a plumb one at that,just cause the dismissal played on the screen sooner than it should have.

Shaw’s been having issues since the last tour of nz with even southee troubling him with short deliveries .Had a poor ipl as well against the quicks,so he’s either he been found out or might need time to work on his technique some more to find his rhythm again.
Right now Gill looks the more promising prospect of the two. though he would need more game time, as he had been carried along with the squad to only sit out on the benches for far too long.

Alongside Rohit, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also someone india wished was available for this series, as he is usually india’s go to bowler in getting a breakthrough with the new ball(something india sorely lacked in the first 2 games),while also adding batting depth coming in at no:8. India still needs to find capable backups for their whiteball trio(bhuvi bumrah shami) especially if hardik isn’t fit enough to chip in with few overs .
For now atleast, i can’t say any of the new guys impressed enough to suggest they can take up that role in this format . This was Thakur’s first decent outing after being abysmal so far,Natarajan is still pretty inexperienced even at the domestic level while saini was just spraying it around( Natarajan was added to the indian team because saini said to have back issues not sure that contributed towards his poor lines and lengths)
Hopefully the t20is would be more closely contested as, bumrah hasn’t hit a rough patch in that format yet and would have better support from shami(if he is fit) and deepak chahar.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30248702/rohit-sharma-knows-long-career-not-just-ipl-next-series-sourav-ganguly
Based on what ganguly said, i believe Ishant will likely be on the same flight as his teammates.They might be planning to test him out in the two warmup matches, before making a call on his inclusion to the official squad.

Unless both Shaw and Rahul flops and india manage to lose all 3 of their previous games , i don’t see Gill getting a game sadly. Shaw might still be the preferred opener initially(even though he has struggled against the short ball this ipl and on the nz tour even against southee) , while Rahul who is making a comeback to the test team based on his success in white ball cricket,is still a favorite of the team management.
Plus Rahul also opens with Agarwal for their ranji team ,so i wont be totally surprised if they decide to try and get that partnership going on the international stage,even though i really doubt if rahul has gotten any better since he got dropped after the tour of windies.

It’s going to be a pretty big squad. Along with the squad, 4 other bowlers ( Nagarkoti, Tyagi, Porel and Natarajan) are also going to be there, to be used as net bowlers and possible injury replacements.
Ishant’s and Rohit’s progress being monitored by the medical staff, was mentioned alongside the squad announcements.So i would imagine at least Ishant has a decent shot of making the cut. Probably waiting till the end of the IPL to allow him to recover and make a call after that.

I don’t think either of them have been completely ruled out of the series yet ,as BCCI is still said to be monitoring their progress.
Ishant in particular may make a comeback as National Cricket Academy stated he is likely to be fit in time to play the first test. Only reason i feel they didn’t announce his inclusion in the squad is because a similar thing happened on the NZ tour where he picked another injury playing the first test,which ruled him out of the 2nd match. .

Yup read about that on cricinfo , but now they altered the article to say he was with lee at breakfast for the pre match briefing and then suffered the attack in his room at noon,which might imply lee if he did in fact try to administer CPR, was probably a bit too late on the scene.
Him Styris and Lee are regulars in the Starsports select dugout for the Ipl,where they give a more in depth analysis on the game the players.and strategies involved Just saw him yesterday going at it with Styris in some silly banter. So kinda shocked to hear about him passing away.

Personally feel Ashwin has improved alot as a bowler of late when it comes to bowling away from Asia. He averages 30 in his last 8 tests in SENA(Sa,Eng,Nz,Aus) countries,which is alot better than i would expect from either Jadeja or Yasir and might be comparable with Lyon in that period.

What works against him will be his batting form which has dipped a lot of late and his recurring fitness issues. Jadeja meanwhile is india’s best fielder and has worked alot on his batting ,so as long as he can restrict the run rate and get a wicket or 2 he would likely be favored over ashwin like you said.

Right now it’s kinda tricky to predict india’s full squad for the test series, as i see the possibility of Rahul making a come back over either Shaw or Gill, Umesh getting in despite constantly proving he is only good at home (avg 24 at home vs 42 away),Kuldeep being a possibility because of his 5fer against Australia, Any of the consistent domestics performers getting a shot (After the lose in NZ Virat did say it might be time to test out a few of the young guns) and obviously anyone being out of action due to injured sustained during the IPL.

I wont rule out KL Rahul either.
Back when he was struggling to score even double digit scores consistently, (in any format)
BCCI solution was to drop him for a couple of games and send him to play one 4 day game at home against England lions ,where he got a couple of 80 odd scores which immediately brought him back into the national squad.
Given that he is one of Virat’s best mates and at least now has great numbers in white ball cricket and 4 day fixtures in the ranji trophy, it wont be long before they consider picking him for tests again.

If it was a couple of years ago Murali Vijay or Rahane would have been the likely candidates. Right now it’s hard to say, given the former is not likely to play for India again and Rahane being inconsistent since then.
Agarwal and Vihari both have some potential to play that role but Pujara is still the most bankable person to fill that role.

Flat track bully and Home track bully.

Not sure Saini is going to get into the test team right now ,though with someone like Thakur already having made his debut , you never know (might also help his cause that he is playing for rcb).
Right now outside the 4 playing for india(not sure will bhuvi even make a come back with all the injuries he’s been having) you would think the trio of Siraj,Warrier and Avesh are ones being groomed to be next in line with their impressive domestic numbers as well as being part of the A squad for the last 3-4 tours. Even porel is generating more hype of late which got him a spot in the upcoming A team tour of Nz .

Saini wasn’t really backed by the Delhi administration in his early days as outsiders like him weren’t well received .
Gambhir who was the state team’s capt at the time faced him in the nets or something where he got rushed for pace and since then got fully involved in Saini’s development and refused to drop him from the squad despite further protests by other high ranking officials,something even saini mentions in an interview.

He’s done well so far, but does go through a few odd spells where he is off color and bowls in the low to mid 130’s, before suddenly getting his rhythm back and bowls quick again. Still hasn’t mastered the slower variations either, though has started to work on it.

India’s batting outside the top 4(rohit,the other opener,virat and iyer) looks iffy right now,though i wont be surprised if they try to tweak the lineup by trying to include both rahul and dhawan in the 11 or bring manish pandey back in.
Australia should be in with a very good chance even with a lack of match time, if India’s batting order doesn’t get sorted soon.

Iyer pretty much looks set for the no:4 spot for now,he had been one of the ideal candidates for that spot of a while (people had been wanting to see in the team for last 2-3 years at that very spot). He controls the innings with decent strike rotation and shown potential in playing out tough periods while taking the attack to the spinners later on.

Problem is outside that top 4 the batting unit is quite inconsistent. Pant hasn’t been that successful in his white ball career(his keeping at times seems to get worse with time as well),Dube might be out of contention soon enough as his all rounder tag is iffy at best, Kedar jadhav has been decent in providing cameos but hasn’t played many/any match defining knocks when the team needs it,since 2016-17. Jadeja has improved his batting of late but isn’t an ideal candidate to be an explosive finisher from the get go etc. Pandya constantly getting injured hasn’t helped either.

Hope that for some ridiculous reason they don’t pick Thakur as the 3rd quick just because he swung the bat a bit against some weak lankan and windies attack. Shouldn’t really be near the squad even considering Bhuvi’s injury.

Which is why stated form and who is leading them also contributing to it. Shami avg 23.7 in the last 5 years compared to him playing his 5th test when that last series began. While ishant also had a turn around ever since his county stints began with a change in wrist position,plenty of added swing associated with him pitch it fuller than back of a length as he used to, new delivery added to his arsenal and other factors leading to his current form as well.

The bowling attack is quite different, from back then to now, so is the one who leads the team. Since virat took over in 2015, india statistically had the best bowling attack for different conditions (best overall bowling avg among the top teams,2nd to SA in pace avg, best away from home avg for pacers,best pace avg in asian conditions etc)
So the quicks in particular, have been more capable and adaptable than before,under a captain who has brought the best out of them so far.
As long as the current trio is injury free not really worried about the bowlers doing their part.
In fact maybe selecting bhuveshwar kumar for this upcoming tour (had he not been injured) could have even improved the attack.
Williamson is obviously a class act,but he is facing a team against which he has his poorest batting avg(av- 37). So will be interesting to see how he does now that the series is at home,than away as it’s usually been.
The real deciding factor will be how india’s batsmen play this series. As when it swings, is usually when the batsmen are most unsettled.The lineup has changed a fair bit with white ball specialists outside rohit (dhawan,rahul,dinesh karthik maybe hardik ) having made way for those more suitable for the format, since the eng tour.
Though rohit opening the batting(could struggle more than warner did in the ashes) and pujara’s form since the aust tour are worrisome,Rahane’s much awaited return to form
and having a better backup opener options (Shaw or Gill or even Vihari if need be) are added boosts to the team.
Still think india starts as favorites outside any major injury concerns (alot of white ball games before the tests starts so across format players like virat shami bumrah and jadeja need to be managed well in that period) though the likes of southee and boult are going to be more in their element as well,at home.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/50958450
The ecb have already given their support for the proposed 4 day format.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/fourday-test-matches-cricket-australia-will-seriously-consider-it/news-story/97605a6a0734e7fd597405b4114cde2f
While CA are also considering it.

You need to play games to get rating points,if you miss matches/ain’t selected, you lose 1% of your points for every game you missed.

It’s going to be in march (the one hosted by bangladesh,no word yet on when india plans to do it ). India will be sending 5 guys picked by Ganguly ,and it also received official status from the ICC,is what i heard.

No real clue on the pink ball conundrum tbh, with the large number of teams taking part in the primary domestic tournament.

Only thing i can think of is to host it only in the Duleep trophy, where there are only 3 or 4 teams comprising of the more well known domestic performers, a few tests specialists and those have fallen out of favor with the india team of late.
Or the Irani cup which is 1 off 4 day match between the previous winners of the Ranji trophy and Rest of India team comprising of players across different states who had an exceptional year in the same ranji season.

Though the limitation in the number of grounds suitable for playing these games is an issue which can’t be sorted. Even Eden Gardens the first choice ground, was said to have required some time in prepping the pitch, to be made suitable for pink ball games.

Only other option would be to include one pink ball game on every away tour India A plays, as they tend to play alot of games these days.

No official word yet. But Virat suggested hosting tests in just 5 cities,after the low turn outs recently and some unofficial sources implied that’s close to the new model BCCI are wanting to try out as well.
Need to wait a while to see how that goes as India’s next test fixture at home is only in 2021 i believe.

If they follow through with such a change, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata will surely be 4 of the priority centers. I am Hoping Dharamshala makes the cut. Even though attendance wise there wont be any benefit, the bounce you get off the pitch there is good in contrast with the swing and seam in eden gardens(in last few years) and turn at Chepauk. Plus it’s one of the most picturesque grounds in the world (not far off from the Dalai Lama’s residency for any cricketer hoping to meet him as well).

Yup the stadium is in Ahmedabad,rumors going around that, just like bangladesh are about to do,india are also hoping to host some asia 11 vs world 11 games to inaugurate the occasion.
Both asia 11’s would be devoid of pakistani players,the games in india for obvious reasons,while those hosted by bangladesh will occur in march next year to honor their founding father, who got them their freedom from Pakistan. .

BCCI initially experimented with the idea of shifting a few of the big tests to the states which usually received only 1 or 2 white ball games a year and was met with some success initially but it’s been declining in terms of attendance of late (partly cause these stadiums are usually located in some far corners of the states and the facilities provided ain’t worth the effort put to attend either).
But now moving forward they plan to host tests only in the major cities and it’s a move virat has been backing for a while too.
Though the newly reconstructed Sardar Patel Stadium( a dream project of the 2 people who runs the country-The PM & Home Minster) in Gujarat, which is projected to seat 110k fans, would in all likelihood be added to that list.
As for the pink ball tests, not sure how it’s going to be received later on,but for now Ganguly is backing it and wants india to play more of them down the road(though the 2 pink ball games Proposed by CA in the upcoming aust tour is surely not happening).
Only issue is, it’s so far hasn’t been well received by the domestic cricketers and was a failure in the games it’s been tested out. The ball undergoes a lot of wear and tear( doesn’t support reverse swing either) and batsmen went on to score heaps of runs. The visibility has also been something they complained about.
Outside eden gardens, there is probably only 1 other ground( maybe 2 if you include one without any facilities to host intentional games )in india suited for hosting pink ball games in domestics ,which becomes an issue when there are 38 teams playing in the ranji trophy.

The late Oct to Feb would generally be the preferred time period for hosting test series,as it’s usually removed from the monsoon season(though climate change of late have started to effect some of the coastal states more with cases of flooding in the last couple of years even during Oct).
In truth though there isn’t usually a pre fixed time frame for hosting tests at home as india generally prefers to play most of their major away series in one go.They tour 3 out of 4 countries from Sa,Aus,Eng,Nz over a 13-14 month period starting from nov one year to dec-jan the next year.
During those specific periods, India are generally touring either Aus,Sa or Nz in Nov , playing England in July and again one of the other three teams in Nov.(Don’t think this pattern will be followed from now on with the arrival of the test championship,but was seen in 2011,2013-2014 and 2017-2018)
Which was usually followed by a year or two of mostly home series and tours to lesser countries.
Tests don’t gather as much interests from most fans these days, so even having a specific season might not increase attendance beyond a certain limit(though the pink ball test did sellout quickly enough).While the fans have no issue turning up in large numbers for any white ball fixture held anywhere in india,at any time, even if the opposition was Afghanistan.

Alot depends on how they are managed in the white ball fixtures leading upto the tests. India are scheduled to play 14 white ball games(including 6 odis) within 36 days,before the test series against nz begin,which is a tighter schedule than most of them are used to even in the ipl.

With 2 of the backup white ball bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Chahar out with injury and bumrah refusing to go to the national cricket academy for his rehab(and they in turn refusing to carry out his fitness tests) it will be interesting to see if both him and shami can maintain their fitness leading upto the test series.

Umesh is always there as a backup ( a brilliant bowler in asian conditions, generally a bit too expensive overseas) while india are also sending their 3 best domestic bowlers on a NZ A tour before the tests starts.Though ideally they be hoping they wont have to resort to anyone outside the usual trio,as they are still the best option available.