The premier seam bowling all-rounder of the Indian side, Hardik Pandya, has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series and the five-match T20I series against Australia down under. He also didn’t feature in the final of the Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Stadium against Pakistan and is expected to be back for the white-ball series against South Africa at home.

Hardik will check in at the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru on October 15 for an assessment, which will decide his future. The initial timeline for the recovery process of the Indian player was around four to six weeks, and we will get more clarity after he undergoes a thorough assessment in Bengaluru. The positive news for the player is that there is no requirement for any surgery.

See Also: Know India's updated position in WTC 2025-27 points table after a 2-0 series victory vs West Indies

In six fixtures of the Asia Cup 2025, Pandya picked four wickets and contributed a useful knock of 38 runs against Bangladesh in Dubai. His injury meant the selection committee drafted the young all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy, into the squad, which will be interesting to see how he fares down under.

Hardik Pandya to check in at BCCI centre of Excellence on October 15

Hardik’s performance in any ICC event is crucial. He brings the balance to the playing eleven as he can bat in the middle order during the death overs and provide at least three overs with the ball. That always helps the management to either keep an extra batter or bowler in the side. This was the exact situation during the Blue Brigade’s title-winning T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.

The 32-year-old has clubbed 1904 runs in 68 innings at an average of 32.82 and a strike rate of 110.89 with 11 half-centuries. In the shortest format, the right-handed batter has cracked 1860 runs at a strike rate of 141.01 with five half-centuries.

Hardik, who was in extremely good form for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025, can get the Protea and New Zealand series at home for great preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to take place in February and March.

India enjoyed a decent seven-week period during the five-match Test series against England in the United Kingdom. They lost the opening clash at Leeds in Headingley before earning victory in the following game at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The Blue Brigade got defeated in the third fixture at Lord’s before drawing the Manchester Test. Their memorable Oval victory drew the series 2-2.

After the end of the Asia Cup 2025, the Shubman Gill-led side earned victory against the West Indies by an innings and 140 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The game got over inside three days after their bowlers went through the batting line-up of the opposition side.

See Also: "Shameful and..."- Gautam Gambhir hits back at Kris Srikkanth for trolling Harshit Rana's India selection

The second game of the series will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The home side, thanks to the twin centuries from Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, posted 518 runs in 134.2 overs before declaring. Sai Sudharsan, the number three player, cracked 87 runs in 165 balls at a strike rate of 52.73 with the help of 12 boundaries.

India stay at No. 3 in updated WTC 2025-27 points table with 2-0 series victory vs West Indies

West Indies got bundled out for 248 runs in the first innings, with several players getting starts and failing to turn them into good scores. Kuldeep Yadav earned his fifth five-wicket haul before they enforced the follow-on. The Caribbean side showed better application with the bat, relying on the twin centuries from Shai Hope and John Campbell.

India completed the 124-run chase by seven wickets as KL Rahul remained unbeaten on 58 runs. They stay in the third rank of the points table with four wins and two defeats in seven clashes. Australia and Sri Lanka stay ahead of the two-time WTC runners-up.

Updated WTC 2025-27 points table after IND vs WI 2025 Test series- 

The India head coach, Gautam Gambhir, came into the post-match press conference after the second Test of the two-match series against the West Indies, which they sealed by 2-0 after the seven-wicket victory at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. He slammed the trolls, the young pacer of the Blue Brigade, Harshit Rana, faced for his consistent selection to the national side.

Rana made his international debut last year during the opening Perth Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 before playing ODIs and T20Is in early 2025. He was also part of the Asia Cup 2025 and will be part of the white-ball series against Australia down under. However, he hasn’t been a consistent member of the eleven.

See Also: [WATCH] KL Rahul celebrates 20th Test 50 to seal 2-0 victory in IND vs WI 2nd Test

“It's shameful that someone wanting to run his YouTube channel is targeting a 23-year-old. If you want to target me, do it. I can handle it, but trolling a 23-year-old kid for YouTube views is shameful. Criticize me, I can handle it; he is just 23. It is not just him; it is about every young player.” Gambhir expressed during the post-match press conference in Delhi.

Gautam Gambhir slams trolls of Harshit Rana for ODI selection in Australia series

Rana has picked up 19 wickets in 11 innings across international cricket at an average of around 30, with the best of 3/31 during a 50-over encounter. The right-arm pacer also featured in the unofficial ODI game against the Australia A side, where he ended with figures of 3/61. Gambhir claimed that it’s a responsibility for others to look after the young players.

“Stop targeting them. I know it is important to perform, but you just can’t go after these kids. It is everyone’s moral responsibility to keep a check on this, you (media) and us.” Gambhir addressed the press conference.

Kris Srikkanth, the former opening batter of the Indian side, blasted the selection of the Delhi pacer for the national side. “Harshit Rana is a permanent because he is Gautam Gambhir's favourite. He is always a certainty and the first name on the team sheet after Shubman Gill.”

KL Rahul, the Indian opening batter, has continued to show his consistency in 2025 Tests, following his excellent away series against England at the United Kingdom with another superb home series of two red-ball encounters against the West Indies. He smashed a fine century during India’s long innings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Rahul missed out on the first innings for India of the second red-ball fixture at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi when he used his feet and missed the ball from Jomel Warrican which spun sharp to miss the outside edge of the batter as the wicket-keeper found the opening batter short of his crease.

See Also: [WATCH] Virat Kohli arrives in Delhi ahead of upcoming AUS vs IND 2025 ODI series

The second innings of the game was another chance for Rahul to stamp his authority with the bat, especially during the low chase of 121 runs in the fourth innings. Rahul remained unbeaten on 58 runs and timed a boundary into the long-on region to complete India’s seven-wicket victory to seal the series by 2-0 margin.

Watch: KL Rahul smashes 58* to complete India’s 2-0 series victory vs West Indies

Rahul was defensive at the start of the innings. He mostly looked to play the balls under his eyes with a steady head and never let the bowlers getting the better of him. In the morning session of the fifth and final day, Rahul, after a few defensive shots, showed his intent with the bat.

𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄. 𝐒𝐄𝐓. 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄 ✅

A comfortable 7️⃣-wicket victory for #TeamIndia in Delhi ✌️

With that they take the series 2️⃣-0️⃣ 🏆

Shubman Gill registers his first series win as Captain 👏

Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/GYLslRyLf8#INDvWI | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/IwQFHmSQ5O

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 14, 2025

Rahul used his feet to tonk the left-arm spinner of the opposition, Jomel Warrican, for a boundary before repeating the same shot for an over boundary. With a sweep against the opposition captain, Roston Chase, the Karnataka-batter celebrated his 20^th half-century and remained unbeaten on 58 runs to complete the victory and series by 2-0 margin.

The 33-year-old has now collected over 3900 runs in 113 innings of the red-ball format. His average is getting over 36 with a strike rate of more than 52, shouldering on 20 half-centuries and 11 centuries at the best score of 199. He will now shift his focus to the ODI series against Australia down under, starting on October 19.

One of the biggest excitements for the cricketing fans in the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia down under will be watching their favorite Virat Kohli back in the field in the national side. The veteran’s last game for the Indian side came during the final of the Champions Trophy 2025 against New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

His last competitive clash was for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad against the Punjab Kings. Since then, he has not featured in the five-match Test series in England and the Asia Cup 2025, having retired from the longest and shortest formats of the game.

See Also: Know identical Test record between Shubman Gill and Sunil Gavaskar after IND vs WI 2nd Test in Delhi

On October 14, Kohli returns to Delhi after a long time in London with his family. As the video of him coming out of the airport goes viral, fans were seen gathering to get a glimpse of their favorite batter. There is speculation about whether the 36-year-old would be part of India’s plans for the upcoming ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.

Watch: Virat Kohli arrives in India ahead of AUS vs IND ODI series in 2025

Kohli is the third leading run-getter currently in the ODI format. The right-handed batter has smashed 14181 runs in 290 innings at an average of 57.88 and a strike rate of 93.34 with the help of 51 centuries and 74 half-centuries at the best score of 183 runs. During the CT 2025, he was the fifth leading run-getter with 218 runs in five innings at an average of 54.50.

VIRAT KOHLI HAS ARRIVED IN DELHI.

- The GOAT is back. 🔥 [Sports Yaari] pic.twitter.com/7WrMofkMno

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 14, 2025

The first batch of Indian players, including Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and a few other players, will leave on October 15 for Australia, while the second batch will have the Test players, Shubman Gill, coach Gautam Gambhir, and others. Ajit Agarkar will also travel to Australia for the series.

The opening game will be played on October 19 at the Optus Stadium in Perth before the focus for the last two games shifts to Adelaide and Sydney.

When Shubman Gill became the Test captain of the Indian side ahead of the five-match red-ball series in the United Kingdom against England, many speculated whether the youngster would be able to crack the code in challenging conditions, especially in the absence of two veteran star batters, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who announced their Test retirements in a span of one week. 

But Shubman Gill stood on his feet for the entire series as the new number four batter and ended with a 2-2 drawn result, which no one predicted by the start of June against the Ben Stokes-led side. In the opening game, he smashed 147 runs during the first innings, which was his maiden overseas Test century in the SENA countries.

See Also: [WATCH] Bangladesh women's star Marufa Akhter's early struggle story goes viral during Women's World Cup 2025

With India being 1-0 down coming to the second game at Edgbaston, he hammered 269 in the first innings, followed by a fine knock of 161 in just 162 balls in the second. After a silent Lord’s clash, he backed it up with 103 at Manchester. That century for Gill came when India were 0/2 in their second innings with a deficit of more than 300 runs.

Shubman Gill and Sunil Gavaskar celebrated identical Test numbers after 12 innings as Test captains

Gill continued the same rich form during the ongoing home red-ball series against the West Indies. After a fifty in the opening game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Punjab-born creamed his fifth Test century as the red-ball captain during the second game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. That equals him with the former captain, Sunil Gavaskar.

Both Gavaskar and Gill have notched up 933 runs after their first 12 innings as captain in Tests. The former had an average of 93.90 with two fifties and five centuries at the best score of 205. Gill, on the other hand, has an average of 84.82 with one fifty and five hundreds at the best score of 269.

Shubman’s next red-ball challenge will be in mid-November when they face South Africa at home for a two-match Test series. Those games will be equally crucial for the World Test Championship (WTC) points.

Every cricketer or sportsperson or any successful member has their own share of emotional stories at the start of their career, which they face with determination and overcome to be a strong and successful member in the latter stage of their career. That has been the case with Bangladesh women's pacer, Marufa Akhter, who shared an emotional story. 

Bangladesh, currently during the Women’s World Cup 2025 in India and Sri Lanka, has been pretty impressive with their overall performance. They started the campaign with a fine seven-wicket victory against Pakistan before giving a close, nail-biting fight to England and South Africa.

See Also: “Don’t give bowling…”- Former India star slams team management during IND vs WI 2nd Test in Delhi

“Whenever there was a wedding or any other function, my family wasn’t invited because we didn’t have nice clothes. Our presence would be an embarrassment to them. That’s what they said. There has been a time when I had no new clothes for Eid.” Marufa Akhter revealed during a conversation with ICC, as its clip has gone viral on social media.

Watch: Marufa Akhter’s emotional fighting story during Women’s World Cup 2025 goes viral

In the opening clash of the World Cup, Akhter picked up two wickets for 31 runs in her seven overs. She went through the defense of Pakistan’s Omaima Sohail to get the batter for a first-ball duck before picking the next wicket of Sidra Amin on consecutive deliveries. Her contribution with the bat helped the national side to restrict the opposition to 129 as they completed the chase by seven wickets with nearly 19 overs to spare.

🥹💕 pic.twitter.com/0PzrMPjGFi

— ? (@nazayazkutiya) October 13, 2025

In this tournament, the 20-year-old has picked up five wickets in four games, with the Protea contest being the only one when she went wicketless. In her 29 innings of WODIs, the right-arm pacer has claimed 25 wickets at an average of under 32, while in the T20Is, she has collected 20 wickets at an economy rate of 6.36.

Bangladesh will be satisfied with their performance in the field in this campaign. Their next encounter will be against Australia at the ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam before they face Sri Lanka at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.

Australia will miss their veteran premier leg spinner, Adam Zampa, and wicket-keeper, Josh Inglis, for the opening ODI clash against India at Perth, starting on September 19. The former is missing due to paternity reasons, while Inglis hasn’t fully recovered from the calf-strain that kept him out of the T20I series against New Zealand.

The selectors have called Mathew Kuhnemann and Josh Phillippe for the India games as replacements. The latter is set to keep wickets for the first time in an ODI while Alex Carey plays a Sheffield Shield game as part of their Ashes 2025-26 preparation. Inglis has also been ruled out of the second ODI in Adelaide when Carey returns to the squad.

See Also: Mohmmed Siraj collapses after long spell to get king-like treatment during IND vs WI 2nd Test in Delhi

Zampa’s wife is in the late stages of pregnancy with their second child. He has decided to stay at home in NSW, as Perth is a challenging place to return from. He is expected to return for the next two games in Adelaide and Sydney before the following five-match T20I series, all of which will be played on the east coast.

Adam Zampa and Josh Inglis to miss Australia’s opening Perth ODI vs India

Kuhnemann has been called for the Perth game, which will be his first ODI in three years at home since facing Sri Lanka in 2022. He traveled across the world for the WTC final, a five-match T20I trip to the Caribbean, the three-match ODI and T20I series at home against South Africa, and the three-match T20I series against the Blackcaps, but featured in just one game in Jamaica.

Philippe hasn’t played an ODI since the Caribbean tour in 2021, when he played as a specialist batter. He hasn’t played any format for the national side since 2023, but has been an impressive performer for the A side in red-ball series and has an excellent one-day domestic record for NSW and Western Australia.

Australia’s updated ODI squad vs India

Mitchell Marsh (captain), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey (wk), Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe (wk), Matt Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

Rohit Sharma is determined to make a positive impact in the India vs Australia ODI series, starting from October 19. India will face the home team, Australia, for 3 One Day International matches and 5 T20Is. Rohit is eligible to participate only in the ODI series, as he retired from the other two formats of the game—T20I and Test. Ahead of the Australia tour, the opener focused on his batting. 

Over the past couple of days, Sharma's batting practice at the Shivaji Park caught every cricket fan's attention on the internet. After winning the ICC T20I World Cup and Champions Trophy 2025, the Mumbaikar reportedly keeps the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup in his mind, which he has not won as of yet. Under the leadership of Sharma, India went very close to winning the World Cup in 2023 but suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the final match against Australia. 

From many media reports, and the close circle of Rohit, it was revealed before that the batter has a determination to win the ODI World Cup title in his international career. Ahead of the India vs. Australia white ball series, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) removed the opener from the leadership role and assigned Shubman Gill as his successor, who is the Test captain of Team India as well. So, Rohit will enter into the upcoming series only as a batter. 

Read More: [WATCH]: Ramiz Raja can’t resist to make fun of Noman Ali’s big sun glasses during PAK vs SA 1st Test

Rohit Sharma's last batting practice in India for India vs Australia series

🚨: Before leaving for Australia, Rohit Sharma had his final practice session today, which he conducted under lights in Mumbai.

The Hitman 3.0 coming for Australia.🐐💪 pic.twitter.com/UiDmekz8G0

— 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐢⁴⁵ (@rushiii_12) October 13, 2025

Prior to the Australia series, the right-handed batter spent a lot of time in the net to polish his batting more. Only to see him batting, a huge crowd gathered at the Shivaji Park. In the latest video shared on the social media platform 'X,' we can see Rohit's batting practice under the lights.

According to the caption of the video, it was his last batting session before leaving India for the India vs. Australia series. Cricket fans are expecting to see 'Hitman' again making runs swiftly against the Australian lethal bowling line-up. 

South Africa Women snatched two back-to-back close chases in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025, as they beat Bangladesh Women in the final over chase after Nadine de Klerk guided the Proteas to another successful chase with a sixer.

Nadine de Klerk was star to beat hosts India Women

Just four days ago, South Africa Women beat the hosts India Women at Vizag in their successful chase of 252 runs, where Nadine de Klerk played the heroic role of 84 not out off 54 balls after recording 2 for 52 with the ball in hand. South Africa Women won that match by three wickets with seven balls to spare.

WATCH: Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and his wife at Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar Temple ahead of Australia tour

Nadine de Klerk again sealed the game with a sixer

On Monday (October 13), South Africa Women defeated Bangladesh Women in another close contest, where Bangladesh Women almost stunned the cricket world by almost beating the three-time Semi-finalists. After Bangladesh Women scored 232/6, the Proteas team was once deeply struggling at 78/5. Later, they were down to 198/7 in the 45th over, as Nadine de Klerk once again had the big finishing role with the exposed lower-order batting. 

Once again, Nadine de Klerk proved her true finishing power as she controlled the late chase, as South Africa Women never moved out of the game. In the final over of the match, South Africa Women needed eight runs to win, and the all-rounder started that over with a four, and sealed the game on the third ball with a sixer, as Proteas won by three wickets with three balls to spare. Nadine scored 37 not out off 29 balls with four fours and one six. 

A stunning SIX & Nadine de Klerk seals the game!

Rejoice for South Africa's way as yet another close encounter goes their way! 🇿🇦❤️

NEXT ON #CWC25 👉🏻 Sri Lanka 🆚 New Zealand | TUE, 14th OCT, 2.30 PM on Star Sports Network pic.twitter.com/jnLJZZ2Uc9

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 13, 2025