Bananas, banana shakes, eggs and hot milk with turmeric form part of Sachin Tendulkar’s breakfast, according to the chef at the hotel at which the teams are staying in Mohali

We have been down this road before, thinking wishfully, ignoring history and hoping against all the evidence that Australia's domination of international cricket is nearly over

The second season of the Indian Premier League is to start in April 2009, a good seven months away, so it is hard to understand the need for the Deccan Chargers to announce that VVS Laxman was stripped of the captaincy and it was going to be Adam

So would it be fair to say that India begin as strong favourites at home all over again

Mtutuzeli Nyoka cannot be serious … an olive branch to Zimbabwe’s Peter Chingoka

In the Guardian , Carrie Dunn says Shane Warne has songs such as Take the Pill (about his ban for taking a prohibition diuretic in 2003) and What an SMS I'm In.

Sourav Ganguly's first attempts at getting some practice ahead of the Test series against Australia didn’t go too well, the Times of India reported

Arvind Iyengar crunches numbers and comes up with a list of the best ODI bowlers of all time on ESPNStar

Rob Houwing, writing on Sport24 , says he will be following the SuperSport Series as closely as possible for any signs of a true new tearaway shock bowler or two.

Harsha Bhogle, writing in the Indian Express criticises the idea of a VRS scheme for India's senior cricketers

In the New Zealand Herald , David Leggat says that the latest tweak to the Powerplay rule, which allows the batting team to decide when either the second or the third Powerplay should be taken, will be a further advantage to the batsmen.

South Africa A's victory in the Test series against Sri Lanka A followed by a 4-1 defeat in the one-dayers mirrors the problems facing the senior side, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24 .

Suresh Menon writes on ESPNStar that appointing a paid selection committee may well be an important step towards 'professionalising' the entire cricket set up in India.

In the Hindustan Times , Pradeep Magazine compares the build-up to Australia's tour - especially the facilities provided to then by the Rajasthan Cricket Academy - to the green top they received in Nagpur in the 2004 series.

As Indian cricket bids adieu to a powerful old panel, it would be interesting to see if the new one steers in a dawn or if it will take us back to days of infighting and power-struggles at every turn, writes Bobilli Vijay in the Times of India .

The last time New Zealand toured Australia was 2004