Australia

After South Africa were knocked over for 152 on the stroke of tea, Australia found themselves in the same strife and were reeling at 27 for 3 before Head's blazing knock and his 117-run fourth-wicket stand between with Steven Smith, took them to 5-145 at stumps. It would have been a more emphatic advantage to the hosts had Smith and night watch Scott Boland not lost their wickets in the final two overs as Proteas quick Anrich Nortje pushed above 150kph.

The fast bowler takes the reins back from Steve Smith who led the side in the second Test against the West Indies in Cummins' absence. With Josh Hazlewood having already been ruled out with a side strain, Scott Boland keeps his spot in the side and Michael Neser is the man to make way for the Australia captain.

On Wednesday, despite Harmanpreet adding 73 runs in 50 balls with Shafali Verma (52 off 41) for the third wicket, India were unable to avoid a 21-run loss, playing 55 dot balls, giving Australia a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Last week, Warner had withdrawn his application for removing the lifetime leadership ban, saying that the independent review panel wanted to make it "a public lynching." Now, Chappell feels Warner wanted his captaincy ban to be lifted in order to captain Sydney Thunder in the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL).

The World Test Championship pacesetters wrapped up the 2-0 series sweep late in the first session on the fourth day of the clash, with pacer Michael Neser completing proceedings by dismissing Marquino Mindley for a duck. It means Australia moves further ahead at the head of the World Test Championship standings, with the Aussies now boasting an impressive 75 percent win-percentage for the current period.

The left-arm spinner has returned home to Queensland, will be replaced in Australia's 15-player squad by leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington, who is expected to fly into India and link up with the touring party on Tuesday, ahead of the third T20I. Jonassen strained her right hamstring while fielding during Australia's emphatic nine-wicket win at DY Patil Stadium on Friday.

"It would be a fair understatement for me to say we are unbelievably frustrated. That is the overarching emotion I felt. We are very frustrated, not just for David (Warner) and his family. But also his teammates who I know are really annoyed about this process, that it has been allowed to drag into the Test summer," said Todd Greenberg to SEN Radio.

Labuschagne (120) and Head (114) were unbeaten at the crease when play was stopped on Day 1. They had put on an unbeatable 199-run stand for the fourth-wicket. After Australia won the toss and opted to bat, it was an ominous beginning for the visitors despite dismissing David Warner (21) cheaply once more.

Labuschagne, who was just two points behind Root before the two ICC World Test Championship (WTC) Tests completed over the past week, now enjoys a big lead at the top even as Root has slipped to fourth place -- behind Steve Smith and Babar Azam, according to ICC.

Australia have seen record low crowds of late with the stadiums, including the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), seeing a massive dip in numbers even during the ICC T20 World Cup held recently. Several experts have blamed the poor spectator turnout to the saturated cricket schedule and Fleming feels all three formats of the game need to be given "clear space and times".