SPORTS

A number of Australian Open players are becoming increasingly annoyed that the tennis' biggest names are seemingly getting special treatment from tournament organizers by being allowed to quarantine away from the rest of the camp.

Players such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka, and Serena Williams are currently staying and training in Adelaide ahead of a pre-Open exhibition tournament on January 29.

According to an international agency, players in Adelaide have access to a 24-hour gym and are able to train outside for up to five hours each day with multiple coaching staff.

The majority of players, however, are residing in Melbourne, over 400 miles away from Adelaide, and where the tournament will actually be played.

In an epic performance by Team India, they beat hosts Australia in the Brisbane Test by four wickets, and pocketed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1. This performance has come in a tough situation -- after India kept on losing key players throughout the series, that forced them to field a second-rung team. India chased down a mammoth 328 -- and breached Aussie fortress, the Gabba after 32 years.

With over 324 runs needed at the start of day five -- where a lot of rain was predicted, India could have gone for an easy option of a draw, after they lost opener Rohit Sharma early in the day. But they chose to go for the target, and in style. It all started with Shubman Gill taking the attack to the opposition bowlers, and slammed a 91, while Cheteshwar Pujara kept blocking everything at the other end. In one over of Mitchell Starc, the duo added 20 runs, against the run of play.

Brisbane Weather Forecast India vs Australia 4th Test Day 4: Rain will not interrupt the match at Gabba between India and Australia as both the teams strive for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The humidity will be around the 69 per cent-mark and precipitation – 40 percent, while there is going to be a strong prediction of thunderstorms that will be prevalent around the city. The play will start at 5 AM IST on January 18 – 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled start.

Day 3 went off smoothly with rain not playing spoilsport like it did on the third day of the fourth and final Test at Brisbane. With Australia having all to play for, fans could be in for a disappointment as there are chances of scattered rain which could delay proceedings

Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur came together when the Indian scoreboard read a precarious 186/6. With India tottering and the Baggy Greens threatening to mop up the tail and open up a huge lead, the debutant and Thakur, which just a lone Test match under his belt, combined for an invaluable 123-run partnership to reduce the deficit to 36 runs on Day 3 of the final Test at the Gabba.

For someone playing only his second test match and that too, at the unforgiving cauldron called the Gabba, Thakur got off the mark with a six and raised his maiden test half-century with another off Nathan Lyon. He topped India’s scoring chart with a valiant and strokeful 67 off 115 balls.

Sundar, who had a let-off early on when he edged Mitchell Starc between second slip and gully, scored a gutsy 62 from 144 deliveries in his debut test innings.

India made four changes to their Playing XI from the Sydney Test as they included Shardul Thakur and Mayank Agarwal, and handed Test debuts to T Natarajan and Washington Sundar. However, the one name that went missing from the team sheet was that of chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav. India went with a four-pronged pace attack with Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj being the other two pacers and included only one spinner, Sundar in their bowling attack.

Ajit Agarkar, the former India fast bowler, felt it was unfair to leave out Kuldeep given the variety he offers and the bounce wrist-spinners have historically generated at the Gabba. Agarkar feels the inclusion of Kuldeep could have given India the edge of the surface is to flatten out and offers uniqueness to a bowling attack that looks similar with four pacers.