New song for Rishabh Pant, Ponting's bold prediction about Pant and more - Cricket news today, 4 January 2019

Welcome to Sportskeeda's Cricket News Today, a section that provides a summary of the trending news topics of the day in the world of cricket.

India have the upper hand in the fourth Test against Australia as they declared their innings at 622/7, thanks to an unbeaten 159 from Rishabh Pant and a stroke-filled 193 from Cheteshwar Pujara.

Meanwhile, South Africa are in pole position against Pakistan in the Cape Town Test as the hosts have already taken a 205-run lead thanks to skipper Faf du Plessis' 103 and fifties from Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock.

Apart from this, a lot of other incidents took place in the world of cricket over the last 24 hours. Let's take a look at the top news from today.

Watch: Hanuma Vihari wrongly given out in a controversial manner

---

Australian ODI squad to face India announced

The 14-member Australian ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against India, that gets underway at the SCG on January 12, has been announced.

The squad has a lot of surprises as the selectors have recalled off-spinner Nathan Lyon, batsman Usman Khawaja (who last played an ODI in 2017) and veteran pacer Peter Siddle, whose last match for Australia in the format came way back in 2010.

The selectors have also have decided to leave out Chris Lynn, Travis Head, D'Arcy Short, Ben McDermott, Nathan Coulter-Nile and the Australian Test pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

While the pacers, along with Coulter-Nile, have been given rest to recover from the workload and the niggles, the rest have been shown the exit door.

Squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.

Ricky Ponting makes a bold prediction about Rishabh Pant

Ricky Ponting

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has heaped praises on Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant after the southpaw scored an unbeaten 159 in the fourth Test at SCG. Ponting has backed Pant to score more career Test centuries than veteran wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni.

"He (Pant) is a real talent and an incredibly good ball striker. He has got a really good game sense as well, although sometimes the way he plays spin you wouldn’t think he has; but I have been lucky enough to coach him in Delhi, and he is a terrific T20 player and a clean striker. And he is already onto his second hundred and a couple of 90s to go with that. He is someone who can play a lot of cricket for India in all three formats", Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"We talk about Dhoni all the time and what impact he had on Indian cricket. He played a lot of Tests but has (scored) only six hundreds – this kid here (Pant) will make lot more Tests hundreds than that," Ponting added.

Dhoni has scored six hundreds and 33 fifties in his career while Pant has already scored two fifties and two centuries till date.

Shane Warne bashes Australian selectors

Shane Warne

Legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne is not happy with the Australian squad that has been picked for the three-match ODI series against India, and has slammed the selectors for their 'ridiculous' decisions. Australia have named a 14-member squad that has Peter Siddle, Usman Khawaja and Nathan Lyon, with the likes of D'Arcy Short and Chris Lynn being left out.

"Just saw the Aust ODI squad that was announced & was absolutely staggered at some of the players that were left out & some of the inclusions - they don't make any sense whatsoever. These ridiculous selections must stop in all forms of Australian cricket - end of!" Warne tweeted.

"I cannot believe that D'Arcy Short has been left out of the side. I don't know what he's done wrong. He can bowl and his batting at the top is dynamic. He's in terrific form, and he and Finch make an awesome partnership at the top," Warne was quoted as saying by foxsports.com.au.

Bharat Army comes up with a brand new song for Rishabh Pant

Rishabh Pant

Following his good work in the ongoing Test series against Australia which included an unbeaten 159 in the fourth Test at SCG, Rishabh Pant has become a fan favourite in Australia. Adding to his performances with the bat and the gloves, Pant has been giving it back to the Australian players with banter, something that is being loved by everyone.

Now, the southpaw has got himself a song from the travelling group of Indian fans called the 'Bharat Army'. The Bharat Army were seen trolling the Australian fans while Pant was batting, as they sang,

"We’ve got Pant!

Rishabh Pant!

I just don't think you understand!

He’ll hit you for a six,

He’ll babysit your kids,

We've got Rishabh Pant!"

In the third Test of the series, Australian wicketkeeper Tim Paine asked Pant to babysit his kids while he went to watch a movie with his wife. After the game, Pant met Paine's family and Tim's wife Bonnie Paine shared a picture of Pant babysitting the couple's kids, and that created a lot of buzz on social media.

Watch: Bharat Army comes up with a Rishabh Pant song to troll Aussie fans at SCG