In awe of Virat Kohli's meteoric rise, Indian Team Director Ravi Shastri on Thursday said the swashbuckling batsman seems like a mirror-image of West Indian great Viv Richards.
Opener Prithvi Shaw credited the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting for guiding the team to a commanding position in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Despite chasing a huge 323, skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made the first ODI a lop-sided contest. The Indians cruised to the target in 42.1 overs for a 1-0 lead.
Rabada was pretty confident that bowling yorkers was the best option.
Kohli backs Rahul as keeper, saying 'he lends balance to the side'.
Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane lamented his players' inability to build a single partnership of note following their loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad on Monday.
Taking full responsibility for the inexplicable collapse against Australia in the fourth ODI, in Canberra, on Wednesday, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he should have steered the team home after fluent centuries from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.
'All you need is that players are in the frame of mind so that they can be at their best. After you take the field, you are expected to take over and adapt to situations'
India captain Virat Kohli said he 'felt like a club batter' when team mate Yuvraj Singh was in full flow during the ICC Champions Trophy match against Pakistan in Birmingham, on Sunday.
The 16-member Indian squad led by Virat Kohli left for the West Indies to engage the hosts in a four-Test rubber later this month and in August.
The new playing condition rules laid down by the International Cricket Council left Indian and Australian cricketers confused after it was applied in the rain-hit first Twenty20 International in Ranchi on Saturday.
Lauding the affable demeanour of the Kane Williamson-led side, Kohli said they are great ambassadors for the sport.
Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody has said his team has no special plans for restricting opposition captain and star player Virat Kohli when the two teams meet in the Indian Premier League.
Ravindra Jadeja, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury, was included as the selectors felt that he would recover in time for the 2015 ICC World Cup.
The selectors may allow the India off-spinner to complete his remaining two matches for Worcestershire in English county cricket.
New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott has said that hosts India are clear favourites going into the ICC World T20 but that will also put enormous pressure on the Men In Blue.
Playing under a new name in this edition, Delhi Capitals managed to turn their fortunes around with coach Ricky Ponting and advisor Sourav Ganguly at the helm.
Dhoni, on Friday, urged people to refrain from 'criticising individual preferences' with regards to a number of India internationals who have decided to skip this year's Ranji Trophy.
India will eye another dominant performance against hosts England in a three- match ODI series
India captain Virat Kohli said his team were not invincible after the defending champions allowed Sri Lanka to chase down a target of 322 to win a pulsating Champions Trophy match at The Oval on Thursday.
Seeking to shrug off the defeat in their IPL campaign opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put their best foot forward in their match against Kolkata Knight Riders, coach Tom Moody said.
His brilliant 73-run knock in the warm-up game against South Africa might have fallen just short of ensuring a win for India, but opener Shikhar Dhawan said the crucial time he had spent at the crease has made him more "wiser" ahead of their ICC World Twenty20 campaign. Chasing a steep 197 for win, Dhawan smashed 73 off 53 balls before retiring but the knock was not enough to take India home as the hosts fell short by four runs at the Wankhede Stadium last night. "As (an) individual, it was a good learning for me as I batted till the 15th-16th over, so with my calculation for the next coming games, I will be more better. It was a good learning for me and I got more wiser," Dhawan told reporters at the post-match conference on Saturday night. Asked why despite having some of the best finishers of the game, India failed to cross the hurdle, the 30-year-old left-hander said, "Certainly, these are normal things. It does not happen that the best finishers will always guarantee you to complete the task. Everyone gave their best and that's what matters. "We were chasing such a big total, and wickets fell early on, after that there was a good partnership and came so close. It was only a matter of two runs. We learnt a lot from this game. What we have learnt, will be implemented in the future."
Congress had a reason to smile as it was able to emerge as the single largest party in Meghalaya, but failed to secure a majority.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar defended Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his "unrest" comment that got the media talking about a rift within the Indian cricket team in Australia, saying that the Indian captain might have chosen a wrong word to describe the situation.
'We've seen that we can execute plans for short periods of time. The challenge is always going to be to execute over a 100 overs. If you're going to beat India or England or Australia, Pakistan, you've got to execute for a 100 overs'
India's poor slip catching was being papered over by the tons of runs the batsmen had scored in the past one year but fluffing three regulation chances in the drawn third Test against Sri Lanka has raised a few questions.
New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi feels the key to make a comeback into the T20 series against India is to slow down the home team's momentum.
Indian Test captain Virat Kohli expressed his confidence in Ravichandran Ashwin's batting abilities and said that there is no reason why the Tamil Nadu tweaker can't be the all-rounder that the Indian team is looking for in longer version.
India gets new face in pace attack
Injuries to KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan have brought Gautam Gambhir back into the picture, and batting coach Sanjay Bangar says the Delhi batsman will be a vital cog in the Indian Test team in the long home season.
Shikhar Dhawan is savouring a purple patch, hitting century after century, but the opener won't be overtly worried if he has to face a slump in form.
Till the 35th over we were pretty good, yes we gave a little bit of runs in the end, so may be that could be the difference, reckons Jasprit Bumrah.
Centurion Colin Munro credited New Zealand's "outstanding" bowling attack for the 40-run victory in the second T20 International, in Rajkot, on Saturday, saying dismissing the in-form India openers early was "massive".
However, if aggression was the buzzword during the Australia Tests, the Kohli that was on show against Pakistan was a different version, a restrained one, and if one may say, after the Border-Gavaskar series, possibly a more matured one.
India are in the middle of a phenomenal run in the shortest format of the game, and Team Director Ravi Shastri on Wednesday said that he expects his side to maintain consistency and make winning a habit to clinch a big tournaments like the World T20. Shastri said that India have got the right balance in the team and most of the big players are in form at the right time ahead of the ICC event. "We have got into a good habit of winning games. You might get the odd hiccup on the way. But it's important to maintain a level of consistency and treat every game as an important game. Every game is important from here on," he told a news conference. "To win a big tournament you need seven-eight individuals performing consistently. We are not a team of individuals. We are the Indian cricket team. "Virat (Kohli) is in outstanding form, and so is Rohit (Sharma)... MS (Dhoni) has done well lower down the order. Yuvraj (Singh) has struck form. Shikhar (Dhawan) has had his moments," Shastri said ahead of the World T20 warm-up game against the West Indies.
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews has said the challenge of performance against India in their own backyard was never beyond doubt and that not many teams have won against India in India.
The hosts have hit nadir in both form and confidence, and, after a lop-sided 3-0 Test series victory, the script did not change much in the opening ODI, where India steamrolled the opposition by nine wickets.
Notwithstanding Rising Pune Supergiants' poor run in IPL-9, Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman considers the debutante side as a formidable unit and said his team will have to put its best foot forward when they clash with them in their IPL match on Tuesday. "It goes without saying that (RPS Captain M S Dhoni) Dhoni will be looking forward to use Ashwin against Warner and Shikhar. I believe that Pune has got a very formidable batting line up," Laxman said in a pre-match press conference at Hyderabad. "Lot of people talk about Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf Duplessis being similar. They are all extrordinary T20 players. We cannot at all be complecent or we cannot at all underestimate the batting strength of Pune. We are very mindful," he added. The former Test batsman, however, exuded confidence that SRH can take on any opposition if it sticks to its plans and executes them well. "But, I believe that if we concentrate on our plans and try to execute our plans, then we can do well against any opposition. It's more about concentrating and playing to our strength, while strategizing for each and every opposition batsman or bowler," he said. Noting that the MS Dhoni-led Pune team would look to bounce back strongly, Laxman said no team can be ruled out as it is still the early part of the long IPL tournament.
Middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma, who top-scored for India in the second innings, said the re-laid EdenGardens wicket kept the Indian batsmen on their toes right throughout the match.
India went in for an optional practice on Saturday and Dhoni was seen doing what normally a skipper does -- inspecting the Eden Gardens pitch, taking local feedbacks and giving his team mates a pep talk.
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