West Indies were hurtling towards another heavy defeat when they lost four quick wickets before rain ended play early on day four of the second Test against India in Jamaica on Tuesday.
In major embarrassment for the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the International Cricket Council rated the track at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground in Nagpur, on which the third Test between India and South Africa was played, as "poor", triggering a review of the performance of the pitch under the ICC Pitch Monitoring Process.
Seeking home comforts after multiple reverses at the Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi Capitals will be desperate to buck the trend when they take on a rejuvenated Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, in Delhi, on Saturday.
126 of Ashwin's 176 Test wickets, points out Bikash Mohapatra, have come on home turf. Half of the remaining 50 have come on similar surfaces in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Focus will now be on how Rabada would fare against the likes of Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and David Miller.
Former Pakistan leg-spin legend Abdul Qadir says he would have also liked to see leg-spinners like Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla in the team since India does not have intimidating pace bowlers.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India is keen to send Test specialists, including seasoned fast bowler Zaheer Khan, to South Africa earlier than scheduled for acclimatisation if logistics work out in its favour.
Having decimated South Africa inside three days on a turning track in Mohali, India will again look to unleash their troika of spinners to spoil A B de Villiers's landmark 100th match when the two sides meet in the second Test, in Bangalore, on Saturday.
Pacer Mohammad Shami, who is recuperating after shoulder surgery, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, back with a re-modelled action, are among 30 players named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's senior selection committee for a preparatory camp ahead of the South African team's upcoming tour of India.
Young batsman Krunal Pandya produced a blinder of an innings scoring 86 runs off only 37 balls as Mumbai Indians defended their massive 206-4 against Delhi Daredevils to record a convincing 80-run victory at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. This win by a huge margin has also boosted the net run-rate of Mumbai at a crucial time as they move above Gujarat Lions to third place in the points table. Pandya's knock was laced with half a dozen towering sixes and seven boundaries as he shared a 98-run fiery stand with opener Martin Guptill to power Mumbai to a commanding 206 for four.
The Sri Lankan supporters and players present at the Galle International stadium gave a fitting farewell to Kumar Sangakkara.
Manish Pandey continued his good form in the limited-overs' format, scoring an unbeaten 99 as defending champions Karnataka beat Mumbai by four wickets to enter the semi-finals of the National One-Day Championship, for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Vadodara, on Friday.
Talented Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma made a comeback to the Test squad for the West Indies series, which will also mark the farewell and landmark 200th Test of batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, next month.
When India won their game against West Indies, they already had one leg in World T20 semis.
Putting down catches of England captain Alastair Cook and debutant opener Haseeb Hameed in the first hour of play spoiled India's chances of getting an early crack at the visiting team's middle-order, conceded India's batting coach Sanjay Bangar after the first day's play of the Rajkot Test on Wednesday.
Former India star batsman VVS Laxman prefers all-rounder Hardik Pandya over Karun Nair in the playing XI for the first Test match against England, considering his all-round skill sets. Laxman is a firm believer of the "five bowler theory" and wants Pandya to open the bowling with Mohammed Shami, with Amit Mishra playing as the third specialist spinner.
Ravichandran Ashwin produced another magical spell to scalp five wickets as India notched up a series-levelling 278-run victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka, denying the legendary Kumar Sangakkara a fairytale farewell from the game.
Middle-order batsman Suresh Raina made a comeback to the team fold after the newly appointed senior selection committee announced their India squad for the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Perennial under-achievers Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab will look to recover from opening losses and put their campaign back on track.
Shikhar Dhawan's poor technique in testing conditions along with the fitness status of Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin will come up for discussion when the selectors pick the Indian team for the two-Test series against the West Indies.
Back in the mix after one and half years, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha justified the selector's faith by rocking Australia A top-order with three quick wickets as the visitors reached 185 for four against India A at stumps on the second day of the first unofficial cricket Test in Chennai.
The Indian squad led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni departed for New Zealand from Mumbai on Sunday for a five-match ODI series followed by a best-of-two Test rubber against the hosts.
'When England were bowling, the ball was turning a lot and gripping and also coming off the pitch slowly. Therefore, I planned to bowl fuller to Billings and Jason Roy with the new ball because they are good batsmen'
India's young guns will get an opportunity to fire on the big stage and carry forward the team's exceptional dominance over England when they clash with the visitors in the three-match Twenty20 series, starting in Kanpur on Thursday.
The celebrated duo of head coach Ricky Ponting and mentor Sourav Ganguly has managed to instill belief in the team members and that is visible on the field. The team now seems to believe that it can win the title after a long spell as the perennial underachiever of the competition.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has said that his batsmen will have to take more responsibility on a "result-oriented" green wicket laid out for the second Test against the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.
A resurgent Delhi Daredevils squad will look to continue with their winning momentum when they take on defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in the team's fifth match of the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament at the Feroz Shah Kotla, in Delhi on Monday.
Images from Day 3 in the third Test between India and South Africa, at Nagpur, on Friday.
Skipper Virat Kohli will usher in a new era in Indian cricket when he leads the side in the ODI series-opener against England in Pune on Sunday in place of the iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who recently relinquished the captaincy in the limited over formats.
Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in their Indian Premier League match in Pune on Wednesday. It was Delhi's first win in 12 matches and their first against Punjab after four straight defeats.
On Wednesday, Daiichi Sankyo's lawyers argued for a stay on stake sale by Fortis, which was opposed by counsels of the hospital chain and promoter entities.
It will be interesting to see if India bring back regular opener Shikhar Dhawan for the crucial semi-final match against South Africa or persist with Ajinkya Rahane at the ICC World T20.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians kept their hopes of making the last four stage alive with a clinical seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Hyderabad, on Monday. Chasing Hyderabad's modest total of 157 for 3, made possible by a late assault from David Warner (55 not out) and solid batting by opener Aaron Finch (68), Mumbai cruised home with eight balls to spare.
Former India spinner Murali Kartik assesses the spinning scene in IPL9.
Virat Kohli produced another breathtaking effort as his superbly crafted unbeaten 154 enabled India to cruise to an easy seven-wicket victory in the third ODI against New Zealand, in Mohali, on Sunday.
At the conclusion of the Asia Cup, Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji make an assessment after 36 matches India has played so far in the 2013-14 season.
Making traditional leg-spin look attractive and effective in the opening One-day International against South Africa, India's Amit Mishra is keen to hold on to his ODI spot after an impressive return to the limited-overs field, in Kanpur, on Sunday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's Committee of Administrators (COA) on Tuesday doubled the annual retainership amount to Rs 2 crore for seven Grade A cricketers, including captain Virat Kohli and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India needs to get the team composition right in the third and final Twenty20 International to prevent South Africa from recording a clean sweep, in Kolkata, on Thursday.
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