As the teams gear up for the second ODI at Cuttack, the visiting England team will certainly feel a bit deflated after failing to defend a total of 350 despite having got four top-order batsmen back in the hut for less than 100.
The McCullum brothers -- Nathan and Brendon -- came up with match-winning performances as Otago Volts crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in the inconsequential sixth and final qualifying match of the Champions League T20, in Mohali, on Friday.
Dismissing the notion that the Mohali pitch was a vicious turner, South Africa captain Hashim Amla on Saturday said most dismissals in the opening Test match was due to lack of spin rather than excess of it. He also came down hard on his batsmen, saying they could have applied themselves better.
Riding high after an emphatic victory against Kings XI Punjab, a rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils will aim at posing a serious challenge to a formidable Royal Challengers Bangalore when the two teams square off in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Their frailties against quality spin attack badly exposed in Sri Lanka recently, pace bowling great Glenn McGrath said that the Australians will have to quickly sort out their issues against slow bowlers if they don't want a disaster in their tour of India to play four Tests in February-March next year. "Especially with the way things went in Sri Lanka on turning wickets, they have got a lot of work to do between now and then. The Aussies will find it tough in India unless they turn things around pretty quickly," McGrath told reporters during a promotional event.
On a high after sealing the series with comprehensive victories, an upbeat India will be aiming to complete a 3-0 rout in order to retain it's No 1 Test ranking, when they meet a listless West Indies in the final Test match of the series in Port of Spain on Thursday. Having already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series after their crushing 237-run win in the third Test, Virat Kohli and his men will be aiming to go for the kill and keep their top ranking in Test. India were reinstated as the No.1 Test side after Australia 0-3 whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka.
England's lower-order gave India a taste of their own medicine on a benign Chepauk track racking up a commendable 477 in their first innings on the second day of the fifth and final cricket Test in Chennai.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra notched up a career-best haul (6-48) as India ended their Zimbabwe tour with another convincing victory, in the fifth and final One-Day International in Bulawayo on Saturday, thereby completing a 5-0 series sweep.
India are leading the five-match series 3-0 and should they taste success in the final Test, it will be their biggest against England, the previous being the 3-0 whitewash in 1992-93 under Mohammed Azharuddin's captaincy.
The Indians dominated the Test match for four days at Sabina Park with both bat and ball. Yet, they fell short of the victory marker on the fifth and final day when they needed to take six wickets in 98 overs.
West Indies skipper Jason Holder doesn't expect his young and inexperienced side to improve by leaps and bounds and said they are looking for a steady progression as they go into the four-Test series against India with confidence.
Kings XI Punjab once again showed their batting might as the table-toppers chased down another 200-plus run target to comfortably beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in an IPL match in Uppal on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews has blamed his batsmen for the heavy defeat in the second Test against India in Colombo, saying they lost the game with their first innings batting.
'It's the communication, both of us have been playing Test cricket for a long time. Especially me and him -- we are playing (only) this format particularly and we have spent a lot time not just on field by talking about this format' 'To be very honest I was hoping to get a double hundred. They had so many runs on board. I thought it will help the team if I could get a double hundred'
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara led India's determined response to England's mammoth first innings total of 537 as they struck dogged hundreds to guide the hosts to 319 for four on the third day of the first Test in Rajkot, on Friday.
Glenn Maxwell produced yet another blazing innings with the bat before Lakshmipathy Balaji returned a four-wicket haul as Kings XI Punjab registered a crushing 72-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.
Bruised and battered by India after being bundled out for a meagre 79 while chasing 270 in the series-deciding fifth and final ODI here, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson termed the performance of his batting department as "frustrating". Williamson said the Kiwi batsmen did not justify to lose eight wickets for just 16 runs. "That's what's so frustrating, because we failed as a batting unit. The spinners of the Indian side bowled very well but I don't think it is justified to lose 8 wickets for 16 runs. We need to look at some of our plans. There was turn in the pitch in some other games too but we were able to handle it better then," Williamson said after their massive 190-run defeat in the fifth and final ODI in Vizag.
Spoilt for choice with a pool of top quality performers in their ranks, formidable India are overwhelming favourites against minnows Bangladesh in a proverbial 'David vs Goliath' one-off cricket Test that starts in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Two seasoned, left-handed Bengaluru-born players -- Amit Verma and Sreenath Aravind -- representing rival teams, stole the honours on day one of a Group B Ranji Trophy match between Assam and Karnataka in Mumbai on Thursday.
Some teams have completely overhauled their squads. Others retained their core at the IPL Players Auction.
Karnataka's in-form young opener K L Rahul has staked a strong claim for his inclusion in India's Test squad to Australia.
Ajinkya Rahane steered Rising Pune Supergiants home with an unbeaten half-century as the visitors outclassed Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets to keep their hopes alive, in the Indian Premier League in Delhi, on Thursday.
India pulled the curtains down on England's winter of discontent, in a manner befitting their dominance, as the hosts clinched the five-match series 4-0 with an innings and 75-run victory in the fifth and final cricket Test in Chennai on Tuesday.
So far among the Indian batsmen, only one player had more first-class hundreds before the age of 18 -- batting legend Sachin Tendulkar who had seven three figure scores.
Bolstered by the comprehensive win in the series opener, an upbeat India will look to assert their supremacy over an inexperienced West Indies with yet another commanding show in the second cricket Test, starting in Kingston on Saturday. The 'Men In Blue' made a confident start to the 2016-17 season, recording India's biggest win outside the sub-continent when they thrashed the hosts by an innings and 92 runs in the opening cricket Test.
India's Test captain Virat Kohli says he thinks like a batsman even when he is leading the side in the field and that mindset helps him place fielders accordingly. A pertinent example of this working out a batsman was when Kraigg Brathwaite was batting on 70-plus in the first innings of the first Test which India won comprehensively. The fact that the big hitting batsman was looking to play for time allowed the Indian skipper to optimise his fields, setting a tight leg-side cordon of five fielders within the circle, three of them in catching positions. With Umesh Yadav bowling short, the batsman was cramped for room and ended up edging a rising delivery instead of attempting to pull it.
Indian bowlers were made to toil as England began their campaign on a promising note, riding on star batsman Joe Root's 11th century to finish the opening day of the first cricket Test at a solid 311/4 in Rajkot on Wednesday. - Scorecard England's leading batsman in recent years, Root was his customary elegant self and made 124 off 180 balls, while Moeen Ali was one short of his fourth Test hundred when the stumps were drawn after 93 overs at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
With only a day to go for the start of the much-anticipated five-match Test series between India and England, all eyes would be on aggressive skipper Virat Kohli as he readies to motivate his boys and avenge the 2012 home series loss against Alastair Cook's men.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com assesses the Indian side after the 2-1 series triumph in Sri Lanka.
Putting up an all-round show, Kolkata Knight Riders consolidated their fourth position in the points table with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Chasing a modest target of 228, which was possible thanks to Pakistan-born batsman Sikandar Raza, who top-scored with a patient 82, and Elton Chigumbura's 34-ball 43, the World champions had things their way while winning with 31 balls to spare at the Harare Sports Club.
Kings XI Punjab bowlers displayed exceptional death bowling skills as they shocked a formidable Delhi Daredevils by 9 runs in an IPL encounter.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday
Shane Watson claimed a hat-trick as Rajasthan Royals restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 134 for 9 in the IPL match in Ahmedabad on Thursday. However, his effort was in vain as Hyderabad came back with a vengeance to dismiss the former champions for 102 and win by 32 runs for only their third victory this season.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians slumped to their fifth straight defeat, losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 15 runs in the Indian Premier League match, in Dubai, on Wednesday night.
Young batsman Karun Nair and debutant Sam Billings batted with lot of responsibility before their bowlers came good as Delhi Daredevils displaced Kolkata Knight Riders from the second spot with a comfortable 27-run win in their Indian Premier League match, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Chris Morris' brilliant unbeaten knock of 82 went in vain as Gujarat Lions held their nerves to pull off a thrilling one-run win over Delhi Daredevils in an Indian Premier League match.
A round-up of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played across the country on Saturday.
The players auctions for this year's IPL is scheduled for this weekend. Rajneesh Gupta looks at the players retained and released by the teams for IPL 2017.
