It will be a battle of youngsters with the likes of Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya on one side and the new star in the horizon Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan with his variations on the other side.
Set a near impossible victory target of 490 on a track that is offering help for the spinners, Jharkhand were 28 for one in their second innings with two full days' play left and 462 runs to get.
Rohit Sharma struck his second successive hundred of the series but once again the Indians were comfortably outclassed by Australia by seven wickets, in the second One-Day International in Brisbane, on Friday.
How does Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/25 stand up against other fine T20I performances? Fascinating figures from Rajneesh Gupta.
Variation in any bowling attack makes it lethal and that's precisely the reason why bowling coach Bharath Arun is in search of a potent left-arm speedster, who enables Indian team to have all bases covered.
Veteran seamer Ashish Nehra on Tuesday said that his habit of putting in a few extra hours every day has helped him maintain his pace despite undergoing 10 surgeries.
Gujarat Lions will have their task cut out when they lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Their winning momentum punctured after a loss to Rising Pune Supergiants, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to get back to their winning ways when they take on a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League Twenty20 match, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents statistical summary of Mumbai Indians and much more.
Kolkata Knight Riders will have to break the agonising sequence of debacles when they clash with defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL eliminator, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
A resounding opening win setting the tone perfectly for them, the new-look Indian team will look to continue in the same vein and take another step towards a potential whitewash of Zimbabwe when the two sides clash in the second ODI in Harare on Monday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won their maiden Indian Premier League trophy. Even as the team from Hyderabad celebrates their triumph, let's analyse the four major turning points of the match.
Delhi Daredevils produced an all-round effort and defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to jump to the third spot in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
David Warner slammed a whirlwind 50-ball 92 to set up a comfortable 15-run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match, in Hyderabad, on Saturday.
Unbeaten in all the three games they have played so far in the tournament, Gujarat Lions would look to continue with their impressive winning run when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Rajkot on Thursday. The Lions have been in red-hot form in their debut season with convincing wins in all the three games and they would seek to maintain a clean slate tomorrow at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. The home side will also be bolstered by the return of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who did not play in the Lion's seven-wicket thrashing of defending champions Mumbai Indians in Mumbai due to his wedding.
The domestic season-ending five-day Irani Cup game between newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing in Mumbai from Sunday, will provide fringe players a good opportunity to stake claims for the national team. The first class match is the last occasion for hopefuls from both ranks to impress the five-member national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil before attention shifts totally to the T20 format, commencing with the ICC World T20 Championships. With the country expected to play over 15 Test matches post Indian Premier League till the end of next season, this match is the ideal platform for these players to strengthen their claims for the long Test haul. Mumbai, who clinched the Ranji crown for the 41st time last week by defeating Saurashtra by an innings, have a settled combination led by wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare. They appear to be better prepared than the motley bunch of Rest of India, being led by Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. However, they would take the Rest of India lightly at their own peril as the latter have a good bowling attack at their command even without originally named Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh who have been injured and replaced by Ankit Rajpoot and Anureet Singh, according to their coach Ashish Kapoor.
Before the selectors meet to finalise the squad, you can take on their role and pick 15 players you feel can deliver the World T20 Cup to India.
Images from the opening ODI between Australia and India at the WACA, Perth, on Tuesday.
Karun Nair kept Delhi Daredevils' slender hopes of qualifying for the play-offs alive with a 59-ball unbeaten 83 that guided them to a six-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Friday's Indian Premier League match, at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh stadium in Raipur, that went down to the wire.
In a series in which, batsmen have dominated the bowlers with an unprecedented 3159 runs being scored, including 11 centuries hit by batters of both sides in the five one-day internationals. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah seems to have answered captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's distress call in the fifth and final ODI at Sydney. Conceding only 40 runs for his 2 wickets off his full quota of 10 overs, Bumrah impressed with his pace and discipline especially in the death overs, when Australia posted a mammoth 331-run target. But, was it sheer luck that led to the surprise debut of this 22-year-old fast bowler from Gujarat? As per reports, Bumrah- picked only for the T20I series in Australia was supposed to travel with the rest of players in the squad for shortest format and join rest of the team in Adelaide- the venue for first T20I. But due to unavailability of tickets, the Board of Cricket Control in India had to send Bumrah to Sydney.
Rohit Sharma's second successive century was once again overshadowed by Australia's collective batting might as the hosts continued their dominance over Indian bowlers to notch up a seven-wicket victory in the second One-Day International in Brisbane.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that he never thought his spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will have such a 'bad day' but also praised Australian skipper Steve Smith and George Bailey for playing exceptionally well in the middle overs. Ashwin (2/69 in 9 overs) and Jadeja (0/61 in 9 overs) together gave away 129 runs in 18 overs as India lost the opening ODI by five wickets. "When I was speaking about sharing the load before the match, I was speaking about when the fast-bowlers don't have a very good day then I will have to use the spinner. "I never thought it will be the spinners who will have a very bad day and the others will have to share that responsibility," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.
Having already clinched the series, India would look to hand Zimbabwe a third successive whitewash while testing more youngsters when they take on the lacklustre hosts in the third and final One-day International in Harare, on Wednesday.
KL Rahul became the first Indian to hit a century on his ODI debut as India crushed Zimbabwe by nine wickets in the first One-Day International in Harare, on Saturday.
Skipper David Warner produced a majestic 93 as he single-handedly led Sunrisers Hyderabad into the IPL final after securing a four-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 2 at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. Chasing a tricky 163, Sunrisers overhauled the target with four balls to spare as Warner anchored the chase with his responsible 58-ball knock, embellished with 11 four and three sixes.
590 cricketers -- including 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players -- will go under the hammer during the two-day mega auction in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.
Tamil Nadu produced an all-round display to beat Mumbai by 26 runs and register their second consecutive win in the Vijay Hazare One-Day cricket tournament, on Friday.
Ashish Nehra produced a sensational spell of pace bowling after Shikhar Dhawan shone with the bat with a scintillating unbeaten 82 as Sunrisers Hyderabad spanked Mumbai Indians by 85 runs in a lopsided IPL match in Visakhapatnam.
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.
It was India's players all the way, with batting sensation Virat Kohli emerging the most valuable, ahead of senior spinner Amit Mishra. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji graphically depict the top players from the recently concluded India-New Zealand ODI series.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar says if India wants to win the ongoing five-match ODI series in Australia they need to find a way to dismiss home team skipper Steven Smith early.
Former India batsman V V S Laxman, who always reserved his best for the mighty Australia, feels that Suresh Raina 'needs a lot of clarity' as to how he would find a solution against short-pitched bowling.
With the One-Day International series proving to be a stroll in the park, Mahendra Singh Dhoni would look to finish the tour of Zimbabwe with another dominant performance when he leads India in the three-match Twenty20 series against the hosts, starting in Harare, on Saturday.
In what turned out to be one of the most one-sided matches in recent times, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's young side outclassed the hosts in all departments, first bowling them out for 123, their lowest total in the series, and then romping home in 21.5 overs.
It will be a different sort of challenge for Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he captains a new-look Indian cricket team against Zimbabwe in the first ODI of a short series starting in Harare on Saturday.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com comes up with a pretty strong playing eleven from the long list of big names warming the benches this IPL season.
The series already in their pocket, India would aim for a clean sweep against the hosts and end the tour of Australia on a high when the two teams clash in the third and final Twenty20.
Some teams have completely overhauled their squads. Others retained their core at the IPL Players Auction.
Mumbai registered their first victory of the season, thrashing Odisha by 120 runs in a Ranji Trophy Group 'C' match at KIIT Stadium, in Bhubaneshwar, on Saturday.
Ponting shrugged off Australia's injury worries and the idea of there being risk in rushing Smith and Warner into the team.
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