Desperate to break their title jinx, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping for a positive start to their campaign in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
He may have silenced his detractors with a fine knock in Mohali but India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, assessing his batting in recent times, on Sunday said "I am losing an ability to freely rotate in the middle". - Scorecard Dhoni struck 80 off 91 balls and shared a 151-run partnership for the third wicket with Virat Kohli (154) to guide India to a seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the third ODI and help the hosts take a 2-1 lead in the five-match ODI series. The captain moved himself up to number four.
India's captain for the One-day series in Zimbabwe addressed the media prior to the team's departure. Harish Kotian/Rediff.com reports.
'India has the best bowling attack they have ever had at any World Cup.' 'They have the best fast bowler in the world in Jasprit Bumrah and then they have got Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who looks good, (Mohammed) Shami looks good.'
Karnataka dished out a clinical show as they beat Andhra Pradesh by 53 runs in their Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Bengaluru, on Monday.
After succumbing to their seventh loss this season, Delhi Daredevils skipper JP Duminy said his team paid the price for conceding too many runs in the last five overs against Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.
Young Karun Nair cracked a brilliant unbeaten half-century to guide Rajasthan Royals to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils in their IPL-7 match at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.
Kohli started his English summer on a bright note hitting an unbeaten 52 off 55 balls while Mahendra Singh Dhoni also played some delightful strokes square off the wicket.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after game 47 of IPL 10.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday
Left-arm seamer Samad Fallah exposed the poor technique of Bengal's batsmen with some incisive swing bowling to put Maharashtra in the driver's seat on the first day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final in Indore on Saturday.
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.
Misfiring Mumbai Indians, struggling to get their team combination right, will take on the formidable batting might of Royal Challengers Bangalore in a potentially explosive Indian Premier League clash at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai. On Wednesday.
He along with Sunrisers' bowling coach and spin legend Muthiah Muralitharan were seen engaging in an intense planning from the dug-out when Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were batting in full-flow at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday. Sunrisers batting coach VVS Laxman may be disappointed with his team's defeat in the first game of IPL 9, but the legendary Indian batsman had special praise for U-19 star and RCB finisher Sarfaraz Khan. Laxman also feels that it was Sarfaraz, who took the game away from them, when the 'enormously talented' Mustafizur Rahman had pulled it back by dismissing AB and Watson in quick succession. Here is what Laxman had to say after the match.
'A man who is sometimes loved and loathed in equal measure, a man we're seemingly tired of seeing yet can't imagine life without.' Dhruv Munjal salutes the incomparable M S Dhoni.
Brothers Krunal and Hardik Pandya excelled with the bat and ball respectively as Baroda crushed Punjab by 75 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group A match.
Round-up of the Ranji Trophy games being played in different parts of the country
Off the field the Board of Control for Cricket in India looks set for a complete overhaul with Supreme Court's stinging observations tightening the noose around the mandarins of the richest sports body.
India carried its domination from the Test series into the One-day format and achieved its biggest ever win in terms of overs left while chasing a 200-plus total.
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.
Captain Faf du Plessis led from the front with an impressive 120 as he single-handedly took South Africa to 269 for 8 in the first One-Day International against India, in Durban, on Thursday.
Dwayne Smith cracked a blistering 79 as a dominant Chennai Super Kings steamrolled Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets for their sixth straight win in the Indian Premier League.
Amit Mishra produced a magical spell to send New Zealand crashing for a lowly 79 as India won by a massive margin of 190 runs to clinch the five-match series 3-2, in the fifth and final One-Day International in Visakhapatnam, on Saturday.
A summary of the third day's play in the quarter-final matches of the Ranji Trophy.
After Ambati Rayudu failed the Yo-Yo test, the selectors turned to Suresh Raina for the ODI series in England.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
David Warner's blazing century sent him on top of Rediff.com's MVP table, with KKR's wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa not that far behind.
A summary of the second day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played across India on Monday
With his versatile talents, Hardik Pandya is the kind of unique cricketer the Indian team has always wanted, writes Dhruv Munjal
A round-up of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played across the country on Saturday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will stand in the way of two-time former champions Kolkata Knight Riders' bid to make it to the play-offs in a mouthwatering Indian Premier League encounter.
Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets in their IPL match at Feroz Shah Kotla ground on Monday. It was Punjab's ninth win and made them the first team to make it to the play-offs.
Rajasthan Royals comprehensively crushed favourite 'whipping boys' Delhi Daredevils by 62 runs in a thoroughly one-sided encounter to consolidate their chances of making it to the play-offs in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League on Thursday.
Delhi outclassed Rajasthan by an innings and seven runs to gain a bonus point in the Group B match of the Ranji Trophy in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji reveal Rediff's Most Valuable Players in IPL 10.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after Game 51 in IPL 10.
Delhi Daredevils all-rounder Chris Morris has 12 wickets, at a better-than-par economy rate of 6.6 (the par economy rate is 8 runs conceded per over), and scored 74 runs at a staggering strike rate of almost 240 (the par strike rate is 133 runs in 100 balls).
South Africans take the top 3 slots in Most Valuable Player Index.
Ashok Menaria and Kedar Jadhav hit half centuries as India 'A' scored a nail-biting two-wicket victory over New Zealand 'A' in the third and final one-dayer in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. The victory, which was achieved with four balls to spare, gave the hosts a 3-0 series triumph.
