Almost out of reckoning for a place in the play-offs, bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to play party-poopers when they take on an equally struggling Punjab Kings in the battle of laggards in the IPL in Sharjah on Saturday.
India's lone goal came from the sticks of Dilpreet Singh in the 34th minute.
Veteran striker Sunil's participation in the mega event was always in doubt ever since he picked up a knee injury during the national camp in the lead up to the Asian Champions Trophy held in Muscat last month.
Deepak Hooda finished on a career-best 62 from 30 balls that rallied Kings XI Punjab to 153 for six, as they smashed 40 runs from the last three overs.
Gayle hammered eight sixes in his explosive innings and brought up a staggering 1,000 sixes in T20 cricket with a maximum off Kartik Tyagi.
A young squad, full of Indian Premier League performers, will represent India 'A' in the T20 warm-up against South Africa at the Air force Ground, in Palam, on September 29.
Young Karan Sharma led from the front with a calm and composed 93 not out as Uttar Pradesh knocked out favourites Karnataka with a five-wicket win in their Ranji Trophy quarter-finals.
Sunrsiers' middle-order has hardly been tested and when the opportunity came against Mumbai Indians, the likes of Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda and Yusuf Pathan fell flat.
For many of the bereaved families the agonising wait started on Tuesday evening when they were informed by senior Army officials about the sacrifice of the 20 soldiers in the clashes with the Chinese Army along the Line of Actual Control a day earlier.
Punjab Kings' batting unit hasn't hit the straps, save for Rahul and Mayank Agarwal and the bowling has been pedestrian.
India midfielder Manpreet Singh will take over the captaincy from PR Sreejesh in the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat next month, marking the hockey team's first major tournament after the retirement of Sardar Singh.
Check out the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League.
The pressure was on AB to do the job and boy, did he do it in style!
Ace midfielder Sardar Singh will lead a full strength Indian men's hockey team in the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia from April 5 to 12.
Goalkeeper P R Sreejesh could feature in his first competitive event in eight months after being named in India's 20-member squad for a four-nation tournament in New Zealand. India will compete with Belgium, Japan and hosts New Zealand at Tauranga and Hamilton in the tournament, beginning January 17.
Rishabh Pant cracked a fourth successive fifty-plus score to lead Delhi's eight-wicket rout of Tamil Nadu while Baroda, Mumbai and Punjab also secured wins in their respective Super League matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, in Kolkata on Sunday.
Images from Friday's IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab, in Kolkata.
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals in Mohali, on Thursday.
It will not be an easy task for a struggling Punjab side to stand up to the challenge thrown by a RCB team
Captain KL Rahul has been one of the few consistent performers in the formidable-looking Punjab batting unit and he once again led by example against MI
A rejuvenated India will start as the favourites when they lock horns with Zimbabwe, who have been left bruised and battered after a 10-wicket thrashing, in the series-deciding third and final Twenty20 International in Harare, on Wednesday.
As coach Ricky Ponting pointed out, he would expect a better "on his feet" thinking from the young captain.
The two sides experienced contrasting fortunes in their respective tournament opener.
India staged a grand recovery to defeat England 4-3 and take the top spot in Pool B of the men's hockey tournament at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. England finished second.
RR will have to get their combination right as only four foreigners can make the playing XI.
The Indian men's hockey core group will focus on skill development in the next few weeks after restarting the national camp with basic training, head coach Graham Reid said on Saturday, trying to overcome from the jolt of six players contracting COVID-19.
Paralympic gold-winners Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Pramod Bhagat, Krishna Nagar, Manish Narwal were also given the Khel Ratna at a dazzling awards ceremony on Saturday.
Off-spinner Ashwin and left-arm colleague Jadeja played all five Tests against England, leading the hosts to a 4-0 victory in the rubber.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
Around 1,200 protesters demanding scrapping of the amended citizenship act were detained on Thursday when they defied prohibitory orders imposed by the Delhi Police in Red Fort area. Internet, voice and messaging services by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Reliance Jio were suspended in parts of Delhi-NCR, in perhaps for the first time that the national capital experienced such restrictions.
Gurmehar Kaur's quick and fiery response has set Twitter on fire. There have been almost 1,000 retweets and over 1,500 'likes' in a few hours.
A summary of the first day's proceedings in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
For any bowling unit, facing the Dhawan-Shaw duo is a scary proposition.
Still very much in the play-offs race after registering their fourth victory on the trot, Kings XI Punjab skipper K L Rahul said his side has at last made winning a habit after a slow start in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
India, eying their maiden Champions Trophy title, had earlier crushed bitter-rivals Pakistan 4-0 in their campaign opener on Saturrday.
India will next play mighty Australia on Sunday.
Once again, the Sunrisers bowlers did the job on a slow track.
RCB have been inconsistent in their first six games in IPL-12, with both their bowling and batting faltering on many occasions.
Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Mandeep Singh finds young Rishabh Pant's ability to hit sixes at will, strikingly similar to veteran Yuvraj Singh's best days.
The markaz (centre) in the south Delhi neighbourhood organised a Tabligh-e-Jamaat from March 1-15 and at least 2,000 people, including foreigners and Indians from across the country, attended it.