England gave themselves a much-needed boost by beating Dhoni's India A side in their first warm-up match ahead of the limited overs series.
Putting up an all-round show, Karnataka defeated Mumbai by 5 wickets in their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game in Mumbai on Sunday, inside two-and-half days. This was Mumbai's second consecutive loss at home, following their defeat against Railways.
Skipper Manish Pandey led from the front with a timely century while Dhawal Kulkarni showed his all-round prowess as India A defeated South Africa A by 3-wickets in the quadrangular One-Day series in Townsville, Australia on Wednesday. Pandey anchored the innings with a brilliant unbeaten 100 off 105 deliveries that had hit nine boundaries and a six. He was ably supported by Kulkarni, who chipped in with 23 as the pair added 47 runs for the unbroken eighth wicket stand after India A were in trouble at 187 for 7.
Young Shreyas Gopal spun a web around a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up to claim four wickets for 16 runs and help Rajasthan Royals score a 30-run victory and stay in the reckoning for a play-offs berth in the Indian Premier League, in Jaipur, on Saturday.
The IAF received a total of 13 awards including five Yudh Seva Medals and seven Vayu Sena Medal.
"I stand by my comments. Anybody who tweets on social media platform should be careful. But anyone with a contrary view should be allowed to speak. Gurmehar is a young girl and she should be allowed to speak her mind," he said.
While Belgium dominated the first half, India did well to roar back in the second session. Belgium went into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead, but India fought back well to keep pressure on the opponents in the 2nd half.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir's 37th first-class century might have made his case stronger for an India comeback but his knock could not help North Zone overhaul Central Zone's imposing first innings score on Day 3 of the four-day Duleep Trophy semi-final in Mohali.
Their bowling once again failed to live up to expectations while the fielding was also below-par as Royal Challengers Bangalore continued their poor run in IPL-11 with a six-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday.
A round-up of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday.
It will be a selection dilemma for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Anil Kumble as a fit-again Suresh Raina is back in the nets having recovered from a bout of viral fever that kept him out of first ODI in Dharamsala. With Kedar Jadhav picking up two wickets with his handy part-time off breaks, the same skill set of both the players is definitely going to be a factor as the team management decides to pick the XI for the second ODI against New Zealand on Thursday.
Rediff.com presents the best catches from the eighth edition of the IPL.
Neeraj Chopra, on Saturday, became the first Indian javelin thrower to claim a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, with a season's best effort of 86.47m in the final, in Gold Coast.
Delhi Waveriders crushed Kalinga Lancers 6-0 to storm into the semi-finals of the Hockey India League on Wednesday.
Already assured of a place in the Rio Olympics, Asian Games champions India will start their preparations for the mega-event with the 24th Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament where they would face Korea in their opening match in Ipoh on Sunday.
RCB began their campaign without skipper and star batsman Virat Kohli as well as another key player A B de Villiers due to injuries and lost their opening match against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It was the final time that India's most successful skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen leading the national side although it is an 'A' team.
At the face of it, there is apparently no danger to Dhoni's captaincy since the team is still winning matches. But if one digs deeper, Kohli has slowly and surely been the man everyone is looking forward to as the leader, across all formats for India.
Indian cricket ushered in a new era as Virat Kohli was officially anointed captain for all three formats as he took over from Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India's limited overs captain from the series against England, starting on January 15.
A stat pack of India and New Zealand's ODI careers...
Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on the individual brilliance of David Warner and Trent Boult to open their account in the eighth Indian Premier League (IPL) with a convincing eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru.
India might have lost to Pakistan in the summit clash of men's hockey in the 12th South Asian Games but captain Mandeep Antil on Saturday sought to take the positives from the performance of his players, saying they have done well given the inexperience of the team. With the country's top players taking part in the ongoing Hockey India League, India fielded an inexperienced team mostly consisting of junior players and they failed to click as a unit in the SAG. India settled for the silver medal after losing twice to arch-rivals Pakistan, including in the final 0-1 in Guwahati on Friday night. India had just two senior players who had played some international matches in Antil himself and veteran Gurbaj Singh. Even Antil has played just 20-odd international matches while Gurbaj has donned India colours in more than 200 games. Pakistan had at least six players who played in the London Olympics. Antil said he was disappointed to have lost to Pakistan in the final, which he felt was a close match. "Any loss to Pakistan at any level is a disappointment. We wanted to win the gold but we could not do it. We played better (than the group match which also India lost 1-2) and it was a close match but we lost again," Antil told PTI.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar gave a thumbs up to the selection committee's decision to reward the domestic players while naming a new-look India squad for the upcoming limited overs series in Zimbabwe.
Ten South Africa 'A' players have been hospitalised due to "food poisoning", including four after playing their tri-series cricket match against India 'A' in Chennai, the visiting team management said.
Sloppy defending cost India dearly as Sam Ward scored a brace for England to hand the home team a heart-breaking 2-3 defeat in a hard-fought Pool B match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final, in Bhubaneswar, on Saturday.
Will ask England to probe India's fixing attempt charge: FIH The complaint was lodged with the FIH after Indian team manager Jugraj Singh asked HI to take up the matter seriously with the FIH in his post-tournament report.
India skipper Virat Kohli dropped hints that he would like to persist with K L Rahul, who seized the opportunity by scoring a hundred in the absence of the injured Murali Vijay in the second Test, in the third match of the series against the West Indies.
A hoped-for fight to the finish for the year-end number one ranking at next month's ATP World Tour Finals in London will likely be a coronation for Rafael Nadal, who is virtually guaranteed ending 2017 top of the pile.
Punjab rode on a solid batting display to post a massive 560 for 6 declared before reducing Odisha to 110 for 2 in their second innings on Day 3, in their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Mohali on Tuesday.
Defying prohibitory orders, protests were held in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and several other cities. Protesters, mostly students and activists, were detained on a large scale in national capital and other places.
Four key players, including ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh and midfielder S K Uthappa, were dropped from India's 18-man squad for the Hockey World League semi-final, in Antwerp, Belgium, from June 20 to July 5. Besides Rupinder and Uthappa, forwards Mandeep Singh and Satbir Singh got the axe.
India's shaky defence conceded a goal 15 seconds from the hooter to go down 2-3 against Belgium in their opening game of hockey World Cup at the Kyocera Stadium on Saturday.
Promising Delhi batsman Unmukt Chand will lead India 'A' in three one-day matches against a visiting New Zealand 'A', while Abhishek Nayar will captain the side for the three-day and four-day games in the series, starting in Visakhapatnam on August 31. Chand has also been named for three-day and four-day games.
Mayank Markande tops the Paisa Vasool Index at IPL-11. Who are the others?
Three members of a Sikh gang, including a woman, were today convicted of slashing the throat of Lt Gen (retd) Kuldip Singh Brar, the hero of the 1984 Operation Blue Star, in London last year.
The trial of two Sikh men and a woman accused of stabbing Lt Gen (retd) K S Brar, who led 'Operation Blue Star' in London opened on Monday, nine months after the attack.
He was the deserving Man-of-the-match for his explosive half-century but SunRisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner credited his bowlers for setting up the win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League on Monday.
Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front with an unbeaten half-century to steer Mumbai Indians to a hard-earned five-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Mumbai, on Monday.
A grand welcome awaits Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik when she arrives home on Wednesday, with hectic preparations underway to give her a rousing reception at her village Mokhra Khas in Rohtak district. When Sakshi touches down at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi at around 3:50 a.m. tomorrow, as many as five ministers of the BJP Government in Haryana will be there to receive her.