Nothing but a win will keep their play-off hopes alive as defending champions Mumbai Indians take on Gujarat Lions in a do-or-die battle, which will be their final IPL league match in Kanpur on Saturday. With seven wins in 13 matches, Mumbai are currently placed fifth, tied on 14 points with Royal Challengers Bangalore (3rd) and Kolkata Knight Riders (4th) -- both having better net run-rate with one match to go. A loss on Saturday will knock them out of the race for play-offs and Mumbai will hope to pull the rug from under the feet of the Lions this time after suffering a defeat during their home leg on April 16.
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.
Mumbai Indians will look to continue their rampaging run when they take on the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad.
New Zealand are looming as the popular dark horses for the cricket World Cup.
Pakistan will be desperately looking to ensure the painful defeat to India becomes a distant past when they run into an in-form New Zealand in Mohali on Tuesday with an aim to bounce back into the World Twenty20 and pacify their bitter fans back home. Pakistan are coming into the Group 2 Super 10 game having suffered their 11th defeat to the arch-rivals in ICC's world events. The 2009 champions entered the tournament after an early elimination in the Asia Cup. On the other hand, the New Zealanders are on a roll with two massive wins over hosts India and Australia, making them one of the strong contenders to lift the coveted trophy on April 3. Another win and they will be in the knockout stages of the mega-event. New Zealand have emerged as the team to beat after the stunned tournament favourites India first up, before getting the better of traditional rivals Australia in a trans-Tasman battle.
The trophy for their two Twenty20 matches in the Dubai, starting Thursday, is being dedicated in memory of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, who died last week after being hit on the head by a bouncer during a domestic match.
New Zealand named a virtually unchanged squad for the upcoming ODI series against India, with the selectors keeping faith in players who drew the recent five-match home assignment against the West Indies.
The board has formulated new sports guidelines for schools mandating them to have a daily sports period for class 9 to 12 so as to prevent students from having a sedentary lifestyle and turning into couch potatoes.
England face unbeaten New Zealand in the first semi-final of 2016 World T20 at New Delhi's Ferozshah Kotla Stadium on March 30. While England have been champions in 2010, New Zealand will be eyeing their first World T20 title. Following is a factbox of the two teams:
Rohit Sharma is likely to miss his third game in a row when Mumbai Indians take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday with both teams aiming to secure their spot in the IPL play-offs.
Table-toppers Mumbai Indians are on course to make it to the play-offs but the game is crucial for Rajasthan, who are languishing in seventh place. Defeat would mean a step closer to elimination.
New Zealand pacer Adam Milne has been rendered doubtful for the rest of the ODI series against India after he sustained a side strain during the first ODI of the five-match rubber in Napier.
In the event of Narine missing out again, Mumbai will fancy their chances even more at the Sheikh Zayed stadium, where skipper Rohit Sharma has scored both his half-centuries this season.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma chose not to be harsh on his batsmen and gave full credit to his bowlers for defending a modest total of 142 against Delhi Daredevils in an Indian Premier League match, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Rajasthan Royals may need to rejig their Indian line-up slightly when they try to pull their IPL campaign out of the current rot against a supremely confident Mumbai Indians,
CSK have been on a roll with three wins on the trot that have boosted them to the top of the table.
Injured New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson joined the Mumbai Indians squad at its optional practice session in Mumbai on the eve of their crucial Indian Premier League match against Delhi Daredevils at the Wankhede Stadium, on Monday.
Erratic Sunrisers Hyderabad look to bounce back against inconsistent Mumbai Indians.
New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has reportedly been named the country's Player of the Year twice at the annual New Zealand Cricket Awards in Auckland for the 2013-14 season, topping in every category he was nominated in.
Mumbai Indians have an eight-match winning streak against Kolkata Knight Riders with an overall 18-5 head-to-head record.
They stand on the opposite ends of IPL's success spectrum but there is little to separate between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in the tournament's 13th edition as they head into a blockbuster Qualifier 1 match, in Dubai, on Thursday.
CSK would be looking to continue the momentum.
Mumbai Indians had roared back to form after thrashing RCB by five-wickets in the last game, there are problems aplenty for DC.
Grace and strength will be on one side while poise and killer instinct on the other when a revamped Kolkata Knight Riders take on champions Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, on Wednesday.
Hashim Amla's superb 103 enabled Punjab put up a competitive 198 for 4 in 20 overs but Buttler made a mockery of the target with Mumbai Indians knocking off the runs in only 15.3 overs.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting began his new innings as the head coach of the Mumbai Indians who commenced their training at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the Indian Premier League season 8, scheduled to start on April 8.
The unmatched legacy and hegemony created by the galacticos of Mumbai Indians will be thoroughly challenged by a young Mumbaikar Shreyas Iyer, who will lead a passionate-but-unpredictable Delhi Capitals in a cracker of an Indian Premier League final, in Dubai, on Tuesday.
Mumbai Indians enter the match high on confidence following successive victories over holders Chennai Super Kings and last edition's finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad.
A modest New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has said his team was "fortunate" to be playing on similar wickets after pulling off a dramatic victory over Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 in Dharamsala on Friday.
The Pune outfit is presently languishing at the sixth spot in the eight-team standings with just four points.
Mumbai Indians are all set to open the defense of their title against new outfit Rising Pune Supergiants.
New Zealand pacemen Trent Boult and Grant Elliott shared seven wickets as the hosts bundled out Pakistan for 210 to win the first one-day international at the pacy Basin Reserve by 70 runs on Monday.
Sandeep Lamichhane continued his rapid rise in international cricket as he was named in the ICC World XI squad to take on the West Indies in a charity T20 International on May 31.
Rohit Sharma laid the foundation with a stylish half-century as Mumbai Indians romped home against Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in an Indian Premier League encounter.
Left-arm pacer Mitchel McClenaghan said that his Mumbai Indians team-mate Kieron Pollard's 47-ball 70 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match was one of the best knocks he had seen as it had come on a difficult wicket in Bengaluru.
Despite the win against KXIP, RCB remain at the bottom of the points table and remain to win all their remaining league games to have any hopes of progressing in the tournament.
CSK's Harbhajan Singh and Mumbai Indians' Lasith Malinga were among the other big names to be released by their respective sides ahead of next month's auction.
Royal Challengers Bangalore pacers blew away the Mumbai Indians' top order before shining in the death overs to set up a much-needed 14-run win, which kept them alive in the Indian Premier League Play-offs race, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
However, Mumbai will take heart from the fact that they defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings, their first loss in four games, in the last match.
Kings XI retains Chris Gayle. Steve Smith returns to the IPL. Delhi Daredevils sacks 10 players!
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