India finally made their presence felt as they thrashed Afghanistan by 66 runs on Wednesday to keep alive their slim hopes of reaching the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals.
Much was expected from a revamped Kolkata Knight Riders set-up but it seemed Dinesh Karthik did not learn from his past mistakes
Rishabh Pant's brute power will be put to test against Rashid Khan's bagful of tricks in an IPL encounter where Delhi Capitals will start as favourites against SunRisers Hyderabad due to their better bowling resources.
With 871 rating points, Virat Kohli is at the top followed by Rohit (855) and Pakistan's Babar Azam (829).
Trinbago Knight Riders have ownership the same as IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders while the Zouks are owned by the same promoters as Kings XI Punjab.
The 31-year-old Asghar had replaced Nabi as captain in 2015.
KXIP got its campaign back on track with three consecutive wins -- over mighty Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore and the KL Rahul-led side would be hoping to carry the winning momentum forward to break into top four.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who is a popular name among T20 leagues around the world, was not picked along Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
CSK and Sunrisers Hyderabad (since inception) have traditionally been two of the most balanced sides in most IPL editions but both have ensured scratchy starts this year
Afghanistan beat Pakistan by 22 runs on Thursday to reach the final of the Asian Games cricket tournament as the war-torn nation's battling team continued their fairytale rise in the sport.
Afghanistan gave away 35 extras, which proved to be Sri Lanka's second top scorer
Smith's player of the match effort of 211 and 82 runs in the two innings has lifted him to 937 rating points, only 10 less than his all-time best aggregate achieved in December 2017.
A desperate Sunrisers Hyderabad would seek inspiration from skipper David Warner to arrest any further slide when they take on Punjab Kings in an IPL match, in Chennai, on Wednesday.
Getting the combination right would be topmost on Sunrisers Hyderabad's to-do list when they take on a qualitatively superior Mumbai Indians in an IPL encounter in Chennai on Saturday, trying to arrest an early slide after back-to-back defeats.
Images from the T20 World Cup match between Afghanistan and New Zealand, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.
While Gurkeerat Mann played second fiddle, Shimron Hetmyer took charge and battered the bowling all around the park.
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between India and Afghanistan, in Abhu Dhabi, on Wednesday.
'While you're playing in the middle it is simple -- just play your game and choose bowlers that we want to hit first and obviously, (Mohammad) Nabi and Rashid (Khan) were the best bowlers on their side. It was an interesting game and I'm happy that we won'
One of the most consistent teams in the Indian Premier League over the last five years, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to improve upon their middle-order batting in the upcoming 14th edition of the T20 league.
A win against Mumbai Indians should be enough to send Sunrisers into the final-four.
Indian chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who played a key role in India's series win over West Indies, on Monday, leapfrogged 14 places to a career-high 23rd in the latest ICC T20 rankings.
Having suffered back-to-back defeats against Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Capitals will aim to get back to winning ways against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Debutants Afghanistan made an impressive start to their World Twenty20 campaign, beating Ireland by five wickets in a warm-up match in Guyana on Wednesday.
A new captain in the saddle, Kolkata Knight Riders would look to sort out their batting woes and strive for consistency when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad in an intriguing mid-table Indian Premier League clash, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma is in sublime form and he can pummel any attack into submission on his day.
Skipper David Warner felt Sunrisers Hyderabad were were probably 20-30 runs short in the loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Images from Saturday's IPL match between SunRisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Abu Dhabi.
England cruised to a nine-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their final World Cup warm-up at The Oval on Monday after a Jofra Archer-led bowling attack restricted the underdogs to 160.
Afghanistan roared into the main draw of the World Twenty20 with an emphatic 59-run victory over Zimbabwe in a first round Group B match on Saturday. Mohammad Shahzad (40) gave Afghanistan a flying start before Mohammad Nabi (52) and Samiullah Shenwari (43) added 98 runs off 64 balls to power them to 186-6, their highest total in this format. The associate nation then returned to bowl out Zimbabwe for 127 to register a memorable victory over a full-member nation and join England, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka in Group One of the Super 10 stage of the tournament. "This was a very important match for us. People in Afghanistan are crazy about cricket. They love the game, so (winning it) was very important for us," victorious captain Asghar Stanikzai said. With a place in the main draw at stake, Stanikzai opted to bat and was vindicated as Shahzad set alight Nagpur's VCA Stadium with his swashbuckling batting. The portly 28-year-old hit Tendai Chatara for four successive boundaries after a quiet opening over, forcing the pacer off attack. Donald Tiripano was pressed into service but there was no respite from Shahzad who hit him for three successive fours. Shahzad greeted left-arm spinner Sean Williams by hitting his first delivery for a six but fell in the same over after a 23-ball blitz attempting a reverse sweep.
Images from Sunday's IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Chennai.
Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to strike a perfect balance under the astute leadership of Eoin Morgan when they open their IPL campaign against a consistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Sunday.
This was Sri Lanka's second loss in as many matches, and, as a consequence, they have been knocked out of the tournament.
Specially designated global terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a reward of $10 million US bounty on his head, is the acting interior minister while his uncle -- Khalil Haqqani -- has been named as acting minister for refugees.
Warner and Bairstow put on 185 in just 16.2 overs in a 118-run victory over Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore, surpassing Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn's opening stand of 184 against Gujarat Lions in the 2017 season.
Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi was almost lost for words after his side qualified for the 2015 ICC World Cup on Friday.
Images from Monday's match between Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Mohali.
Rajasthan Royals, struggling at the penultimate spot on the points table after two wins and four straight defeats, need something special against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sunday's IPL match in Dubai.
Simmons, who took over the position in December 2017, said he has achieved his target of taking Afghanistan to the World Cup and the time is ripe for him to leave.
The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League will commence, on Saturday, April 7 and will end on 27th May
RCB suffered four consecutive defeats to finish the league stage at the fourth spot, SRH registered a hat-trick of wins to edge past Virat Kohli's men in the standings.
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