Apart from having a balanced squad, familiar conditions and strong home support will be the key factors as India seek to win the upcoming ICC World Cup and break a 28-year-old jinx, feels seamer Munaf Patel.
Lonwabo Tsotsobe claimed 13 wickets to emerge as the most valuable player (MVP) of the South Africa-India ODI series. Morne Morkel, who was picked as the man of the series, is second on the list, and India's Munaf Patel is fourth in a series dominated by bowlers.
With the help of statistics, Aabhas Sharma analyses four knotty questions the selection of the Indian team for World Cup 2011 has thrown up.
Statistical highlights of the third One-day International between India and South Africa in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Having levelled the five-match series with a thrilling one-run victory in the last game, an injury-hit India goes into the third One-Day International against South Africa, in Cape Town, with the form of their top order batsmen continuing to be a worry.
India went on to maintain its 100 per cent winning rate against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup after defeating them by 29 runs in the semi-final clash at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
The absence of Zaheer Khan and S Sreesanth provides the young pacers in the squad an opportunity to prove their worth in the Test series against Sri Lanka, says India captain M S Dhoni.
Statistical highlights of Sunday's Indian Premier League match between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals in Bloemfontein.
Ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly and Baroda's Krunal Pandya were among a host of cricketers who have come to aid of former India player Jacob Martin, who is in a critical condition in a Baroda hospital
Images from the India vs Australia, 5th ODI in Hyderabad on Thursday.
With no domestic cricket taking place for the next few months, it is imperative that the BCCI does a rethink of its decision to disallow players from traveling to England. After all, playing even a few competitive matches in the county circuit is better than just lumbering up in the nets at the NCA.
RP Singh has been ruled out with an abdominal strain while Sreesanth hasn't fully recovered from a shoulder injury.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat first against Sri Lanka in the second one-day international in Colombo on Saturday. The visitors, who won the first game by six wickets in Dambulla, made two changes to their team, opener Virender Sehwag returning from injury in place of Rohit Sharma and seam bowler Praveen Kumar replacing the injured Munaf Patel.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field against England in the fifth One-Day International at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack on Wednesday. India brought in left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan in place of Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma replaced the in-form Gautam Gambhir.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first in Sunday's tri-series ODI against India.
Skipper Irfan Pathan led from the front with a four-wicket haul as Baroda dismissed Maharashtra for 207 in their second innings on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match in Pune on Thursday. Chasing a paltry 101 for victory, Baroda were 2 for 1 at the draw of stumps.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first Test at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.
Munaf Patel bowled a brilliant last over while Shane Warne overcame a hamstring injury to win his personal duel with Sachin Tendulkar as Rajasthan Royals edged out Mumbai Indians by two runs in an IPL edge-of-the-seat thriller in Durban on Thursday.
Paceman RP Singh was on Monday rewarded for his consistent performance in the ongoing IPL with a recall while fellow-speedster Munaf Patel was dropped from India's 15-member squad for next month's Twenty20 World Cup in England.
Sreesanth is open to playing in overseas leagues and coaching roles
"I'm not God. I have a right to fail," said Sachin Tendulkar replying to if he would get a triple or quadruple century.
India's practice session woes continued as opener Gautam Gambhir was struck on the head by a quick bouncer from Munaf Patel in Vadodara on Saturday.
Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh made a comeback into the Indian ODI squads for the five-match series against Sri Lanka and the forthcoming 2008 ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Under-19 World Cup winning captain Virat Kohli was the surprise inclusion in both the squads.
Munaf Patel and Sudeep Tyagi wreaked havoc with seven scalps between them as India Red won the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy, steamrolling Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Blue team-mates by seven wickets in an extremely lop-sided final in Nagpur, on Sunday.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth One-Day International in Hamilton on Wednesday. The Indian team effected two changes in the squad, bringing in Rohit Sharma for the injured Sachin Tendulkar and replacing Munaf Patel with a fit-again Ishant Sharma.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand in the first One-Day International in Napier on Tuesday. For India, pacer Ishant Sharma was rested after injuring his shoulder during the second Twenty20 International against New Zealand. He was replaced by Praveen Kumar, while Munaf Patel took the place of Irfan Pathan. Sachin Tendulkar, who missed out on the last two one-dayers against Sri Lanka, also returns to the Indian team.
Ravindra Jadeja's gutsy 77 and Munaf Patel's brisk unbeaten 36 guided Rest of India to 260 in their first innings on the opening day of their Irani Trophy match against Ranji Champions Mumbai in Nagpur on Thursday.
Medium pacer Munaf Patel, who is nursing a groin injury, will leave the tour of Sri Lanka mid-way to return home for rehabilitation and Tamil Nadu paceman Laxmipathy Balaji will replace him in Colombo. Munaf's injury was first noticed after the first ODI in Dambulla, where he bowled five overs and conceded 32 runs without taking any wicket. He missed the second match.
India handed Manoj Tiwary his one-day international debut against Australia in the opening match of the tri-series.
Kirsten is confident that barring any injuries in the next few days the Indian bowlers are capable of putting up a good showing in the upcoming Test series against Australia.
The victorious Indian team got a rousing welcome on Wednesday night when it arrived back home after the triumphant tour of New Zealand.
India might have scored a thrilling victory against Sri Lanka in the second one-dayer on Wednesday, but it turned costly for pacer Munaf Patel who was fined 75 per cent of his match fee for arguing with the umpire.
India won the toss and elected to bat. Batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh, and bowlers Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma were named in the side.
The selection committee, which met in Bangalore on Wednesday, also retained Anil Kumble captain for the Test series in Australia.
The warm-up one-day match between England and a RCA President's XI will be held in Jaipur on March 25.
Yusuf Pathan and Pragyan Ojha are the new faces in the India one-day squad for the tri-series in Bangladesh and subsequent Asia Cup in Pakistan. Sachin Tendulkar has been ruled out of the two tournaments because of a niggling groin injury, while former captains Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have once again been left out of the 15-member squad.
Reader Farrukh Firoz sent us these pictures from London.
India made two changes to their side with opener Virender Sehwag recalled for Praveen Kumar and S Sreesanth replacing Munaf Patel.
Munaf had an altercation with Delhi opener Akash Chopra, forcing Sehwag to intervene. The pacer reportedly mouthed something foul to Sehwag, which infuriated the Delhi camp.
Delhi captain Virendra Sehwag has lodged a complaint against a Rest of India player for his ungentlemanly conduct during the ongoing Irani Trophy match in Vadodara. Match Referee Rajendra Jadeja confirmed on Friday that a complaint was lodged at the end of play on Day 2 of the match, but refused to divulge details. He said he would do so only after analyzing the complaint.
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