India's bowling coach Bharat Arun is confident that the team's speed merchants Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav will take up the challenge to maintain speed as well as be accurate in the upcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka, starting on August 12 at Galle.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy group matches played on Thursday.
Ishant Sharma bagged seven wickets as India scored a thumping 95-run victory over England in the second Test at Lord's on Monday.
Paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar scalped four wickets as India hit back with two late strikes to wrest the initiative on Day 2 of the second Test against England despite Gary Ballance's gutsy century at Lord's, on Friday.
Even as they struggle to find the winning formula, laggards Kings XI Punjab will still fancy their chances when they host Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Mohali on Monday.
Former Sri Lanka captain attributes the Indian team's debacle in the first two Tests against England to lack of preparation.
Indian opener K L Rahul hit pay dirt with a Rs 11 crore deal with Kings XI Punjab, while controversial England all-rounder Ben Stokes also triggered a bidding war before going to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 12.50 crore at the IPL auctions, in Bengaluru, on Saturday.
England pacer James Anderson described the conditions on Day 2 of the second Test against India at Lord's as perfect for bowling and said his side would have bowled out any batting line-up in the world under similar circumstances.
Kings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 22 runs in a rain-truncated Indian Premier League game in Mohali.
India last won a Test series in England in 2007 under Rahul Dravid, and it will be no easy task ahead of the Virat Kohli-led side to replicate that feat.
While South Africa grabbed a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, the visitors squandered a golden opportunity to script a memorable win outside the sub-continent.
Indian batsmen frittered away the initial advantage before reaching 248 for six against a disciplined Australia to leave the fourth and final cricket Test evenly poised, in Dharamsala, on Sunday.
India and Pakistan were supposed to play a bilateral series this month but the planned rubber did not go ahead after the Indian government withheld permission for the same.
The Indian top-order failed to convert good starts but Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane struck morale-boosting fifties ahead of the Test series as the visiting team's two-day practice match against New Zealand XI ended in a tame draw in Whangarei on Monday.
Skipper Parthiv Patel struck an exemplary fifty, while Axar Patel chipped in with an unbeaten 36, after picking two crucial wickets, as Gujarat edged out Vidarbha by two wickets and advanced to the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-day tournament, in Alur, Karnataka, on Thursday.
Indian bowlers, with the exception of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, were far from impressive as they struggled for wickets on the third and final day of the second tour match against the West Indies Board President's XI which ended in a draw in Basseterre, St. Kitts on Saturday.
- 'Yuvraj's ommission from the sqaud was shocking' - 'Over the years we just neither showed enough vision nor bothered to nurture talented players' - 'Australia and South Africa have good chance to win'
Swapnil Singh broke an eleven-year jinx as he scored his maiden first class century, a knock of 164 without a blemish, to help Baroda take a massive first innings lead of 404 runs against Mumbai on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy Group C match.
Having ensured three points by virtue of 104-run first innings lead by the end of the third day, Mumbai decided against sporting declaration reaching 321 for 5 when captains decided to call time.
