Ravichandran Ashwin has become the fastest Indian bowler to take bag hundred Test wickets during the second match against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
R Ashwin is in line for another player of the series award, says Bikash Mohapatra. After the first two Tests against Australia, has already a tally of 18 wickets, four more than he finished with against England.
For India to successfully defend the top ranking, they will have to draw at least one Test.
The selectors handed out of favour spinner Harbhajan Singh another lifeline when they picked him up in the 15-man Indian squad for the first two Tests against Australia.
The all-rounder also speaks of how coach Ravi Shastri has inspired him and the challenge of opening in Test matches.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh made a comeback to the Indian team, while Virat Kohli took over the captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the forthcoming three-match ODI and T20I series against England, starting in Pune, on January 15.
Ravichandran Ashwin made most of helpful conditions and finished with wonderful figures of four for 40 as Australia struggled to 231 for eight after electing to bat in the fourth Test.
A round-up of final day of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
A dogged half century by R Ashwin helped India avoid the ignominy of an innings defeat in the third Test against England at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Cricketer-turned-commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu says the spirit for which Harbhajan is known for was never visible during the second Test in Mumbai.
India scored a comprehensive innings and 135-runs win over Australia in the second Test at Hyderabad on Tuesday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja produced a mesmerising spell as India crushed a clueless Australia by an innings and 135 runs in less than three and half days to win the second cricket Test and take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
India moved up a rung to fourth in the ICC Test rankings for teams, displacing Pakistan, while veteran Sachin Tendulkar rose three places to 17th in the batsmen's chart. Among the bowlers, off-spinner R Ashwin was rewarded for his match haul of 12 for 198 in the first Test against Australia with a jump to a career-best 11th.
India won the opening match in the four-Test series against Australia by eight wickets on Tuesday. Captain MS Dhoni and spinner R Ashwin were the wreckers-in-chief, as the Aussies were outplayed on a dustbowl of a pitch through the five days of the Test. Rediff.com looks back moments from the memorable victory.
Captain MS Dhoni's heroics with the bat and spinner R Ashwin's 12 wickets in the match, helped India register a comprehensive 8-wicket victory against Australia. Here are a few statistical highlights from Day 5 of the first Test played in Chennai on Tuesday.
Discuss the first Test, with India Abroad's Bikash Mohapatra on Rediff ZaraBol at 14.45 IST.
Statistical highlights from Day 1 of the second Test played between India and England at Wankhede in Mumbai on Friday.
Virat Kohli Foundation has joined hands with Abhishek Bachchan's 'Playing for Humanity' to hold a charity football match which will also feature limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni part from the Test captain and top Bollywood actor like Ranbir Kapoor. The match termed as 'Celebrity Clssico 2016' will take place at the Mumbai Football Arena, Andheri Sports Complex, on Saturday, June 4 with an objective to generate funds for the foundations' charitable initiatives. Virat will lead the All Heart Football Club (a property of The Virat Kohli Foundation) and Bachchan is set to lead All Stars Football Club (run by Playing for Humanity).
Virat Kohli was rested from the three-match T20I series against the West Indies.
The Capitals, which finished third last year, will start their campaign against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday and both Ponting and skipper Shreyas Iyer agreed that R Ashwin and Rahane have been great additions to the young side with their experience.
Rising talent, off-spinner R Ashwin replaced out-of-form senior tweaker Harbhajan Singh in the top bracket of BCCI's list of central retainership contracts, while struggling pacer Ishant Sharma was also demoted from Grade A to B.
Jackie Shroff talks about his much-awaited new film.
Rediff.com's Manu Shankar points to the factors that led to Team India's downfall in the Kolkata Test.
India's No 9 batsman R Ashwin (83 batting) scored a defiant half-century to help India take a 32-run lead in their second innings on Day 4 of the third Test against England on Saturday.
Images from Day Two of the opening Test between India and New Zealand at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Uppal on Friday.
Day Two of the first Test between India and England brought bad news for the visitors. But Cheteshwar Pujara dominated all the headlines.
Both are 26 years of age. They have nothing in common when it comes to their bowling styles, one being an off-spinner and the other a left arm leg-spinner. However, both bowling in tandem have, in the last year, fetched Team India rich dividends.
Showing utter disrespect towards the Indian cricket team, a Bangladeshi newspaper has produced a fake 'cutter' advertisement, in which seven Indian cricketers are seen standing with their heads half-shaven.
Reacting sharply to the innocuous reply from the South African, Ashwin came out with a loaded tweet.
India's spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin (887 points) and Ravindra Jadeja (879 points) held onto the top two slots in the latest ICC's Test ranking for bowlers while skipper Virat Kohli was a rung behind Steve Smith in the batsmen's list.
India No 3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who ground it out on Day 1, scoring 43 off 160 balls, believes that the match is evenly poised after India ended the day at 233 for 6 but conceded that skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane's dismissals in the final hour of the opening day will provide a 'little bit of advantage' to the hosts.
Photos from Super Eights match between India and Pakistan being played in Colombo
Albie Morkel, a regular in the Chennai Super Kings line-up during IPL, says the experience of sharing the dressing room with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, R Ashwin and Suresh Raina will help South Africa when they take on India in their final Super Eight game of the World Twenty20.
It remains to be seen how the BCCI selectors pick the best players for every series in a cramped calendar, where the players have openly stated being fatigued by the bio-bubble life due to non-stop cricket.
.jpg)
'There have been rule changes to what ICC has done to the one-day format, and there is no point in going with same set of skills time and again, unless the game change your skill or let the game take the demand out of you'
If you have a question relating to cricket and did not know who to ask, bounce them off to Rajneesh Gupta. He will pick questions readers send him and provide answers. Your queries should be addressed to: Ask Rajneesh on Facebook or askrajneesh@rediffmail.com Rajneesh replies to questions he received from readers last week:
Team India's policy of rotating its three openers, including Sachin Tendulkar, was again thrown into confusion with offspinner R Ashwin saying that he is not aware of the team's selection policy.
Michael Clarke was the top performer of the day.
After being rattled by Indian off-spinner R Ashwin in the opening Test, New Zealand's cricketers on Monday sweated it out at the nets for two hours to prepare for the second and final Test in Bangalore starting August 31.
Spinners R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha took full advantage of a spinning track to rip through New Zealand's top order and put India in the driver's seat by the end of the second day in the opening Test in Hyderabad on Friday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances