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.
Pandya's aggressive batting powered India to 487 all out after starting the day at 329 for six. The memorable knock was also Pandya's first ever hundred in first class cricket.
Young pacer Tushar Deshpande recorded his career-best figures of six for 70 to help Mumbai earn a sizeable first innings lead against Railways on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter in New Delhi on Saturday.
India's batting woes in South Africa continued as the visitors folded up for 187 on Day 1.
Faced with the prospect of a humiliating 0-3 series whitewash, a desperate India would be aiming to bounce back to winning ways against an unrelenting South Africa in the third and final Test, starting in Johannesburg, on Wednesday.
Nostalgia and anecdotes, given to us by cricket's great writers, do much greater justice to the game.
With Tetley, Essilor and other brands seeking him out, Ganguly is the highest paid endorser among retired cricketers.
Kolkata Knight Riders spinners dominated to reduce Rising Pune Supergiants to 103/6 in 17.4 overs before rain stopped play in the Indian Premier League game at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday. Both teams had to share a point each and as result of which KKR rises to third spot in the points table. Piyush Chawla claimed 2/21 and bowled 13 dot balls while Sunil Narine, who returned after two matches, gave away a miserly 10 runs from 3.4 overs as Pune Supergiants struggled to break free. Skipper MS Dhoni was in the midst of Pune's terrible struggle as he crawled to eight runs from 22 balls. Pune were however looking good at 70/3 and when Dhoni walked in they were 74/4 in 10.3 overs but by the time the rain interrupted the proceedings their run-rate had slipped to less than six.
Differing from the views expressed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly, his predecessor Mohammed Azharuddin today said Mahendra Singh Dhoni has achieved so much in his career as a cricketer and he should be allowed to take a call on his future. "It's Ganguly's personal decision (opinion) and I respect it. At the same time it all depends on Dhoni, on what he thinks about his future. I respect Ganguly's opinion, but I feel Dhoni should be given the chance to decide when to retire," said Azhar on the sidelines of a function to announce the joining of racer Nayan Chatterjee with Meco Motor Sports. "He (Dhoni) deserves that chance. He has been one of the finest captains ever. He has won all major tournaments, got India to the no.1 position in all formats of the game. I think we should not forget his performances," said Azhar in support of the current ODI and T20 captain, who has retired from Test cricket. "It's very hard for me to say. It totally depends on Dhoni, how he feels mentally or how demanding the sport is going to become. We have to give that chance to Dhoni to take the decision on his retirement," the former wristy batsman said.
The India Test spinner had one wicket to show in 21 overs during Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy Group B match against Madhya Pradesh.
Steven Smith scored a brilliant century (192) as Australia recorded a massive 530 in the first innings as Indian bowlers were hammered all over the park. Losing the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan (28), India ended the day on 108 for 1 in their reply. Check out some of the images from the second day's play of the 3rd Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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.
Modi sought the cooperation of public in making the "war on corruption" a success and said the wrongdoings of some are being caught only with the support of common people who are coming forward with concrete information about hoarders.
'It's been a tough tour. When you lose games of cricket it becomes very hard and it can be quite a lonely place. You've got to give credit to India'
India return to place from where journey to glory began.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli has said that his batsmen will have to take more responsibility on a "result-oriented" green wicket laid out for the second Test against the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.
Delhi missed a golden opportunity to register an outright win as Assam managed to sneak home with a point defending a target of 79 in 14 overs during final hour of play, on Monday.
Saurashtra seamers Jaydev Unadkat, Shaurya Sanandia and Chirag Jani shared seven wickets among them to bundle out Haryana for 140 in their second innings and lift their team to an innings and 31-run victory on the third day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match, on Sunday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji's Most Valuable Player Index after the South Africa ODIs presents a depressing view of the Indian players' showing in the first half of the ongoing tour
Talented Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma made a comeback to the Test squad for the West Indies series, which will also mark the farewell and landmark 200th Test of batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, next month.
India started their limited-overs tour of Australia on a positive note, comprehensively beating a second-string Western Australia XI by 74 runs in a Twenty20 warm-up game on Friday with Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan striking fluent half-centuries.
Yuvraj Singh made a sensational return to international cricket, blasting his way to an unbeaten 35-ball 77 as India beat Australia by six wickets in a high-scoring one-off T20, in Rajkot, on Thursday.
Chennai Super Kings became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 after scoring a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat in a Group B match in Ranchi.
Surprised by the amount of turn his spinners managed to extract from the pitch in the third ODI win against England, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they will have to work on delivering similar performances on tracks which may not be as helpful.
He could be overtaken by Sunrisers Hyderabad Captain Kane Williamson (760) or Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Sunil Narine (703) or even the intrepid Ambati Rayadu (675) of the Chennai Super Kings.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra is disappointed that the good showing of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and him in the ongoing Test series against South Africa hasn't got the credit it deserves.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who claimed five for 32 in South Africa's paltry first innings of 79, says the home side needs to be patient on Day 3 as things will be different in the second innings. Harish Kotian reports from Nagpur.
Former India player and Haryana captain Ajay Jadeja made a fine comeback to domestic cricket after six years as he led his side to a 62-run win over Hyderabad at the Buchi Baby cricket tournament in Chennai, on Friday.
A formidable Indian cricket team is likely to revel in home conditions, as they prepare to host and dominate New Zealand in the first Test in Kanpur, from Thursday, heralding the beginning of a long 13-match home season.
Despite the technological hype, it is still extremely tough to connect with the virtual characters, especially Rajinikanth, whose larger-than-life persona cannot be captured by any path-breaking technology
The reasons for India's poor show in England lie between a very demanding captain, a very smug coach and inadequate coaching staff, says Sudhir Bisht.
Eager to see how Virat Kohli shapes up as a leader, former Sri Lankan batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana said India's new firebrand cricket captain looks hungry for wins.
At the conclusion of the Asia Cup, Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji make an assessment after 36 matches India has played so far in the 2013-14 season.
Ishank Jaggi scored an unbeaten century while Ishan Kishan made 83 to hand Jharkhand the crucial first innings lead over Haryana in a Ranji Trophy match.
India might have been thoroughly outplayed in the ODI series in Australia, but former Australia batsman Dean Jones said the visitors will do much better in the three T20 Internationals as they have a balanced side, which was missing in the One-dayers.
Young opener Prithvi Shaw underlined his class with a century against a quality Tamil Nadu attack to lead Mumbai to 314 for seven on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group C match in Mumbai.
The series already in their pocket and the number one ranking cemented, a dominant India go into the third Test against New Zealand in Indore on Saturday, aiming yet another clean sweep of a Test rubber at home. The hosts had blanked Australia 4-0 in 2012-13 and the West Indies in the next season. They nearly repeated the feat against South Africa last year and this impressive history in recent past makes India favourites in the first-ever Test being hosted by this city which has a long tradition in the game.
Rising Pune Supergiants will stand in the way of Kolkata Knight Riders's revival when they clash in an Indian Premier League T20 match?
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji check out how Team India fared on the Sri Lanka tour and find out which cricketers were truly valuable to the team.
