The 16-member Indian squad led by Virat Kohli left for the West Indies to engage the hosts in a four-Test rubber later this month and in August.
Rediff.com brings you a wrap of big stories in pictures with the Best Sports Photos of the Week.
West Indies have dropped batsman Lendl Simmons from their Twenty20 World Cup squad owing to a back injury, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said on Saturday. "The 31-year-old right-handed top-order batsman will remain in Trinidad to continue his rehabilitation," the WICB said. "A replacement player will be named in the coming days," it said in a statement. Simmons, who has played 34 T20Is with a top score of 77, joins all-rounder Kieron Pollard on the sidelines after a knee injury forced him to decline signing a player contract for the tournament in India. Spinner Sunil Narine, who is still working to fix his illegal bowling action, and Darren Bravo, who has opted to focus on the longer formats of cricket, withdrew from the West Indies squad last month.
Root received applause on social media for his stance.
West Indies pace bowler Fidel Edwards removed both Australian openers cheaply in the opening session of the first test on Thursday but visiting skipper Ricky Ponting guided his team to 87 for two at lunch.
West Indies' hopes of winning the World Twenty20 for the second time in four years suffered a setback on Friday when off-spinner Sunil Narine and all-rounder Kieron Pollard pulled out of their squad.
With 35 matches spread over 27 days, World T20 looks set to illustrate once again just how skewed the 20-overs game is against bowlers.
Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru led an African sweep of medals on the final day of the Olympics on Sunday to give his country its first Olympic marathon title.
Check out the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad for IPL 2014.
Australia staged a late innings fightback to seal a one-run victory and a 4-0 one-day series lead against West Indies on Friday. West Indies appeared to be cruising towards a victory target of 283 before Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken claimed a combined two for five in the 48th and 49th overs to put on the brakes.
Stuart Clark took five wickets to help Australia win the first Test against West Indies on Monday by 95 runs after bowling out the hosts for 191 at Sabina Park.
The turning point in the game came in the West Indies innings. The Caribbeans were comfortably-placed, at 103 for one, in the 20th over, with Johnson Charles (60) going from strength to strength.
West Indies have replaced wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin with Shane Dowrich for the four-Test series at home to India.
'He was literally a founding father of our cricket. May he rest in peace'
Indian cricket team, led by skipper Virat Kohli, on Thursday reached St Kitts to play a four-Test bilateral series against the West Indies starting with the opening match at Antigua on July 21.
Viv Richards, West Indies' most successful captain, said on Sunday that it hurt to watch the mistake-ridden current crop of islanders as they lurch towards yet another defeat.
Shannon Gabriel extends unreserved apology to Joe Root for sledging
There are five pacemen and two seam bowling all-rounders, including Ravi Rampaul and Darren Sammy who have played one-dayers and now get a chance to make their Test debuts.
Captain Chris Gayle scored an unbeaten 85 as the West Indies overcame Scotland in the last over, in the quadrangular ODI.
One-Day International career statistics of West Indies' squad for the Champions Trophy.
A dominant Sri Lanka made it to the final of the ICC World T20 for the third time, knocking out defending champions the West Indies by 27 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method after thundershowers stopped proceedings in the 14th over of the second innings.
After skipper Darren Sammy, it was the turn of premier all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to launch a tirade on his country's cricket board stating that 'even Board of Control for Cricket in India does more' for them.
Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who is yet to make a noteworthy contribution in the ongoing World T20, wants to use the home-ground advantage in his stride and deliver in front of his home fans against the West Indies to take his side into the final. "Playing here in front of my home crowd will be excellent, we're looking forward to it," said the Mumbai and Indian batsman. "We've played good cricket overall. I'm sure it's just going to be what people of India will be expecting us to do. "People follow the sport like crazy. They want their team to win, they want to come out and support no matter what, which is good to see. All the venues we've played at we've got tremendous support. It's our responsibility to [win] for them and make them happy," Rohit said. India's rivals the West Indies, meanwhile, were unbeaten till its final group game when it came up against a spirited Afghanistan. Rohit, who has 45 runs from four games in the tournament so far, is fully aware of the kind of threat Darren Sammy's men posses with T20 specialists power-hitters and all-rounders in their rank.
Kareena Kapoor, Nita Ambani and Sangeeta Bijlani were among the celebs who attended Manish Malhotra's stupendous opening show at Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2016.
West Indies beat South Africa by three wickets in a low-scoring thriller in their World Twenty20 Super 10 match on Friday to join New Zealand in the semi-finals. The West Indian attack responded brilliantly to captain Darren Sammy's decision to bowl first on a slow pitch offering help as they restricted South Africa to 122 for eight. The 2012 champions looked comfortable for most of their run chase but leg-spinner Imran Tahir struck twice in consecutive deliveries in his last over to haul his side back into the game.
The West Indies put behind an acrimonious pay dispute with their cricket board to spank World champions India by 124 runs in the first One-day international of the five-match series, at the Nehru stadium in Kochi, on Wednesday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored an unbeaten 45 as India staved off a fightback from the West Indies to win the Group B World Cup match by four wickets at the WACA in Perth on Friday. The victory saw the defending champions maintain their unbeaten run in the tournament and extend their stay at the top of the group.
Social micro-blogging website, Twitter, was flooded with messages and tributes for Australia skipper and class commentator Richie Benaud who died on Thursday. Here is a compilation of tweets celebrating the 'Voice of cricket'.
Darren Bravo provided stubborn resistance to New Zealand's bowlers bringing up his maiden Test double century to ensure West Indies made the hosts bat again and sent the first Test at University Oval in Dunedin into a fifth and final day.
Transcript of the chat with Ganesh Nadar who covered the tsunami-hit Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.
There is not much the bowlers or a captain can do when batsmen of the calibre of AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle are on song.
Sports events produce a multitude of highly amusing and crazy celebrations. Individual and team players have various way of celebrating victory, a goal or point. Some do it with a high-five, blow a kiss, cartwheel or dance. And on the soccer field, it's a soccer ball baby!
Ireland added the West Indies to their list of giant-killing victories after scoring a six-wicket victory over the World Twenty20 champions in the first T20 international at Jamaica's Sabina Park on Wednesday.
The West Indies' Cricket Board hit back at its detractors, insisting it is trying to find ways to keep its best players competing for the national team.
Twenty six years after Sachin Tendulkar was a ball boy at the Wankhede Stadium, his son Arjun was seen on the ground doing the same duty in the iconic batsman's farewell Test in Mumbai on Friday.
Uncapped Evin Lewis has been named to replace the injured Lendl Simmons in the West Indies squad for the World Twenty20 in India. The experienced Simmons was ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury. "The 24-year-old left-handed batsman will join the team ahead of the start of the global event," the West Indies Cricket Board said in a statement. Lewis has represented Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean T20 and the Champions League and impressed chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd, who led West Indies to two 50-over World Cup triumphs. "Evin Lewis a young and exciting batsman who we believe he will fit into the team set-up very well. He has the ability to perform at this level of the game," Lloyd said. "His selection is in keeping with our policy to give exposure to young, talented players we believe will help to carry West Indies cricket forward," he added. All-rounder Kieron Pollard was ruled out of the World Twenty20 due to a knee injury, spinner Sunil Narine is still working to fix his illegal bowling and all-rounder Darren Bravo has opted to focus on the longer formats of the game.
Yuvraj Singh and Hashim Amla will be the star attractions in the Indian Premier League 8 auction, which will see quite a few Indian and international players go under the hammer in Bengaluru on Monday.
Brian Lara is leading the team on the current tour of England but West Indies will not name their Champions Trophy captain until Wednesday.
Dhoni holds the record of winning most matches in all 3 formats -- the first Indian and also the first among current captains from all sides.
