India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin surged to the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after a superb outing in the first Test against the West Indies in Antigua which the visiting side won by an innings and 92 runs.
England's Joe Root has moved to the top of the world Test batting rankings after scoring two centuries and two fifties in the first four Ashes Tests against Australia.
With an unassailable 3-0 lead in hand, India need just one more win to claim their maiden ODI series triumph on South African soil.
Australian opener David Warner and veteran fast bowler Ryan Harris have moved up to career-high positions in the ICC Test player rankings following their impressive contributions in Australia's series-winning third Test defeat of South Africa in Cape Town.
Chris Gayle will return to the top of the batting order as West Indies look to continue their winning run and secure a semifinal berth when they take on South Africa in the ICC World Twenty20 in Nagpur, on Friday.
Stand-in skipper AB de Villiers knocked the stuffing out of England attack with a blistering 28-ball 69 before the bowlers chipped in with useful contributions to propel South Africa to a three-run win and a semifinal berth at the ICC World T20 in Chittagong on Saturday.
'It's a home game for India. There's going up to (almost) 100,000 people here'
Even as South Africa plot India's downfall with the help of Gary Kirsten and Mike Hussey, cricketing greats Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Chappell felt their presence would not make much of a difference to the Proteas' chances in their World Cup game against the holders.
South Africa routed Australia for 85 and then weathered a batting crisis of their own before pushing to a lead of 86 runs after a bowler-dominated opening day of the second Test in Hobart on Saturday.
India aim to stay afloat against daunting South Africa in the second Test
Kagiso Rabada claimed five wickets as South Africa crushed Australia by a huge margin of 177 runs, to win the first Test against Australia, on Day 5 in Perth, on Monday.
Outwitted in both the T20 and the ODI series, India will seek redemption in the Test format by trying to spin a web around the formidable South Africans in the four-match series starting in Mohali, on Thursday.
South Africa pacer Vernon Philander, on Wednesday, questioned India's claims of being fully prepared for the three-match series, saying a fair assessment of where the visitors stand could only be made after the first Test beginning Friday.
For the first time in a decade, South Africa have been forced to acknowledge they are on the decline following back-to-back series losses to India and England that have knocked them off the top of the Test rankings.
He has got a habit of saving his best for the last but Australia opener Chris Rogers this time wants to score a century first up - on the opening day of the upcoming Boxing Day cricket Test against India in Melbourne starting December 26.
'Kohli represents a new generation of young Indians who are willing to play hard, win every match and dominate the rivals,' says Indrajit Gupta.
India will need to win at least a game in the upcoming one-dayer series against Australia to retain their current second position in the ICC ODI Team Championships, even as second-placed Virat Kohli looks to close in on AB de Villiers in the batting chart. World champions Australia go head to head with former winner India in a five-match series in Perth on Tuesday. Australia (127) lead second-ranked India (114) by 13 points and even if they lose all the five matches of the series, they will drop points but still finish a point ahead of India.
Notwithstanding Rajasthan Royals making a match out of the 202-run chase, Sunrisers Hyderabad chief coach Tom Moody said that his team had things under their control through the course of the Indian Premier League match at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai, on Thursday.
South Africa have named teenage speedster Kagiso Rabada in a 14-man squad for their three-match home Test series against West Indies, Cricket South Africa announced on Tuesday.
India's Ravichandran Ashwin has jumped to the number one position in the ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders by virtue of his stellar show in the recently-concluded first Test against the West Indies at Kolkata.
After putting a stop to their prolonged losing streak, Delhi Daredevils will look to carry forward the momentum when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League encounter in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to exploit the home advantage when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Virat Kohli is the lone Indian male cricketer to be shortlisted for the LG ICC Awards 2014 after he was nominated for the ODI Cricketer of the Year category.
The vagaries of the World Cup draw may have helped Pakistan rediscover their swagger at just the right time to push them to the brink of a quarter-final, according to captain Misbah ul-Haq.
AB de Villiers' masterly 85 in his 100th test could not gloss over South Africa's spin frailty as India took charge of the second Test after dominating the opening day at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Delhi-born Shikhar Dhawan calls a leafy Melbourne suburb home for much of the year but on Sunday might have thought he was back in India when feted by a blue-clad horde of fans for a match-winning World Cup ton at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Pretoria wicket is likely to be similar, with perhaps not the same sideways movement of Newlands, and will provide another test of the Indian batsmen's bravery against a seam bowling barrage.
Rookie all-rounder Mitchell Santner and veteran Grant Elliott have been rewarded for their recent strong performances by being included in New Zealand's list of centrally contracted players on Wednesday.
Australian fast bowler Ryan Harris, who bowled his country to a series victory in South Africa last week, is hoping knee surgery will prolong his Test career through the 2015 Ashes at least.
JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Wayne Parnell and Vernon Philander put South Africa on top as they reduced Australia to 112 for four on the second day of the second Test at St George's Park on Friday.
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