Kolkata Knight Riders will begin their title defence against a formidable Mumbai Indians side in the opening match of the eighth edition of Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Australian cricket officials were put on alert after the number of cases in the northern beaches outbreak in Sydney reached 28 on Friday.
India can seek motivation from the fact that they can claim the top spot in the ICC Twenty20 International rankings if they make a clean sweep in the three-match series that begins on January 26.
Veteran opener David Warner produced a feisty unbeaten 89 as Australia registered an emphatic eight-wicket win against West Indies to boost their semi-final hopes, at the T20 World Cup, in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Backing Shaun Tait's surprise return to the Australian T20 squad for the three-match series against India, former pacer Jason Gillespie said the tearaway speedster will cause a lot of damage on Indian tracks if he makes the squad for the World T20 starting March 8.
Australia's hopes of winning back respect and moving on from a ball-tampering scandal that plunged the team into disgrace face their first test on Sunday when Tim Paine's rebuilding side meet Pakistan in the series-opener in Dubai.
Former Australia captain Steve Waugh believes that the return of Steve Smith Smith and David Warner will make opponents wary of the country's team at the upcoming ICC World Cup.
Australia coach Justin Langer said that England are obviously the red-hot favourites going into the World Cup and said the team deserves to be the number one team in the world.
Shane Watson's international future looked bleak on Monday after the all-rounder was left out of Australia's 13-man squad for this month's one-day series against India on Monday.
Australia need five wickets in the second Test to secure a series-levelling victory with India's daunting run chase on a menacing pitch teetering at stumps on day four on Monday.
Images from the fifth One-Day International between Australia and India in Sydney, on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma's second successive century was once again overshadowed by Australia's collective batting might as the hosts continued their dominance over Indian bowlers to notch up a seven-wicket victory in the second One-Day International in Brisbane.
Australia batsman Glenn Maxwell claimed Indian batsmen, including Virat Kohli, who has scored two centuries in the series so far, are 'milestone-driven'. Do you agree?
All-rounder Asela Gunaratne struck a superb 84 off 46 balls to inspire Sri Lanka to a dramatic two-wicket victory over Australia in the second Twenty20 International in South Geelong, Victoria on Sunday.
Sri Lanka beat Australia off last ball to win first T20
India and Australia play their opening T20 match In Ranchi on Saturday. And, although the visitors have added fresh faces to their squad for the three-match series, India are clearly the dominant side in this match-up.
James Faulkner, man-of-the-match in the 2015 World Cup final against New Zealand, has been omitted from the 15-man squad named on Thursday, with selectors opting for all-rounders Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.
KKR are placed at the sixth spot with 12 points and they will not only have to win but do it with a big margin
Paine replaced Smith as Test captain after the tampering scandal broke during the third Test of the South Africa tour in March.
Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Gujarat Lions by four wickets to enter the final of the Indian Premier League.
For the Gujarat Lions to roar, their top-heavy batting order must first win in unison against a consistent KKR bowling attack.
Dinesh Karthik led the way with a fluent half-century while Praveen Kumar produced a superb spell with the ball as Gujarat Lions snapped their three-match losing streak to reclaim the top spot with a comfortable five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
Maxwell became Australia's first player to score three T20 centuries on Wednesday with an unbeaten 55-ball knock of 113 in the seven-wicket win over Virat Kohli's team in Bengaluru.
Australia's pace sensation Mitchell Johnson will reportedly compete with teammate David Warner as the country's most valuable Twenty20 player at next month's Indian Premier League player auction following a successful return to the elite ranks of international cricket.
For Kohli, who led India to their first Test series victory in Australia but skipped the second half of the New Zealand tour, the series will be the last chance to identify the batsman to fill a middle order spot in an otherwise settled side.
'It's just frustrating; I'd imagine it's frustrating for everyone.'
Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets to snap their five-match losing streak in the IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Reaction after Cricket Australia (CA) banned sacked captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner for 12 months and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft for nine months for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that a cricket Combine will take place in Indianapolis, USA, in September to select an ICC Americas representative team.
Not only were Royal Challengers Bangalore outplayed in all departments by Delhi Capitals, Virat Kohli was outdone by his opposite number Shreyas Iyer.
SunRisers Hyderabad has the biggest purse while Kolkata Knight Riders has the slimmest purse.
Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne missed individual centuries but forged Australia's highest partnership of the summer to earn the hosts a handy first innings lead against Sri Lanka on day two of the series opening day-night Test on Friday.
Opener David Warner thumped a maiden Twenty20 international century as Australia kicked off their home summer with a ruthless 134-run thrashing of Sri Lanka, at Adelaide Oval, on Sunday.
The Virat Kohli-led RCB has won five of its eight games on the back of all-round performances but seemingly blundered in the eight-wicket defeat to laggards KXIP on Thursday.
The preparation of former Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians for the eight edition of the Twenty20 tournament gathered pace as newly recruited bowling coach Shane Bond joined the side.
'You could argue that middle-order role is one of the hardest in any cricket team. That's what we've identified, we've got to give guys a go.'
A look at Royal Challengers Bangalore's IPL record over the years.
