India and Pakistan were supposed to play a bilateral series this month but the planned rubber did not go ahead after the Indian government withheld permission for the same.
Phillip Hughes's tragic death cast a shadow over an eventful year that saw Ashes rivals Australia and England brawl on the field and bond off it, joining India to pull off a bloodless coup and take charge of the game.
'The Thai junta, who immediately took control of the operations in a military manner, took the decision to involve the best world professionals for the rescue.' 'This made a huge difference.' 'It is highly probable that in India, the authorities would have said, "We have the expertise, we don't need foreign aid",' says Claude Arpi.
The second Test between Australia and New Zealand fizzled out in a draw on Tuesday but not before Mitchell Johnson gave one last reminder of his bowling prowess on the day he announced his retirement from international cricket.
'Whoever, I guess, masters the mind games the best will be the one who ends up with the best career record'
The best they can do, in the event they defeat Australia and line up for the semi-final in Sydney, is summon spinner Saeed Ajmal.
It was Pakistan's last roll of the dice that saw them throw Sarfraz Ahmed into the role of opener at the World Cup and the gamble looks to be paying off.
Boosted by their 3-0 clean sweep of Australia Down Under, a confident India would seek to continue their winning momentum when they take on a depleted and new-look Sri Lanka in the first of three T20 Internationals, in Pune, on Tuesday.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Images from the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
Captain Virat Kohli on Saturday made it clear that fighting spirit alone cannot make up for India's poor bowling, which needs to improve 'big time'.
Gearing up for the pace test that awaits India in Australia come December, batsman Rohit Sharma said the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle would be a tough challenge to deal with but the Indians are no longer intimidated by bouncy tracks Down Under.
Singling out one key area where the Indian team was found wanting during its last tour to Australia, fast bowling great Jeff Thomson today said that the attack, spearheaded by Ishant Sharma, lacked in discipline.
All set to defend their cricket World Cup crown in less than a month, India will get their preparations underway with the aim of finding the right combination for the marquee event.
"To me it was a real surprise. I thought he will play for one or two more years in Test cricket as he's a very fit person," said former captain and ex-chief selector Vengsarkar.
Upbeat after convincingly winning the One-Day International series 4-0, Australia's Twenty20 captain Aaron Finch is confident that the hosts can handle the more experienced Indian reinforcements in Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina who have joined the visitors for the three-match rubber starting in Adelaide, on Tuesday.
Josh Hazlewood and Brad Haddin set new milestones as Australia, replying to India's first innings score of 408, ended Day 2 in the second Test at the Gabba on 221 for four. Check out the day's days statistical highlights.
Despite crushing South Africa comprehensively in the recent Test series, Team Director Ravi Shastri feels that the current crop of Indian batsmen need "massive improvement" when it comes to facing spinners on tracks that offer turn.
Playing 'fearless' cricket has been Bangladesh's war-cry at the ICC World Cup but courage alone will not be enough to upset India and their army of blue-clad fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where the teams play their quarter-final on Thursday.
Battered and bruised after four successive defeats, India will make a last-gasp effort to avoid the embarrassment of being whitewashed by an unrelenting Australia when the two sides clash in the fifth and final One-Day International in Sydney, on Saturday.
India's Team Director Ravi Shastri believes that the ODI tri-series we played prior to the World Cup was a sheer waste of time and energy
When South Africa's AB de Villiers scored the quickest century on Sunday, he broke more than just an ODI record. Here is how the South African has rewritten cricketing history.
From Rohit Sharma's record breaking double century in One-Day Internationals, the team's never-ending woes in overseas Tests, to the controversy surrounding Board of Control for Cricket in India's president-in-exile Narayanswami Srinivasan over the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal, Indian cricket had the good, bad and ugly in equal measure in 2014.
The win at Edgbaston was not the first time an Indian team had vanquished Pakistan in an ICC competition. Rajneesh Gupta surveys the landscape of India-Pakistan encounters in ICC contests.
Virat's 248 runs in the second Test, the highest by an Indian captain against England. Ashwin, only the second Indian bowler to take 50 wickets in consecutive years. Rajneesh Gupta looks at the numbers from the Vizag Test.
Virat Kohli may have scored a match-winning century against Pakistan in their opening game of the World Cup, but ask former Australian fast bowling great Brett Lee and he would tell you that the Indian ace should try and curb his natural affinity for aggressive strokeplay.
The comparisons will be inevitable but former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly said it is unfair to equate the leadership skills of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and newly-appointed Test captain Virat Kohli, who will only become better with experience.
The furore over the infamous Monkeygate row refuses to die down with former Australian captain Allan Border now saying that Cricket Australia should have called India's bluff instead of letting its own players down.
Penpix of the Australia squad for the 2015 World Cup, which they are co-hosting with New Zealand.
Love him or loathe him, Kevin Pietersen's return from a knee injury in time to face Australia in the Ashes series will have left England supporters breathing a sigh of relief.
From winning the Under-19 World Cup to becoming Test captain, Virat Kohli has made rapid strides in international cricket. Pradeep Sangwan, his team mate from junior cricket, writes about the man they fondly call 'Cheeku'
Legendary cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Ian Chappell tipped India as favourites in their much anticipated World Cup clash against Pakistan.
Kirti Azad hit out at Ishant Sharma and expressed concerns at the team's thin bowling option.
Having led India to three World Cup victories against Pakistan, former captain Mohammad Azharuddin feels the defending champions face no serious threat from their arch-rivals in the much-hyped encounter between the two sides in the cricket World Cup.
The IPL, all of a sudden, may have some catching up to do with the Big Bash.
Unstoppable so far with clinical performances, a formidable India will square off against a passionate and sprightly Bangladesh in their quest for continental supremacy in the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament, in Mirpur, on Sunday.
World cricket's most intriguing rivalry will once again be renewed when India take on an unpredictable Pakistan with rehabilitated pacer Mohammad Aamir being the focus of attention in a round-robin league encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament, in Mirpur, on Saturday.
The Aussie series of 1985-1986 will remain a missed opportunity for Indian cricket. But it is least talked about despite all the high points in the series.
South Africa coach Russell Domingo says India have a seriously good batting line-up and it's not the Proteas' style to target one individual player.
The series already in their pocket, India would aim for a clean sweep against the hosts and end the tour of Australia on a high when the two teams clash in the third and final Twenty20.
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