Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels the team needs a 'brave' bunch of youngsters going forward.
Facing early elimination, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders need to record a win to stay afloat when they take on table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Erratic Sunrisers Hyderabad look to bounce back against inconsistent Mumbai Indians.
Kedar Jadhav's maiden Twenty20 International fifty proved decisive as India scored a nail-biting three-run victory over Zimbabwe in the final match and won the series 2-1 in Harare, on Wednesday. The Maharashtra batsman smashed 58 off 42 balls before Axar Patel came up with a late cameo, scoring 20 off 11 balls, as India posted a competitive 138 for 6.
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers put up an incredible performance to ruin Virat Kohli's fairytale season beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 runs in a high-octane summit clash walking away with their maiden Indian Premier League trophy, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
David Warner played a captain's knock, smashing an unbeaten 90 runs off 59 balls to power the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 7-wicket convincing victory against defending champions Mumbai Indians on Monday. Chasing a modest 143-run target, the Sunrisers chased the target with 15 balls to spare in Hyderabad. The Sunrisers have recorded their first points in the points table of IPL 9, while MI have now lost three out of their last four games.
Having found some light at the end of the tunnel, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be keen to expose the chinks in Kings XI Punjab's armoury during their must-win IPL encounter in Indore on Monday.
Handed a rude shock in the opening game, the Indian youngsters will have to raise their game in the second Twenty20 International to stay afloat in the three-match series against minnows Zimbabwe, in Harare on Monday.
A staunch and consistent opponent of the controversial Decision Review System, the Board of Control for Cricket in India for the first time ever could use the technology with some changes in this year's Indian Premier League.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would look to assert their supremacy, while Sunrisers Hyderabad will have revenge on mind when the two teams clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday. Both Sunrisers and KKR finished their league engagements on 16 points each but the Gautam Gambhir-led side ended fourth behind Sunrisers due to inferior net run rate. But going into the do-or-die game, KKR have psychological advantage over the Sunrisers having beaten them on both the occasions during the league stage. KKR thrashed Sunrisres by eight wickets in their first meeting this season and came out victorious by 22 runs in a must-win match last Sunday to qualify for the play-offs.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who played a vital role in Sunrisers Hyderabad's Indian Premier League triumphant campaign last year, said he is determined to contribute in the upcoming 10th edition of the IPL especially in the death overs.
Table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to quickly bounce back from the disappointing loss against Delhi Daredevils and seal their place in the play-off when they take on a resurgent Kings XI Punjab in an IPL clash in Mohali on Sunday. Knowing that there is scramble among top teams for the playoff berth and holding on to top position is not an easy task, SRH will have to put the loss against Delhi behind and look to put up an all-round performance on Sunday. What has made this game at the I S Bindra PCA stadium even more important for Hyderabad is the fact that Punjab, which has struggled through the tournament, has suddenly started turning over a leaf under their new captain Murali Vijay, whose appointment was made mid-way. The Punjab outfit, which is lying at the seventh place with four wins from 11 outings, pulled off a comprehensive seven-wicket victory against Mumbai Indians at Visakhapatnam on Friday night.
On a roll after three consecutive wins, a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad will start as overwhelming favourites against struggling Rising Pune Supergiants in an Indian Premier League match, in Hyderabad, on Tuesday.
On the captain himself not getting to bat much during the series, Dhoni said, "Difficult one, we did what was right to put in the opposition (in the ODIs). We decided to do what was the right way to play cricket." Dhoni said that this series helped the team develop a pool of 10-12 fast bowlers.
India again proved too strong for Zimbabwe, winning the second One-Day International by eight wickets in Harare, on Monday. After dismissing the hosts in 34.3 overs for a paltry 126, the tourists chased down the modest target in 26.5 overs and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, having won the opening ODI by nine wickets on Saturday.
CSK have been on a roll with three wins on the trot that have boosted them to the top of the table.
Sunrisers Hyderabad produced a clinical performance to seal their place in the Qualifier 2 as they crushed the hopes of two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders with a comfortable 22 runs win in the IPL Eliminator.
With the contentious Decision Review System in focus again following some umpiring howlers in the ongoing ODI series between India and Australia, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said "we can deliberate" on its conditional use once the team is back.
Despite a superb six-wicket haul by leg-spinner Adam Zampa, Rising Pune Supergiants suffered a narrow four-run loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL clash to end their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni maintained his stoic stance regarding India's aversion for contentious Decision Review System (DRS) but said that he 'may agree' with the notion that his team is suffering for non-usage of technology. Australia were 21 for two when George Bailey was caught down the leg side by Dhoni off the very first ball he faced from debutant Barinder Sran. The snickometer showed that ball brushed Bailey's gloves before the Indian skipper caught it. While Dhoni went up in appeal, the bowler was not fully convinced and umpire Richard Kettleborough ruled it in favour of the batsmen.
Desperate to break their title jinx, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping for a positive start to their campaign in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar says the Indian team has an advantage in the upcoming five-match ODI series against Australia as the home team's bowling attack looks thin in the absence of the 'Two Mitchells' -- Johnson and Starc.
Mumbai Indians have an eight-match winning streak against Kolkata Knight Riders with an overall 18-5 head-to-head record.
CSK would be looking to continue the momentum.
It remains to be seen whether veteran Gautam Gambhir can make a comeback to the Indian ODI team after being recently called up to the Test squad to replace the injured KL Rahul.
Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Eoin Morgan said absence of paceman Ashish Nehra hurt them badly as they suffered a narrow defeat against Delhi Daredevils.
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner feels the key to winning matches in Twenty20 cricket, especially in the Indian Premier League, is one good partnership at the top.
Back to their winning ways after sucessive victories, a rejuvenated Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to continue their good run when they take on laggards Kings XI Punjab in an IPL T20 clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on Saturday.
Australian pace legend Brett Lee on Wednesday heaped accolades on Virat Kohli, describing the swashbuckling Indian batsman as a legend whose aura is comparable to the iconic Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli notched up his second successive hundred, a 92-ball 106-run innings studded with 11 fours and a six, in the fourth and penultimate ODI against Australia and Lee doffed his hat to the Indian Test captain. "Hats off to Virat Kohli. He is a legend. He has been in terrific form. Where do you bowl to the great man, it is almost like Sachin Tendulkar when he used to come out to bat.
Shikhar Dhawan struck an unbeaten 47 after a clinical display by his bowling team-mates as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Gujarat Lions by five wickets in their IPL match.
Mumbai Indians enter the match high on confidence following successive victories over holders Chennai Super Kings and last edition's finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify Rediff.com's Most Valuable ODI Player in the 2016-2017 season so far.
Set a near impossible victory target of 490 on a track that is offering help for the spinners, Jharkhand were 28 for one in their second innings with two full days' play left and 462 runs to get.
Kolkata Knight Riders produced a superlative batting performance as they comfortably beat Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs to stay in contention for a play-off berth in the Indian Premier League, in Indore, on Saturday.
Sreesanth, who was part of the triumphant Indian squads in the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup, was earlier named in one of the squads for a local T20 tournament to be conducted by Kerala Cricket Association in Alappuzha from December 17.
Despite the win against KXIP, RCB remain at the bottom of the points table and remain to win all their remaining league games to have any hopes of progressing in the tournament.
However, Mumbai will take heart from the fact that they defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings, their first loss in four games, in the last match.
With Jasprit Bumrah "ready and roaring" after an injury scare, Mumbai Indians will fancy their chances against an erratic Royal Challengers Bangalore when the two star-studded teams square off in the IPL, in Bengaluru, on Thursday. The big sub-plot of the contest will be the world's best ODI batsman -- Virat Kohli -- taking guard against the world's best ODI bowler -- Bumrah -- in a format notorious for its unpredictability.
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.
Back-to-back losses denting their confidence, defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put their campaign back on track when they take on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match, in Hyderabad, on Sunday.