England's two-match Test series in Sri Lanka starting next week has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Friday. The first Test was scheduled to start in Galle on March 19 and the second game set for Colombo from March 27.
All-rounder Parveez Rasool on Tuesday became the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to bag an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract, signing up with Pune Warriors for the 2013 season.
Australian opener Ed Cowan, middle-order batsman Usman Khawaja and IPL's million-dollar man Glenn Maxwell will be eyeing to get some batting practice in their first two-day warm-up match against the Board President's XI, in Chennai, on Tuesday.
Senior bowlers Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh are expected to return to the Indian squad for the first Test against Australia at Mohali from October 1, which will be picked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India selection committee in Chennai on Monday.
Board President's XI spinners, led by Parveez Rasool, wreaked havoc as they bowled out Australia for a meagre 241 in the warm-up match on Tuesday, but Australia opener Ed Cowan feels the turning track actually provided his team good practice ahead of the upcoming Test series.
Young Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Parveez Rasool announced his arrival at the big stage by recording brilliant figures of seven for 45 against Australia in the first warm-up game in Chennai on Tuesday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's senior selection committee, under the chairmanship of K Srikkanth, will meet in Bhubaneshwar on Thursday morning to name the squad for the sixth and seventh ODIs against England. The sixth match will be played in Guwahati on November 29 and the last ODI in New Delhi on December 2.
Latham, who struck a brisk 108 off 97 balls in New Zealand's 33-run win over Board President's XI in the second practice game in Mumbai on Thursday, said the visitors are relying on video footage to study the Indian spinners.
Having made an unimpressive comeback to competitive cricket, temperamental pacer S Sreesanth has said fast bowlers take time to rediscover their rhythm after an injury lay-off.
This will be the first visit of Mukherjee to China as President though he has visited the country a number of times in different capacities. The last Presidential visit to China was by Pratibha Patil in 2010.
Climate change: US wants China, India on board.
The Australian team arrived in Hyderabad on Monday amid tight security for a four-day match against the Board President's XI.
Shane Watson's love affair with India continued unabated on Friday. Even as most of the Australian batsmen struggled to cope in not so favourable conditions the visitors ending day one on 224 for five Watson remained unbeaten on a defiant 101.
In an injury scare, Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was on Sunday rushed to a local hospital in Chandigarh after being hit on his right wrist by a delivery during Board President XI's game against Australia only to be discharged later without any problem.
The Indian bowlers again suffered, as Sri Lanka Board President's XI posted 260 for six in their second innings before the teams agreed to a draw, in the three-day tour match at the Colts Cricket Club Ground, in Colombo, on Thursday.
Ajantha Mendis took six wickets for 67 runs as the famed Indian batting line-up struggled despite Yuvraj Singh's brisk century and Gautam Gambhir's 89 on Day 2 in the three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka Board President's XI at the Colts Cricket Club Ground, in Colombo, on Wednesday.
Ajantha Mendis took six wickets for 67 runs as the famed Indian batting line-up struggled despite Yuvraj Singh's brisk century and Gautam Gambhir's 89 on Day 2 in the three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka Board President's XI at the Colts Cricket Club Ground, in Colombo, on Wednesday.
India will look to plug the chinks in its armoury and provide finishing touches to its preparation for the four-Test series when it takes on the West Indies Cricket Board Presidents' XI in the final warm-up match, starting in Basseterre, St Kitts, on Thursday.
If his figures in the recent two-day game against the Board President's XI are an indicator, then Morne Morkel should excel with the ball and make life difficult for India in the upcoming series.
South Africa's top batsmen gave a good impression of themselves as the two-day match against Board President's XI ended in a draw in Nagpur on Wednesday. Having bowled out the local side for 318, Graeme Smith and his men did overwhelm the target, folding for 354, but not before leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (4/88) and offie R Ashwin (3/96) exposed the vulnerability of the Proteas, especially the middle and lower order, against turning deliveries.
The visitors commence their short tour with a two-day warm-up game against the Board President's XI, led by Mumbai middle order batsman Rohit Sharma, on February 2. This will be followed by two Tests -- Nagpur (Feb 6-10) and Kolkata (Feb 14-18) and three one-dayers in Jaipur (Feb 21), Kanpur (Feb 24) and Ahmedabad (Feb 27).
A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the quarantined ship that arrived at the Japanese coast earlier this month. Three Indians were among the 218 people infected with COVID-19 on the ship.
Despite the Aussies struggling against spinners Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha in the Board President's match, Michael Hussey is confident they will blunt India's spin during the Test series.
With Jason Krejza failing to convince that he has it in him to trouble the Indian batsmen in the forthcoming Test series, Australia decided to rush in Victorian all-rounder Cameron White as replacement for injured spinner Bryce McGain.
As India gears up for the tough Test series against Australia, its spin spearhead Harbhajan Singh underwent an MRI scan in a local hospital after suffering a side sprain.
Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has set his sights on Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha saying that he could be the key to India's bowling attack in the upcoming Test series.
Board President's XI captain Gautam Gambhir defended his unimpressive bowlers and blamed a flat track for their lackluster show on the opening day of the warm-up match against Australia in Chandigarh.
The Australian cricket team on Monday arrived in New Delhi for a Test and ODI series against India starting October 1 in Mohali.
A blunt Indian bowling attack stood exposed as Sri Lanka Board President's XI put up a mammoth 432 for five on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game in Colombo on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan top order treated the Indian attack disdainfully and opener Upul Tharanga (116), Thilina Kandambi (101) and Thilan Samaraweera (102) smashed quick-fire centuries to have the number one Test side on the mat.
Team director Ravi Shastri will join the Indian cricket team in Colombo on Friday night ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka beginning in Galle on August 12.
South African pacers blew away the top half before Abhishek Nayar (100) and Shikhar Dhawan (70) resuscitated Board President's XI with a 181-run seventh wicket stand on the opening day of the two-day practice match in Nagpur on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka's practice match against Board President's XI was on Friday called off without a ball being bowled due to unsuitable ground conditions. Two days of play had already been lost after unrelenting rains lashed the city since Wednesday, and the visitors were not willing to take the field on the third and final day as some parts of the ground were still damp.
The second day's play in the three-day practice game between the visiting Sri Lankan team and the Board's President's XI has been called off due to wet condition of the ground.
The first day of Sri Lanka's tour opener against an Indian Board President's XI at the Bandra Kurla Complex, was washed out by rain on Wednesday.
Snubbed by the selectors, Rohit Sharma (105) unleashed his pent-up frustration on the Australian bowlers, while Virat Kohli too raised his stake with an identical ton as Board President's XI finished day one of the warm-up match on a respectable 371 for six wickets in Hyderabad on Thursday. Rohit's effervescent 105 off 144 balls was studded with 12 boundaries and four sixes. Kohli's identical 105 came off 146 deliveries, including 14 fours and a six.
Sri Lanka Board President's XI took their first innings total to 500 for five declared on the second day of their three-day match.
The Irani Cup will provide fringe players an opportunity to secure a berth in the teams that will play two three-day matches against the touring Kiwis.
With nothing really to lose and a lot to gain, Team India hopefuls, under the leadership of Yuvraj Singh, will try every trick in the book to pull off an upset when Board President's XI take on Australia in a four-day warm-up match, starting in Hyderabad, on Thursday.
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