Only Indians Sachin Tendulkar (nine in 1998) and Sourav Ganguly (seven in 2000) have hit more centuries in one year.
The selection committee of the Cricket Board (BCCI) will meet in New Delhi on Saturday to pick the Indian team for the upcoming limited-overs tour of Australia, starting January 12.
Barely four days after a hectic series against the West Indies, India begin its tour of Australia with a two-day warm-up game against CA Chairman's XI in Canberra, on Thursday, with focus on acclimatizing to conditions ahead of the gruelling Test series later this month.
Paceman Kane Richardson claimed his maiden five-wicket haul to script India's spectacular collapse and bowl Australia to a 25-run victory in the high-scoring fourth one day international on Wednesday. Three batsmen struck centuries in the 671-run match between the world's top two one-day teams but it was Richardson's (5-68) incisive bowling that clinched the contest, while also earning him the man-of-the-match award. Chasing 349 for victory, India were cruising at 277 for one before losing their last nine wickets for 46 runs to succumb to their fourth successive defeat in the five-match series. Opener Shikhar Dhawan (126) and Virat Kohli (106) featured in a 212-run stand for the visitors before the wheels came off India's chase at Canberra's Manuka Oval.
The International Cricket Council will issue all umpires with helmets in the upcoming World T20 tournament in India as part of a growing trend towards the increased safety of officials in the sport. The move comes on the back of two umpires being hospitalised in the past two months after being struck by deflected straight hits from batsmen. In December, Australian John Ward was hospitalised after being hit on the head during a Ranji Trophy match in India, while English umpire Richard Kettleborough received a nasty blow to the shin while officiating an ODI between Australia and India in Canberra on January 20, spending the night in hospital before being cleared to fly to Sydney for the following match.
The eight innings in the ongoing Australia versus India has produced an unprecedented 2498 runs and Cricket Australia bosses have admitted that they are trying to ring in change to make all the pitches batting friendly. In all the four ODI matches, batsmen have had the upper hand with 671 runs being scored in the Canberra game - third most in an ODI played in Australia. "In an ideal world we've got some of the best fast bowlers in the world who like it hard, fast and bouncy and we're not getting that at the moment," CA's general manager of team performance Pat Howard was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
The 25-year-old, a leg-spinner like his father, moved to Australia to play for in 2016 and is hoping to become a citizen in 2020 and represent his adopted nation in the Twenty20 World Cup later that same year.
Pacer John Hastings has provided fill-up to Australia's ambitions of notching up a 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series against India, saying he is thriving on the extra responsibility following a few impressive performances. Hastings took the important wickets of centurion Shikhar Dhawan and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to play a key role in the home team's victory in the fourth ODI in Canberra yesterday, their fourth in a row. With his show in the Australian capital, Hastings has proved that leadership is something that comes naturally to him.
India has lost four matches in a row in the ongoing series Down Under but if Australian batting great Michael Hussey is to be believed, the visitors have not fared badly.
The start of the match was delayed by nearly three and half hours because of heavy rain, reducing it to 29 overs a side.
The India skipper believes that Hardik Pandya can become a bankable player for the team in years to come.
Sri Lanka cruised to an easy eight-wicket victory against India on the Duckworth-Lewis method in their rain-shortened fifth ODI.
Australian pacer Kane Richardson, who grabbed a five-for felt that the dismissal of Mahendra Singh Dhoni proved to be a turning point as the home team recorded a 25-run win against India.
'I don't see a reason why the families won't be allowed to come. The Australian cricket board is trying to accommodate the families. It should be okay'
Aus all-rounder James Faulkner says that the new Powerplay rule crucial to team's total
Now, there is another similarity added to the resume of both batsmen. February 24 will be remembered in history as the day when the Indian icon and Gayle hit ODI double tons.
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.
Finch scored 114 in an opening stand of 156 with David Warner (69) to lay a platform before his predecessor as captain Smith smashed 105 off 66 balls to drive Australia to 374 for six -- their highest total against India.
Jadeja, Shami also return for limited overs series starting Jan 12
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be staged in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29, and India will begin its title defence against traditional rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on February 15, the International Cricket Council announced on Tuesday.
Captain Steve Smith blasted a career best 164, the highest one-day international innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground, to power Australia to a crushing 68-run victory against New Zealand in the first ODI.
Images from the fourth One-Day International between Australia and India in Canberra, on Wednesday.
Gayle hits first double century in World Cup match.
The in-form Virat Kohli was on Monday rested for the forthcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka, while Delhi's left-arm spinner Pawan Negi was a surprise inclusion for the three-match series.
Former Australian batsman and team selector Mark Waugh has lauded talented batsman Steven Smith, claiming that he is the stand out player along with South African ace batsman AB de Villiers, but insisting that he has a unique style of his own.
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.
India will usher in 2016 with a three-week tour of Australia, comprising five ODIs and three T20 Internationals, starting January 12.
David Warner has said that the Indian top-order is in great shape, but chasing 300 hasn't been too tough so far in this series.
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?
The Indian think-tank has devised a plan whereby they will pepper Gayle with short-pitched deliveries and force him to go for the attack early on.
Riding high on contrasting half-centuries from Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh crushed Afghanistan by 105 runs in their opening Pool A match of the World Cup in Canberra.
The fond memories of 2015 came rolling back for Mitchell Starc after beginning his World Cup campaign in near-identical fashion to his crowning moment.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels the team needs a 'brave' bunch of youngsters going forward.
For the Proteas, the emphasis is on all 15 players instead of 11.
A Canberra-based singer/song writer Jack Biilmann has paid a musical tribute to the late Phillip Hughes, releasing a track called 'Forever Unbeaten'.
Rishi Dhawan has realised that international cricket demands unwavering mental toughness and he would like to believe that he has overcome the mental demons of the Australia tour ahead of a crucial trip to Zimbabwe next month. Dhawan, despite only playing a couple of games for Kings XI Punjab this IPL, has managed a spot in the second string squad for the three ODIs and two T20 Internationals in Zimbabwe, beginning June 11. "I did not get to do much in IPL but I was expecting to be picked. I had done well in Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare and I was confident that I will be rewarded for consistent performances in domestic cricket," Dhawan told PTI on Wednesday. The poster boy of Himachal cricket might be a consistent performer on the domestic cricket but he did not take much time to realise that playing for India is a different ball game.
"This will probably be the biggest World Cup, so there will be great expectations and I know we will do very well for the people of the West Indies," he added.
India's bowling woes dominated Mahendra Singh Dhoni's assessment of the ODI debacle.
Outplayed in the ODIs, a faltering India will look to get the balance right as they eye redemption in a three-match Twenty20 series against Australia starting in Adelaide on Tuesday which also kicks off their build-up for the World T20 Championships in March-April.
Australia pace bowler Kane Richardson is to return home for further examination on a back injury and has been replaced by Joel Paris in the squad for their final one-day match against New Zealand in Hamilton on Monday. Richardson, 24, did not play in Australia's four-wicket victory in the second match in Wellington on Saturday. "Kane Richardson's back pain hasn't subsided sufficiently to take part in the final ODI in Hamilton," a Cricket Australia spokesperson told Australian reporters in Wellington on Sunday.
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