Undergoing a transition phase, defending champions Sri Lanka may not be in their elements in the build-up to the ICC World T20 but skipper Angelo Mathews today said it is good to carry the underdogs tag as it does not put the team under pressure. "The fact that we are coming as underdogs releases the pressure. Yes, we didn't do well in the Asia Cup but we're getting better day by day. I'm confident of my team's progress," Mathews said on the eve of their Super 10 opener against Afghanistan. Mathews said that his team needed just one win to get the momentum back. "We're not looking too far ahead at the moment and we will take one game at a time. We need one good game to get our momentum back," said the skipper. Afghanistan almost pulled off an upset during the 2015 World Cup in Australia when they threatened to chase down 237 before being bowled out for 232 in 49.4 overs and Mathews said Afghans were no more the minnows.
Off-spinner R Ashwin, who has been phenomenal in home conditions, has made it to the Test team as the 12th man, while pacer Mohammed Shami has been included in the ODI team.
England coach Trevor Bayliss has dubbed his team's performance in the drawn first Test against India as "the best since he had been with the Alastair Cook-led team". Chasing an improbable target of 310 runs, Indian skipper Virat Kohli and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja hung in as they remained unbeaten on 49 and 32 respectively in a tense final session to deny England victory at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Despite the outcome of the opening Test of the five-match series, Bayliss was impressed by the commitment his side had shown in gruelling conditions as well as on surfaces where England players generally struggle.
The 2016 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Player Draft was held in Barbados on Thursday, with the six franchises flexed their financial muscles to rope in their desired cricketers.
The off-spinner dismissed Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews with the final ball of his eighth over and returned to send back Nuwan Kulasekara and Tharindu Kaushal with the first two deliveries of his next to achieve the milestone in the first quarter-final of the World Cup.
Ashwin termed Sri Lanka's tour of 2015 as a landmark for Indian team for their come-from-behind 2-1 series win. "In 2015, we were sandwiched into the middle of a leadership takeover. Virat had just taken over in Australia and we came here having played one Test in Bangladesh. We had set ourselves a lot of goals for each other and I would say we have achieved them and come out with flying colours over the last couple of years as a group"
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that the youngest entrant in the illustrious 10,000 Test run club, Alastair Cook can challenge batting legend Sachin Tendulkar's all-time Test run record. Cook became the first England cricketer to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, and the youngest overall, beating Tendulkar's record by five months by reaching the milestone at the age of 31 years and five months. Tendulkar -- Test cricket's most prolific batsman with 15921 runs -- was 31 years, 10 months 20 days old when he scored his 10,000th run in 2005. "Well the big advantage that England always has is that they are always playing a minimum of 11-12 Test matches on an average in a year. In 11-12 Test matches even if you score 50 runs per Test match you are getting about 500 runs every year," Gavaskar said.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid says the islanders may not be front-runners to win the World Cup this time around, but the fact that they are a very close-knit unit gives them the edge.
Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam struck quick-fire fifties and combined in a record 147-run sixth wicket stand as Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by four wickets with one ball remaining in the first one-day international at Hambantota on Saturday.
Images from Day 1 in the third Test between India and Sri Lanka, in Colombo.
Ravichandran Ashwin is the lone Indian to feature in the top 10 of the latest Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings as he continues to lead the way in the all-rounders list.
Chris Jordan claimed five wickets as England bowled Sri Lanka out for 67 runs, their third lowest total in one-day internationals, to help win the third ODI with a resounding 10-wicket victory on Wednesday.
As we head to the head to the business end of the tournament, that involves three former champions, a look at the players who flattered to deceive, faltering under the weight of expectations, hurting their respective teams.
Yuvraj Singh is hopeful that he can make a 'meaningful contribution' in India's Champions Trophy title defence during the June 1-18 marquee event in England.
Opener Sam Robson hit his maiden Test century before Sri Lanka fought back with four late wickets on the second day of the second Test at Headingley, on Saturday.
Pakistan fast bowlers Junaid Khan and Bilawal Bhatti scythed through Sri Lanka's batting during an exciting afternoon session to restrict their opponents to 204 on the first day of the opening Test in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers to take note of at the end of the first day's play in the third Test between India and South Africa.
An explosive unbeaten 85 from David Miller and some hostile bowling by the fast bowlers helped South Africa to beat Sri Lanka by 56 runs in Pallekele on Friday and stay alive in the five-match series.
Lasith Malinga is fit for Sri Lanka's opening World Cup clash against New Zealand.
Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India's highest-ranked batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions respectively.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Skipper Angelo Mathews and opener Kaushal Silva hit half-centuries to help Sri Lanka take a 166-run first innings lead against Pakistan and push for a series-levelling victory on day two of the second Test on Friday.
Rajneesh Gupta gives us all the numbers and tells us how Virat Kohli creates new record after record.
Kevin Pietersen is not the only one trying to work out why he is unwanted by England's cricket selectors.
With Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra tormenting Sri Lankan team in the first two Tests, former captain Sanath Jayasuriya feels that the newer crop of batsmen emerging from the island nation have not done proper assessment of their ability to handle quality spinners.
The 2015 ICC World Cup has thrown up a lot of exciting moments since it began last week on February 14. Rediff.com gives you a quick flashback of all the action-packed, intense moments that had us watch in awe.
Pakistan fought back from a precarious position to beat Afghanistan by 72 runs, and also claim a bonus point, in the Asia Cup match in Fatullah on Thursday. Thanks to wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal, who scored an unbeaten 102 off 89 balls, they were able to recover from 117 for six inside 30 overs and put up a solid 248 for 8. In reply, minnows Afghanistan were dismissed for 176 in 47.2 overs. A look at the statistical highlights from the match.
Rangana Herath picked up seven wickets in a sublime display of left-arm spin bowling to power Sri Lanka to a spectacular comeback win by 63 runs against India on the fourth day of the opening test at Galle on Saturday.
Some of the game's leading players have left their mark on the World Cup. Check out who they are.
Hamstrung, running out of partners and his team's title defence at stake -- the stage was set for Angelo Mathews to emerge from the Saturday night drizzle and enter Twenty20 folklore but the Sri Lankan captain fell agonisingly short. At 15-4, after England had set them a 172-run victory target in the World Twenty20 match, Sri Lanka's title defence looked all but over inside three overs. Their skipper then engineered a stunning recovery in the tournament's most portentous contest that was key to the semi-final hopes of three teams, including South Africa. But the lion-hearted effort took its toll on his hamstring and Mathews was clearly struggling when he took guard for the final over from Ben Stokes -- 15 runs separating him from Twenty20 greatness and his team from a place in the last four. As a mild drizzle fell on the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Stokes charged in with a ball in hand and ice in veins to thwart Mathews' audacious bid to pull off a heist.
Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni dropped down the ladder to No 4 and 10 respectively, while Shikhar Dhawan retained the seventh rung in the latest Reliance ICC ODI batsmen's rankings, released on Monday.
From Australian captain Michael Clarke to other big names, tributes flew in for former Australian cricket captain and commentator Richie Benaud, who died of skin cancer late on Thursday aged 84. Here are some reactions...
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews weathered a fiery spell of reverse swing bowling from Dayle Steyn to take his team past the follow-on mark on the third day of the first Test against South Africa on Friday.
The India right-hander has 862 points in his kitty, still 25 points behind AB de Villiers of South Africa, who is heading the list.
If Ravichandran Ashwin is being hailed as the best spinner in contemporary cricket, the 29-year-old lanky Indian owes it as much to those long fingers as to an ever-ticking brain.
Gary Ballance scored an unbeaten 104 as England fought back in the evening session to finish the fourth day on 267-8 and lead Sri Lanka by 389 runs going into the final day of the first Test at Lord's.
Statistical highlights on Day 3 of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Monday
Sri Lanka lost early wickets in their second innings but extended their lead to 220 runs over Pakistan in the third and final Test in Sharjah to boost their chances of a series victory.
"The whole idea of Cricket All Stars is that, to try to get as many nations together to celebrate this'
England's predicted line-up for the first Test in Brisbane includes Mark Stoneman, James Vince and Dawid Malan, who will walk out without a Test century to their names.
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