A splendid opening wicket stand by the belligerent Manoj Tiwary (50) and Brad Hodge (50) ensured the Kolkata Knight Riders a comfortable seven-wicket win in their IPL match against the Bangalore Royal Challnegers at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma's request to the BCCI for a break from white-ball cricket in South Africa despite being offered T20 captaincy has been accepted, while Jasprit Bumrah has been named his deputy for the two Tests starting December 26.
Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma will captain the Board President's XI in a two-day warm-up match against the visiting South African team beginning at Nagpur on Tuesday. The squad also includes youngster Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan, while Abhimanyu Mithun, who has also been included in India's 15-member squad for the first Test, will spearhead the pace department along with Punjab seamer Manpreet Gony.
India beat England by nine wickets in the opening Test in Motera on Monday to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
India ended Day 2 in the first Test at Motrea on Friday in a commanding position, having reduced England to 41 for 3 at stumps, after declaring their first innings on 521 for 8. Discuss the day's play, and what one can expect on Day 3, with India Abroad's Bikash Mohapatra on Rediff ZaraBol.
So, how did the foreign press react to first day's play at the Motera? Rediff.com brings you a summary of what the English Press felt.
Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Bharath Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar have all reached from their respective home cities on Sunday.
Round up of the ranji matches being played on Tuesday.
Five members of the Indian cricket team for South Africa, including dashing opener Virender Sehwag, left in advance for the tour, in Mumbai on Monday.
Bumrah, Chahar, Kaul get their first dose of COVID vaccine.
Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, who shone with the ball in India's Under-19 World Cup triumph in Australia last month, has been rewarded with a berth in the Rest of India squad that will play Ranji Trophy champions Rajasthan in the Irani Cup match. The annual feature, which will be played from September 21 to 25, has been shifted to Bangalore after the Jaipur stadium pitch was found unsuitable to stage it.
In a major goof-up, the BCCI on Saturday forgot to mention batsman Abhinav Mukund's name in its contracted list of cricketers.
Only if we could have a Rohit versus Ashwin clash in the semis! What a perfect fill-up it would be for the resurgence of the Ranji Trophy.
The Indian batsmen have been outwitted by Australian spinners in the ongoing Test series but Cheteshwar Pujara insists that there is "nothing wrong" with their batting line-up.
New Zealand pacer Trent Boult was ecstatic at getting the prized wicket of Sachin Tendulkar but rued that they could not rein in the Indian youngsters, who steered the hosts to an assuring score on the opening day of the first Test, Hyderabad on Thursday.
