A battle royale is in the offing as heavyweights Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals clash in a high-profile IPL encounter, in Chennai, on Tuesday.
Getting the combination right would be topmost on Sunrisers Hyderabad's to-do list when they take on a qualitatively superior Mumbai Indians in an IPL encounter in Chennai on Saturday, trying to arrest an early slide after back-to-back defeats.
Under-fire batsman Virat Kohli finally came good and the bowlers delivered to help India beat Middlesex by 95 runs in the the 50-over practice game at Lord's.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present the Most Valuable Player Index of the just-concluded three-match series between India and Zimbabwe.
This was India's 50 victory in ODIs against New Zealand, against whom they have played 100 matches.
A struggling Kings XI Punjab will have to pull out all stops against in-form and unbeaten, Rajasthan Royals, when the two teams clash in an Indian Premier League match in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Rajasthan Royals will look to extend their four-match winning streak.
Looking to keep their winning run intact, table-toppers Rajasthan Royals face a stern SunRisers Hyderabad test in their fourth match of the Indian Premier League in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Paceman Mohammed Shami is improving but he is not certain for the next match.
A stat pack of India and New Zealand's ODI careers...
Seamer Barinder Sran made his first outing in a Twenty20 International memorable, returning the best figures by an Indian debutant in the format as the visitors beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets, in Harare, on Monday.
IMAGES from the IPL match played between Rajasthan and Delhi in Jaipur on Monday
In-form Jos Buttler hit a record fifth successive IPL half-century as Rajasthan Royals thrashed Mumbai Indians by seven wickets to keep their play-off hopes alive, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
Three consecutive defeats have more or less sealed their fate and for things to turn around for the Royals, every aspect of their game needs to improve and click for them.
Gujarat left-arm spinner Akshar Patel was recalled to the Indian squad for the last two One-Day Internationals against West Indies, while senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin continues to be rested.
Fringe players have a chance to prove their worth when India 'A' takes on Sri Lanka in the tourists' only warm-up match ahead of the hastily scheduled One-Day International series, in Mumbai on Thursday. The tour game, at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium, also provides Rohit Sharma, who is recovering from a fractured finger and shoulder injury, an opportunity prove his fitness and return to the side for the last two games in the best-of-five ODI series.
Kings XI Punjab will be looking to get their campaign back on track after a couple of defeats when they lock horns with bottom-placed Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League in Indore on Sunday.
It will be a different sort of challenge for Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he captains a new-look Indian cricket team against Zimbabwe in the first ODI of a short series starting in Harare on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma blazed his way to a record-breaking knock of 264 as India trounced Sri Lanka by 153 runs in the fourth One-day International to take a 4-0 lead in the five-match series, at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Thursday. The Mumbai right-hander launched an all-out assault on the Lankan bowling as a result of which India amassed a mammoth 404 for five while batting first. In reply, the islanders were dismissed for 251 in 43.1 overs.
Rajasthan Royals celebrated their return to their home ground at the Sawai Mansingh stadium with a 10-run win over Delhi Daredevils in the rain-hit Indian Premier League match in Jaipur on Wednesday.
Shardul Thakur knows that opportunities in a settled limited overs line-up won't come easily and that's the reason he is ready to 'step up' in an unenvious role of India's stop-gap third seamer in absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
However, Rajasthan would be a bit more desperate than Delhi as they are languishing at the second last position in the points table with just three wins from nine outings.
They stand on the opposite ends of IPL's success spectrum but there is little to separate between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in the tournament's 13th edition as they head into a blockbuster Qualifier 1 match, in Dubai, on Thursday.
Australia 'A' batsmen again showed their prowess in tackling spin on a difficult track as they comfortably beat India by three wickets to enter the final of the tri-series tournament, in Chennai, on Monday.
Mumbai Indians had roared back to form after thrashing RCB by five-wickets in the last game, there are problems aplenty for DC.
Images from Monday's IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, in Jaipur.
Kieron Pollard singlehandedly took Mumbai Indians to an astonishing four-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL match in Delhi on Saturday.
Under fire, Dhoni's men will look to plug all loopholes as the in-form Bangla tigers aim for a clean sweep
Ashok Menaria produced an all-round show as India 'A' scored a convincing six-wicket victory over New Zealand 'A' in the second one-dayer between the countries to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
Iyer's 147 is the highest T20 score by an Indian and in the process he surpassed wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who had scored an unbeaten 128 for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.
Punjab are lying at the bottom of the table with only one win from six matches, while the in-form Lions are the top of the IPL standings with six wins from seven matches.
After snapping their losing streak with a win over Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals will now look to keep themselves on course for a play-off berth with another dominating show against an inconsistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League game.
High on confidence after their third consecutive win, Mumbai Indians will hold a clear edge over the inconsistent Delhi Daredevils in their key Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
Pushed to the bottom of the heap after three successive losses, it will take an extraordinary effort from Royal Challengers Bangalore to overpower table-toppers Rajasthan Royals when the two sides clash in an Indian Premier League match in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Grace and strength will be on one side while poise and killer instinct on the other when a revamped Kolkata Knight Riders take on champions Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, on Wednesday.
Ahead of the upcoming Test and ODI series against Bangladesh Rajneesh Gupta presents a statistical outlook on India's players selected for the two squads.
India opener Lokesh Rahul hit back at all those who branded him a player for the longer version, saying he has proved them wrong.
India's selectors went on expected lines, leaving out former champions while giving the nod to top performers in domestic circuit in the 30-man probables' list for the 2015 World Cup.
The England wicketkeeper-batsman stroked an unbeaten 94 for the Royals to add to his last four scores of 67, 51, 82 and 95 not out, matching retired Indian great Virender Sehwag's record of five successive IPL half-centuries set in 2012
Up-and-coming Karnataka batsman Lokesh Rahul and Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Karn Sharma were named in India's 19-man Test squad for the tour of Australia, which was announced after the selection committee of the Board for Control of Cricket in India met in Mumbai on Monday morning. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will miss the opening Test, from December 4, at the Gabba in Brisbane, because of an injury and Virat Kohli will stand in for him.
