Rohit Sharma took his time joining the World Cup party but arrived in style on Thursday, rocking the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a match-winning century to sink Bangladesh and send reigning champions India charging into the semi-finals.
Athletes to watch at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games:
Praising his players for the emphatic win over South Africa in the World Cup, team director Ravi Shastri said the management's decision to stick with Shikhar Dhawan, despite his poor form in the run-up to the showpiece event, proved right.
So it was surprising when a young Team India, led by Dhoni, made it to the final of the inaugural 2007 T20 Championships in South Africa. They met arch-rivals Pakistan in that thrilling, summit clash.
Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India's highest-ranked batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions respectively.
English skipper Eoin Morgan expressed disappointment in the manner his side surrendered in the tri-series final to Australia by 112 runs but said that they will come back stronger in the World Cup beginning on February 14.
A few proven, but currently out-of-form, cricketers are likely to get the nod when the national selectors draw up a list of 30 Indian probables for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in Mumbai on Thursday.
Ponting said that he has never been more impressed by a young cricketer than Hughes.
Wriddhiman Saha's century went in vain as Maharashtra crushed Bengal by a convincing margin of 10 wickets to storm into the final of the Ranji Trophy, in Indore.
Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor capped a dominant day's play for New Zealand with centuries as the hosts reached 367 for three at the close of the first day of the first Test against West Indies at University Oval in Dunedin on Tuesday.
India have won all their six games against Pakistan in the World Cup.
'India have a good bunch of fast bowlers.' 'Umesh is doing really well and so are Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant.'
The McCullum brothers -- Nathan and Brendon -- came up with match-winning performances as Otago Volts crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in the inconsequential sixth and final qualifying match of the Champions League T20, in Mohali, on Friday.
His confidence on a high after an impressive display against Pakistan in India's World Cup opener, all-rounder Suresh Raina wants to fill in the shoes of Yuvraj Singh, the hero of 2011 edition, in the ongoing showpiece event being jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
India's 2011 World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten says the 2015 tournament boils down to three games: quarters, semis and final.
Legendary India players Sunil Gavaskar and VVS Laxman were of the view that making the showpiece event a 14-team affair with the inclusion of the likes of Afghanistan and Scotland would significantly diminish the level of competition in the league stage.
The International Cricket Council might have confirmed that the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir can return to cricket after the expire of their bans, but a divided house seems to have emerged in Pakistani cricket.
Virat Kohli is a confident man ahead of his first match as India's Test captain. On the eve of the Indian squad's departure for Australia on Friday, he declared that his players are mentally ready to cope with whatever comes their way Down Under.
International Test debuts can be intimidating and Sachin Tendulkar could not have imagined a tougher one when he padded up against pace legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in 1989 -- the experience leaving him so scarred that he doubted his ability to continue at the highest level.
How will cricket change with the new rule on big bats?
Kane Williamson completed his second half-century of the match to take New Zealand to an eight-wicket victory in the third and final Test against West Indies and seal the series 2-0 after lunch on the fourth day on Sunday in Hamilton.
Images from the ICC World Cup quarter-finals played between India and Bangladesh at the MCG on Thursday.
The left-arm pacer, who was sidelined for five years, will make a return to the India squad for the Twenty20s against Australia. He also urges BCCI to nurture and look after bright fast bowling prospects
Pleased after yet another complete performance, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was happy to see that the team executed its plans to perfection on the ground.
Pacer Rahul Shukla rocked the rival top-order with three wickets in an over before veteran Brad Hodge hit a blistering fifty as Rajasthan Royals snapped Otago Volts's 15-match winning streak with a four-wicket win in the Champion League Twenty20 Group A match, in Jaipur.
Former India captain Kapil Dev says the iconic Sachin Tendulkar "did not know how to make double hundreds, triple hundreds and 400 though he had the ability" to scale such peaks and was "stuck in the Mumbai school of cricket".
His heavy bat was a major talking point whenever Sachin Tendulkar battled injuries in his over-two-decade-long career but the iconic cricketer said he was never convinced about giving it up for a lighter one as his timing got affected every time he tried the change.
'But the country has lost someone who stood even in movie theatres by his own volition,' says Harsh Gokhale.
Cricket has few examples of players calling it quits when very much at the top their game. It is anything but coincidence that most of them happen to be from the most successful nation in the history of the sport.
Ravindra Jadeja very nearly pulled off a sensational victory with some lusty hits but could not take India home in the last over as the third one-dayer against New Zealand ended in a nail-biting tie to keep the visitors afloat in the five-match series in Auckland on Saturday.
The recent controversy regarding the national anthem, provoked by Rajasthan's Governor Kalyan Singh, has got many revisiting the lyrics of Rabindranath Tagore's most famous composition.
Rain forced the first Test between New Zealand and West Indies to be abandoned as a draw after tea on the fifth and final day at University Oval in Dunedin on Saturday.
Tamim Iqbal became his country's top run-scorer in one-day cricket as Bangladesh beat New Zealand by 40 runs in the second ODI to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, in Dhaka, on Thursday night.
The love-hate relationship between Australia and India has added extra spice to Thursday's World Cup semi-final at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara guided India to 87 for one to leave the first Test against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland delicately poised at the end of a tumultuous third day.
McCullum was 143 not out at the close of play, his eighth Test century, while Williamson was dismissed after tea for 113, his fifth hundred, as the Kiwis finished the opening day on a strong 329 for four in 90 overs.
Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar relives Virender Sehwag's magnificent century on his Test debut in 2001 and what made him such a difficult batsman to bowl at.
'He has led India to wins in the World T20, the World Cup and the Champions Trophy. Which other captain in the world can boast of such a record?' 'And if it is about form, then Virat Kohli isn't in the best of form. Neither is Shikhar Dhawan. So what do you do? Drop them all?'
AB De Villiers required just 31 balls for his genius to propel him to the fastest ever one-day international century, a matchless masterclass that left even Chris Gayle bowing in admiration as South Africa walloped West Indies on Sunday.
Off-spinner Sunil Narine was already indicating he would be a factor later in the game as he put New Zealand's batsmen under immense pressure on the second day of the third Test on Friday before the hosts finished on 156 for three at the close of play.
