Sri Lanka ended Zimbabwe's day-long resistance seven overs from the end of play to grab victory by 225 runs on the final day of the first Test at the Harare Sports Club on Wednesday. Zimbabwe were bowled for 186 runs in their second innings within sight of what would have been a morale boosting draw. Sri Lanka's Dilruwan Perera and stand-in skipper Rangana Herath took three wickets each with Perera bowling out tailender Chris Mpofu in the 91st over of Zimbabwe's second innings to clinch victory despite a gallant knock by captain Graeme Cremer, who followed up a first innings century with a stubborn 43.
Captain Suresh Raina led from the front with the bat with a quick half-century to help India crush Zimbabwe by seven wickets in the second and final Twenty20 international at in Harare, on Sunday. Raina finished unbeaten on a quickfire 72 from 44 balls, inclusive of six boundaries and two sixes, as India cruised to 144 for three in 18 overs in reply to Zimbabwe's 140 for five.
After the humiliation they suffered in the ODI tri-series, India will look to make amends and take revenge against giant-slayers Zimbabwe in the first Twenty20 International in Harare.
Brazil gave a glimpse of the Latin American flair they will bring to the World Cup in South Africa with a 3-0 warm-up win over Zimbabwe on Wednesday, a victory tempered by an injury to goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Back in their elements after the opening match debacle, a confident India will have a score to settle when they take on hosts Zimbabwe for the second time in the ongoing cricket tri-series in Harare on Thursday.
Chris Gayle joined Hashim Amla and Sachin Tendulkar as only the third batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score centuries against 11 different countries, while Shimron Hetmyer hit his maiden century as the Windies defeated the United Arab Emirates by 60 runs in their opening Group A fixture of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 at the Old Hararians in Harare on Tuesday.
Former India and Railways all-rounder Sanjay Bangar was on Thursday named coach for the national cricket team's upcoming tour to Zimbabwe, while there was no place for Bharat Arun and R Sridhar in the support staff. The Indian cricket team is slated to play three T20s and three ODIs in Zimbabwe, starting on June 11. The selectors had named a largely inexperienced squad for the tour, which will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "Mr. Sanjay Bangar has been appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian cricket team for the forthcoming tour to Zimbabwe, which commences on the 8th of June comprising 3 One-Day International matches and 3 T20 International matches to be played in Harare," BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke said in a statement. Another former first-class cricketer, Abhay Sharma, has been appointed as the fielding coach of the team in place of Sridhar. Sharma has been working as the India U-19 fielding coach under Rahul Dravid.
Hazratullah Zazai (162 not out off 62) and Usman Ghani (73 off 48) set a new record for the opening-wicket partnership with a 236-run stand as Afghanistan surpassed Australia's 263 for 3 posted against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2016.
India overcame a shaky start to register their first win over Zimbabwe on the current tour as they beat the hosts by six wickets in the first Twenty20 International cricket match in Harare on Saturday.
After guiding his team to a thumping victory in the tri-nation cricket series at Harare on Wednesday, Sri Lanka skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan said the next target for the islanders would be the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent.
Following are the statistical highlights at the end of the second and final India-Bangladesh Test at Mirpur on Wednesday.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has called on his country's players to go ahead with their tour of Bangladesh, saying that they should trust the security experts and ignore the political machinations. England's players were earlier given a choice to decide whether they want to tour Bangladesh later this year in the wake of the security concerns despite the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and its longstanding security expert, Reg Dickason, deeming the trip to Dhaka as safe.
Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was injured in a car crash that killed his wife, just three weeks after he assumed office in the national unity government.
Iceland retained the top spot while Afghanistan is now the least peaceful country in the world.
Sachin Tendulkar has extended his greetings to new captain Ajinkya Rahane, hoping the youngster will do a good job during the upcoming Zimbabwe tour.
The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century occured on Friday, July 27, and was visible from much of the world. Prime viewing locations for the four-hour long event included Cairo, Egypt; Santorini, Greece; and Harare, Zimbabwe. Here are some of the best views of the spectacular show in the sky.
Bilal Asif took five wickets and made a handy contribution with the bat as Pakistan cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Zimbabwe to complete a 2-1 series win on Monday.
How does Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/25 stand up against other fine T20I performances? Fascinating figures from Rajneesh Gupta.
Rashid Khan took a big leap towards becoming the quickest bowler to 100 ODI wickets when he grabbed his fourth five-wicket haul as Afghanistan overcame a top-order batting collapse to prevail over the United Arab Emirates in a Super Six fixture of the ICC World Cup Qualifier, in Harare, on Tuesday.
Here are some of the best images clicked across the globe in the month of August.
India suffered a major blow ahead of Thursday's ICC World T20 semi-final against West Indies, when senior all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was ruled out of the mega-event because of injury. Yuvraj twisted his ankle while batting in the previous match against Australia in Mohali and has been ruled out of further participation in the tournament. "The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 has approved Manish Pandey as a replacement player for Yuvraj Singh in India's squad for the tournament," the ICC said in a media release on Wednesday. The 26-year-old Pandey has played two T20Is, which were against Zimbabwe in Harare in July, last year.
Flower said ICC may have wanted Zimbabwe Cricket to put its house in order but actually the current board members were "good people".
A second-string India just about managed to survive an embarrassing defeat at the hands of a fighting Zimbabwe as the visitors huffed and puffed to a narrow four-run win to take 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series in Harare.
Sanath Jayasuriya scored a superb 130 as Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 132 runs in their Asia Cup match.
Zimbabwe suffered a humiliating nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka after being bowled out for just 67 in the second one-day international in Harare on Saturday. Spinner Ajantha Mendis took four for 15 and was ably assisted by pacemen Farveez Maharoof (three for 26) and Thilina Thushara (two for 17).
A Zimbabwean batting collapse ensured Sri Lanka an easy win in Harare on Thursday in the first of the five one-day internationals.
Images and summary of all the World Cup 2022 qualifiers played across continents on Tuesday.
Statistical highlights of the third day's play between India and Sri Lanka in the first Test at the SSC in Colombo on Friday.
Fast bowler Vernon Philander will return to international action for the first time in eight months after a freak injury when he plays for South Africa A against Zimbabwe A in Harare in a four-day match starting on Saturday. The 31-year-old has been sidelined since November after damaging ankle ligaments playing a warm-up game of soccer while on tour with South Africa in India.
India trounced Bangladesh in the second Test in Mirpur, Dhaka, on Sunday winning by an innings and 239 runs in just three days.
The India ODI and T20 captain will be next seen in action in October during the limited overs leg of the series against New Zealand.
Medium pacer Tinashe Panyangara has been ruled out of the upcoming ODI series and three T20 internationals against India with a back injury, while Graeme Cremer returned to lead the side in both forms of the game. The 30-year-old Panyangara will not be part of the three ODIs and three T20Is owing to a back injury, according to 'ESPNcricinfo'. Taurai Muzarabani, who has played six ODIs and seven T20Is, was picked in Panyangara's place. Though he was sacked as captain, Hamilton Masakadza retained his place in both sides. Graeme Cremer, who missed the 2016 World T20 with injury, returned and will lead both squads of 18 men each.
Zimbabwe axed their coach Dav Whatmore and captain Hamilton Masakadza just days before the arrival of India for a five-match limited-overs tour.
Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal hit an unbeaten 38 from 28 balls as Pakistan wrapped up the two-match Twenty20 international series against Zimbabwe with a 15-run victory at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.
Elton Chigumbura blasted a quickfire half-century as Zimbabwe shocked favourites India by two runs in a thrilling finish, in the first T20 International match in Harare, on Saturday.
They were released from police custody on Wednesday after being questioned about their foreign exchange dealings.
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.
Batsman Darren Bravo has been dropped from the West Indies squad in Zimbabwe for a triangular one-day international series because of "unacceptable behaviour", the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said on Saturday.
Shahriar Nafees became the first batsman from Bangladesh to score two centuries in One-Day Internationals when he hit an unbeaten 123 against Zimbabwe in a Champions Trophy qualifying match.
How rare is it for two players to score hundreds on captaincy debut in the same series? Virat Kohli got two when he led India in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide. Now, Steven Smith got one in his first Test as captain in the ongoing second Test at Brisbane.
