Images from the third and final One-day International between India and South Africa on Saturday
Faced with a do-or-die situation after the heartbreaking one-run loss in Jaipur, South Africa coach Corrie van Zyl today hinted that the visitors may make some changes in their side for the second one-dayer against India in Gwalior on Wednesday.
South African run-machine Hashim Amla said every batsman hits a purple patch at some point in his career and the just-concluded series against India was his opportunity to make a mark.
Images from the fifth day's play in the second Test between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Thursday.
India will be counting on their spinners on the last day to score a series-levelling victory in the second Test against South Africa on Thursday. Rain and Hashim Amla frustrated them on Day four after Amit Mishra grabbed two wickets to reduce South Africa to 115 for 3 at close. The tourists are still 232 behind, with the in-form Amla on 49 and Ashwell Prince yet to get off the mark.
South Africa's veteran batsman Jacques Kallis believes that his team would fightback from the dead and bat out a draw on the final day of the second and final Test in Kolkata.
Intense action is in store when play resumes on Day 2. Can India bounce back and take a sizeable lead? India Abroad's Harish Kotian is at the ground posting updates as they happen. Follow what's the latest from the Test on Harish's MyPage!
India coach Gary Kirsten credited his bowlers for putting up a fine show and being resilient to end Day 1 on a high.
Can Kallis and Amla carry on the fine showing on Day 2? India will need a couple of early wickets to restrict the South African total.
JP Duminy has been named in the South African Twenty20 squad for the three-match home series against West Indies next month, but a number of other top players will again be rested.
Seamers Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell wreaked early havoc to set the platform for an easy South African victory in the third and final one-day International against England at Lords' on Monday.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith hit a superb 19th Test century to put the hosts 330 runs ahead of England and in full control of the third Test after the third day at Newlands on Tuesday.
Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad ripped through South Africa's top order to put England on the brink of victory on the fourth day of the second Test on Tuesday.
The Pretoria wicket is likely to be similar, with perhaps not the same sideways movement of Newlands, and will provide another test of the Indian batsmen's bravery against a seam bowling barrage.
South Africa have included the world's number one test bowler Vernon Philander in their preliminary 30-man squad for the World Twenty20 tournament to be played in Bangladesh in March and April next year.
The 34-year-old Steyn, currently on a short-term contract with Hampshire having been plagued by injury over the last two-and-a-half years, is three wickets short of a milestone that has frustratingly eluded him in recent times.
Images from Day 4 of the second Test between South Africa and Australia in Port Elizabeth on Monday.
Conceding that South Africa's teams haven't really fulfilled their potential in World Cups, captain Faf du Plessis said the Proteas need to win the upcoming ICC World T20 to shed the tag of 'chokers' which is haunting them for quite a while now.
Statistical highlights of the second ODI between India and Sri Lanka, on Mohali on Wednesday.
South Africa fought back in the afternoon session on the third day of the fourth Test on Sunday, reducing England to 138 for six in their second innings and restricting the hosts to a lead of 274.
The fresh initiative for settlement of the Ayodhya dispute, led by a former High Court judge, has been signed by more than 10,000 Hindu and Muslims.
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.
Two wickets from successive balls in Ben Stokes's third over removed Quinton de Kock (5) and Faf du Plessis (0) and ended faint South Africa hopes of mounting a rearguard action in pursuit of their nominal target of 492.
Rookie batsman Imraan Khan joined Hashim Amla as the second Indian-Origin player in the South African team which will be without regular skipper Graeme Smith in the third and final Test against Australia starting March 19 in Cape Town.
Sri Lanka off-spinner Dilruwan Perera took six wickets in the second innings for a match-haul of 10, as the hosts registered a thumping 278-run win over South Africa inside three days of the opening Test on Saturday.
Gunmen kidnapped an American national working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, after killing his driver in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, on Monday. John Solecki, the head of the UNHCR in Balochistan, was on his way to office when the gunmen intercepted his car shortly after he had left his home and opened fire.His driver, Syed Hashim Raza, was hit by bullets and died in the hospital, police said. The gunmen then took Solecki with them.
There were no demons in the wicket, says Virat Kohli.
South Africa put one foot in the World Cup quarter-finals by batting past the 400-run mark for the second successive match to hand Ireland a thumping defeat by 201 runs with five overs to spare at Manuka Oval on Tuesday.
West Indies tour of South Africa hit a new low on Wednesday when they were bundled out for 122 in under 34 overs to lose the third one-day international by nine wickets at Buffalo Park.
Peter Siddle's maiden five-wicket haul blighted South Africa's response as Australia tightened its grip on the proceedings on day three of the third and final Test in Sydney on Monday.
Slow left-armer Robin Peterson received a call-up on Friday when South Africa named two spinners in their squad for next month's Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Peterson will replace batsman Hashim Amla in the squad that is now preparing for the limited-overs section of their tour of England. South Africa won the Test series 2-1.
Uncapped spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi were named in South Africa's squad for next month's three-match test series in Australia on Monday as the Proteas seek to exploit a perceived weaknesses in their hosts' batting. Faf du Plessis will again captain the team in the absence of injured AB de Villiers after leading the side in the two-test series against New Zealand last month, which they won 1-0. "Basically, we are following a horses for courses policy as we feel that spinners who turn the ball away from the right-hander are going to be particularly useful under Australian conditions and against the test batsmen we are likely to face," selector Linda Zondi said in a statement.
The opening Test between Australia and South Africa at Perth is interestingly poised at the end of fourth day's play on Saturday.
Firebrand fast bowler Dale Steyn will seek to become South Africa's greatest wicket-taker in Tests when they take on Pakistan in the first match of a three-game series at Centurion Park in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Joining issues with the British delegation in Malaysia, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday asserted that no "deal" was made to support Malaysia's candidature to a senior post in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association election for which is to be held tomorrow.
A buoyant India will look to cash in on South Africa's injury woes, compounded by the loss of captain Faf du Plessis, when the two sides meet in the second One-Day International in Centurion on Sunday.
South African captain Graeme Smith is reportedly unhappy with Cricket South Africa's (CSA) announcement of player contracts as it has been difficult for some of the players to handle.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com picks five performances that took spectators' breaths away in week 9: Five wonderful knocks and one magical spell of bowling.
Indonesian favourite Taufik Hidayat swept to his seventh career win over Malaysia's Muhammad Hashim in the India Open men's final in Hyderabad on Sunday. French world number four Pi Hongyan won her first title for three years, the top seed rallying to a 17-21, 21-15, 21-14 victory over Malaysia's Julia Wong in the women's final.
All-rounder Andrew Flintoff was recalled to the national team on Monday after England took only three South African wickets on the last two days of the first Test at Lord's. Former captain Flintoff, 30, who has not played Test cricket since January last year, is the only the change to an England 12 named shortly after a sixth successive Test draw.
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