New Zealand comfortably beat India by six wickets in a World Cup warm-up match at The Oval in London on Saturday after restricting the Virat Kohli-led side to 179.
Their confidence severely dented after two comprehensive defeats, last edition's runners-up side Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to get their inconsistent campaign back on track when they face Rajasthan Royals in the IPL match in Mumbai on Monday.
A battle royale is on the cards when Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans take on the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals, two line-ups armed with potent bowling units in a top-of-the-table IPL showdown at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
Corey Anderson smashed 10 sixes in his unbeaten 94 as New Zealand completed a 3-0 sweep of their Twenty20 series against Bangladesh with a 27-run win in the final match at Mount Maunganui on Sunday.
IMAGES from the T20 World Cup semi-final match played between New Zealand and Pakistan in Sydney on Wednesday.
Punjab Kings' batting unit hasn't hit the straps, save for Rahul and Mayank Agarwal and the bowling has been pedestrian.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was on Thursday hit by a bug, compounding the visiting team's misery, but opener Tom Latham sounded optimistic about the batsman's availability in the second Test against India beginning in Kolkata on Friday.
If Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, then Mumbai Indians may find it very difficult to qualify for the play-offs even if they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their final league match.
Debutants Gujarat Titans will start as favourites against spin-heavy former champions Rajasthan Royals when the two teams face-off in the first IPL Qualifier, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
Jos Buttler would be eagerly waiting to pounce on an inexperienced Chennai Super Kings attack in order to clinch a play-offs berth for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022 match on Friday.
Delhi Capitals need to win all their remaining three matches to keep their hopes alive of making it to the IPL 2022 play-offs.
Australia took the final seven wickets to dismiss New Zealand for 295 and win the first Test by 208 runs before lunch on the final day on Monday, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Swing bowler Kyle Mills will captain New Zealand for the first time on his country's limited overs tour of Sri Lanka later this month after Kane Williamson was ruled out with a broken and dislocated thumb.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and senior batsman Ross Taylor will skip next month's limited overs series in Sri Lanka to prepare for December's home tests against West Indies, the country's cricket board said on Saturday.
Coming off heartbreaking losses, the Indian Premier League game between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab will be a test of character for both sides as they look to get back to winning ways, in Abu Dhabi, on Thursday.
New Zealand beat India by 19 runs in the fourth one-day international to level the five-match series at 2-2 as the hosts suffered a mid-innings collapse at Ranchi on Wednesday. - Scorecard: Chasing 261 for a series clinching win, India were all out for 241 with eight balls to spare. Opener Ajinkya Rahane's fluent 57 put India on course for the chase and the right-handed batsman added 79 for the second wicket with the in-form Virat Kohli (45).
India's cricketers face one of their biggest tests in recent times, when they take on New Zealand with their T20 World Cup hopes on the line.
Mumbai Indians beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 42 runs in their final league fixture in Abu Dhabi on Friday but still failed to qualify for the IPL play-offs.
KXIP's chances of a top four finish took a serious hit after Rajasthan Royals handed them a seven-wicket loss,
Kings XI run into a RCB squad which has grown in confidence by leaps and bounds since their last meeting.
For a team that looked at ease all along, it was their first defeat in the UAE leg -- and three from 11 matches this season -- as Delhi struggled to get going against KKR bowlers who made full use of the slow surface after opting to bowl.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians will need their famed top-order batting to fire and turn things around when they take on Punjab Kings in the IPL in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Opening batter Tim Seifert's blistering 88 helped New Zealand defeat Sri Lanka by four wickets in their thrilling third and final Twenty20 international in Queenstown on Saturday to complete a 2-1 series victory.
Statistical highlights on day three of the third cricket Test between India and New Zealand, in Indore, on Monday.
New Zealand's temperamental batsman Jesse Ryder and medium-pacer Doug Bracewell have been fined an undisclosed amount by the country's cricket board for a late-night drinking binge ahead of the opening Test against India at Auckland.
Here's the complete list of which team bagged who, and for how much!
The faith that Martin Guptill will eventually transfer his limited-overs mastery into the Test arena has granted the embattled opener yet another reprieve but the patience of New Zealand's truest believers may finally be wearing thin.
Skipper Brendon McCullum led from the front, smashing an unbeaten 83, as Otago Volts from New Zealand beat Pakistan's Faisalabad Wolves by eight wickets in a qualifying round match of the Champions League Twenty20 in Mohali on Tuesday.
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings head into the match after identical seven-wicket wins over Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.
MI are coming into the match after suffering back-to-back losses
It has been a dramatic turnaround for the KL Rahul-led side after a string a losses earlier in the tournament.
A formidable Indian cricket team is likely to revel in home conditions, as they prepare to host and dominate New Zealand in the first Test in Kanpur, from Thursday, heralding the beginning of a long 13-match home season.
Mohammad Hafeez continued his rich vein of form and closed in on his maiden double hundred in Tests as Pakistan reached 281 for three against New Zealand at the close on the first day of the third and final Test on Wednesday.
Ahmed Shehzad struck his third Test century as Pakistan completely dominated the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi to reach 269 for one and stay on course for a mammoth first-innings total on Sunday.
The nail-biting win over defending champions Mumbai Indians was certainly a morale-lifter but the inconsistent Kings XI Punjab have another tough battle at hand when they take on table toppers Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, in Dubai, on Tuesday.
Fresh from their clinical display against Sunrisers Hyderabad, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to set the record straight against nemesis Mumbai Indians in their second IPL match in Chennai on Tuesday.
KKR are gradually emerging as a strong contender for a third IPL title
Their bowling attacks struggling to find form, Kings XI Punjab and SunRisers Hyderabad will look towards their power-hitters to do the job when the two erratic teams go head to head in an IPL match, in Dubai, on Thursday.
CSK have better resources but they must utilise them to the hilt. Teams:
A batting line-up dotted with big power-hitters along with the best death bowlers make record five-time winners MI a formidable unit.