Stand-in skipper KL Rahul admitted that India missed the services of Kuldeep Yadav in the second innings of the second and final Test against Bangladesh.
Royals core comprises of three Englishmen -- Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer and their Australian skipper Steve Smith.
Captain Rohit Sharma's return will certainly give solidity to the top order in the second ODI against Australia.
Star batter Suryakumar Yadav urged one and all to show patience with an out of sorts Mumbai Indians, saying the five-time champions are currently undergoing a transition phase.
Mumbai Indians will have the returning Suryakumar Yadav's flamboyance in the middle-order as they look to bounce back against a confident Rajasthan Royals unit in the IPL at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore would look to build on the momentum when they take on a struggling Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match in Dubai on Wednesday.
Rajasthan Royals will take a lot of confidence after snatching a two-run victory from the jaws of defeat against Punjab Kings.
Bengal were 134 for three in 65 overs at close of play on Day 3, trailing Saurashtra by 291 runs, with Chatterjee and Wriddhiman Saha (4 off 43) in the middle.
Cheteshwar Pujara made 49 and 43 in his two innings as Saurashtra lost to Haryana by four wickets.
Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara continued his good form with the bat as he and Robin Uthappa helped Saurashtra crush Punjab by eight wickets.
For all those who are likely to get a game, there will be just one target -- to make most of their chances as some of them might not get too many with just about 16 months left for the 50-overs World Cup.
Mumbai were ahead by 257 runs in the first innings after Musheer Khan struck an unbeaten 203, with Baroda reaching 127/2 in reply by the close of play on day two
Vidarbha opener Atharva Taide struck his third first-class century and his second of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season
Manoj Tiwary and Robin Uthappa have been named India 'A' captains of the four-day and one-day squads respectively, which will leave for a month-long tour of Australia.
Royal Challengers head coach Simon Katich was all praise for the South African after he single-handedly won the IPL game against Rajasthan Royals for them, in Dubai on Saturday.
West Zone produced a clinical all-round performance to score a comprehensive 133-run victory over North Zone in the final and win their third successive Deodhar Trophy in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Riding on Kedar Devdhar's 94 and skipper Cheteshwar Pujara's patient half-century, West Zone posted a challenging 281 for 3 in 50 overs. Spinners Arpit Vasavada (3-20) and Akshar Patel (2-23) then emerged the pick of the bowlers as North Zone were bundled out for 148 in 37.1 overs at the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
'The IPL was a big learning for me that whatever you do at this level, you should be confident about yourself.'
Rahane dropped anchor to score an unbeaten 144 off 156 balls while the young Ishan Kishan smashed his way to an 87-ball 114 during their opening stand of 210, which took the C team's score to 352 for seven in 50 overs.
Having already clinched the series, India would look to hand Zimbabwe a third successive whitewash while testing more youngsters when they take on the lacklustre hosts in the third and final One-day International in Harare, on Wednesday.
Dwayne Smith cracked a blistering 79 as a dominant Chennai Super Kings steamrolled Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets for their sixth straight win in the Indian Premier League.
Astronomical Rs 24.75 crore bid makes Starc most expensive player in IPL history
Dropped from the Ranji Trophy squad, opener Jay Bista slammed his maiden first class ton to lead Ranji Trophy champions to a strong 386 for 3 on day one of the five-day Irani Cup game against Rest of India in Mumbai on Sunday. At stumps the 41-time national champions were sailing along merrily at 386 runs for the loss of three wickets by riding on the bespectacled opener's 104, Akhil Herwadkar's 90 and half centuries from in-form Shreyas Iyer (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (not out 88) after choosing to bat first at the Brabourne Stadium. Bista, who impressed with his strokes on both sides of the wicket in his chanceless knock that came off 90 balls with 15 fours and a six, and left-handed Herwadka put on a solid foundation with a partnership of 193. Both departed within a short span of each other, Bista trapped leg before by Krishna Das while flicking and Herwadkar edged to slip off Ankit Rajpoot after facing 148 balls and striking 15 boundaries. But Rest were then frustrated by the attacking Iyer, who cracked 10 fours in his 49-ball cameo, and Yadav as the third wicket duo put on a quick 69 before the former was caught cutting off Stuart Binny.
The Indian selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing pace duo Ishant Sharma and R Vinay Kumar and ignored them for the upcoming three-match One Day International series against the West Indies.
Inclement weather poses a threat to the India-Australia T20 international in Rajkot on Thursday, with the Met department forecasting rainfall over the next 48 hours.
Hardik Pandya's leadership skills and India's overall World Cup preparedness will be under focus
Punjab looked on course for a crushing victory after bundling out Uttar Pradesh for a paltry 95 in their second innings, on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Group A match in Hyderabad, on Monday.
India's batting megastars will be desperate to clear the cobwebs from their head in pursuit of a second successive World Test Championship final berth as they take on Australia in the series-deciding fourth Test in Ahmedabad from Thursday.
Saurashtra seamers Jaydev Unadkat, Shaurya Sanandia and Chirag Jani shared seven wickets among them to bundle out Haryana for 140 in their second innings and lift their team to an innings and 31-run victory on the third day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match, on Sunday.
A look at what the IPL teams and players are doing to support the people of India in this massive battle against the deadly coronavirus.
With the One-Day International series proving to be a stroll in the park, Mahendra Singh Dhoni would look to finish the tour of Zimbabwe with another dominant performance when he leads India in the three-match Twenty20 series against the hosts, starting in Harare, on Saturday.
Thanks to half-centuries by Ankit Bawne and Rahul Tripathi, and a splendid final over by Dominic Joseph, Maharashtra beat Saurashtra by four runs in the West Zone Vijay Hazare one-day tournament in Rajkot on Friday.
KKR have so far failed to come together as a unit and slipped to sixth in the table after starting the tournament on a high against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
As coach Ricky Ponting pointed out, he would expect a better "on his feet" thinking from the young captain.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify the Most Valuable Players in the IPL so far.
India captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday said his side would have overhauled even a bigger target in the third and final T20 International against Sri Lanka, though they needed to bat till the final over to chase down 136 for victory, which lifted them to a 3-0 series whitewash.
The in-form Rajasthan Royals will be confident of a third consecutive victory when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, in Jaipur, on Wednesday.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would strive for a handsome win over struggling Rajasthan Royals in their last round-robin game to stay ahead in the IPL play-offs race in Sharjah on Thursday.
CSK will be brimming with confidence having defeated the Royals earlier in the season
With eight points from 11 games, RR are placed second from bottom in the eight-team table and a loss on Saturday will end their slim chances of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Saurashtra head coach Karsan Ghavri says the use of limited DRS hasn't served its purpose in the Ranji Trophy final. The DRS was the talking point once again on Day 4 after Saurashtra skipper and lead pacer Jaydev Unadkat was at the receiving end on two occasions.
