There were no surprises as the preliminary list of 30 Indian probables.
Riding on Harmanpreet Kaur's fiery knock of 171 off 115 balls, India beat Australia by 26 runs to book a spot in the ICC Women's World Cup final.
India made a strong reply with the bat after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up yet another five-wicket haul as the hosts reached 146 for one on the second day of the fourth Test against England in Mumbai, on Friday.
Uncertainty over the possibility of Board of Control for Cricket in India's president-in-exile Narayanaswami Srinivasan making a comeback and the survival of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League deepened on Thursday as Supreme Court threw suggestions whether those named in the Mudgal Committee could be kept out of the BCCI elections and whether the CSK franchise could be scrapped.
Only 5 batsmen have hit a six to take their team to victory when they needed 4 or more off the final ball.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann dismissed Virat Kohli's allegation that his team repeatedly sought DRS inputs from the dressing room, insisting that the second Test was played the right way.
Ishant Sharma is yet to realise his true potential, feels former pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who wants the lanky speedster to lead the Indian attack in next month's tough tour of South Africa.
'We felt like we were a part of something bigger than just a film.'
Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and Ethiopian sprinter Genzebe Dibaba were named the Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year respectively in a glittering ceremony.
A dominant India will be eyeing to clinch the five-Test series against England with yet another comprehensive victory when the two teams square off in the fourth match of the series starting from Thursday. With an unassailable 2-0 lead after three Tests, the confidence of the Virat Kohli-led team is sky high and they would like to regain the Anthony de Mello Trophy which they had lost to Alastair Cook's side back in 2012. Even if England manage a draw, India will win the series after the visitors' hat-trick of wins- 2011 in England, 2012 in India and 2014 in England again.
Yuvraj Singh has been an enigma as well as a paradox in Indian cricket.
With his versatile talents, Hardik Pandya is the kind of unique cricketer the Indian team has always wanted, writes Dhruv Munjal
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and veteran pacer Ashish Nehra on Friday did not come for Indian team's pre-match day training after being advised rest ahead of the crucial Asia Cup T20 game against Pakistan, in Fatullah on Saturday. While Dhoni is suffering from back spasms, the injury-prone Nehra has his own specific training programme, which is different from the general team routine. Dhoni had played through pain against Bangladesh but back spasms need adequate recovery time, which is specifically the reason he has been given 48 hours to recuperate before the Pakistan match. His cover Parthiv Patel had his first training session but had precious little do as he did not get to bat in the main nets. Unless Dhoni's physical condition deteriorates further, Parthiv's chances of playing are minimal. There was one interesting sight during the training session on the match-eve. Both India and Pakistan trained adjacent to each other inside the main stadium at the Khan Saheb Osman Ali Stadium and trained at the same time between 4-6:30 pm local time. However, during the entire two and half-hour training session, no pleasantries were exchanged between the members of the two sides.
Will get money's worth if Gayle, Yuvi can win even two games, says Sehwag
'When Hardik was dropped from the Zimbabwe tour, coach Sanjay Bangar called, telling him to work hard and not lose focus.' 'This really motivated Hardik to do better and he emerged one of the star performers during India A's tour of Australia.'
Very impressed with India's tearaway quick Umesh Yadav, legendary West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts feels he is the "first genuine" pacer from the country but needs to be a tad more aggressive.
The tri-series in Australia, India's final ODI engagement before the World Cup, gets underway on January 16, says Chandresh Narayanan, casting a fascinating look at the survivors from earlier World Cups.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha stitched an unbeaten 108-run partnership for the sixth wicket to rescue India from a precarious start as the visitors' posted 234 for five when stumps were drawn on day 1 of the third Test at St Lucia. Ashwin will resume the second day on 75 and will be eyeing his second century of the series. His partner Saha will begin his innings on 46. Statistical highlights on Day one of the third cricket test between India and the West Indies, here on Tuesday.
'People can relate to him much the way they did with a young Sachin Tendulkar 30 years ago.'
As India gets set to play its 500th Test, Rajneesh Gupta presents India's memorable Test victories at home.
India face an embarrassing defeat after Alastair Cook's fairytale farewell knock and Joe Root's classy hundred enabled England to pile more misery on the visitors on Monday, the penultimate day of the fifth Test.
Starring Mankad, Bedi, Siva, Azhar and Sachin.
Rohit Sharma slammed a quickfire 83 to power India to a comprehensive 45-run victory against Bangladesh in the first match of the Asia Cup T20 tournament in Dhaka, on Wednesday.
Cheteshwar Pujara scored a sparkling unbeaten 135 as India took a stranglehold over South Africa in the first Test in Johannesburg on Friday. The top-order displayed remarkable application on Day 3, as the tourists, after dismissing the hosts for 244 in the first innings, swelled their overall lead to 320.
'In the future, you will get pacers who will bowl even faster than the current lot because these guys are currently setting new standards.'
India took giant strides towards winning their first ever series on Australian soil in seven decades by retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a comprehensive 137-run win in the third Test in Melbourne on Sunday.
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.
Proud of seeing Jammu and Kashimir cricket getting noticed after its historic victory over Mumbai in their opening match of the Ranji Trophy, former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi said the team from the Valley boasts of many a talented player and singled out Perveez Rasool for a World Cup berth.
Former Australian fast bowling great Brett Lee is worried at the alarming trend of young quicks putting an effort on beefing up upper body which in turn is adversely affecting the quality of speed merchants. Lee was forthright when asked about the absence of genuinely quick bowlers at the moment. "I just think that we have to keep promoting wickets where bowlers can bowl quick. I don't think bowlers are training correctly, there is a lot of emphasis and too much importance only on guys lifting heavy weights. Gym work is good only if it's done correctly, it has to be high on intensity and low on weights," Lee told PTI in New Delhi during an interaction.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from the Indore Test.
'They should be conserved, preserved, and valued highly.'
Key facts on the India squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup.
Prem Panicker, a keen follower of the game and one of cricket's finest writers, analysed, debated and dissected the four semi-finalists on the Rediff World Cup Chat on Monday.
India have won the first two Tests by comprehensive margins -- by 304 runs in Galle and an innings and 53 runs in Colombo.
'No, you don't require tantrums, or beating a tattoo on the helmet or rude and hostile gestures to make a point.' 'A true fast bowler lets the ball do the talking as it crashes into the stumps,' says veteran sports commentator Kishore Bhimani.
Rajneesh Gupta presents Virender Sehwag's amazing international career in numbers.
The violence-affected areas witnessed several rounds of stone-pelting from pro and anti-CAA protesters. At least 11 police personnel, including DCP Shahdara and ACP (Gokalpuri) were injured. 2 CRPF personnel were also injured. All private and government schools in Northeast Delhi district will remain closed on Tuesday.
Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Vijay Manjrekar and Eknath Solkar are among the 17 cricketers from Maharashtra who have the 'Kar' suffix in their surnames and have played Test cricket for India.
Captain Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane struck sublime half-centuries before Australia staged a strong fightback to bowl India out for 252 in the second One-Day International, in Kolkata, on Thursday.
From Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, Imran Khan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, these cricketers, among others, etched their names in the annuls of cricketing history with heroic efforts that helped their teams clinch the big prize of One-day cricket. With the 2015 edition of the cricket World Cup starting on February 14, we bring you a brief history of finals from 1975-2011...
