RCB will be strengthened further when the immensely-talented Devdutt Padikkal makes the team after his recovery from COVID-19.
CSK, with their experience of winning important moments, will certainly make Capitals wary.
The hosts have hit nadir in both form and confidence, and, after a lop-sided 3-0 Test series victory, the script did not change much in the opening ODI, where India steamrolled the opposition by nine wickets.
Skipper Unmukt Chand anchored the chase to perfection with an unbeaten 77 to guide India B to a five-wicket victory against India A in the opening match of the Deodhar Trophy one-day cricket tournament at Kanpur on Monday. Put into bat, India A could manage only 161 in 44.2 overs with skipper Ambati Rayudu (58) and all-rounder Parvez Rasool (66) adding 104 runs for the sixth wicket after they were reeling at 29 for five. In reply, India B scored the runs in only 29.2 overs with skipper Unmukt remaining unbeaten from 82 balls, his innings laced with nine fours and a six. He had two partnerships ---56 for the opening stand with Shreyas Iyer (24) and 75 for the fifth wicket with veteran Dinesh Karthik (34).
Do you think India should play five bowlers?
At the face of it, there is apparently no danger to Dhoni's captaincy since the team is still winning matches. But if one digs deeper, Kohli has slowly and surely been the man everyone is looking forward to as the leader, across all formats for India.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir said it will be a challenge to maintain the trend they had set in their last Indian Premier League outing by bowling out Royal Challengers Bangalore for a record lowest 49.
India have accumulated 122 points on the back of series wins over Australia and New Zealand and are placed behind England.
Indian limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Monday retained in Group A of the men's player contracts for 2015-16 by the BCCI.
One of the finest fast bowlers in current times, Mohammed Amir would be pitted against the talismanic Virat Kohli in what could turn out to be a battle primarily between India's vaunted batting line-up and against Pakistan's potent bowling attack.
A 'Shane Warne like drift' makes Kuldeep Yadav a more difficult bowler to face compared to Yuzvendra Chahal, believes former Australia opener Matthew Hayden.
Here's the complete list of which team bagged who, and for how much!
The player registration deadline closed on Thursday and the list comprises 207 international players including 21 capped Indians.
Sri Lankan batting once again promised a lot but delivered too little losing as many as seven wickets for 53 runs after they were cruising along at 185 for 3.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's inability to rotate strike in the middle overs is cause for concern for some time now but India's bowling coach Bharath Arun says it's not that head coach Ravi Shastri is not speaking to the former skipper or other batsmen on how to improve.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes was baffled by India's run-chasing strategy during their World Cup game last year in which he found Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's approach 'mystifying' and saw 'no intent' from Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the run chase. It was the game at Birmingham, where India were comprehensively beaten by 31 runs after they failed to chase England's massive score of 337/7 last year.
Skipper Virat Kohli will usher in a new era in Indian cricket when he leads the side in the ODI series-opener against England in Pune on Sunday in place of the iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who recently relinquished the captaincy in the limited over formats.
'(Jasprit) Bumrah we know is a very good new ball bowler and I'm sure he'll mix it up and bowl some short stuff and some full stuff'
Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 154 to make short work of a seemingly steep target as India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the third one-day international in Mohali to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series on Sunday.
Rohit lauded the efforts of the bowlers for producing crucial breakthroughs.
Mumbai Indians all-rounder Krunal Pandya feels the time his younger brother Hardik spent away from the game has helped him become a better cricketer.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has instructed match referees to ensure that none of the India players -- current or discarded -- sport the India logo either on their helmet or on their gear in domestic matches.
Chahar started the rot for KKR early in their innings when he trapped opener Chris Lynn in front of the wickets as the Aussie missed a pull off a delivery that kept low. Lynn was sent back inside the first over for a duck. He came into the equation in the next over when he took a brilliant catch, running backwards, to dismiss Sunil Narine for just 6 off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers on the India and New Zealand teams and players.
Pant had so far scored 222 runs in the IPL compared to a mere 93 by Karthik, but the latter's experience helped tilt the scale in his favour for the mega-event, starting in England from May 30.
Captain Virat Kohli admitted that India were at least 30 runs short while lauding the application shown by New Zealand's batsmen, especially Tom Latham, in the first One-Day International at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
CSK will be brimming with confidence having defeated the Royals earlier in the season
The Indian selection committee has its task cut out when it zeroes in on the replacement for Ambati Rayudu's in India's ODI squad for the three-match series against England after the veteran right-hander failed the YoYo Test.
With nine defeats from 11 matches, the Sunrisers are languishing at the bottom, while KKR, in fourth place with 10 points from 12 matches, still have hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stage.
Rediscovering himself in the twilight of his career, a rejuvenated Mahendra Singh Dhoni would look to continue his regained form and guide India to a series-clinching win when the hosts take on New Zealand in the fourth One-Day International, in Ranchi, on Wednesday.
Virtually out of the play-off race, bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad will hope to keep their new-found momentum intact when they face table toppers Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, in Sharjah, on Thursday.
Any other result than India's resounding win looks highly unlikely, consdering the visitors' rampaging run in the preceding Test and ODI series, where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.
While the two T20 matches will be a precursor to the ODI series, vice-captain Rohit Sharma is likely to be given a short break to rejuvenate and come back fresh for the ODIs.
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.
KKR with 12 points from 12 games would like to win the next two encounters to ensure a smooth passage while CSK, currently at the bottom of the eight-team table, are only playing for pride.
RR have a lot of issues to sort out, particularly in the absence of key foreign players like Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes.
After eight defeats in 11 outings, Chennai Super Kings will look to give their forgettable campaign a semblance of respectability when they take on in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League in Dubai on Sunday.
Since Virat Kohli's ODI debut, India have successfully chased a total of 300-plus eight times, with Kohli scoring hundreds in six matches. This and many more interesting facts are recorded in the statistical highlights from the first of the 3-match ODI series played between India and England at Pune Sunday.
'Sachin Tendulkar called him world's best fast bowler at the moment. Indeed he is, for the impact he has created. If you take Bumrah out of that India line-up, it's like you rip a heart out of the body'