Australia went down as victors of the first floodlit test after sealing a nerve-jangling, three-wicket victory late on Sunday but organisers will also claim a win, with 120,000 fans flocking to Adelaide Oval through the match.
Once viewed as the perennial whipping boys of one-day cricket, New Zealand have not only reinvented themselves but have also helped inspire a remarkable transformation in England's approach.
Unbeaten in all the three games they have played so far in the tournament, Gujarat Lions would look to continue with their impressive winning run when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Rajkot on Thursday. The Lions have been in red-hot form in their debut season with convincing wins in all the three games and they would seek to maintain a clean slate tomorrow at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. The home side will also be bolstered by the return of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who did not play in the Lion's seven-wicket thrashing of defending champions Mumbai Indians in Mumbai due to his wedding.
Australia's fifth World Cup triumph was largely possible due to efforts of fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who had a sensational run with the ball in the mega-event.
Most of these incredible performances came against one team -- the Gujarat Lions.
Key was not to be left behind and quipped that he is thankful to Modi for not raising his country's poor performance in the series so far. New Zealand were whitewashed 0-3 in the Test series and are trailing in the ongoing five-match ODI series as well.
Table-toppers Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming believes his team's final league match against bottom placed Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League on Saturday as a 'dangerous game'.
A week ago, Matt Henry was like nearly every other New Zealander, watching the World Cup on television and hoping the Black Caps would go all the way and win the tournament.
'It's going to be a great game, probably the game of the tournament.'
England's Jonny Bairstow steered his side to a three-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final game in Durham on Saturday.
The New Zealand team administration has received a pat on the back from the Kiwi media for their bold team selection in the opening match of the World T20 opening match against India on Tuesday.
There's been no place like home for Australia and New Zealand on their respective paths to the World Cup final but just one of the co-hosts will enjoy that particular advantage when they meet in Sunday's title decider.
The superb build-up run has made India the clear favourites for an unprecedented second World Twenty20 title but the in-form hosts will have to guard against complacency when they take on a spirited New Zealand in their campaign-opener in Nagpur on Tuesday.
Yet another semi-final exit from a big ICC event but New Zealand captain Kane Williamson refuses to call it a jinx, saying that the loss to England in the World Twenty20 last-four stage was just a case of going down to a better team on the given day.
Australia's World Cup winning captain Michael Clarke feels the Indian skipper should fly back from Surrey to play the historic one-off Test in Bengaluru.
Pacer Rahul Shukla rocked the rival top-order with three wickets in an over before veteran Brad Hodge hit a blistering fifty as Rajasthan Royals snapped Otago Volts's 15-match winning streak with a four-wicket win in the Champion League Twenty20 Group A match, in Jaipur.
Chennai Super Kings produced a clinical performance to crush Delhi Daredevils by 93 runs and register their first win in the seventh edition of Indian Premier League in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Mumbai Indians' third IPL triumph on Sunday was largely down to a stellar contribution with the ball from the young fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
Virat Kohli hit a splendid century but Mitchell McClenaghan claimed four wickets to lift New Zealand to a thrilling 24-run victory against India in the first One-Day International in Napier.
Their pace attack has been the most fearsome this IPL season but Sunrisers Hyderabad swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar feels it would be a tough task for his team to counter the marauding Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen when the two teams clash in the final on Sunday. Hyderabad edged out Gujarat Lions by four wickets on Friday in Qualifier 2 to set up a summit clash with Bangalore, who had beaten the same opponents in Qualifier 1. "We will definitely strategise because I read somewhere the other day that Virat Kohli has scored 35 per cent of RCB's runs. It'll be a big task for us to get (Chris) Gayle, Virat (Kohli) and AB (De Villers) and later, (Shane) Watson, out. We are hoping for a good contest," Bhuvneshwar said at the post match press conference in New Delhi.
India go into the quarter-final against their neighbours as favourites, but will certainly not take them too lightly, not wanting to suffer the same fate as they did in the 2007 edition.
The India right-hander has 862 points in his kitty, still 25 points behind AB de Villiers of South Africa, who is heading the list.
Describing David Warner as "generous and giving", Australia's stand-in cricket captain George Bailey downplayed the opener's bar-room brawl with England batsman Joe Root, calling it a "minor" incident but "disappointing" nonetheless.
Reaction after England beat New Zealand on number of boundaries hit in the Cricket World Cup final at Lord's on Sunday.
India suffered its worst One-Day International series defeat in New Zealand, losing 0-4, after being trounced by 87 runs in the inconsequential fifth and final match in Wellington on Friday.
'If you have a partnership then you can build on. I think it was the partnership which was important' 'If the margin of defeat was less it would have been better'
Some teams have completely overhauled their squads. Others retained their core at the IPL Players Auction.
As the teams gear up for the 2019 World Cup to be held in the UK across 11 venues, here is a look at the 10 greatest matches in the history of the mega-event.
Dwyane Bravo recorded his best IPL figures with a four-wicket haul before Aaron Finch smashed 74 runs off 47 balls as Gujarat Lions thumped hosts Kings XI Punjab by five wickets to make a winning entry into the Indian Premier League match in Mohali.
New Zealand's cricketing Gallipoli came on February 1, 1981 when Australia captain Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball of a One-day match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground along the ground.
Rookie batsman Rahul Tripathi played a breathtaking knock of 93 to single-handedly power Rising Pune Supergiant to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming feels India's upcoming tour of Australia next month will determine how the defending champions' campaign pans out in the World Cup next year.
Statistical highlights of the World Twenty20 Super 10 Group 2 match between India and New Zealand in Nagpur on Tuesday.
Sangakkara, Dhoni, McCullum, de Villiers... Cricket has never had so many amazing wicketkeeper-batsmen in the same era...
With an impeccable tally of 2,633 runs across formats this year, Kane Williamson, says Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com, is right up there among the pantheon of modern great greats.
'Team India's strategy -- rather the lack of it -- boomeranged in the game against New Zealand. It's because of the T20 generation's lack of patience to counter spin,' feels Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com
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.
Australia's 111-ball 60 against England in the fourth Ashes Test is the shortest all-out first innings ever in Test cricket history. Rajneesh Gupta presents other such shocking collapses on the first day of a Test in recent times.
The West Indian has blasted his way to the top of Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings for the World Cup with the South African skipper close on his heels.
Prem Panicker, on the Rediff chat, delves on what went wrong for Team India and what to expect from Sunday's trans-Tasman World Cup final.
