Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma struck scintillating half-centuries during a record 158-run partnership and powered India to a formidable 202 for three.
Some teams have completely overhauled their squads. Others retained their core at the IPL Players Auction.
Registering their first points of the competition in the final league game, Barbados Tridents managed an edgy six-wicket consolation win against Northern Knights in a rain-reduced Champions League Twenty20.
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.
Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com lists five matches you can't afford to miss out at the ICC's marquee event.
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.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli hammered a listless New Zealand attack with a superlative double hundred as the hosts piled up a mammoth 557 for five on the second day of the third Test in Indore, on Sunday.
With momentum on their side, Dhoni and Co need to justify the favorites' tag and go the distance.
India continued to enjoy the upperhand in the second and final Test against New Zealand despite a fighting unbeaten century from home team captain Brendon McCullum, who led a spirited fightback on an absorbing third day in Wellington on Sunday.
Ajinkya Rahane cracked his maiden ton as India dished out a dominant batting display to take a massive 246-run lead and put themselves in the drivers' seat over New Zealand on the second and final Test in Wellington on Saturday.
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.
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