India host West Indies in the opener of their three-match series on Sunday with doubts over the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium pitch, which will be hosting a Test for the first time since serving an international ban.
"Playing condition is fine here and so is the pitch. The outfield is as good as you find anywhere in the world," Shaharyar Khan said.
Visakhapatnam to be common main venue for Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants, while Kings XI Punjab to play all their home matches at Mohali.
Even legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar was confused about how the newly-laid Ferozeshah Kotla track, which he described as a 'hair transplant pitch', would behave during Sunday's fifth One-Day International, in Delhi, which was abandoned because of an unfit pitch. In his pitch report, Gavaskar had pointed out that it would be a tricky strip to bat on and said the batsmen would have to be watchful in the first half-hour.
Delhi team management's lack of communication with the establishment again came into the fore on Sunday when Feroze Shah Kotla curator Venkat Sundaram accused skipper Gautam Gambhir of "interfering into his job" ahead of their Ranji Trophy final group league encounter against Karnataka on Monday.
Breaking his silence on the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch fiasco, Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said the track did not look "normal" soon after the first five overs and was too dangerous to continue playing.
Going by the nature of the pitch on eve of the three-day game, senior player Ross Taylor said he does not expect the ball to turn much at Kotla, but is aware it won't be the case in the three-Test series, starting in Kanpur on September 22.
In the 29 Tests played so far, the India won 10 and lost just six. More importantly, India won the last seven Tests played at the venue -- the most successive wins for India at any venue -- and last lost a Test at the Kotla 21 years ago, in 1987 to the West Indies.
Travis Head's aggressive fifty and a clinical showing from the bowlers helped Sunrisers Hyderabad score a fine 67-run victory over Delhi Capitals.
The Congress will soon shift to its new headquarters at Kotla Road in New Delhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi laying the foundation stone of the Indira Gandhi Bhavan on Monday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) felicitated the recently-retired Virender Sehwag at his home ground Feroz Shah Kotla on Thursday before the start of the fourth Test match between India and South Africa.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took a wicket in the final over of the day to help India regain advantage against West Indies on day two of the first cricket Test at Ferozshah Kotla on Monday.
The Ferozshah Kotla ground in New Delhi has been approved to be re-instated as an international venue from January 1, 2011 after being suspended last year following a pitch fiasco.
A three-tier security ring has been put in place at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.
The fifth One-Day International between India and Sri Lanka at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Sunday was abandoned because the pitch was found to be dangerous to play on. Sri Lanka were reduced to 83 for five wickets after 23.3 overs when the players left the field.
The ever controversial Feroz Shah Kotla strip will be the point of discussion during the next four days as hosts Delhi take on Bengal in a Ranji Trophy Super League match.
Two days after the pitch fiasco that led to the abandonment of the fifth India-Sri Lanka one-dayer, the DDCA on Tuesday brought back old hand Radhey Shyam as the chief curator of Ferozeshah Kotla.
The Ferozeshah Kotla stood disgraced on Sunday after the fifth and final India-Sri Lanka ODI was abandoned following visiting captain Kumar Sangakkara's refusal to play on a dangerous pitch, raising the possibility of the venue being banned for a minimum of one year.
Cheteshwar Pujara, on Wednesday, sought to play down the ineffectiveness of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the third Test against Sri Lanka, saying the fifth day Feroz Shah Kotla strip did not even have the bare minimum assistance for spinners.
Former India pace bowler David Johnson, who played two Tests in 1996, passed away in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Buoyed by the emphatic victory in the second ODI at Nagpur, a confident India will be looking to keep the momentum going when they take on Australia in the third of the series in Delhi on Saturday.
Simon Katich and Boeta Dippenaar, captains of New South Wales and Diamond Eagles, slammed the newly-laid Ferozeshah Kotla pitch, saying it was far from ideal for Twenty20 cricket.
Playing on an Uppal shirtfront that resembled a national highway or at the Kotla or Wankhede is completely from playing at the Chepauk where the strip will be sticky in nature.
The New Zealand team management knows what lies ahead for their players during the next six weeks in India, and it was no surprise that the spin troika of leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, off-spinner Mark Craig and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner bowled a lot during a two-hour nets session at the Kotla in Delhi on Wednesday.
South Africa resorted to dogged stonewalling in their pursuit of an improbable 481-run victory target after Ajinkya Rahane stroked his second century of the match to tighten India's grip on the fourth and final Test on Sunday.
Images from the first qualifier between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians at Ferozshah Kotla on Tuesday.
The man who owns the World record of fastest List A hundred (off 29 balls in the Marsh Cup) has now done enough that Delhi Capitals have been forced to drop David Warner on the pretext of a hand injury.
The match, which was scheduled to be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla on October 19, will be played a day later at the same venue on October 20.
An emphatic six-wicket win in the fourth and final Test in New Delhi on Sunday helped Team India complete a historic 4-0 clean sweep against Australia.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned Ferozshah Kotla in the national capital from hosting international matches for a year after match referee Alan Hurst reported the wicket prepared for the fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka as "unfit".
The International Cricket Council on Monday said it will take about a month's time to decide "appropriate sanction" on the Ferozeshah Kotla as an international venue in the wake of Sunday's pitch fiasco which led to the abandonment of the fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka.
The Indian cricket team landed in New Delhi on Monday for its second World Cup-fixture against Afghanistan on October 11.
International Cricket Council (ICC) vice-president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said the governing body could give its verdict on the Ferozshah Kotla pitch fiasco by next week.
The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association on Tuesday withdrew its plea from Delhi high court seeking occupancy certificate from South Delhi Municipal Corporation to hold World T20 matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds in New Delhi after the SDMC said it wants the DDCA to pay Rs. 50 lakh and complete all formalities in 20 days.
India had its nose ahead after safely negotiating the West Indies bowlers on a tricky Ferozshah Kotla pitch on Tuesday. At stumps, on Day 3 of the first Test, they were 152 for 2, 124 runs from their victory target of 276. Tamil Nadu off-spinner Ravichandran Aswhin vindicated his selection into the Test side with a five-for on debut.
A full-strength Indian team on Friday underwent a strenuous training session under the watchful eyes of coach Duncan Fletcher ahead of their first Test against the West Indies.
Mired in one controversy after another, the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) hit a new low after three top officials gave three separate probables list with one naming Gautam Gambhir as captain while another faction naming Madan Lal as 'mentor'.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul brought all his experience into play as he notched up an unbeaten 111 to steer West Indies to 256 for five and share the honours with India on day one of the first cricket Test at the Ferozshah Kotla on Sunday.
Rishabh Pant is experiencing an entire gamut of emotions from nervousness to excitement as he gears up for his first competitive game in nearly 15 months when he leads Delhi Capitals in their IPL opener against Punjab Kings in Chandigarh on Saturday.
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