Glenn Maxwell's brilliant all-round performance and Harshal Patel's hat-trick powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thumping 54-run victory against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League match, in Dubai, on Sunday.
A win on Friday would seal the three-match series for Virat Kohli and Co.
India 'A' will play a one-day tri-series involving Australia 'A' and South Africa 'A' followed by two four-day matches against the hosts.
India captain Virat Kohli and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will be rested for the limited-overs series against the West Indies, scheduled in the United States and the Caribbean, from August 3. Kohli and Bumrah will, however, be back for the two-Test series, which is a part of the inaugural World Test Championship.
It will be a battle of youngsters with the likes of Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya on one side and the new star in the horizon Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan with his variations on the other side.
High on confidence after decimating a high-profile Royal Challengers Bangalore, an upbeat Gujarat Lions will be aiming to lift their game a notch higher when they face title contenders Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Rajkot on Saturday.
Scroll down to see who else made the guest list at the Mumbai Indians' party...
Manish Pandey continued his good form as India 'A' outclassed Afghanistan 'A' by 113 runs.
India's skipper Virat Kohli was surprised that Shardul Thakur wasn't the man-of-the match in the third ODI against England, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar not man-of-the-series, saying credit to them for bowling so well in adverse conditions.
Shaw knocks at selectors' doors ahead of NZ Tests with a splendid 150 off 100 balls.
David Warner played a captain's knock, smashing an unbeaten 90 runs off 59 balls to power the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 7-wicket convincing victory against defending champions Mumbai Indians on Monday. Chasing a modest 143-run target, the Sunrisers chased the target with 15 balls to spare in Hyderabad. The Sunrisers have recorded their first points in the points table of IPL 9, while MI have now lost three out of their last four games.
Rahul Chahar's brilliant spell of 2/14 helped Mumbai Indians crush Chennai Super Kings by 6 wickets to enter the IPL final.
aptain Virat Kohli and premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, were both called back into a full-strength Indian squad, while Dinesh Karthik was left out of the five-match ODI series against Australia, starting in Visakhapatnam, on February 24.
Images from Sunday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab, in Dubai.
Russell said they would learn from the mistakes and will make a comeback in the next few games.
Raina last played in the 50-over format in October 2015 and is making a comeback after two years and 8 months.
The two squads comprise a host of players, who have performed consistently for their state teams and IPL franchises over the past couple of seasons.
Pandya has spent a considerable amount of time on his fitness over the last 18 months after recurring injuries
Royal Challengers Bangalore's West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree claimed his first Indian Premier League hat-trick on his debut against the Mumbai Indians, taking the wickets of Parthiv Patel, Mitch McClenaghan and Rohit Sharma on Friday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the Most Valuable Players in the Sri Lanka-India ODI series.
Virat Kohli became the highest run-getter in Indian Premier League during his 92-run innings against Mumbai Indians but the star batsman said it doesn't really matter as his effort couldn't ensure a victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Images from Sunday's Indian Premier League match between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Sharjah.
Images from Sunday's Indian Premier League match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi.
Holders Vidarbha thrashed Mumbai by an innings and 145 runs to knock out the 41-time Ranji Trophy champions.
The first One-Day International between India and Sri Lanka witnessed important milestones being set and new records being made.
In impressive form throughout the season, Lucknow Super Giants will look to bounce back from the reverse they suffered in their previous match and beat Rajasthan Royals in the IPL fixture at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday and confirm a berth in the play-offs.
Mumbai Indians were knocked out off the play-off race after the 36 run loss to the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday -- their eighth loss in a row.
Trent Boult finished with IPL career-best 4-18 in his four overs, including a maiden, while Jasprit Bumrah took 2-25 as CSK finished on a lowly 114-9 in their 20 overs.
India were in with a very good chance of levelling the series in Melbourne on Friday after reducing Australia to 132 for 7 in 19 overs but rain put paid to their hopes.
Kieron Pollard singlehandedly took Mumbai Indians to an astonishing four-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL match in Delhi on Saturday.
Six months after storming out of the Baroda team hotel due to his argument with Krunal, Hooda joined Rajasthan ahead of the 2021-2022 season as a professional, but such was his frame of mind that Hooda never spoke money with the RCA officials.
'I wish I could reverse-lap Jofra Archer, that's about it. Don't think I am brave enough to play the shots Suryakumar plays. To be honest, I wasn't looking to take Anrich Nortje on, it was a matter of just seizing the opportunity when I had it. Fortunately, there were one-two balls I was able to go after.'
A sixth win in nine games takes IPL debutants LSG closer to a play-off berth, while the task gets tougher for Punjab with just four wins from nine games.
Gautam Gambhir is a politician by choice but a cricketer at heart whose brain never stops ticking when it comes to conceptualising, planning and execution.
Images from the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, in Delhi, on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians have an eight-match winning streak against Kolkata Knight Riders with an overall 18-5 head-to-head record.
Suryakumar took charge with MI tottering at 79 for 6 and added 72 off 41 balls with Jaydev Unadkat (13 no off 14 balls).
After the gruelling league phase of the ongoing IPL, the stage is set for the play-offs with CSK and MI clashing against each other for a place in May 12 final.
Star batter Suryakumar Yadav urged one and all to show patience with an out of sorts Mumbai Indians, saying the five-time champions are currently undergoing a transition phase.
As the 16th edition of the glitzy Indian Premier League is set to unfold, let's take a look at the driving force of the T20 league and what's in store in this edition.
