Following Pankaj Singh's distinctly unlucky Test debut during the match against England at Southampton, the skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a few words of encourgement for him.
Here's what went down in the curtain raiser episode.
Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe picked up a career-best six for 35 to help Australia take command of the first Test against India after 15 wickets fell on a bowler-dominated second day of the contest in Pune on Friday.
India are in sight of their first series triumph on Sri Lankan soil in 22 years, having reduced the hosts to 67 for 3 after setting them a daunting target of 386 in the third and final Test in Colombo on Friday.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said people of India have not treated Hinduism as their fiefdom but as their heritage meant for the world and there is a greater need for people in the country to have knowledge of its roots than those abroad.
There will be no let-up in intensity as a ruthless India look to inch closer to yet another series whitewash when they take on a beleaguered Australia in the fourth One-day International in Bengalurg, on Thursday.
Pragyan Ojha bagged an impressive five-wicket haul as India 'A' dismissed Australia 'A' for 268 before extending their lead to 154 runs by the end of the third day's play in the first unofficial cricket Test, at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai, on Friday. At the close of play, the hosts were 121 for 3 in their second innings.
Close on the heels of Parveez Rasool's selection in the Indian team for the Zimbabwe tour, another Jammu and Kashmir cricketer Shubham Khajuria was on Wednesday selected in the India Under-19 squad for the tour of Sri Lanka.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players after the India-England ODI series.
'It's not about four or five bowlers; it's the balance that can get you 20 wickets. Like I have kept saying in the past, it depends on conditions' 'Competition for places, nothing like it. It goes to show everyone is one his toes, nobody will rest on his heels'
Put into bat, KXIP were reduced to 36 for 3 in the fourth over after Umesh (3/23) dismissed Mayank Aggarwal (15), Aaron Finch (0) and Yuvraj Singh (4) in the space of six balls in his second over to leave the visiting side in trouble early in their innings.
Lokesh Rahul hit his maiden century, Virat Kohli his fourth of the series but Australia's Shane Watson hit back with two wickets in as many balls to leave India on 342 for five after the third day of the fourth Test on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad face each other in a must-win IPL match.
The Pretoria wicket is likely to be similar, with perhaps not the same sideways movement of Newlands, and will provide another test of the Indian batsmen's bravery against a seam bowling barrage.
'We have got a guy like Hardik Pandya, who is a wicket-taking bowler. Every game that he plays, on any surface, he has a knack of picking wickets. He has a great chance of playing as well'
Ahead of the upcoming Test and ODI series against Bangladesh Rajneesh Gupta presents a statistical outlook on India's players selected for the two squads.
With Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra tormenting Sri Lankan team in the first two Tests, former captain Sanath Jayasuriya feels that the newer crop of batsmen emerging from the island nation have not done proper assessment of their ability to handle quality spinners.
How India's players fared in Australia.
It was World No. 1 India's seventh Test series win in a row -- continuing the dominance that started in 2015 with victories against Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh.
Led by aggressive Australian opener David Warner, Sunrisers would be relying mostly on foreigners to deliver the goods, given the scarcity of local stars in their ranks.
It was India's players all the way, with Jasprit Bumrah emerging the most valuable, ahead of K L Rahul. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after the just-concluded three-ODI series between India and Zimbabwe.
Over the weekend, Akanksha was evicted. Good riddance.
A confident India will look to pile the misery on the a struggling Australia and seal the five-match series when the teams clash in the third One-Day International, in Indore, on Sunday.
The Delhi Police on February 20 arrested five corporate executives.
"(Former PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee said 'raj dharma' was not followed in Gujarat (during the 2002 riots). Now, 'raj dharma' is not being followed in case of Andhra Pradesh. We have been denied what was rightfully ours," he claimed.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing his government of "extraordinarily large" interference in academic institutions.
Looking forward to the challenge of facing Dale Steyn in the upcoming four-match Test series against South Africa, Indian opener Lokesh Rahul has said playing the speedster in the longer format is a "different ballgame" as one has to counter the late movement he gets.
The EC limits campaign expenses incurred by a candidate to Rs 50 lakh to Rs 70 lakh. But there is no such limit on spending for parties. The vendors aren't complaining.
Charges against eight Muslim youths accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case were on Monday dropped by a special court in Mumbai due to lack of evidence against them.
Images from Day 3 of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Kanpur, on Saturday
'My interest is to open up transparency to the people who unnecessary raise these issues. The prime minister has full right to go wherever he is going but the question is why is he not transparent on expenditure.' 'When the prime minister went to the UN, he spoke of transparency. You are not complying with it. It shows hypocrisy.' Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd) on why he filed an RTI to find out how much Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent on his foreign visits.
Opener Murali Vijay hit a half-century as India's batsmen survived some intense pressure from Australia's bowlers on the last day to draw the fourth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
An upbeat Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to carry on their winning momentum to book a berth in the play-offs when they take on an equally-keen Royal Challengers Bangalore in a crucial IPL match at Uppal, in Hyderabad, on Friday.
Young captain Steven Smith compiled a watchful half-century to guide Australia to 259 for five at stumps and leave the third Test against India delicately poised after an attritional opening day.
Images from the opening day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Rangana Herath picked up seven wickets in a sublime display of left-arm spin bowling to power Sri Lanka to a spectacular comeback win by 63 runs against India on the fourth day of the opening test at Galle on Saturday.
Opener KL Rahul's career-best 158 has put India in the driver's seat in the second Test against West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica. The visitors reached a comfortable 358 for on day 2 and lead by a convincing 162 runs after leading the series 1-0. Rahul, who scored his third Test century, has equaled former captain Mohammed Azharuddin's record to convert his first three fifties into hundreds.
India spinner R Ashwin said he was surprised with West Indies' decision to bat first on a sticky wicket, even as he returned with a five-wicket haul on the opening day to dismiss the hosts for a paltry 196 in the second cricket Test in Kingston, Jamaica.
Indian batsmen frittered away the initial advantage before reaching 248 for six against a disciplined Australia to leave the fourth and final cricket Test evenly poised, in Dharamsala, on Sunday.
Karnataka cricketers, who have been picked in India and India 'A' squads, want to make the most of the opportunity.
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