With scores of 4,9,9 in his previous three matches, Rahul was under pressure to justify his selection and the opener responded by clubbing four sixes en route to a 31-ball fifty as India reached 86-2 at the halfway stage.
Kaviya Maran is the co-owner of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team.
Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal picked up two wickets in the last session to restrict Sri Lanka to 220 for 5 at stumps on the first day of the third and final Test in Sharjah on Thursday.
Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma sought to play down Rising Pune Supergiant and Mumbai Indians' head-to-head record, where the enviable mingles with the undesirable, on the eve of the title clash of IPL-10.
India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the finals of the tournament.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians would look for inspiration from skipper Rohit Sharma, who is set to return to action, when they take on a rejuvenated Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.
Fingers crossed, Arjun could make his debut against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede stadium on Sunday, which, as it happens, is his pater's 49th birthday.
The Sri Lanka cricket team is going through a transition phase, struggling to replace stalwarts such as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
Kumar Sangakkara became only the second cricketer to hit a triple century and a hundred in the same Test as Sri Lanka set Bangladesh a huge target of 467 to win the second and final match in Chittagong on Friday. Sangakkara, who struck his maiden triple century in the first innings, hit a six off Sohag Gazi to reach three figures in the second and emulate former England opener Graham Gooch's 1990 feat against India at Lord's.
The 29-year-old Kohli, who had emulated Rahul Dravid with his previous double century in Nagpur, on Sunday equalled Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag for most double hundreds for India in Tests.
'We have a quality group of players and we need to be smart about how we use them against opposition. I thought we played a very good game given the fact that what they had to offer. But definitely (Harbhajan was) not dropped in the way that you want me to say it. Just that it was a tactical decision'
India's head coach Ravi Shastri, on Monday, heaped special praise on Virat Kohli after he notched up his 50th International century in Kolkata and said "sky is the limit" for the skipper who stands at the halfway stage in equalling Sachin Tendulkar's feat.
Riding on half-centuries from skipper Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Joe Root, England put up a massive 293-7 from their 50 overs.
Sri Lanka's bowlers bundled out England for 185 before the hosts chased down the target with eight wickets to spare in the rain-hit second One-day international on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.
With MI no longer the dominant force it used to be in the last couple of IPLs and Rohit also not among the runs, plans were hatched after IPL 2023 to bring about some major changes.
Fringe players have a chance to prove their worth when India 'A' takes on Sri Lanka in the tourists' only warm-up match ahead of the hastily scheduled One-Day International series, in Mumbai on Thursday. The tour game, at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium, also provides Rohit Sharma, who is recovering from a fractured finger and shoulder injury, an opportunity prove his fitness and return to the side for the last two games in the best-of-five ODI series.
With Mahela Jayawardene named coach of Mumbai Indians on Friday, speculation is rife that former Australia skipper and the IPL franchise coach Ricky Ponting may be in contention for a big role in a revamped Australian cricket.
800 gets so lost in celebrating its grand subject that it forgets something pretty elementary: Cricket is a team sport!, notes Sreehari Nair.
Run-machine Kohli capped a memorable 2018 by becoming the first to win the International Cricket Council's (ICC) cricketer, Test and One-day international (ODI) player of the year awards last month.
Rohit keeps own batting order under wraps
But once Surya (33 off 27) was dismissed by Bishnoi in the 17th over -- MI at 105-2 -- they could just not lift the tempo.
In 2011 on April 2, India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in the final to lift their second ODI World Cup.
Sri Lanka were expected to win, but South Africa had other plans.
Tillakaratne Dilshan hit an unbeaten 74 off 51 deliveries to take Sri Lanka to a six-wicket consolation win in the third and final Twenty20 match over South Africa which has secured the series 2-1.
Kumar Sangakkara struck his 37th Test hundred as he and his retiring team mate Mahela Jayawardene powered Sri Lanka to 252 for two wickets before rain washed out the final session on day three of the first Test against Pakistan on Friday.
South African Graham Ford will take over as the chief coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team for his second stint replacing Marvan Atapattu, who had stepped down five months back. Ford is expected to join the side in February before the three-match T20 International series against India. The news was announced in Surrey county's website as they confirmed their current coach Ford's decision to leave for international assignment. Ford had earlier coached Sri Lanka for two years starting from 2012.
Kane Williamson hit a century and Luke Ronchi smashed 24 runs off one explosive over when the match was still in the balance to steer New Zealand to a four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth One-Day International in Nelson on Tuesday.
Mumbai Indians, the Indian Premier League's most successful franchise, is struggling this season having suffered four defeats on the trot, but Zaheer Khan, their Director of Cricket, feels it's just a matter of finding that "one win" and missing "spark" to get their campaign back on track.
Sri Lanka's sports ministry on Friday ordered an investigation into former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage's allegation that their loss to India in the 2011 World Cup final was fixed by "certain parties". Sports minister Dullas Alahapperuma has ordered the investigation and asked for a report on its progress every two weeks, the ministry said in a statement.
While India have been busy with their preparations in Sri Lanka, focus among the locals is slowly shifting to their heroic batsman Kumar Sangakkara.
Sri Lanka have suffered a double injury blow with batsman Dimuth Karunaratne almost certainly out of the World Cup and spinner Rangana Herath likely to miss at least a week of action, Mahela Jayawardene said on Friday.
Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawane, the Maharashtra batting duo, who stitched together a record partnership of 594 runs in the Ranji Trophy match against Delhi, on Friday, regretted when informed that they were 30 runs short of breaking the world record 624-run partnership held by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
The already depleted Sri Lanka team on Monday suffered another blow with left arm fast bowler Binura Fernando being ruled out of the T20 series against India after sustaining a hamstring injury.
The veteran left-hander was unbeaten on 160 as Sri Lanka reached the close of play on 314 for five after captain Angelo Mathews had won the toss and opted to bat.
Mumbai Indians' Rs 8.25 crore big-hitting recruit Tim David says he will be "willing to take some risks" in this year's IPL, as that is his natural approach.
Sri Lanka recovered from losing opener Upul Tharanga to reach 99 for one in reply to Pakistan's 451 at close on the second day of the first Test on Thursday.
'He used to interact with everyone in the dressing room, he never showed any attitude to any cricketer -- whether big or small.'
Cricket will mark its return to the Commonwealth Games after a gap of 24 years with India taking on Australia on July 29 in the 2022 Birmingham edition.
His coming of age at the tournament could prove to be influential in the later stages as they now do not need to rely so much on their 'Big Three' of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, and Mahela Jayawardene to provide their runs.
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