India's bowling woes dominated Mahendra Singh Dhoni's assessment of the ODI debacle.
Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni says the camaraderie between the young and senior players is key to his team's good showing in the Indian Premier League.
Coach Anil Kumble posed with a problem of plenty: 'I don't think it is the right for me to discuss the team combination. It is a good choice that we have in the squad with Yuvi coming back into the team. We all know what he is capable of. Having said that, both Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav, have done well in that slot'
A fragile middle-order with over-the-hill players like Jadhav and Karthik has been the current team's biggest weakness and the World Cup semi-final result was a disaster waiting to happen.
India made two changes for this must-win game, with Gurkeerat Mann and Rishi Dhawan handed debuts on account of their all-round capabilities. Ravichandran Ashwin and Manish Pandey made way for them in the playing eleven.
The Indian cricket team would get into the groove for the short limited-overs series against Australia with a couple of warm-up games against a Western Australia XI at the WACA ground on Friday and Saturday. While the first match tomorrow is slated to be a T20 affair, the second match scheduled the day after will be a 50-over warm-up game against the same opposition. It will certainly not be the first team of Western Australia which is better known as Perth Scorchers, which will be playing in the warm-up games. It will be a second string squad that will take on the Indians.
Getting his team composition right will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's primary aim as Rising Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League cricket tournament encounter, in Mohali on Sunday.
It will be another test for the Indian batsmen if the hosts have to bat first in a must-win contest, in Wednesday's second ODI in Mohali.
Chennai Super Kings seem to hold a slight edge going into the match as they have not only got the better of their southern rivals twice in the league stages but also have the winning momentum going into the match on what promises to be a bouncy track.
A look at how the teams stack up ahead of the mega auction.
Check out the Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2014.
Middle-order batsman Suresh Raina made a comeback to the team fold after the newly appointed senior selection committee announced their India squad for the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Ravindra Jadeja was called up to the Indian team as the replacement for Axar Patel for the first three ODIs in the five-match series against Australia starting in Chennai, on Sunday.
It all starts in Guwahati on Sunday as the biggest city in Assam is slowly getting back to normalcy after protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Skipper Virat Kohli will usher in a new era in Indian cricket when he leads the side in the ODI series-opener against England in Pune on Sunday in place of the iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who recently relinquished the captaincy in the limited over formats.
The spotlight though was on the 36-year-old former India captain, who now has to fend off questions about his future with alarming regularity.
With India needing 34 runs off the last two overs, Karthik hammered 29 not out off just eight deliveries, his third six sealing India's third, and the most hard-earned, victory over Bangladesh in the tournament.
C P Joshi pips Ruchir Modi to become RCA president
India's captain was on Thursday ruled out of Asia Cup due to a Grade 1 left side injury.
Rohit Sharma-led India's main aim would be to settle their middle-order combination and also find a perfect batting position for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Rohit Sharma is delighted to win theMan of the Series award for his whopping 441 runs in the just-concluded One-day International series against Australia but the stylish right-hander rued the fact that his team 'could not capture crucial moments', which led to their 1-4 defeat.
At the face of it, there is apparently no danger to Dhoni's captaincy since the team is still winning matches. But if one digs deeper, Kohli has slowly and surely been the man everyone is looking forward to as the leader, across all formats for India.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked up his second five-wicket haul in one-day internationals as India skittled New Zealand for 79 to win the final match by 190 runs in Visakhapatnam on Saturday for a 3-2 series victory.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya clarified his stance on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's alleged conflict of interest issue, saying that a newspaper misquoted him on the Indian ODI skipper being probed by the Board.
Selection committee looking to continue building towards World T20 in Australia in October 2020.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels the team needs a 'brave' bunch of youngsters going forward.
The primary aim for the Rohit Sharma-led India against minnows Hong Kong would be to get their combination right before the big game against Pakistan on Wednesday.
India stand-in-captain Rohit Sharma admitted that accommodating Ajinkya Rahane is tough as he is considered a specialist opening batsman in the 50-over format by the team management.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday asked the Centre to explain to farmers why it does not want to repeal the three farm laws, while promising it that they 'will not let the government bow its head' before the world.
Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig.
India will begin the journey to identify the core of their 2019 World Cup squad when they square off against a low-on-confidence Sri Lanka in a five-match ODI series, starting in Dambulla, on Sunday.
Their bowling frailties thoroughly exposed in the first two ODIs, India are left with no option but to bank heavily on their batsmen to steer the side and upstage the rampaging Australians in the must-win third one-dayer in Melbourne.
Following the debacle in the New Zealand ODI series, the selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing Suresh Raina and Ishant Sharma and axed them from India's squad for the Asia Cup later this month. Cheteshwar Pujara, who played two ODIs in Zimbabwe in August, made a comeback to the ODI squad.
Without the captaincy, can the cricketer keep his place at the endorsement table?
Rishabh Pant's form would be an important sub-plot when India look to seize the advantage against South Africa
Depleted by the absence of high-profile names, Indian Premier League 2014 champions Kolkata Knight Riders have a tough task on hand when they lock horns with formidable Chennai Super Kings in the opening Group 'A' match of the Champions League T20, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
India will have their task cut out against a vastly improved England
It remains to be seen whether veteran Gautam Gambhir can make a comeback to the Indian ODI team after being recently called up to the Test squad to replace the injured KL Rahul.
The time for experiments is over, Harish Kotian points out.
The newly-constructed Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Stadium in Barsapara looks like a batting belter, Australia's stand-in captain David Warner said ahead of the second T20 International against India, in Guwahati, on Tuesday.
