After what at one stage earlier this month looked like a vast game of musical chairs, reigning champions India ended up topping the world rankings when the five-month countdown to the 2015 World Cup started on Sunday.
Ishant Sharma exploited the seaming conditions brilliantly to return a career-best 6 for 51 as India took early control of the second and final Test by bowling out New Zealand for a paltry 192 in the first innings in Wellington on Friday. Opener Shikhar Dhawan then hit an unbeaten half-century as India reached 100 for 2 at close, still trailing by 92 runs at the Basin Reserve.
The third and final cricket One Day International between India and South Africa was abandoned after rains intervened at the innings break to leave the home side with a 2-0 series win in Centurion.
Young opener Quinton de Kock blasted his second ODI century as South Africa crushed India by 141 runs in the first One-Day International, in Johannesburg.
India relied on their bowlers to stage a remarkable recovery scripting a comfortable 48-run win in the second cricket One-day international against the West Indies to level the five-match series 1-1 in New Delhi.
'If fame, money and comfort are the only factors that drive us, then we are playing cricket for entirely the wrong reasons.'
This was good enough for Fernandes to hire Chandilya to lead his India business.
As India gets set to play its 500th Test, Rajneesh Gupta presents India's memorable Test victories at home.
With India and England set to face-off on Wednesday in the first Test at Trent Bridge with an eye on the Pataudi Trophy, Rajneesh Gupta presents the history of their famed rivalry in numbers...
