The Indian Premier League has given players an idea of how to cope with pressure situations, especially in the knockout stages, feels India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin weaved his magic with a career-best four-wicket haul as India thrashed Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the deciding third and final Twenty20 International, to clinch the three-match series 2-1, in Visakhapatnam, on Sunday.
Pacer Mohammad Shami, who is recuperating after shoulder surgery, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, back with a re-modelled action, are among 30 players named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's senior selection committee for a preparatory camp ahead of the South African team's upcoming tour of India.
Losing three top order batsmen did put India in a spot of bother in the fifth one-dayer against England but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he never feared the match slipping through his fingers.
He has encountered technical problems outside the off-stump and perhaps that's one of the reasons he opted for throwdowns against the red duke ball, an effort to counter the swing factor in England at the on-going Champions Trophy.
Unwilling to tinker with the line-up in view of next month's World Twenty20, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday said the team will prefer Suresh Raina in the No.4 slot in the series against Sri Lanka even though vice-captain Virat Kohli's absence has opened the No.3 position. "It did cross our minds (to use Raina at no. 3) but it will be slightly better if he (Raina) bats at the position in which he will most likely bat in the World T20," Dhoni said at the press conference before the first game of the three-match T20 series to be held on Tuesday. "We need to give him that exposure as we are a team, which doesn't play many T20s. It's usually one-game a series. This (three-game) series gives us the opportunity to expose him to No.4 slot for a considerable period of time. It will be more appropriate to keep him at No.4 so that he gets adjusted rather than use him at one drop and ask someone else to bat at 4," Dhoni explained elaborately at the MCA International stadium.
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'
India's limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has yet again extolled in-form all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
Shane Watson's unbeaten hundred could not prevent Australia falling to a seven-wicket defeat to India in the third and final Twenty20 match on Sunday as Suresh Raina hit a four on the last ball to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in the series.
The Asia Cup to be played in Bangladesh from February 24, will be played in the T20 format for the first time in the tournament's history. The tournament which precedes the vital World T20 to be held in in India in March, has a rich history with India and Sri Lanka winning it five times each. Pakistan have been victorious on two occasions while Bangladesh's best finish has been their runner-up performance in the 2012 edition. Team India will be led by MS Dhoni and the tournament will also see Virat Kohli returning after taking a break from the recently concluded three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Dhoni will be chasing history to become the most successful skipper in the tournament history. The Indian skipper and former Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga have both recorded same number of nine victories and four defeats in the Asia Cup All the matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur. The qualifying rounds involving Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Oman has begun from Friday.
Amit Mishra has been on roll for sometime now. Starting from the Asia Cup game against Pakistan, where he just gave 28 runs and picked up two wickets from his 10 overs.
Having guided Chennai Super Kings to their second Champions League T20 triumph, Suresh Raina said he improved his batting a great deal by learning from teammates, including Virat Kohli, who has shown the way with big hundreds in One-Day Internationals.
Yuvraj Singh recently compared India's newest cricketing sensation Hardik Pandya to West Indians for his on-field flair but the Baroda youngster dreams of emulating legendary South African Jacques Kallis with his all-round abilities. "Big things start with the dream only. This was the dream. Yes, it's fulfilling. I want to be like Jacques Kallis. What he has done for Proteas in batting and bowling. I want to do the same thing for India," Pandya said during Indian team's 'Open Media Session', in Kolkata on Tuesday. According to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Pandya has brought stability with his skills but he reveals that there is no particular brief given to him. "The best part is I'm not told anything. I've not given been any instruction. That's something good for me. I can now read situations as I have got used to international pressure," the 23-year-old added. He said that playing for Mumbai Indians has been the turning point in his career. "IPL has changed my life big time. Same time last year, I had posted a photo saying that I was sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 10 lakh. This year on same day, I won the Asia Cup.
Mumbai Indians humbled Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs in the Indian Premier League, in Mumbai, on Wednesday.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that the 22-yard-strip at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium is certainly "not ideal" for the batsmen to try and practice attacking shots keeping the ICC World T20 in mind.
Ashish Nehra snapped up three wickets to lead a disciplined bowling attack as two-time champions Chennai Super Kings defeated Delhi Daredevils by one run in a last-over thriller of the Indian Premier League.
There were no surprises as the preliminary list of 30 Indian probables.
CSK have been on a roll with three wins on the trot that have boosted them to the top of the table.
In a telephonic conversation with ANI, Jayasekara insisted that Sri Lanka did not want to raise such an issue when India are touring the country, but added that if evidences are provided and Ranatunga forwards a written request, an inquiry can be initiated.
Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane hit half-centuries before rain washed out the first One-day International between West Indies and India, in Port of Spain, Trinidad, on Friday.
Australia rode on James Faulkner's brutal unbeaten 29-ball 64 to take Australia to thrilling 4-wicket win in Mohali on Saturday.
India face a South Africa in their final World Twenty20 warm-up game in Mumbai, on Saturday.
India now are the only team to have chased 350-plus thrice and in each of them Kohli has been the backbone with centuries in each.
Senior Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik on Thursday earned a recall to the Indian team for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy after Manish Pandey was ruled out due to a side strain.
India might have been thoroughly outplayed in the ODI series in Australia, but former Australia batsman Dean Jones said the visitors will do much better in the three T20 Internationals as they have a balanced side, which was missing in the One-dayers.
Rishabh Pant has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
Australia rode on James Faulkner's brutal unbeaten 29-ball 64 to take Australia to thrilling 4-wicket win in Mohali on Saturday.
High on confidence after winning the first Twenty20 International, India will look to press home the advantage and seal off the three-match series when they take on Australia in the second T20 in Melbourne.
Former cricketer Kirti Azad on Monday again suggested that Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni could be guilty of conflict of interest, as was the case with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan.
Former batsman Yuvraj Singh claimed that India's cricketers feel compelled to play even when they are not in a condition to for the fear of losing their place.
CSK would be looking to continue the momentum.
'When it comes to remaining cool and delivering under pressure, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best.'
Bollywood didn't have a good IPL season.
Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten half-century to steer India to a six-wicket victory against Pakistan in the World Twenty20 in Kolkata, on Saturday. Rajneesh Gupta presents the interesting numbers from the match.
Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Sanjay Patel defended the omission of five senior players who were part of the victorious 2011 squad from the 30-man World Cup probables, saying their performance in domestic was taken into account.
India had other heroes as well whose contributions at different stages were extremely crucial, but have gone unnoticed in the 10 years since that glorious victory.
Jolted by the shock loss to New Zealand in the opening game, India will be fighting a survival battle quite early in the tournament when they take on arch foes Pakistan in what is being seen as the marquee clash of the ICC World Twenty20 in Kolkata on Saturday. The hosts, who started clear title-favourites, were in for a blow in the first match itself when New Zealand's spinners bamboozled their famed batting line-up on a turning Nagpur track. As a result, the world No.1 side is staring at an early elimination should it lose to Pakistan in the high-voltage game at the Eden Gardens. As is the case with most India-Pakistan contests, this game too has been preceded by its share of drama. The match was originally scheduled to be held in Dharamsala but was shifted here after the Himachal Pradesh government expressed inability to provide security to the Pakistan team owing to protests by ex-servicemen and their families.
'Unmatchable' duo of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli could help India lift their third World Cup
With barely four months to go for the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Australian continent, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly feels Virat Kohli's batting success will decide India's success at the sporting extravaganza.
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