Chennai Super Kings will look to step up the pace in the middle overs and hope their inspirational skipper M S Dhoni takes the field despite a knee niggle against fierce rivals Royal Challengers Bangalore in the eagerly awaited Southern derby in the IPL, in Bengaluru, on Monday.
Veteran seamer Jhulan Goswami was named in the Indian women's team for the T20 tri-series involving Australia and England with Harmanpreet Kaur back as the leader.
Captain Dimuth Karunaratne continued his rich vein of form to remain unbeaten on 49 with Angelo Mathews yet to score as only 36.3 overs of play were possible due to rain and bad light.
Mitchell Marsh kept calm after New Zealand got the sniff of an unlikely victory and scored his sixth one-day international half century to guide Australia to a four-wicket win in the second match of their one-day series on Saturday.
Batsman Neil Broom has also been offered a contract after he was recalled to the national side following a lengthy absence to replace Ross Taylor while he recovered from eye surgery.
Dhoni has managed some cameos in the fag end of the innings and the skipper is expected to continue doing so despite calls of him coming up the order.
IMAGES from the T20 World Cup match played between England and New Zealand in Brisbane on Tuesday.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, CSK revealed England fast bowler Mark Wood and uncapped Indian players Kanishk Seth and Kshitiz Sharma have been released.
'His elbow is still niggling him a wee bit'
Shakib Al Hasan jumped to the top of the latest MRF Tyres ICC ODI rankings for all-rounders, which doesn't feature a single Indian in the top-10 chart.
With the ball difficult to grip, the pacers had a tough time but once the spinners started operating India started to peg things back a little.
Captain Kane Williamson struck a composed unbeaten century as New Zealand edged past South Africa by four wickets in a thrilling last-over finish.
Hathurusingha was also fully aware of the difficulty posed by his lack of red-ball cricket experience before the series.
New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner said losing three wickets put his team under pressure and they ended up posting a below par total against India in the second One-Day International in Pune on Wednesday.
In a tight season for India, the first T20 comes only five days after their last ODI against Australia at home.
New Zealand clinched a remarkable comeback win as they defeated England by 14 runs in the third T20I on Tuesday.
India were expected to try out a bunch of players after another World Cup debacle but if the team combination for the second T20 was any indication, they seemed reluctant to start with a clean slate.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson struck a quick-fire half-century as his team registered a comfortable six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first T20 of the three-match series at the McLean Park here on Tuesday. Opting to bat first, Bangladesh made a slow start to their innings, losing opener Tamim Iqbal (11) and Imrul Kayes (duck) cheaply. Although Mahmudullah did provide his side with some resistance with his 52-run knock, Bangladesh were restricted to a score of 141 runs in their stipulated 20 overs.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the Most Valuable Players of the India-New Zealand ODI series.
New Zealand pacers Tim Southee and Neil Wagner wrecked havoc to leave Pakistan reeling at the end of Day Two of the second Test here at the Seddon Park in Hamilton on Saturday. Both Southee and Wagner ripped through Pakistan's batting line-up to leave the visitors in tatters at 76 for 5 at stumps, still 195 runs short of hosts' first innings total of 271.
Two more failures in two home games could effectively mean end of the road for Ajinkya Rahane, who is leading India in the first Test in Kanpur, starting on Thursday.
'It's still a bit nerve-wracking when you're bowling at M S Dhoni, and there's not one red shirt in the crowd, only yellow shirts chanting his name.'
Indian openers have not replicated the kind of starts the Indian batting has grown accustomed to from its top-order.
Following is the list of players who have been released by the different franchises ahead of the auction for the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
An unwell Trent Boult skipped the New Zealand cricket team's training session at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Monday, staying away from the squad as a precautionary measure. The left-arm pacer is among eight players including Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner, who are attending the first half of the camp that started on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings will be determined to erase their IPL 2020 nightmare when they failed to make it to the IPL play-offs for the first time.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and all other Chennai Super Kings players, except for the COVID-19 afflicted duo of Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, will start training from Friday evening after clearing a third round of testing for the virus in Dubai.
All-rounder James Neesham has returned to the New Zealand Test squad for their three-Test tour of India.
Both teams head into their IPL game on Sunday on the back of defeats in their previous matches. While CSK fell short by 32 runs against Rajasthan Royals, PBKS lost to Lucknow Super Giants by 56 runs.
Rachin Ravindra was thrilled after being bought by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 1.80 crore
South Africa's bowlers chipped away at the wickets to stay on course for a huge victory against New Zealand.
Ishan Kishan had to sit out of the Sri Lanka series despite scoring the fastest double hundred in the history of ODIs against Bangladesh.
Delhi Capitals will aim to solve their opening conundrum quickly and boost their chances of making it to the IPL play-offs when they take on a lacklustre Chennai Super Kings at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Ajinkya Rahane never gives up. After surprising the cricketing world with the fastest fifty of IPL 2023 at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday, the out of favour India batter yearns to play a Test match at his home ground.
Craig Ervine scored a maiden Test century to help Zimbabwe hold up New Zealand's victory charge on day three of the second Test and steer the home side to 305 for six in their first innings by stumps on Monday.
Martin Guptill will play in his seventh T20 World Cup and Devon Conway will keep wickets in addition to his batting duties at the tournament
New Zealand seamer Doug Bracewell has been ruled out of this week's second Test against Australia with a shoulder injury but will not be replaced in the squad, New Zealand Cricket said on Wednesday.
'In auction economics, it is very difficult to retain everybody. We were aware of it...we will lose somebody. We will also get somebody in their place. Now, we have to get the best out of what we have.'
'When you play for India, there are loads of expectations. We are watched, people come to the stadium and everyone who plays for India needs to embrace that and cope with it. We haven't done that in these two games, and that's why we haven't won.'
Third umpire Nigel Llong made an incorrect call after using video technology to review an appeal during the day-night test between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Tuesday.
