Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after 37 World Cup 2023 games.
All-rounder Imad Wasim's unbeaten 49 guided Pakistan to a thrilling three-wicket victory over minnows Afghanistan in Leeds on Saturday, maintaining their hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.
A wise word from Mahendra Singh Dhoni inspired Mohammed Shami to bowl the delivery that earned his place in ICC Men's Cricket World Cup history.
India captain Virat Kohli said the hard-fought win over Afghanistan in the Word Cup was much-needed as it helped the two-time champions to show their character and clinch a victory from the jaws of defeat.
England go into the 10-team tournament as the top side in the team rankings with 125 points and India in second position four points behind.
Focus will now be on how Rabada would fare against the likes of Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and David Miller.
Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia revealed that the team almost lost the destructive opener at the auction, thinking it had run out of cash.
IMAGES from the Indian Premier League match played between Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mohali on Thursday
A desperate Sunrisers Hyderabad would seek inspiration from skipper David Warner to arrest any further slide when they take on Punjab Kings in an IPL match, in Chennai, on Wednesday.
Getting the combination right would be topmost on Sunrisers Hyderabad's to-do list when they take on a qualitatively superior Mumbai Indians in an IPL encounter in Chennai on Saturday, trying to arrest an early slide after back-to-back defeats.
For Kohli, in probably his last three matches as T20 captain of India, one would expect some prudent team selections and it starts with the question of repeatedly ignoring a player of Ashwin's calibre.
Jasprit Bumrah in full flow is always a joy to watch, six or seven stuttering steps, a skip and a shuffle, followed by undiluted fire and fury.
Both KXIP and the Royals would look to build a winning momentum after starting the tournament as underdogs.
1983 World Cup winner Krishnamachari Srikkanth believes Virat Kohli's captaincy, and Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal's excellent bowling, were the key to India's narrow victory over Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's controversial campaign, marred by poor on and off-field decisions, has gone from bad to worse. They now face the onerous task of squaring off against a galaxy of world class players, whose performance graph is on the upswing.
Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to strike a perfect balance under the astute leadership of Eoin Morgan when they open their IPL campaign against a consistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Sunday.
India take on a war-ravaged-but-resilient Afghanistan in their first ever Test match, in Bengaluru, on Thursday.
RCB have been inconsistent in their first six games in IPL-12, with both their bowling and batting faltering on many occasions.
KXIP are riding a roller-coaster ride, having to endure a controversy involving their captain Ravichandran Ashwin who 'Mankaded' Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler in their first match, an act which was legal but criticised by some as against the 'Spirit of Cricket'.
The legend of Chris Gayle continued to grow in company of young KL Rahul as Kings XI Punjab outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in a rain-hit IPL encounter, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
With 10 points from 11 games, it is a must-win encounter for Dinesh Karthik and his men if they want to keep their play-off chances alive.
Kings XI Punjab speedster Andrew Tye heaped praise on his side's explosive opener Chris Gayle, saying the West Indian played to perfection during his unbeaten knock of 104 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Thursday's IPL match in Mohali.
Only the top ten teams will be taking part in this World Cup and they all will play each other in a round-robin format before the semi-finals stage.
Chasing a competitive 258 for victory, Pakistan overhauled the target with just three balls to spare with former captain Shoaib Malik (51 off 43 balls) getting the winning runs.
This was Sri Lanka's second loss in as many matches, and, as a consequence, they have been knocked out of the tournament.
Every person was tested 72 hours before they travelled in order to ensure that all members of the party were travelling virus free.
Mumbai Indians seamer Jasprit Bumrah helped his side beat Kings XI Punjab in an IPL match in Mumbai.
Fascinating predictions for the years ahead. A revealing excerpt from Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde's Cricket 2.0: Inside The T20 Revolution.
Riding on leg-spinner Rashid Khan's brilliant effort, Sunrisers Hyderabad produced an inspired bowling display to eke out a fighting 13-run win over in-form Kings XI Punjab in a low-scoring IPL match in Hyderabad, on Thursday.
CSK's Harbhajan Singh and Mumbai Indians' Lasith Malinga were among the other big names to be released by their respective sides ahead of next month's auction.
Winless in two matches, both India and Afghanistan are out of the tournament and Thursday's match between the two sides in Dubai has been rendered inconsequential.
South Africa won their first game at the World Cup, beating Afghanistan by nine wickets (DLS). Imran Tahir finished with figures of 4 for 29, the best figures by a spinner in the tournament so
Images from Monday's match between Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Mohali.
Faf du Plessis's half-century and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's late assault helped Chennai Super Kings register a comfortable 22-run victory against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL match, in Chennai, on Saturday.
From Brian Lara to Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes to Steve Smith, the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup has never fallen short of showcasing cricket's brightest young stars. More than 30 years have passed since the world's top talents first announced themselves on the big stage, with the 1988 Youth Cricket World Cup a ground-breaking step in bringing ability to the fore.
Spinner Rashid Khan celebrated his 20th birthday in style by producing a stunning all-round display as Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 136 runs in an Asia Cup match in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India.
Rajneesh Gupta presents us all the numbers that matter in T20 World Cup 2021.
Rajneesh Gupta profiles the cricketers playing the World Cup 2019.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji analyse Week 1 in Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings.
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