Wrist spinners have become the toast of the Indian Premier League (IPL) so much so that a successful off-spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin, too, has been keen to try bowling leg breaks, feels cricket legend Kapil Dev.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, India struggled on a slow pitch and crawled to 224-8 with Virat Kohli (67) and Kedar Jadhav (52) managing half-centuries against a disciplined Afghan attack.
Rishabh Pant's brute power will be put to test against Rashid Khan's bagful of tricks in an IPL encounter where Delhi Capitals will start as favourites against SunRisers Hyderabad due to their better bowling resources.
Images from Monday's IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab, in Hyderabad.
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.
With nine defeats from 11 matches, the Sunrisers are languishing at the bottom, while KKR, in fourth place with 10 points from 12 matches, still have hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stage.
Virtually out of the play-off race, bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad will hope to keep their new-found momentum intact when they face table toppers Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, in Sharjah, on Thursday.
A win for Punjab will elevate them to the top four, while a victory for KKR will take them to 14 points
Rajneesh Gupta lists interesting records from the first week of the Super 12 competition in the T20 World Cup in the UAE.
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Dubai, on Friday.
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
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.
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.
IMAGES from the ICC World Cup match played between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Chennai on Monday.
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.
Both KXIP and the Royals would look to build a winning momentum after starting the tournament as underdogs.
India take on a war-ravaged-but-resilient Afghanistan in their first ever Test match, in Bengaluru, on Thursday.
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.
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'.
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.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after 37 World Cup 2023 games.
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.
Mumbai Indians seamer Jasprit Bumrah helped his side beat Kings XI Punjab in an IPL match in Mumbai.
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.
Every person was tested 72 hours before they travelled in order to ensure that all members of the party were travelling virus free.
Fascinating predictions for the years ahead. A revealing excerpt from Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde's Cricket 2.0: Inside The T20 Revolution.
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.
