Virat Kohli took a giant stride towards exorcising the ghosts of 2014 with a masterful century as he single-handedly pulled India out of the woods against England on an eventful second day of the first Test, in Birmingham, on Thursday.
Kolkata Knight Riders are back in familiar home conditions but can ill-afford to take Kings XI Punjab lightly, who are showing signs of improvement under a newly-appointed skipper, when the two teams clash in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
Only 15 men in Test history have achieved the double of 500 runs and 40 wickets in a calendar year but England look set to add three players to that exclusive list on their tour of India, and could reasonably lay claim to fielding one of the most versatile teams ever assembled in the game's oldest format. With two more Tests to play in 2016, England allrounders Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes are within touching distance of completing the rare feat.
For the legion of CSK fans, it will be a homecoming like no other as the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side will play at the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai for the first time since May 2015.
Veteran opener Gautam Gambhir and fit-again Shikhar Dhawan are set to open the innings for a bolstered Delhi side that is desperate to log home six points against Team Rajasthan in their sixth round Ranji Trophy group B encounter, in Wayanad, on Monday.
Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday, rose to a career-high second in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers even as A B de Villiers lost his top spot in the batsmen standings.
Led by skipper Virat Kohli, the Indian Test squad sans opener Lokesh Rahul and coach Anil Kumble arrived in Kolkata along with the New Zealand team ahead of second cricket Test starting on Friday. Rahul has been ruled out of the match because of a hamstring injury while Kumble is slated to join the team on Wednesday morning ahead of their practice session at Eden Gardens in the afternoon, local manager said.
Skipper Vinay Kumar took five for 34 as defending champions Karnataka skittled out Tamil Nadu for 134 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament final, which saw 14 wickets tumble at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Dwyane Bravo recorded his best IPL figures with a four-wicket haul before Aaron Finch smashed 74 runs off 47 balls as Gujarat Lions thumped hosts Kings XI Punjab by five wickets to make a winning entry into the Indian Premier League match in Mohali.
Ahead of the first Test between India and England in Rajkot, Rajneesh Gupta looks at the two teams and their numbers.
Indian cricket team hit the nets at Sabina Park on the Wednesday morning, hours after landing in Kingston, and followed a rigorous exercise to get used to the hot and humid conditions. The entire team put in some effort, with different batting and bowling sessions following the regular drill.
New Zealand spinners claimed three wickets in the morning session but India extended their advantage to a daunting 308 runs by lunch on the fourth day of the first Test at Kanpur's Green Park Stadium on Sunday.
Rahul was the only prominent batsman to miss out on a significant score in India's 358 all out on day two of the four-day tour game in Sydney.
Indian cricket team, led by skipper Virat Kohli, on Thursday reached St Kitts to play a four-Test bilateral series against the West Indies starting with the opening match at Antigua on July 21.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel insisted that the quality of India's bowlers is "far better" than that of the England cricket team.
Dhoni's men will be slight favourites as it will be Bairstow's last game
India would look to continue their ruthless streak
India picked up three Bangladesh wickets in the morning session after declaring their first innings on 462 for six but rain washed out the rest of the fourth day as the one-off Test headed for an inevitable draw in Fatullah, on Saturday.
As India take on Sri Lanka in a three Test series, Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers.
At the end of eight episodes, the climax is bound to leave you with questions but it would be fair to say that the two-episode backstory and the characters seemed far more interesting than the six-episode drama and tension that led to it, observes Divya Nair.
Should the right-hander be drafted into the Indian team for the second Test in place of Abhinav Mukund?
That Rohit will make a comeback was indicated by skipper Kohli in England and that was precisely the reason why he was rested for the limited overs series against West Indies.
Yuvraj Singh and Hashim Amla will be the star attractions in the Indian Premier League 8 auction, which will see quite a few Indian and international players go under the hammer in Bengaluru on Monday.
A superb all-round showing from Lendl Simmons helped Trinidad and Tobago crush a formidable Chennai Super Kings by nine wickets to clinch a semi-final berth in the Champions League T20.
A record 37 teams, including seven debutants from the northeast, participating in the Ranji Trophy beginning on Thursday pose a massive logistical challenge for a cricket board going through administrative chaos.
The bad blood between Australia and India continued with spin all-rounder Glenn Maxwell making fun of host captain Virat Kohli's shoulder injury while fielding on day three of the third Test in Ranchi on Saturday.
CSK began full-fledged preparations for IPL-12 at the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
Ambati Rayudu will be aiming to make a statement when a marauding Chennai Super Kings take on a desperate Sunrisers Hyderabad
Rookie seamer Ishwar Pandey was named in India's Test and ODI squads for the tour of New Zealand. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead the team on the tour, which starts with the first One-Day International in Napier on January 19, 2014.
The national selection committee are set to announce multiple Indian squads on May 8 -- for the upcoming one-off Test match against Afghanistan next month and for the limited overs leg of the tour of UK starting June 27 in Dublin.
India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday said he no longer considers Australian cricketers his friends after being targetted both on and off the field by them in a fiercely-fought Test series that his team won.
Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat against an Indian side missing their inspirational skipper Virat Kohli through injury in the fourth and final Test in Dharamsala on Saturday.
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.
The Delhi Daredevils team management, comprising of skipper Kevin Pietersen and coach Gary Kirsten, will have some selection dilemma ahead of the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), if Ross Taylor is to be believed.
Chennai Super Kings produced a clinical performance to crush Delhi Daredevils by 93 runs and register their first win in the seventh edition of Indian Premier League in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Rain played spoilsport yet again as the second day of the one-off Test between India and Bangladesh was called off without a single delivery being bowled, in Fatullah, on Thursday.
Cheteshwar Pujara's ability to absorb pressure makes it easier for the other batsmen to play their natural game.
Images from Day 1 of the third Test between India and South Africa in Nagpur, on Wednesday.
India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are both under an injury cloud ahead of the Boxing Day Test against Australia, leaving the tourists with a potential selection conundrum.
New Zealand's bowlers kept chipping away at the wickets to reduce India to 239 for seven on Day 1 of the second Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Friday. The 24-year-old from Christchurch, who replaced Ish Sodhi, dismissed Shikhar Dhawan (1) and Murali Vijay (9) in the first 50 minutes in his brilliant first spell of 6-2-14-2 as the Kiwis seamers utilised the grassy condition to full effect after Kohli opted to bat.
