They might be the hosts but the Bangladesh team has been left baffled by the pitch for the one-off Test against India with their Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusingha saying that he has never seen a track like the one in Khan Saheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah.
Hardly challenged in a dominating run this season, India once again start as overwhelming favourites when they take on an inconsistent-but-gritty New Zealand in a three-match One-Day International series, starting in Mumbai, on Sunday.
It's a batting track but suitable for wrist spinner, says curator works to keep the ground dry after heavy showers lash city
With India being outplayed in the Twenty20s, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will face added pressure to perform and lead India from the front against a formidable South African unit in the five-match ODI cricket series starting in Kanpur on Sunday.
A ruthless India completed a nine-wicket demolition of the West Indies in the fifth and final ODI in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday for their sixth successive series win at home.
Riding on their powerful batting display in the tri-series in Bangladesh, Indian opener Gautam Gambhir and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Butt on Sunday jumped identical seven places to break into the top-20 ICC ODI ranking for batsmen. Gambhir claimed the 20th spot while Salman, who was declared player of the tournament leapfrogged to 16th spot.
"Chris Gayle has always done well over the years. It is great to have him in the squad. He always brings a lot to the team. His presence is always felt when he steps in any cricket field. We are happy to have him in the dressing room," Holder said in a pre-match conference.
Top India batsman Virat Kohli has maintained his second position in the latest ICC batsmen rankings while medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has moved up a place to be seventh in the bowlers' standings.
What differentiates Kane Wiliamson from a lot of batsmen in this day and age is his sole focus is winning the game and he tailors his batting towards that, writes former New Zealand captain in his column.
Reeza Hendricks' sizzling century in his debut match helped set up South Africa's series-clinching 78-run victory against Sri Lanka in the third one day international on Sunday.
Pakistan's flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi has ruled out any chance of making a comeback to ODIs.
India's left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped 20 places to his career-best ranking of 13 in the International Cricket Council's Rankings for ODI bowlers while Jasprit Bumrah and Dhawal Kulkarni also made progress after conclusion of the three-match series against Zimbabwe.
The Australians are struggling against India's new spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal and the hosts would like to ensure that it doesn't get any easy as the series progresses.
South Africa secured a fourth successive One-day International victory over Australia as captain Faf du Plessis top scored with 69 runs in a six-wicket win on Sunday.
India stand-in-captain Rohit Sharma admitted that accommodating Ajinkya Rahane is tough as he is considered a specialist opening batsman in the 50-over format by the team management.
While Rohit Sharma will lead the side, the inclusion of KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav is subject to fitness.
West Indies captain Jason Holder demanded discipline from his bowlers in the remaining four ODIs of the five-match series against India, saying picking up wickets upfront would be crucial.
India have accumulated 122 points on the back of series wins over Australia and New Zealand and are placed behind England.
In the battle for bragging rights as the best ODI side currently, England have come out on top and are now ranked favourites for the 2019 World Cup
Wrecked by Pakistani seamers in their opening ODI match, India's under-fire cricketers will have to pull themselves up against the arch rivals when they clash in a must-win second cricket One-dayer, in Kolkata, on Wednesday with the form of their top-order batsmen a concern.
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara might not have got a fairytale ending in their final ODI match of their glorious careers but the veterans smiled through the disappointment as they fondly recounted their respective journeys.
Former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed feels the categorisation of Test and limited overs spinners is the need of the hour. According to Mushtaq, skill-wise, Lyon and Ashwin are on par with greats like Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan but not best suited for the one-day game.
The pitch was slow and shot-making difficult but India batting coach Sanjay Bangar said these factors cannot cover up for the fact that batsmen 'let the team down' in the lost fourth One-Day International against West Indies, on Sunday.
The Indian Playing XI will also have Bhuvneshwar Kumar on Sunday as he replaces Mohammed Shami, who was hit on the leg in his follow through during the third match.
Dada posted an image of him hitting his trademark lofted shot over the leg side in the fifth ODI against England in Leeds on September 2, 2007.
Australia all-rounder James Faulkner says his team is not worried about the slow nature of the pitches and the Indians using it to their advantage as he feels the hosts are in equally good form.
His decision to bat first backfired as India were dismissed for a paltry 153 against England and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni put the blame on his batsmen for their nine-wicket loss in their second ODI of the tri-series in Brisbane.
Holding the team's batting failure responsible for the 37-run defeat to India in the first Twenty20 International, Australian batsman David Warner on Wednesday said the hosts need to bat smartly against the Indian spinners and take full advantage of the big stadiums Down Under.
India's batting line-up poses a 'big threat' and Australia need to score huge runs to counter the hosts during the five-match ODI series beginning on September 17, all-rounder Marcus Stoinis said on Tuesday.
India's R Ashwin back in top-10 in ICC's ODI bowling rankings
'No one can be as destructive like him. His hundreds are BIG!, 150, 170, double hundreds,' Dinesh Lad, Rohit's childhood coach, tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian. 'If he stays at the wicket long enough, then anything is possible.'
'They have to make sure that their games don't drift too much away from the one-day mould. That means we will have to be very wary of the bad habits that might creep in during the IPL'
Virat Kohli says he doesn't want any tags attached to his name and performances. We'll respect his request -- we'll only attach numbers!
Shikhar Dhawan struck a sublime hundred in the nick of time as India delivered yet again in a series decider to beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the third ODI and record their eighth successive win in a bilateral contest.
After a 3-0 ODI whitewash and a win in the first T20 International, India would be looking to continue their dominance and complete the clean sweep when they take on a hapless Zimbabwe in the second and final T20 International in Harare.
Ahead of their five-match one-day series against the visiting Indian team, New Zealand bowling coach Shane Bond has asked his boys to rise up to the challenge of facing the world's number one ODI team and put them under pressure by winning the first game on Sunday.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked up his second five-wicket haul in one-day internationals as India skittled New Zealand for 79 to win the final match by 190 runs in Visakhapatnam on Saturday for a 3-2 series victory.
Chahal and Yadav (3/20) continued their wrist-spin magic and shared eight wickets for 42 runs between them to rattle the hosts in 32.2 overs after Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl.
The ICC cricket committee has recommended three changes to the ODI fielding restrictions: the requirement to have two compulsory catchers in the first 10 overs be removed, the batting powerplay be removed and that five fieldsmen be allowed outside the circle from overs 41-50 instead of four.
The Wankhede Stadium track being prepared for the ICC World T20 semi final clash between India and the West Indies is unlikely to favour the batsmen to the same extent as it did in the earlier matches here, it has been learnt. "There's an even coating of grass to bind the wicket, but the track would be slower than in earlier games. But it will still be a good T20 wicket," informed sources said on Tuesday ahead of the March 31 clash which is to be witnessed by a packed capacity crowd of 33,000 spectators. The heat in Mumbai has been on the higher side over the last few days with mercury touching the mid-30s, and this factor too is expected to affect the way the track will behave, the sources pointed out. In the last international game played at this venue featuring India, South Africa whipped the hosts by a whopping margin of 214 runs to clinch the ODI series 3-2 on October 25, 2015.
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