This was India's 50 victory in ODIs against New Zealand, against whom they have played 100 matches.
The top order failed to fire in difficult conditions, but the bowlers stood out, not only performing with the ball but scoring vital runs as well.
Young pacer Tushar Deshpande recorded his career-best figures of six for 70 to help Mumbai earn a sizeable first innings lead against Railways on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group A encounter in New Delhi on Saturday.
Virat Kohli remained the highest-placed Indian batsman at fourth even as Shikhar Dhawan rose a rung to sixth in the latest ICC ODI rankings.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com rates the Indian players in England.
Mohit Sharma attributes his recent success in international cricket to the opportunities that was given to him by his IPL and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni but doesn't like if you only call him a line and length bowler.
'With his passing comes the end of Indian cricket history.'
Amit Mistry was a wicked actor, someone who could chance a broken arm, who could take deep dives, who could ram his head into walls, all without bothering about the outcome. And, as with that closing bit, the knowledge of where he might have arrived at eludes us now, observes Sreehari Nair.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni praised his team mates for the way they have quickly pulled themselves out of a form slump to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
India might be left with a mountain of runs to climb in the first Test in Adelaide but fielding coach R Sridhar was confident that the batsmen will make up for the bowlers' poor show.
'The 2014 Australia tour and the brand of cricket played by the team laid a great foundation of the brilliant run of success enjoyed across all formats and conditions.' 'It also coincided with Virat Kohli enjoying the responsibilities of leading the team and then putting his heart and soul into taking the Indian team to ascend many unconquered summits.'
Rediff.com's Harish Kotian tells us who triumphed, who disappointed in the India-Sri Lanka series.
# Dhoni has registered 196 sixes in ODIs, setting an Indian record, bettering the 195 by Sachin Tendulkar. Statistical highlights of the third ODI between India and New Zealand in Mohali on Sunday.
Pacer Mukesh Kumar took six wickets to help Bengal beat Karnataka by 174 runs and enter the final of the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 13 years, in Kolkata, on Tuesday. Chasing 352 for victory, Karnataka were bowled out for 177 in their second innings with Mukesh taking 6-61 in 21 overs, while Ishan Porel and Akash Deep took two wickets each.
Skipper Kane Williamson hailed the fighting spirit of Sunrisers Hyderabad while praising star Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan's all-round brilliance which earned them a 14-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League and a place in Sunday's final.
Barring Amit Mishra's inclusion, there were no major surprise in India's Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, the selectors retaining as many as 14 players who had toured Bangladesh for the one-off Test earlier this month.
The energy-sapping weather in Kolkata has severely tested the New Zealanders with paceman Trent Boult saying that he has never played in such hot and humid conditions.
'The West Indies' pace battery was lethal.' 'Watching Gavaskar, Gaekwad, Amarnath and Vengsarkar play against those bowlers I learnt so much.' 'Everybody was getting hit.' 'Someone got hit on the fingers, someone on the chest, someone on the face, but they all showed guts.'
Genuineness and humility will work in your favour.
Without mentioning any individual names, former India captain and Rajasthan Royals' mentor Rahul Dravid on Thursday came out in full support of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's move to eradicate bowling with illegal actions from the Indian Premier League.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni averages 100-plus in ODIs at M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai -- his tally being 401 in six innings, including two hundreds and a fifty, at an average of 100.25.
Virat Kohli struck a majestic 127 as India fashioned a 59-run win over the West Indies in Dharamsala, effectively sealing the ODI series 2-1 after the visitors dramatically pulled out from the remainder of the tour over an acrimonious pay dispute with their board.
Dhoni praised every aspect of Ashwin's performance.
If India toyed with the South Africans, it was mainly because of awesome performances from spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Watson used to take flak for his inability to convert half centuries to centuries but recently his problem has been progressing from scores in the 20s and 30s.
USA is a 'special' market for cricket and there is no reason why the game can't be successful here, asserted captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the eve of India's first international match on American soil.
Cheteshwar Pujara is confident that his scoring touch will return in the upcoming Test series against Australia in Adelaide.
As he approaches what could be possibly the last phase, or the last few years, of an illustrious career, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, a month shy of his 35th birthday, stressed that maintaining his fitness level to keep up with the demands of international cricket is priority.
In what turned out to be one of the most one-sided matches in recent times, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's young side outclassed the hosts in all departments, first bowling them out for 123, their lowest total in the series, and then romping home in 21.5 overs.
Rubbishing the speculations that all is not well in Indian dressing room, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that these imaginary stories that have come out could be made into a movie by Warner brothers.
India rode on Virat Kohli's brutal unbeaten 115 and Shikhar Dhawan's 100 to pull off a sensational six-wicket victory over Australia in the do-or-die sixth One-Day International and level the seven-match series 2-2, in Nagpur, on Wednesday. Chasing a mammoth 351, the Indians blazed away on a belter of a track at the VCA stadium in Jamtha to overhaul the target with three balls to spare.
Sri Lanka batted the 16 overs during the final 85 minutes of play on the fourth day with an aim to survive rather than play positive cricket.
Gautam Gambhir scored the 43rd and final first-class century of his career as Delhi ensured at least three points by virtue of first innings lead against Andhra on the third day of their Group B encounter in the Ranji Trophy.
Captain Virat Kohli's blazing blade ensured a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the one-off Twenty20 International as the visitors completed a 9-0 rout of Sri Lanka across all three formats, in Colombo, on Wednesday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
Gavaskar urged the pundits to stop analysing Virat Kohli's leadership skills so early in his career.
Left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe picked up a career-best six for 35 to help Australia take command of the first Test against India after 15 wickets fell on a bowler-dominated second day of the contest in Pune on Friday.
Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody said the India opener first needs to be sure of his off-stump in order to convert his starts into big scores in Test cricket.
Statistical highlights from the day's play.
