A summary of the day's play in the Vijay Hazare One-day tournament.
Bolstered by their dramatic come-from-behind win in the last game, India will look to keep the winning momentum going when they clash against West Indies in the fourth One-Day International in Dharamsala on Friday, on what is expected to be a pacy track.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar's devastating five-wicket haul after a late batting blitzkrieg put India firmly in command as they reduced a hapless New Zealand to 128 for 7 on the rain-hit second day of the second cricket Test, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
Javagal Srinath believes India need to identify its frontline pace attack who can take wickets upfront during their title defence at the ICC Cricket World Cup starting next month.
The Mumbai youngster took the place of Kedar Jadhav, who was dropped from the T20I squad after his below-par showing in the three-match series against Australia.
Former captain Graeme Smith feels South Africa's 'powerful' bowling attack will put the Indian batting line-up under serious pressure in the upcoming Test series, starting January 5 in Cape Town.
India's batting coach Sanjay Bangar on Friday said that the several water breaks taken by New Zealand batsmen disturbed the rhythm of his bowlers while insisting that one breakthrough will put the hosts on top in the first cricket Test in Kanpur. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (65 batting) and Tom Latham (56 batting), who frustrated India with their unbeaten 117-run stand, took several water breaks apart from the stipulated drinks intervals. And, Bangar said that the intermittent breaks did disturb the tempo of their spinners.
Josh Hazlewood and Brad Haddin set new milestones as Australia, replying to India's first innings score of 408, ended Day 2 in the second Test at the Gabba on 221 for four. Check out the day's days statistical highlights.
In a team that mostly includes aggressive stroke-players, the 22-year-old Rahul's fortitude makes him just the right choice. The fact that he played in Australian conditions in recent times, having opened for India 'A', will be an added advantage.
Off-spinner R Ashwin is matching Indian batsmen at their game
Bolstered by the comprehensive win in the series opener, an upbeat India will look to assert their supremacy over an inexperienced West Indies with yet another commanding show in the second cricket Test, starting in Kingston on Saturday. The 'Men In Blue' made a confident start to the 2016-17 season, recording India's biggest win outside the sub-continent when they thrashed the hosts by an innings and 92 runs in the opening cricket Test.
While there were brilliant performances from Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane, India's pathetic bowling attack -- which could not claim 20 Australian wickets in any of the four Tests -- was depressing.
Australian legend Glenn McGrath has said the Indian fast bowlers did a good job in the recent World Cup after a dismal show in the preceding tri-series.
India, resuming the day at 344 for three, went on to declare at 622 for nine post tea, thanks to half centuries from Ravichandran Ashwin (54 off 92), Wriddhiman Saha (67 off 134) and Ravindra Jadeja (70 not out off 85).
'It is easy to criticise the fast bowlers, but do they have the support they need to grow as bowlers? No!'
Ahead of the four-Test series against Australia, pacer Ishant Sharma says it is vital to learn from whatever India did right on past tours, focus on that and keep doing the same.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is highly impressed with young Gujarat pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who has given the Australian batsmen hard time during the limited overs series in Australia that concluded in Sydney on Sunday.
Bangladesh defeated India by 79 runs in the first One-day international in Mirpur on Thursday.
Kerala hit back to reduce Gujarat to 97 for 4 after being bowled out for 185 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals.
A confident India, with a new coach at the helm, will seek to record a third consecutive Test series triumph on the Caribbean soil when the Virat Kohli-led side clashes with an inexperienced West Indies in the first cricket match, in Antigua, on Thursday.
Rediff.com's Harish Kotian lists five reasons why Bhuvneshwar Kumar has struggled to make it to the playing eleven.
India's bowlers may have come under severe criticism for a below-par showing in the recent Test series in Australia but head coach Duncan Fletcher has defended them, saying the thrashing they got from the home side's batsmen was due to the inexperience of some of them.
Eager to make a comeback to the Indian Test team, Punjab skipper Harbhajan Singh claimed a sensational six-wicket haul to skittle out Odisha for 205 in their first innings on the opening day of a Group A Ranji Trophy match in Mohali.
After his phenomenal bowling performance, -- 13 wickets at an economy rate of 5.1 -- which proved vital in Bangladesh's first ever ODI series win over India, it is not a surprise that Mustafizur Rahman is the most valuable player (MVP) of the three-match series.
Kohli was at his aggressive best in the just-concluded second Test against Sri Lanka as he smashed a strokeful 213 off 267 balls to help India amass a huge first innings total.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
Kohli said he has sent out a message to his teammates asking them to focus solely on the team's requirements.
India recovered to 234 for five at stumps on Day One of the third Test against the West Indies, courtesy an unbeaten 108-run stand between Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha.
'We have 22 to 24-25 players in mind. We will be rotating them and we will see how they progress'
Young opener Prithvi Shaw underlined his class with a century against a quality Tamil Nadu attack to lead Mumbai to 314 for seven on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group C match in Mumbai.
What has changed to make our team so much more lethal, asks Aakar Patel.
'Kohli is the kind of ethereal athlete who can not only help Elon Musk discover life on Mars, but also test out its gravitational parameters by stroking hundreds in the red dirt.' 'But when playing for India, he needs assistance,' says Dhruv Munjal.
Kagiso Rabada said South Africa are gunning for a whitewash of India, having trampled the visitors in the first two matches.
The Indian cricket team went from strength to strength in 2019, especially in Test cricket where they are rightly perched at the top. They went unbeaten in Test cricket in 2019 which included winning their first-ever series in Australia, after which they registered three successive whitewashes against West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh.
Nathan Lyon walked into the record books with career-best figures of 8 for 50 as India suffered another batting debacle.
Rising Pune Supergiants will stand in the way of Kolkata Knight Riders's revival when they clash in an Indian Premier League T20 match?
In the 35 Tests Kohli has led as captain, he has fielded 35 different playing 11s. Sure, the chopping and changing worked in the sub-continent because the home conditions masked the deficiencies in constantly chopping and changing the playing 11, says Chetan Narula.
The margin of victory was big enough to be called dominant but South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said he was quite nervous about defending 208 against India in the opening Test.
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 rode on a brilliant all-round showing from Australia's Chris Lynn to score a dramatic victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League match, in Sharjah, on Thursday night. After propping the Kolkata innings with a 31-ball 45, the 24-year-old Australian pulled off an acrobatic catch at the deep mid-wicket boundary line to dismiss A B de Villiers in the last over of the match, and RCB, chasing 151 for victory, fell short by two runs.
