'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.
India pacer Jasprit Bumrah is excited about the return of Ashish Nehra in the team and is looking forward to pick the veteran pacer's brain during the T20I series against Australia, starting in Ranchi, on Saturday.
How does Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/25 stand up against other fine T20I performances? Fascinating figures from Rajneesh Gupta.
'It's happened before. Not just Virat but there's many players that have come up to IPL time and ... look, we know it's a cash rich tournament, there's some money up for grabs.'
Handed a Test recall faster than he expected, Australian pacer Pat Cummins said it would feel like a second debut when he takes the field against India in the ongoing Test series.
From a specialist batsman to someone whose off-breaks are proving to be more than handy, Kedar Jadhav believes that the key to his transformation is accepting challenges and knowing how to overcome it. Jadhav has bowled 18 overs in four games taking six wickets for 73 runs at a decent economy rate of 4.05. "It's all about taking this responsibility and accepting the challenge that comes at you and then, coming out of the challenge successfully," Jadhav said on the eve of their fifth and final ODI against New Zealand.
"As much as he (Pujara) would love to play ODIs, it is hard to see him break into the team, given how strong it is currently."
Team India is under pressure to stay alive in the seven-match ODI series against Australian.
India's stand-in-captain Virat Kohli feels that present field restriction rule is an advantage for batsmen only when they are playing in the sub-continent and it will be a completely different ball game during World Cup in Australia, next year.
The newly-constructed Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Stadium in Barsapara looks like a batting belter, Australia's stand-in captain David Warner said ahead of the second T20 International against India, in Guwahati, on Tuesday.
India's limited overs cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known for his huge sixes and his innovative 'helicopter shot'. In the recently released biopic 'MS Dhoni: The Untold Story', it has been revealed that Dhoni is not the original inventor of this famous shot. It was Dhoni's childhood friend Santosh Lal, who is said to have helped Dhoni master the unusual shot.
When not playing cricket, Dhoni wears many hats apart from being a batsman, wicketkeeper and sometimes a bowler.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis was called up for Australia's two remaining Tests in India on the strength of his bowling and previous performances in the region, interim chief selector Trevor Hohns said on Thursday.
A World Cup victory will put Kohli in a league of his own and even those sceptical about his tactical nous, will have no other option but to grudgingly doff their hats at his heady achievements.
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.
Bruised and battered by India after being bundled out for a meagre 79 while chasing 270 in the series-deciding fifth and final ODI here, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson termed the performance of his batting department as "frustrating". Williamson said the Kiwi batsmen did not justify to lose eight wickets for just 16 runs. "That's what's so frustrating, because we failed as a batting unit. The spinners of the Indian side bowled very well but I don't think it is justified to lose 8 wickets for 16 runs. We need to look at some of our plans. There was turn in the pitch in some other games too but we were able to handle it better then," Williamson said after their massive 190-run defeat in the fifth and final ODI in Vizag.
Veteran Ashish Nehra has mounted a stinging counter-attack on chief selector MSK Prasad for his comments on the seamer's retirement, saying he started playing without the selectors' permission and is leaving it likewise.
With nine straight World Cup wins under their belt, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led India stand only second to Ricky Ponting's Australian side that registered 24 consecutive victories in the showpiece event.
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.
# Smith's unbeaten 178 is the third highest by an Australian captain in Tests in Asia -- the top two being 334 not out by Mark Taylor vs Pakistan at Peshawar in October 1998 and 235 by Greg Chappell vs Pakistan at Faisalabad in March 1980.
I am really happy what we could achieve as a team. If you know me, at no stage of my career has personal glory been important. The milestones (2442 runs in a year as opener) are fine but winning every series is what we focus on, says Rohit, who is keen on winning a big ICC event before hanging up his boots.
'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.'
Key was not to be left behind and quipped that he is thankful to Modi for not raising his country's poor performance in the series so far. New Zealand were whitewashed 0-3 in the Test series and are trailing in the ongoing five-match ODI series as well.
A threat issued by the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti or Patel agitation could affect the game temporarily
It was the final time that India's most successful skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen leading the national side although it is an 'A' team.
Elated after India's decimation of Sri Lanka in the just-concluded One-Day Internationals, stand-in skipper Virat Kohli said the biggest takeaway from the hurriedly-arranged series has been the positive and aggressive attitude that his team displayed all through.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have captain written against his name one last time when the talismanic wicketkeeper-batsman leads out India 'A' against England in the first practice match, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
Bhui faced 313 balls during his unbeaten century and struck 15 boundaries and four sixes. A round-up of Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
'A man who is sometimes loved and loathed in equal measure, a man we're seemingly tired of seeing yet can't imagine life without.' Dhruv Munjal salutes the incomparable M S Dhoni.
India thrashed New Zealand by 53 runs to give veteran fast bowler Ashish Nehra a winning farewell, in the first Twenty20 International in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Australia rode on James Faulkner's brutal unbeaten 29-ball 64 to take Australia to thrilling 4-wicket win in Mohali on Saturday.
Australia rode on James Faulkner's brutal unbeaten 29-ball 64 to take Australia to thrilling 4-wicket win in Mohali on Saturday.
Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar, on the other hand, believes Dhoni's saleability would have dropped had he also quit from One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals.
After his half-century helped New Zealand register a series-levelling 19-run victory over India opener Martin Guptill said the conditions were tough for batting once the ball lost it's shine.
Two-time former champions and the most consistent team of the season, Chennai Super Kings will lock horns with late bloomers Mumbai Indians in a high-voltage Indian Premier League summit clash in Kolkata, bringing the 47-day T20 extravaganza to a relatively controversy-free end.
Boosted by their 3-0 clean sweep of Australia Down Under, a confident India would seek to continue their winning momentum when they take on a depleted and new-look Sri Lanka in the first of three T20 Internationals, in Pune, on Tuesday.
Rohit Sharma blazed his way to a record-breaking knock of 264 as India trounced Sri Lanka by 153 runs in the fourth One-day International to take a 4-0 lead in the five-match series, at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Thursday. The Mumbai right-hander launched an all-out assault on the Lankan bowling as a result of which India amassed a mammoth 404 for five while batting first. In reply, the islanders were dismissed for 251 in 43.1 overs.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
'This was Kohli's veneration for his master: The man who had inspired him to pick up a cricket bat in the first place, the man he had grown up watching. Just that now, he was exactly like him, or, dare it be suggested, maybe a shade better while chasing down daunting totals,' says Dhruv Munjal.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.