'They are in one place, they are in one hotel, there is no travel, they are in one dressing room. They know the pitch. When they selected they probably knew what Dubai was going to be like.'
With recent matches indicating that chasing teams have fared slightly better, the toss-winning captain may opt to bowl first.
Maninder Singh (51') and Harmanpreet found the back of the net to extend Soorma's lead further and even though Gursahibjit Singh (56') pulled a goal back in the dying minutes, Soorma walked away with all three points.
Pacers Priyajit Jadeja and Arzan Nagwaswalla took seven wickets between them as Gujarat thrashed Saurashtra by an innings and 98 runs to enter the Ranji Trophy semifinals.
Pahal had made direct qualification to Paris Olympics after clocking her personal best of 50.92 seconds in the National Inter-State Championships in June.
India will have only 15 players available for the semi-final against Germany, which is a big set back for the eight-time Olympic champions.
India stunned reigning Olympic silver medallist China 3-0 to qualify for the semifinals of the women's Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Bihar on Saturday.
India registered a hard-fought six-wicket win over arch rivals Pakistan, keeping their semi-final hopes alive in the Women's T20 World Cup.
Novak Djokovic dug out a 6-7(4) 6-1 6-4 win over Czech Jakub Mensik on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters, where he will face Taylor Fritz.
A seemingly invincible India will be eager to sharpen their game against spin and give a run to second-line players ahead of the semi-final when they take on New Zealand in their last group match of the Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday.
Raj Kumar Pal struck a hat-trick
Rohit Sharma's men are playing all their matches in Dubai, and even the final will be held there if the team goes the distance, while the rest of the teams have to criss-cross Pakistan for their matches.
Rachin Ravindra sat out the Black Caps' opener against Pakistan while recovering from a blow to the head and does not want to miss another match at the ICC tournament.
Pakistan now face a must-win encounter against India to keep their semi-final hopes alive in the ICC Champions Trophy.
One quiet moment stood out amid the jubilant scenes -- Mohammed Shami stepping off the stage just as his team-mates began spraying champagne.
Given the Indian duo's struggles with fitness and injury over the last few weeks, this was a commendable win.
Ravindra expressed his joy at contributing on the big stage and emphasised the team's focus on the final showdown in Dubai
Images from the T20 World Cup Super Eight Group 1 match between India and Australia, at Gros Islet, St Lucia, on Monday.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir said his team is still searching for that "perfect game" despite entering the Champions Trophy final with an all-win record. He is hopeful that it will come in the summit clash on Sunday.
Henry's exceptional spell of 5 for 42 in eight overs played a crucial role in restricting India to 249/9 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament after losing to Malaysia's Man Wei Chong and Tee Kai Wun in the quarter-finals.
On linking up with the squad, the former South Africa pacer was seen having a long chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir as the players did their warm-up drills at the ICC Academy in Dubai.
Nitesh Kumar and Sukant Kadam qualified for the semi-finals of the men's singles SL3 and SL4 categories respectively.
The ticket sales for India's Champions Trophy matches to be played in Dubai will begin on Monday evening.
South Africa have eight wickets in hand and are now overwhelming favourites to finish off the job, and take the title away from champions Australia, who had set them a daunting fourth innings target of 282 in the final on Friday.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has picked India as the favourites in Sunday's Champions Trophy summit clash against New Zealand, but hastened to add that the advantage will be miniscule, given that the Black Caps are a formidable side.
Some of the suggested strategies include making thoughtful trade-offs between career choices and family responsibilities to avoid the guilt of not spending adequate time with elders and children at home; resisting the pressure to be a 'superwoman' by trying to manage everything alone; demanding, negotiating, and selecting jobs with flexible working hours; exploring work-from-home options; choosing an appropriate time for a career break; upskilling to re-enter the workforce after a break; and communicating openly with family members -- including spouse and in-laws -- about the support needed to grow professionally and the challenges faced at work, highlights N Ravichandran.
Top-ranked Netherlands reached the men's hockey final at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday with a much more comfortable 4-0 win over Spain than in the pool stage
After a much-needed two-day respite, Team India returned to the training grounds with renewed vigour, setting their sights on a pivotal showdown against New Zealand on Sunday.
India playing at one venue has been a hot topic for debate among former cricketers and some sections of fans. There has hardly been any press conference where questions haven't been raised about tournament scheduling.
New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips played down any talks of India getting an advantage by playing all their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai.
Fine furniture is now about soul, not just status, whether it's a bar cabinet with elaborate French marquetry or a delicately curved Italian leather sofa.
'I have a deep affection for Indian cricket. If someone asked me to come back, I wouldn't say no.'
With Team India looking unstoppable, World Cup-winning former India pacer S Sreesanth says no team can prevent it from winning the Champions Trophy final on Sunday.
The BCCI video captured Rohit Sharma, Axar Patel and other players touching down in Guyana and being warmly welcomed by a dedicated group of Indian fans.
India's Simran cruised into the women's T12 100 metres semi-finals with a season's best effort of 12.17 seconds at the Paralympics in Paris on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old Bopanna had also lost in the men's doubles in the third round when he and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden were beaten by the Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
The Indian industry is paranoid about the USA's plan to impose reciprocal tariffs and wants early conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement, sources said on Wednesday. They said that the talks for the proposed bilateral trade agreement are going well.
Former India player and coach Lalchand Rajput says this Indian team has a clear instinct that will just finish off opponents
P R Sreejesh emerged hero with a superb performance under the bar as the Indian men's hockey team beat Great Britain 4-2 in the shootout to enter the semi-finals.