A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
Bharat Arun is focussed on his next goal -- preparing the talented back-up pacers keeping an eye on the 2019 World Cup in England.
Kerala blew away home favourites Bengal by nine wickets and with a day to spare for their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy, consolidating the position atop the Elite Group B standings.
Kohli started his English summer on a bright note hitting an unbeaten 52 off 55 balls while Mahendra Singh Dhoni also played some delightful strokes square off the wicket.
Andre Russell returned with a four-wicket haul to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a seven-run win over Kings XI Punjab and go atop the points table in their return to home in the Indian Premier League.
A resurgent England attack tore through Australia's batting lineup with six wickets in the final session to leave the hosts reeling at 164 for nine at the close of the second day of the fourth Ashes Test on Friday.
South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis described Kagiso Rabada's performance as "phenomenal" after the young paceman helped turn a parlous situation on day two of the first Test against Australia into a thumping 177-run victory on Monday. The tourists had done well to get to 242 all out after being 5-81 on day one but were looking down the barrel of a heavy defeat when Australia raced to 158 without loss on day two. Matters got worse when, having finally broken the opening partnership, South Africa's pace spearhead Dale Steyn was forced off the field with a shoulder fracture that ruled him out of the series.
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.
Opener Murali Vijay (53 off 113 balls) and Lokesh Rahul (58 off 92 balls) also scored a half century each after the visitors opted to bat after winning the toss.
Former batsman Chandu Borde has some advice for the Indian batsmen who struggled in the first Test in South Africa - stay a bit outside the crease and leave the balls pitched outside the off-stump.
Having already secured their place in the final with three back-to-back wins, India are set to field their benched players against minnows United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their final league encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament, in Mirpur, on Thursday.
Elton Chigumbura blasted a quickfire half-century as Zimbabwe shocked favourites India by two runs in a thrilling finish, in the first T20 International match in Harare, on Saturday.
A summary of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday
Rohit Sharma (57) and Virat Kohli (33) added 75 in an unbroken second wicket stand to carry India to a nine-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates in a World Cup Pool B encounter in Perth on Saturday.
AB de Villiers confirmed his status as the most destructive batsman in cricket with a magnificent unbeaten 162 from just 66 balls to lead South Africa to a record 257-run victory over West Indies in the World Cup on Friday.
The broader markets are, however, outperforming the larger peer.
'Bhuvneshwar can swing the ball, Bumrah has a difficult action to pick, Shami's seam position is outstanding, one of the best probably in world cricket and his rhythm is outstanding.' 'Umesh is fantastic as well and so is Ishant.' 'So we have all the tools.' 'It is just about them hitting the right length as quick as possible.'
Bowling 33 overs without success in England's second Test defeat by Australia at Lord's knocked the confidence of paceman James Anderson who returned to form with a bang on Wednesday.
The armed forces are facing a shortage of over 52,000 soldiers with the Army topping the list with over 21,000 vacant posts, the government said on Wednesday.
Harbhajan Singh has rated the current Australian team led by Steven Smith as the 'weakest ever' in recent times to tour the Indian sub-continent.
The 22-yard strip at the Feroz Shah Kotla will be the cynosure of all eyes as a buoyant India seeks their biggest series triumph against South Africa when they square off in the final Test of the four-match rubber in Delhi on Thursday.
Penpix of the India squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup, which is being held in Australia and New Zealand.
India pulled off a brilliant all-round performance to trounce New Zealand by 178 runs in the second Test and clinch the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead, a win that propelled the team to the top of the ICC rankings, dethroning arch-rivals Pakistan.
At stumps, India were comfortably placed at 157 for 2, after bundling out the West Indies for a meagre 182 by tea, riding on left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha's five-wicket haul.
Steve Smith continued his sizzling form with an unbeaten century as Australia laid a strong foundation on the first day of the second Test .
The GSX-R1000 is now on offer in an all-new, even more lethal avatar, laced with an ultra-modern electronics suite. Arun Mohan Nadar got first taste of the bike at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore.
Ricky Ponting + Sourav Ganguly + Shreyas Iyer + Kagiso Rabada + Rishabh Pant + Shikhar Dhawan + consistent team selection. Dhruv Munjal on how Delhi Capitals achieved a remarkable turnaround in IPL 2019.
Pakistan's most accomplished batsman Younus Khan completed an unbeaten double century on Friday to turn the course of the first Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. At the close Zimbabwe, set 342 for victory when Pakistan declared their second innings closed at 419 for nine, were 13 for one after Tino Mawoyo was dismissed lbw for two by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
'India have a good bunch of fast bowlers.' 'Umesh is doing really well and so are Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant.'
Alastair Cook completed the third-longest innings in Test history and the longest by an Englishman as his side ended on 569-8 on the fourth day of the first Test on Friday, 46 runs ahead of Pakistan.
The emergence of young Jasprit Bumrah as a potent death overs bowler has come as a huge relief for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who complimented the Gujarat lad for being equally effective with the new ball.
India have won all their six games against Pakistan in the World Cup.
David Warner played a captain's knock, smashing an unbeaten 90 runs off 59 balls to power the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 7-wicket convincing victory against defending champions Mumbai Indians on Monday. Chasing a modest 143-run target, the Sunrisers chased the target with 15 balls to spare in Hyderabad. The Sunrisers have recorded their first points in the points table of IPL 9, while MI have now lost three out of their last four games.
The World Cup quarter-final at the Adelaide Oval looked set for a tame ending after Australia shot out Pakistan for a meagre 213. Paceman Wahab, however, sparked the match into life with two wickets and an enthralling duel with Shane Watson.
Struggling for runs in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa, under-fire Suresh Raina has got the much-needed backing of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who advised the middle-order batsman to give himself a bit more time before unleashing his big shots.
Penpix of the Sri Lanka squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
India produced a splendid performance to clinically decimate West Indies by 237 runs in the third Test thereby taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Lavish in his praise for centurion Virat Kohli, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the swashbuckling batsman paced his knock very well while guiding India to what turned out to be a match-winning total against South Africa in the do-or-die fourth One-Day International in Chennai, on Thursday.
With 556 runs and 71 wickets from 13 games, Jadeja himself has started believing that he is now a competent longest format man as much sought as he has been in shorter formats.
Here are the images of some of the shots that De Villiers played enroute his record-breaking fastest One-Day century.