The World Cup disappointment will continue to linger but Kohli will fancy his team's chances in the series, notwithstanding the return of the swashbuckling Chris Gayle.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons reckons that captain Pollard's association with IPL franchise Mumbai Indians will come handy and his understanding of conditions will be crucial in the 3rd T20I to be played at the Wankhede on Wednesday
A summary of Wednesday's action in Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
Images from Monday's World Cup match between Sri Lanka and the West Indies, at at Chester-le-Street.
While KKR suffered their heaviest defeat of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, Pune looked to have found their mojo in the business end of the tournament having registered consecutive wins in their last two matches.
The West Indies' fast bowlers produced a ruthless display to dismiss Pakistan for a disappointing 105 in their World Cup opener at Trent Bridge on Friday. In reply, Chris Gayle led the chase, scoring 50 ff 34 deliveries, as the meagre target was overhauled in 13.4 overs.
The Jamaican clocked 9.98 seconds into a slight breeze at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in front of a 20,000 crowd on a new track laid down the side of the infield.
It will be a crucial couple of weeks for Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey, who are back in the mix after being sidelined from India's 50-over World Cup plans.
Besides KL Rahul, another individual who would like to answer his critics with solid performances is Pant.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined religious and community leaders at an emotional vigil on Sunday night to honor the 15 members of a junior ice hockey team killed in a bus crash that shocked the hockey-loving nation.
Jofra Archer would have walked out of the West Indies dressing room on Friday wearing burgundy not light blue. That he did not can be traced back to the day he was left out of the West Indies squad for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup despite having already shone for the age-group side.
Sudeep Tyagi and Siddharth Trivedi, the medium pacers from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat respectively, won't be a part of the Saurashtra Ranji Trophy squad for the first two matches this season.
A total of 62 players were sold at the auction for the 13th edition with the eight franchises spending a total of 1.403 billion rupees ($19.73 million). Australia's Pat Cummins became the most expensive overseas buy ever in the Indian Premier League when the Kolkata Knight Riders paid a staggering Rs 15.50 crore ($2.18 million) for the fast bowler in Thursday's auction in Kolkata on Thursday.
Nathan Coulter-Nile slammed 92 from 60 deliveries to register the highest score by a No 8 batsman in a World Cup.
India Abroad -- the newspaper published from New York and owned by Rediff.com -- releases a special edition honouring the 11 winners of the India Abroad Person of the Year Award.
'It was the Mughals who first established standard units of measurement and maintained offices of meticulous record keepers and auditors, departing from the more haphazard methods of earlier regimes.' 'By the end of the 16th century, their revenue and judicial administrations exhibited an obsessive preoccupation with order, the efficient management of time, and a spirit of rational self-control -- all of them characteristics of early modernity,' point out Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Ellman.
Fearless Hetmyer guides West Indies to challenging 207/5
Images from Tuesday's third T20 International between India and the West Indies, in Guyana.
In-form chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav led India Red's fightback with a four-wicket burst to reduce India Blue to 200 for five on another rain-hit day in the Duleep Trophy in Greater Noida on Tuesday. Gautam Gambhir (77) and Mayank Agarwal (92) missed out on centuries before Yadav's sublime spell brought the match alive after a chunk of second day's play was lost due to rain, much like the opening day at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground. After 34.2 overs on day one, 27.4 overs were possible in the match played with pink ball and under lights.
A World Cup year tends to dominate discussion on ODI cricket, and bilateral series are usually quickly forgotten. Before the series against Australia begins, let us take a look at India's best ODI players during the ongoing 2019-2020 season.
Senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will lead India Red, India Blue and India Green teams respectively in the Duleep Trophy to be played at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium from August 23 to September 14. The four-day tournament will be played for the first time with pink ball and under lights.
The domestic season-ending five-day Irani Cup game between newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing in Mumbai from Sunday, will provide fringe players a good opportunity to stake claims for the national team. The first class match is the last occasion for hopefuls from both ranks to impress the five-member national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil before attention shifts totally to the T20 format, commencing with the ICC World T20 Championships. With the country expected to play over 15 Test matches post Indian Premier League till the end of next season, this match is the ideal platform for these players to strengthen their claims for the long Test haul. Mumbai, who clinched the Ranji crown for the 41st time last week by defeating Saurashtra by an innings, have a settled combination led by wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare. They appear to be better prepared than the motley bunch of Rest of India, being led by Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. However, they would take the Rest of India lightly at their own peril as the latter have a good bowling attack at their command even without originally named Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh who have been injured and replaced by Ankit Rajpoot and Anureet Singh, according to their coach Ashish Kapoor.
Short of match practice, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ashish Nehra and Ajinkya Rahane will captain the India A team for two warm-up matches against England at CCI, Mumbai next week. Dhoni, who has not played a competitive game in over two months, will lead the India A side in the opening warm-up here on January 10. Rahane, who is coming back from an injury, will captain the team in the second warm-up on January 12.
Kuldeep Yadav took a hat-trick after openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hit centuries to help India crush West Indies by 107 runs in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam and level the three-match series at 1-1. Rohit smashed 159 from 138 balls, while Rahul stroked 102 from 104 balls to power India to a huge 387 for five in their 50 overs. In reply, West Indies made a brave effort courtesy of Shai Hope (78) and Nicholas Pooran (75) but Kuldeep finished off their hopes with his second ODI hat-trick.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Saturday.
'I am glad the book reaches India after America and England. I thought that would make it difficult for some people to run down the book because they do not like my journalism,' says Aniruddha Bahal.
Ranji Trophy: Birla scion Aryaman hits maiden first-class ton, MP salvage draw against Bengal
Saurashtra were best chasers during the knockout stage but their reliable batsmen came a cropper in the most-important clash.
'He is like a pillar and the whole team bats around him.' 'In today's world, everyone likes to play their strokes while Pujara is someone who will tire out the bowlers.' 'If you have one batsman who can play out the new ball or play out a spell from a good bowler, then it helps the whole team, it helps the other batsmen.'
Rookie batsman Rahul Tripathi played a breathtaking knock of 93 to single-handedly power Rising Pune Supergiant to a four-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
Bharara's presence at Trump Tower provoked much curiosity.
Defending champions West Zone rode on gritty half centuries from Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel to scramble past South Zone by two wickets and enter the Deodhar Trophy final, in Mumbai, on Monday. Chasing an imposing 315 for victory in the second semi-final at the Wankhede stadium, West were struggling at 174 for 6 before Yadav (80 off 56 balls, 4 sixes, 7 fours) and No. 8 batsman Patel (64 not out off 38 balls) put together a match-winning stand of 70 runs off 76 balls that saw the hosts home with 17 balls to spare.
A roundup of the matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day tournament, on Saturday.
Hard-hitting left-hander Chris Gayle will return to the West Indies squad for their tour of South Africa after recovering from a back injury.
The decision left everyone wondering if the on-field umpires faltered in calling off the game, but the Vidarbha player, said nothing like that had happened.
India Blue reached the Duleep Trophy final on the basis of a massive first innings lead, completing a comprehensive performance against India Green even as the game ended in a draw in Greater Noida on Wednesday. There was only one team going into the final against India Red after India Blue took a huge 470-run first innings lead yesterday by dismissing the Green team for 237. India Blue had amassed 707
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday.
IMAGES from the match played between Bangladesh and West Indies in their ICC World Cup match in Taunton on Monday