Following Rising Pune Supergiants batsman Faf du Plessis's exit, Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com takes stock of the players forced out of the cash-rich Twenty20 extravaganza by injury.
Australia coach Darren Lehmann will step aside to allow Justin Langer to guide the team during a one-day tournament in the Caribbean next year.
The West Indies included pacemen Corey Collymore and Fidel Edwards for Ian Bradshaw and Dwayne Smith in the team for the match against England.
Jose Mourinho had a smile back on his face after his Manchester United side comfortably beat Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor on Sunday to end a week of intense scrutiny in positive fashion.
The incident happened on Monday as the players were travelling back to their hotel after the first day's play in the second and final Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Mumbai will clash with Group C toppers Maharashtra at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai, while Bengal, who beat formidable Tamil Nadu in their last group match, will meet Railways at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals from January 8 to 12.
England must ignore talks about their Euro 2016 prospects and focus instead on getting off to a good start in their tournament opener against Russia on Saturday, midfielder Adam Lallana has said. Warm-up victories over Turkey, Australia and Portugal have raised hopes of Roy Hodgson's charges ending the country's 50-year wait for a major international trophy since England's World Cup triumph in 1966. "All the team's focus will be on Russia now. It's the first game, you don't want to lose your first match and it's important we get off to a good start and build from there," Lallana told British media. "I think it's important to treat it as much of a normal game as you can. There's always going to be hype but if we concentrate on our football and don't get too caught up in the emotion and what comes with it then I'm sure we'll be fine."
Joe Root's side completed an emphatic victory halfway through the third day when Mohammed Abbas was caught in the slip off Stuart Broad, his third wicket of the innings.
The Kiwis left out Scott Styris and Shane Bond, who was ruled out on Sunday itself because of stiffness in the back.
England and New Zealand have both had to ride out the storm to make this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final. It has been far from smooth sailing for either side, but in the end it is Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan's side who have emerged on top, and deservedly so.
The 60,000-seat arena will host its first Test after a rich 47-year run at the nearby WACA, located on the opposite bank of the SwanRiver, and the grassy drop-in wicket unveiled on Thursday has fuelled anticipation of a pace bowler's paradise.
The dazzling Lionel Messi returned from illness to score yet another double to help Barcelona ease into the knockout stages of the Champions League for a 13th successive year with their 2-0 win at Celtic on Wednesday.
In view of rumours surrounding an Indian conglomerate's attempt to start a possible rebel league, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations chief executive, Tony Irish, has said that mainstream cricket should be 'on their toes' to keep their players away from being lured to an another potential T20 league.
France is slowly but gaining momentum when it mattered most.
Images from Sunday's action in the Premier League.
India put up yet another clinical display to best defending champions West Indies with a commanding seven-wicket victory in a group league encounter to brighten their chance of a semi-final berth in the ICC World T20 in Mirpur on Sunday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
'The Tata group will need for its new leader to show the same foresight and willingness to go against conventional wisdom at times to keep the group's aspirations high and uphold the values of innovation, ethics, corporate responsibility, trust and leadership that are frequently associated with the Tata name.'
Darren Lehmann has extended his contact as Australia's head coach until 2019 to cover the World Cup and the Ashes series in England that year, the country's cricket board (CA) said on Monday. The 46-year-old former left-handed batsman took on the role on the eve of the 2013 Ashes and despite losing 3-0 in England, he went on to guide the team to series wins over South Africa, England, India, New Zealand and West Indies. He also won the 2015 World Cup on home soil with Australia, who currently top the ICC rankings in both test and one-day international cricket.
India's hero at the 2011 World Cup believes Hardik Pandya will be the one to watch out for in the 2019 World Cup.
Jordan technical director Mark Smith has quit the Formula One team after their takeover by Midland last week.
'Yes, I was sure this was the right decision. We brought Roberto Firmino on for Mo Salah. We could have scored before, we could have scored afterwards, we could have scored all the time. We lived more or less in their box'
Pacer John Hastings has provided fill-up to Australia's ambitions of notching up a 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series against India, saying he is thriving on the extra responsibility following a few impressive performances. Hastings took the important wickets of centurion Shikhar Dhawan and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to play a key role in the home team's victory in the fourth ODI in Canberra yesterday, their fourth in a row. With his show in the Australian capital, Hastings has proved that leadership is something that comes naturally to him.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has written to House Speaker Paul Ryan, asking him to raise the issue of religious freedom in India during his meeting with PM Modi.
Opener Prithvi Shaw credited the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting for guiding the team to a commanding position in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Eight teams have formed some of the best combinations from a pool of 64 top cricketers in the players' draft for T10League -- the limited ten-over format cricket -- that will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Batsmen Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and Joe Burns have been rewarded for their strong form over the past 12 months by being awarded central contracts by Cricket Australia on Friday.
Australia opener Marcus Harris, on Saturday, rued missing out on a hundred and said batsmen unable to convert starts have left his team with a mountain to climb in the fourth Test against India.
Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc has said that India were scared of losing the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
No Indian cricketer figures in the ICC's World Cup XI, which is dominated by runners-up New Zealand rather than champions Australia.
Gujarat Lions would look to better their debut season's success and aim for a winning start against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League match, in Rajkot on Friday.
Cricket Australia will draw up a 'charter' governing player behaviour in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal that has rocked the nation over the last fortnight, chairman David Peever said on Friday.
England and Russia are the big beasts of Group B and, though each would love a winning start when they meet on Saturday, the fear of losing could well become all-pervading and lead to a cagey encounter. With games against Wales and Slovakia to come, and the potential for three teams to qualify with two guaranteed, a point at the Velodrome might look a very useful result in a couple of weeks. England, on the back of winning all 10 qualifiers, not to mention a rare victory in Germany in a friendly, start favourites and will expect to make the running in front of a 60,000 crowd that will be predominantly behind them.
Qualifier Nepal caused the first major upset of the World Cup, shocking New Zealand by 32 runs in a Group D match in Fatullah on Thursday.
Glenn Maxwell missed his maiden ODI century but his career-best 95 helped Australia win the tri-series
Australia coach Darren Lehmann wants one-day international matches to continue as long as conditions are safe.
Steve Smith called it the 'Virat show' and he was right
