India took a firm grip on the first Test against Sri Lanka by taking a first innings lead of 192 and snaring the hosts' openers in the second innings by the end of Day 2 in Galle on Thursday.
Ace off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday wrecked havoc and clinched yet another five-wicket haul as India defeated England by an innings and 36 runs on the final day of the Mumbai Test at the Wankhede Stadium. This is only the third time a team batting first has made 400 and then lost by an innings. Statistician Rajneesh Gupta presents interesting numbers from the final day of Mumbai Test
Some strong performances with the bat will help Joe Root to surge to the top and then potentially strengthen his position in the four-Test series against Pakistan, which begins on 14 July.
Sri Lanka thrashed South Africa by 128 runs in Colombo on Wednesday to wrap up the one-day series 4-1.
Factbox on England captain Alastair Cook, who became the first English batsman to score 10,000 runs in test matches in the second test against Sri Lanka on Monday. *Born Dec. 25, 1984 in Gloucester, England. *Scored an unbeaten 104 on test debut against India at Nagpur in 2006, and made his one-day international debut against Sri Lanka in the same year. *Scored 766 runs in seven innings during the 2010-2011 Ashes tour, to help England to their first series win in Australia for 24 years. *Scored 294 against India in 2011, his highest test score to date, and was named as International Cricket Council's Test Cricketer of the Year in 2011. *Was appointed MBE in the Queen's birthday honours list.
The evergreen Kumar Sangakkara struck his 36th Test century, and first at Lord's, as he guided Sri Lanka past the follow-on mark to finish on 415 for seven on the third day of the first Test against England on Saturday.
Opener Dimuth Karunaratne frustrated West Indies with a patient unbeaten century to help Sri Lanka reach 250-2 on the opening day and stay on course for a big first innings total in the first Test at Galle on Wednesday.
Pleased with his world record feat of eight catches in a Test match, Ajinkya Rahane credited former India captain Rahul Dravid for guiding him on slip catching and overall fielding.
A magnificent century by Moeen Ali proved in vain as England suffered a 25-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the first of seven one-day internationals on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka look incapable of stopping India from winning a ninth to tie England and Australia for the record for most consecutive Test series wins
A ball-tampering scandal that devastated Australia cast a dark cloud over a dramatic cricketing year
Hamstrung, running out of partners and his team's title defence at stake -- the stage was set for Angelo Mathews to emerge from the Saturday night drizzle and enter Twenty20 folklore but the Sri Lankan captain fell agonisingly short. At 15-4, after England had set them a 172-run victory target in the World Twenty20 match, Sri Lanka's title defence looked all but over inside three overs. Their skipper then engineered a stunning recovery in the tournament's most portentous contest that was key to the semi-final hopes of three teams, including South Africa. But the lion-hearted effort took its toll on his hamstring and Mathews was clearly struggling when he took guard for the final over from Ben Stokes -- 15 runs separating him from Twenty20 greatness and his team from a place in the last four. As a mild drizzle fell on the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Stokes charged in with a ball in hand and ice in veins to thwart Mathews' audacious bid to pull off a heist.
High on confidence after their emphatic victory over England, the West Indies will once again look for an explosive knock from Chris Gayle to inch closer to a semi-final berth when they take on defending champions Sri Lanka in a World Twenty20 Super 10 Group 1 match in Bengaluru on Sunday.
He joins an elite group of players who have made a century in their 100th Test -- the others being Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Alec Stewart, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ricky Ponting (both innings) and Graeme Smith.
Former captain Rahul Dravid says it was a misconception that Indian youngsters are bad players of spin and insisted that they actually have incredible shot-making ability against the slow bowlers.
Opener Kaushal Silva lived a charmed life on his way to a maiden Test century as Sri Lanka put Bangladesh to the sword with a big first-innings total in the opening Test in Dhaka on Tuesday. At the close of play on the second day, Sri Lanka were 375 for five, a lead of 143 runs.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar said that India should field five specialist bowlers by leaving out Stuart Binny from the playing XI if they want to win the third and final Test against Sri Lanka beginning Friday in Colombo.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the interesting numbers from the second day of Kingston Test between West Indies and India
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com highlights what Virat Kohli needs to ponder about, after the Galle defeat
How does Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/25 stand up against other fine T20I performances? Fascinating figures from Rajneesh Gupta.
Martin Guptill struck his third Test century while Kane Williamson fell just short his 13th as New Zealand blunted Sri Lanka's inexperienced bowling attack to set themselves up for a big total in the first Test in Dunedin on Thursday.
England pacer James Anderson reclaimed the number-one ranking from India's Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers released on Monday after the end of the Edgbaston Test.
England's James Anderson is the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets.
Chasing a daunting target of 386, the hosts collapsed after skipper Angelo Mathews was dismissed for 110, his seventh Test century, and were dismissed for 268.
After starting the series with a crushing victory, an upbeat India will aim to maintain their stranglehold over an under-prepared Sri Lanka when they meet in the second ODI in Motera on Thursday.
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.
Ravichandran Ashwin was back in his elements with yet another five-wicket haul, setting up a perfect launch pad for skipper Virat Kohli to extend India's lead to 298 runs against England on the third day of the second cricket Test in Visakhapatnam.
Their World Cup build-up halted by West Indies team's sudden mid-series pullout, India would resume the preparations for the mega-event when they square off against under-cooked sub-continental rivals Sri Lanka in a hastily-arranged ODI series starting in Cuttack on Sunday.
Images from the World Cup Pool A match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in Dunedin on Sunday
Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne obstinately defied New Zealand's bowlers for much of the second day of the first Test at University Oval in Dunedin on Friday though the hosts still have the upper hand.
In terms of days, Dale Steyn has spent 2,320 days at the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, the most by any bowler since World War II.
Chris Gayle blasted a quickfire century to power West Indies to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the tri-nation series in Jamaica, on Friday.
Retiring legend Kumar Sangakkara was unable to get a big knock in his swansong Test appearance but Sri Lanka overcame an early jolt to post 140 for 3, after dismissing India for 393 in the first innings, on Day 2 of the second Test in Colombo on Friday.
Rain threatens to disrupt the first day's play when Sri Lanka and India face-off in the opening Test at Galle on Wednesday.
Opener Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan slammed centuries to help India humiliate Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 169 runs in the first One-Day International in Cuttack, on Sunday.
Their frailties against quality spin attack badly exposed in Sri Lanka recently, pace bowling great Glenn McGrath said that the Australians will have to quickly sort out their issues against slow bowlers if they don't want a disaster in their tour of India to play four Tests in February-March next year. "Especially with the way things went in Sri Lanka on turning wickets, they have got a lot of work to do between now and then. The Aussies will find it tough in India unless they turn things around pretty quickly," McGrath told reporters during a promotional event.
Sri Lanka are never anybody's pre-tournament favourites but when the dust settles there they are.
How will young batsmen brought up on T20 learn to build an innings? What about the technique to patiently negotiate hostile seam bowling conditions or the skill to play on difficult dusty turners? What about leaving the swinging ball outside off stump?
As Cheteshwar Pujara plays a landmark Test against Sri Lanka, Rajneesh Gupta salutes the batsman's career thus far in numbers...
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara eye top 10 places while Ravindra Jadeja jumps to career-best third position among Test all-rounders.
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