With no Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian line-up, the 'Men In Blue' are missing a trick. And despite Mohammed Shami's brilliance in the warm-up game against Australia on the other day in Brisbane, the bowling unit doesn't inspire much confidence.
Images from Asia Cup Super 4s match played between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Saturday.
Images from Tuesday's IPL match between SunRisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals in Dubai.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik blamed Nitish Rana's 'silly' run-out for their defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second IPL qualifier in Kolkata on Friday.
Images from Thursday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Mumbai.
Afghanistan dismissed England for 215 to create one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.
Check out the best playing XI from the IPL 2023 league stage.
Images from the ICC World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, in Pune, on Monday.
Afghanistan roared into the main draw of the World Twenty20 with an emphatic 59-run victory over Zimbabwe in a first round Group B match on Saturday. Mohammad Shahzad (40) gave Afghanistan a flying start before Mohammad Nabi (52) and Samiullah Shenwari (43) added 98 runs off 64 balls to power them to 186-6, their highest total in this format. The associate nation then returned to bowl out Zimbabwe for 127 to register a memorable victory over a full-member nation and join England, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka in Group One of the Super 10 stage of the tournament. "This was a very important match for us. People in Afghanistan are crazy about cricket. They love the game, so (winning it) was very important for us," victorious captain Asghar Stanikzai said. With a place in the main draw at stake, Stanikzai opted to bat and was vindicated as Shahzad set alight Nagpur's VCA Stadium with his swashbuckling batting. The portly 28-year-old hit Tendai Chatara for four successive boundaries after a quiet opening over, forcing the pacer off attack. Donald Tiripano was pressed into service but there was no respite from Shahzad who hit him for three successive fours. Shahzad greeted left-arm spinner Sean Williams by hitting his first delivery for a six but fell in the same over after a 23-ball blitz attempting a reverse sweep.
Russell smashed a 19-ball 49 to set up the win for KKR
Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to shrug off the disappointment of two back-to-back defeats and get back to winning ways when they taken on Sunrisers Hyderabad as they aim to seal their place in the play-offs, in the IPL match, in Sharjah, on Saturday.
RR have a lot of issues to sort out, particularly in the absence of key foreign players like Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes.
England's stand-in skipper Jos Buttler top-scored with 59 before their spinners ripped through the Pakistan batting unit to seal a 45-run win in the second Twenty20 International and level the series at 1-1 on Sunday.
Known for his six-hitting prowess, Hardik this season will have to take more responsibility with the bat and also bat higher up the order.
With Yuvraj Singh in prime form and Australian Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting making all-round contributions, Sunrisers are favourites going into the match.
With nine defeats from 11 matches, the Sunrisers are languishing at the bottom, while KKR, in fourth place with 10 points from 12 matches, still have hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stage.
Gujarat Titans will need their batters to fire when they take on high-flying Lucknow Super Giants as both teams look to seal IPL play-offs berth at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.
While at first it was Faf who was going all guns blazing, as the innings progressed it was Rutu who took centre-stage as CSK won in a canter to go atop the IPL points table.
'I think they (India) will utilise Chahal as much as possible'
Injury and poor form made it a forgettable IPL for Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman but the time away from the field was well spent as he picked on Kings XI Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin's brains ahead of the World Cup in England.
Images from Wednesday's IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings.
Saleem, 20, has yet to represent the national team in any format while Rasooli has shown strong form in the Shpageeza Cricket League, Afghanistan's domestic T20 tournament, after recovering from a finger injury.
Nerves will play a big role when title-hungry Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad look to outdo each other and regain the coveted IPL crown when they square off in the final in Mumbai on Sunday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad unit would look to consolidate its position at the top of the points table
A battle royale is on the cards when Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans take on the Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals, two line-ups armed with potent bowling units in a top-of-the-table IPL showdown at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
With SRH's reputation of leaking runs in the death overs, CSK would have fancied their chances of posting a challenging total. But the SRH bowlers came back strongly.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's form will remain in focus when the struggling Rising Pune Supergiant square off against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Pune, on Saturday.
After their emphatic victory against LSG, Mumbai Indians would be fancying their chances against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Friday's Qualifier 2 match.
David Miller, Sai Sudharsan, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Shubman Gill? Whose batting sparkled most?
Having roared back to form with a much awaited hundred in Asia Cup, the spring in Kohli's stride was palpable.
Three days after stunning defending champions England in New Zealand, the plucky Afghans briefly kindled hopes of another upset when New Zealand's top order suffered a mini-collapse.
Sandeep's early inroads, coupled with Nadeem and Rashid's strikes in the middle overs, put the brakes on Mumbai.
Shane Watson overcame a slow start on his way to an unbeaten 117 to guide the Chennai Super Kings to their third Indian Premier League title with a eight-wicket win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
A look at how the teams stack up ahead of the mega auction.
Glimpses of the players and coaches mingling after the Gujarat Titans-Lucknow Super Giants game at the Wankhede stadium on March 28, 2022.
South Africa will look to fix their chasing troubles before the semifinals while Afghanistan will back themselves to beat another top team
'The last two-three-four years I have been playing really nice cricket, feeling positive and I have been scoring nice personally, back at home, overseas, and so on, unfortunately the last four-five years, I haven't really played as much IPL cricket as I would have liked to.'
Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to strike a perfect balance under the astute leadership of Eoin Morgan when they open their IPL campaign against a consistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Sunday.
Buoyant Kolkata Knight Riders will look to continue their winning momentum when they face defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
Bolstered by Shreyas Iyer's return, Delhi Capitals will look to maintain the form they showed in the first half of the season as they resume their IPL campaign against a struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.
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