India exhibited their batting prowess to perfection with their top order firing in unison to score an easy 6-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their must-win Asia Cup Super Four match and set up a summit clash against the same opponents on Sunday.for eight against India in their Asia Cup super league match.
Virender Sehwag's superb innings of 119 powered India to a six-wicket win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Sehwag scored his ninth one-day hundred in a 198-run second wicket partnership with Suresh Raina (84) to guide India to 301 for four after 42.1 overs in reply to Pakistan's total of 299 for four.
Following the debacle in the New Zealand ODI series, the selectors finally lost patience with the under-performing Suresh Raina and Ishant Sharma and axed them from India's squad for the Asia Cup later this month. Cheteshwar Pujara, who played two ODIs in Zimbabwe in August, made a comeback to the ODI squad.
Rest of India takes on Ranji champions Railways in the season-opening Irani Trophy match, in Delhi, from October 1 to 5.
Six Indian cricketers, who lost their passports on Wednesday, will be re-issued a new ones by Saturday evening.
They endured a disastrous run the last time around to finish at the bottom of the heap and Kings XI Punjab would be aiming to make amends this season when they begin their campaign against newbies Gujarat Lions in their IPL opener in Mohali on Monday. Kings XI Punjab did not make any big buys this year and have a new captain in South African David Miller in place of Australian George Bailey who was released after leading the side to the last place in the previous season. Virender Sehwag has also retired and he will serve as team mentor this season. The Preity Zinta-owned side continues to lack the team balance as it has not added any significant player, only snapping the likes of all-rounders Farhaan Behardien and Marcus Stoinis, seamer Mohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh. Last season, their batsmen lacked consistency and whenever they did well, the bowlers let the side down. On the other hand, debutants Gujarat Lions have a balanced side with top-class performers in both batting and bowling. They have explosive batsmen in Brendon McCullum, captain Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and a plenty of top-notch all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner.
Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Ramesh Powar were dropped for the first two Sri Lanka ODIs.
Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League after injuring his left hamstring during the Gujarat Lions's loss to Delhi Daredevils on Thursday.
Robin Uthappa's innings of 70 runs off 41 balls (SR-170.73) is the third best by any batsman scoring at least a fifty against West Indies
Suresh Raina made way for Joginder Sharma in the 12-member team for the second ODI.
A league of this nature will be nothing more than a money-spinning machine, unless it has the added plus of throwing up domestic talent.
'I had no doubt that Rishabh would be the best man for the job.'
Rajneesh Gupta presents a detailed statistical analysis of the Indian Test squad for the South Africa series.
Reader Chander Ramanathan sent us these pictures from Melbourne.
'Going forward, they might need 4-6 weeks to get going themselves. It's a tough job and if you are bowling 140-150 kmph, running about 25 yards to bowl one ball at a time and then keep bowling for a few overs.'
Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid will open the Indian innings.
Sharma and Yadav have launched their campaign for Australia.
UP skipper Mohammed Kaif scored an impressive 71 on the fourth and final day to manage a draw with Punjab in their Ranji Super League Group 'B' match
Rahane to lead India in one-off Test vs Afghanistan
Ranjit Khirid came up with an all-round performance as Maharashtra reduced Uttar Pradesh to 234 for 8 after piling 394 runs.
A 91-run victory over India Green saw India Blue top the table with nine points and seal a place in Sunday's final of the Challenger tournament.
Stressing on the fact that most of the Indian batsmen's form has been a big factor in India's success so far, former batsman VVS Laxman expects them to fire on all cylinders during the quarter-final stages as well.
India included R P Singh in the eleven, while England omitted Matthew Hoggard for the first ODI.
The 17-year-old leg spinner said it is an honour to even share dressing room space with stars like Tendulkar, Dravid and Pathan.
India made one change to their line-up, bringing in all-rounder Suresh Raina in place of left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.
Having outplayed Bangladesh 'A' in all the departments in the first unofficial ODI, an upbeat India 'A' will be looking to keep the winning momentum.
Virat Kohli's elegant unbeaten 90 and some wily bowling by their spinners saw India secure a comprehensive 37-run victory over Australia in the first Twenty20 International at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. Rajneesh Gupta lists some interesting numbers from the match.
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.
India left out Suresh Raina, S Sreesanth and Jai Prakash Yadav from the 15 while making Gautam Gambhir the supersub.
India made five changes to the team that won in Cuttack for the third ODI.
With the World Cup round the corner, a couple of good knocks could see the Uttar Pradesh batsman make a spot in the middle order his own.
All-rounder Joginder Sharma comes in place of S Sreesanth, while Ramesh Powar replaces Suresh Raina.
Uttar Pradesh pacemen skittled out Andhra Pradesh for 111 in the first innings of the Ranji Trophy tie.
All 13 members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent, who tested positive for COVID-19 early last week, have come out negative in the latest tests, the IPL team's CEO K S Viswanathan said on Tuesday.
Uttar Pradesh scored 420 to take a first innings lead over Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy tie.
All the established players, barring Sachin Tendulkar, were named in a list of 36 probables for the upcoming triangular series.
Pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar was promoted to Grade A, but Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir, who have lost favour with the selectors, were dropped from the list of BCCI's contracted players for 2014-15.
