Do you think India should play five bowlers?
Jasprit Bumrah's form and fitness will be one of India's primary concern during the World Cup in England and the Gujarat pacer may get some well deserved rest for a few games during the twin ODI series against Australia and New Zealand.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would look to assert their supremacy, while Sunrisers Hyderabad will have revenge on mind when the two teams clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday. Both Sunrisers and KKR finished their league engagements on 16 points each but the Gautam Gambhir-led side ended fourth behind Sunrisers due to inferior net run rate. But going into the do-or-die game, KKR have psychological advantage over the Sunrisers having beaten them on both the occasions during the league stage. KKR thrashed Sunrisres by eight wickets in their first meeting this season and came out victorious by 22 runs in a must-win match last Sunday to qualify for the play-offs.
Sunil Narine hammered a quickfire half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
A round-up of results from the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.
A near-perfect series for Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
The hits and misses of the week.
Factbox on Saturday's World Cup Pool B match between India and United Arab Emirates.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh made a comeback to the Indian team, while Virat Kohli took over the captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for the forthcoming three-match ODI and T20I series against England, starting in Pune, on January 15.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would be eager to avenge their twin defeats in the league stage when they face old foes Mumbai Indians in the IPL Qualifer 2 in Bengaluru, on Friday.
The hits and misses of the week.
Yuvraj Singh is hopeful that he can make a 'meaningful contribution' in India's Champions Trophy title defence during the June 1-18 marquee event in England.
As India take on Sri Lanka in a three Test series, Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers.
Perhaps for the first time, India's pace strength is not centred on any one individual, or set of individuals.
After leading the team to their sixth consecutive bilateral series victory, a satisfied Kohli said he was satisfied with the overall performance of the team.
The school management also removed all the security staffs.
Delhi's performance at home is woeful, but having registered a win after two consecutive losses at the Kotla, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit is high on confidence.
CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed the game against SRH due to a stiff back but is likely to be back for Sunday's match against Virat Kohli-led RCB.
'India is going to need their bowlers, their spinners firing if they have to win the series' 'It is time Virat shows he can score in England conditions too'
Australia meet South Africa in a one-off T20 match on the Gold Coast on November 17, before three T20s against India starting in Brisbane on November 21.
India will have their task cut out against a vastly improved England
RCB to ring in changes against KKR in search of first win
The two areas where India's team management and selectors need to do a lot of brainstorming are the No 4 slot and an extra fast bowler.
Talented Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey, who recently led the India A squad to a tri-series win in South Africa, made a comeback to the team.
You don't become the Number One side in the world without the hard work and toil before and after the bails are off.
Abhimanyu Mithun claimed a third five-for of the season as Vidarbha collapsed for 185 before Karnataka were left reeling at 36 for three on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final in Kolkata.
Battered and bruised after four successive defeats, India will make a last-gasp effort to avoid the embarrassment of being whitewashed by an unrelenting Australia when the two sides clash in the fifth and final One-Day International in Sydney, on Saturday.
Kolkata Knight Riders bounced back in the home leg in style by notching up a comprehensive 35-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League match, at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, on Monday.
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India.
As the newly-appointed head coach Ravi Shastri spells out why he was so desperate to have Bharat Arun as part of his support staff, Rediff.com's Harish Kotian listens in.
As far as the Indian team is concerned, even a 3-0 result against the hosts will not be enough for the second-placed side to claim the number one spot in the ICC rankings, while a favourable outcome for the home team will boost its qualifying chances for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.
Fresh from his good showing for India 'A' during their recent tour of Australia, paceman Umesh Yadav revealed that his Kolkata Knight Riders bowling coach Wasim Akram helped him get his yorkers right and he is now keen to use the toe-crushers against England batsmen in the limited overs series.
All-rounder Krunal Pandya and medium pacer Deepak Chahar earned their maiden call up in the Indian squad to replace the injured Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah for the three-match Twenty20 International series against England, starting in Manchester on Tuesday.
Rain is expected to play role in 5th ODI in Thiruvananthapuram even as the wicket-keeper batsmen will look to complete 10,000 ODI runs.
A look at this week's hits and misses.
While Ajinkya Rahane always scores good runs, he seldom scores them quickly enough. And he doesn't bowl, although he is a handy fielder. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji assess the India-West Indies ODI series.
Skipper Virat Kohli will usher in a new era in Indian cricket when he leads the side in the ODI series-opener against England in Pune on Sunday in place of the iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who recently relinquished the captaincy in the limited over formats.
Virat is No 1, Rohit is No 2, but guess who are 3, 4 and 5?
Just into his second Test as India captain, Virat Kohli has come under severe criticism for his tactics from Australian batting greats Ian Chappell and Michael Clarke for the way he shuffled his bowlers during the ongoing fourth and final cricket Test.
The all-rounder is at the top of the MVP table more because of his batting than his bowling, note Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji.
