Among his wards, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari have taken to Test cricket like duck to water, all-rounder Vijay Shankar is staking World Cup claims, while Shubhman Gill broke into the ODI team in New Zealand.
More than the expectations of fans and scrutiny by the experts of the game, Indian cricket's 'Fab Four' are burdened by their own high expectations which puts them under pressure every time they step on the field, feels India one-day skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Asserting that senior batsmen -- Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid -- still have a lot to offer, Dhoni said the quartet deserves a graceful exit as and when they decide to quit.
Former Australia captain Allan Border does not consider picking five players on the wrong side of 30 in the Indian squad to play against Australia a wise decision but said the selectors might be giving the seniors one last opportunity to perform and exit with a bang. Border said personally he would have preferred more youngsters in the team but would not outrightly criticise the selectors for picking the seniors.
Australia's Adam Gilchrist has replaced VVS Laxman as the captain of the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League.
Talent they say is over-rated but in Rohit Sharma's case, the word had been thoroughly used and abused till Mahendra Singh Dhoni made him an opener, who could be beautifully destructive.
India captain Anil Kumble gave his full backing to the senior batsmen ahead of the Australia Test series, terming their failure in Sri Lanka as a "one-off."
The Committee of Administrators is facing practical problems in implementing the Conflict of Interest guidelines on the day-to-day BCCI operations, CoA member Diana Edulji conceded.
His father Mohammad Azharuddin began his career at Eden Gardens and now an 18-year-old Mohammad Ashaduddin, called for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) selection trials, hopes the venue will do the magic for him as well in his quest to make it big in cricket. A product of St John's Academy -- a club where VVS Laxman learned his basics -- Ashaduddin is yet to make it big anywhere, but he is hoping that the KKR call-up will help him establish in the big league.
Statistical highlights on the fourth day of the second and final cricket Test between India and England in Mohali on Monday.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday revealed the team think-tank is toying with the idea of dropping off-colour Rahul Dravid in the batting order but said it is in two minds fearing the ploy may boomerang in the second and final Test against England in Mohali. Dhoni, however, once again threw his weight behind the senior batsman and said once he manages to survive the early overs, things would be alright for Dravid.
Sachin Tendulkar gained one place to be joint 16th and Yuvraj Singh climbed eight places up to 56th in the latest ICC Test rankings after they guided India to win in the first cricket Test against England in Chennai.
The cricketer-turned-politician has sort of demolished his opponents, securing close to seven lakh votes, leaving close rivals -- Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely and Aam Aadmi Party's Aatishi -- way behind.
100-Test up VVS Laxman talks about his journey in the game thus far, the pain of not playing in an ODI World Cup and why Australia brings the best out of him.
Except for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's shock pull out, there were no major surprises in the 16-man Indian squad for the forthcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka.
India's most successful captain Sourav Ganguly is set to bid farewell to the international game at the end of the ongoing fourth Test against the Aussies at Nagpur. The left-hander walked in to bat at the fall of VVS Laxman's wicket in India's first innings on Thursday afternoon.
India's most successful captain Sourav Ganguly is set to bid farewell to the international game at the end of the ongoing Test against the Aussies at Nagpur.
Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay was handed his Test debut in the fourth and final Test against Australia. Harbhajan Singh, who missed the last match due to injury, made it back to the team.
The young India opener, who scored 206 and 36 in the drawn third Test against Australia, rocketed 11 places to 18th in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. He started the series in 37th position but climbed 18 places after three Tests in which he has scored 463 runs.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 3:
Ahead of start of play on Day 2, the former pacer was also seen having a chat with India's bowlers including Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
The current fiasco now completely established that there is no communication between the selectors and senior players, who decide their own schedule. 'Dhoni feels that it would not be fair for him to join us at this stage, given that the team has done so well and reached the quarter-final stage in his absence. He does not want to upset the team balance'
The Indian middle order batsman is expected to be available after the completion of the second leg of the Indian Premier League tournament and will remain with the county side until the end of the 2009 domestic season.
Look at your career before commenting on Dhoni: Shastri
He is on the verge of becoming the highest run-accumulator in Test cricket, but Sachin Tendulkar continues to fall in the ICC rankings for batsmen, dropping a spot to 24th in the latest list released on Tuesday.
Resolute batting by Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, coupled with fading light, helped India escape with a draw against Australia in the first Test, at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, in Bangalore, on Monday.
Ganguly however feels Dhoni has a lot of cricket left in him, especially in one-dayers.
VVS Laxman smashed 109 and Rahul Dravid a watchful 53 to guide India to 216 for three at stumps on day two of the second Test.
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi on Friday sought to clarify that he never demanded removal of Deccan Chargers' captain VVS Laxman and claimed his remarks that the Indian was not suitable for Twenty20 version was quoted out of context in the media. Afridi confirmed that he had been conveyed the inquiry into his issue with Laxman is over now.
And congratulations were in store for the team.
The master batsman salutes Sourav Ganguly on completing 100 Test matches.
Royal Challengers Bangalore scored their second win of the Indian Premier League when they edged Deccan Chargers by three runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Sourav Ganguly completed his maiden double century in Bangalore Test. His innings is now the seventh highest by an Indian batsman.
Ganguly-Yuvraj partnership in the third Test against Pakistan is now the second highest partnership for the fifth wicket on Indian soil.
Sachin Tendulkar has rejected BCCI's observation that his alleged Conflict of Interest falls under "tractable category", terming the parent body "responsible for the current situation".
The 42-year-old batsman played 31 Tests and scored 1,944 runs, at an average of 34.11. He has five hundreds and 11 fifties in the longest format, with 212 his highest score.
Statistical highlights on day two of the third cricket Test between India and New Zealand, in Indore, on Sunday.
Laxman said the COA has been using the CAC only for selection of senior national coaches despite promising a broader role earlier.
Coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli's dressing room rift after India's ICC Champions Trophy final loss should have been handled in a matured way, former skipper Sourav Ganguly said in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
Indian batting legend VVS Laxman has heaped praise on the current India Test skipper Virat Kohli.
