The biggest challenge before Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri ahead of the semi-final will be how best to utilise Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
'Can Tendulkar recreate the magic of his youth?', asks advertising guru Sandeep Goyal.
Bowler Jaydev Unadkat in another player to watch out for as the three-match series in the shortest format kicks off in Johannesburg on Sunday
Harbhajan, who was part of the T20 squad for the three-match series, was left out for the ODIs but got a lucky call-up after Ashwin managed to bowl only 4.4 overs at Green Park.
Batting great Rahul Dravid feels with 'impactful' Steve Smith and David Warner back in their ranks this time around, India will face stiff challenge in their Test tour of Australia later this year. The disgraced duo of Smith and Warner missed India's historic away Test series win over Australia in 2018 because of their one-year bans for their involvement in the infamous ball-tampering episode in South Africa.
With Shikar Dhawan back in the squad, it is indeed a happy problem for skipper Virat Kohli, who has to choose two quality openers among three.
India will be hoping to repeat their success of two years ago when they registered their first-ever Test series win in Australia, while the hosts would be keen to avenge that loss.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is baffled by his team's batting failure, which has left the side struggling to stay alive in the Champions Trophy after two successive defeats.
Joe Root was named 'Test Player of the Year', 'Limited Overs Player of the Year' and Fans' 'Player of the Year' at England's annual awards ceremony on Monday. The Yorkshire batsman, 25, hit two centuries in England's Ashes triumph last year, scored four one-day tons and was his team's leading scorer at the recent World Twenty20 tournament in India. He overcame competition from Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes for the Test award and edged Jos Buttler and David Willey in the Limited Overs category, with both prizes decided upon by a media poll.
Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state -- but China views the self-ruled island as a breakaway province. Beijing has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve unification.
Tendulkar has the most runs in the longest format of the game, with 15,921 runs. Along the way, Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries, most by any player.
A summary of Indian athletes' performance on Wednesday, Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
India's veteran tennis ace Leander Paes hinted at possible retirement on Monday, saying he now relies on experience to outsmart opponents and shouldn't be playing past another year.
Zaheer Khan sees no harm in people having high expectations from the young left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the upcoming five-Test series starting August 1.
The Indian cricket team went from strength to strength in 2019, especially in Test cricket where they are rightly perched at the top. They went unbeaten in Test cricket in 2019 which included winning their first-ever series in Australia, after which they registered three successive whitewashes against West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh.
Tom Latham's century and 91 from Kane Williamson put New Zealand firmly in the driving seat with a 151-run lead over Zimbabwe on the second day of the first Test on Friday.
Captain Kane Williamson cracked an unbeaten century as New Zealand took a valuable 198-run lead against Pakistan on day four of the third and final Test in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Veteran fast bowler James Anderson is pretty sure that the newly laid track at the Motera Stadium will be devoid of any grass for the upcoming day-night Test against India even though there is a nice green cover on it at the moment.
Pat Cummins took a five-wicket haul in a dream start to his Australia captaincy as England were skittled for 147 by tea at the Gabba before rain brought the opening day of the Ashes to an early close.
England scored a decent 269 for six on the opening day of the one-off women's Test against India, in Bristol on Wednesday.
Young opener Shubman Gill is looking in good rhythm and should continue to open the innings alongside Rohit Sharma in the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, former India batsman VVS Laxman said on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka pace veteran Lasith Malinga on Tuesday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after terrorising the world's best batsmen for over a decade and a half with his toe-crushing yorkers delivered from a low and distinct sling-arm action.
India skipper Virat Kohli was pushed to the fifth spot by his English counterpart Joe Root, who rose two rungs to third in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsmen, even as Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin moved up in the bowlers' chart.
Former captain Nasser Hussain feels incumbent Joe Root is arguably' England's best ever player of spin and will end up breaking all their Test batting records.
'At the end of the day, an India-Pakistan game has got more to do with pressure than anything else. The team that handles the 'P-factor' better on the day is more likely to win' 'Shoaib Malik is the danger man in the Pak squad'
Cricket greats Rahul Dravid, Michael Atherton and Graeme Smith are looking forward to the ICC U-19 World Cup, saying the tournament gives the young players the chance to test themselves against the best in their age group. The 11th edition of the tournament will be played across four cities in Bangladesh from January 27 to February 14 and features nine Test-playing nations and seven Associate and Affiliate Members - Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, Nepal, Ireland and Scotland. Dravid, a veteran of 164 Tests and 344 one-day internationals with more than 10,000 runs in both forms, lauded the tournament even though he himself never participated in one. He was 15 when the inaugural event was held in 1988 and had already become a Test cricketer when it was next played in 1998. "It is a great opportunity for young players to be able to get exposure to the demands of international cricket," said Dravid, who will coach the India Colts side at the tournament.
Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said that captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni would play a 'more prominent' role as a batsman in the upcoming Indian Premier League by batting 'relatively high' in the order.
Captain Meg Lanning's splendid 97 helped Australia outclass India by six wickets to become the first team to qualify for the ICC Women's ODI World Cup, in Auckland, on Saturday.
Virat Kohli would hope for a turnaround when India take on an under-prepared Sri Lanka in the second Test in Bengaluru
Veteran pitch curator Daljit Singh's job as chief curator of the Board of Control for Cricket in India is in line after the scathing report by the International Cricket Council which rated the Pune pitch, prepared under his guidance, as "poor".
Kumar and his supporters have booked under IPC section 341 (wrongful restraint) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), the latter attracting an imprisonment of up to one year or a monetary fine of Rs 1,000 or both, police officials said.
Hockey: India v Australia, QF
In their quest to be battle-ready for the upcoming Champions League Twenty20, Kolkata Knight Riders sent four of their players -- Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Manvinder Bisla and Kuldeep Yadav -- to Bloemfontein, South Africa for 15 days of training camp that included cycling, running and mountaineering.
Images from the first One-Day International between India and the West Indies, in Ahmedabad, on Sunday.
Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has backed chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd's decision to drop Shivnarine Chanderpaul from the squad for the upcoming series against Australia, saying he firmly believes that the veteran batsman has lost his edge and does not deserve a place in the side.
Two more failures in two home games could effectively mean end of the road for Ajinkya Rahane, who is leading India in the first Test in Kanpur, starting on Thursday.
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
Mike Hussey has termed Dhoni as the man having the fastest draw of as far as stumping off spinners is concerned.
The Supernovas, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, have been invincible so far winning all the previous two editions.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances