Australia captain Steve Smith reached a career-high 939 rating points which are the sixth-best ever after Don Bradman (961), Len Hutton (945), Jack Hobbs and Ricky Ponting (both 942) and Peter May (941).
Former leg-spin great, Abdul Qadir has advised flamboyant Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi to say goodbye to cricket and slammed Umar Akmal, saying he lost his place in the national team because of his own mistakes. Qadir, known for his candid comments, said at a function in Lahore that Afridi had aged and was no longer fit for top level cricket. "I don't think cricket is any longer the forte of Afridi and he should say goodbye," Qadir said. He also didn't mince any words on the exclusion of batsmen Ahmed Shehzad and his son-in-law Umar Akmal from the list of probables for the tour to England. "To me Shehzad is simply more of an actor than a cricketer while Umar Akmal has lost his place in the team because of his own mistakes," he added. Umar, who is married to Qadir's daughter, has in recent months been at the centre of controversies raising questions over his commitment to the game.
Cricket is a team sport, but there are instances where an individual performance outdid all. Such efforts, coincidentally, occur at critical junctures, and turn the outcome of the game on its head. Rediff.com takes a look at few such one-man shows at the World Cup.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian in former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum's all-time cricketing eleven, which is led by West Indian great Vivian Richards.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar has advised Indian batsmen to show patience and lauded Ajinkya Rahane for his unbeaten 89-run innings which helped India end the opening day at 231-7 against South Africa in the fourth and final Test in New Delhi.
The weather gods gave West Indies a lifeline in their quest to avoid defeat in the second Test against India when rain washed out the final session of day three in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to post a Test double century overseas as the tourists played their way into a virtually unbeatable position on the second day of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua on Friday.
Kapil Dev's running catch at the boundary, to dismiss Viv Richards, is widely remembered by fans and cricketers alike, but Martin Crowe's effort to pocket a lunging catch and dismiss Zimbawe's Dave Houghton in the 1987 Reliance World Cup will always be special, reckons Siva Sankar
Former Australian tear-away pacer Rodney Hogg, says why India don't have a chance to retain the World Cup.
Rajneesh Gupta has interesting numbers from the fourth ODI between India and Australia in Canberra. Check them out.
Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard made triumphant returns to the West Indies team in a comfortable victory over South Africa in the opening match in a triangular one-day international series.
Can anyone out there solve the mystery of the missing cricketers on matchbox labels, asks Gulu Ezekiel.
Virender Sehwag has announced his international retirement. The batsman made the announcement in Dubai on Monday, ahead of joining the Masters Champions League.
From Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, Imran Khan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, these cricketers, among others, etched their names in the annuls of cricketing history with heroic efforts that helped their teams clinch the big prize of One-day cricket. With the 2015 edition of the cricket World Cup starting on February 14, we bring you a brief history of finals from 1975-2011...
With Virat Kohli set to eclipse the 1,000 runs' barrier, Rajneesh Gupta presents the top scorers in a series/tournament and the run-machine's performance in IPL-9.
India crushed West Indies at the third Test in St Lucia on Saturday, clinching the series and prompting captain Virat Kohli to say his team are going from "strength to strength".
The board has formulated new sports guidelines for schools mandating them to have a daily sports period for class 9 to 12 so as to prevent students from having a sedentary lifestyle and turning into couch potatoes.
Batting great Viv Richards has come out in support of Darren Sammy after the West Indies Twenty20 skipper criticised the country's cricket board (WICB) for lack of support during the team's triumphant campaign in the World T20 in India.
'Ravi Shastri's contract has ended. We are looking at a full-time coach.'
The Aussie skipper joins the Don and Sir Gary. Rajneesh Gupta has all the numbers on the Fastest to 6,000 Tests club.
West Indies are reeling at 90 for the loss of three wickets at lunch on day 3, as India extended their advantage in the first Test at Antigua on Saturday. Pacer Mohammed Shami bagged his second wicket of the innings after dismissing Darren Bravo (11) at the stroke of lunch.
As Virender Sehwag called time on his international career, Harbhajan Singh recalls the memories of playing alongside the swashbuckling right-hander, whom he met a long time ago during the Under-16 days and has been good friends since then.
Brendon McCullum blasted the fastest Test century to rescue New Zealand before Australia were reduced to 57 for one by the close of day one of the second Test on Saturday.
Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are among five leading contenders vying for the title of 'Greatest ODI cricketer' of all-time. Australia's Adam Gilchrist, Pakistan's Wasim Akram and West Indies great Viv Richards are the other three nominees, as per an exercise conducted by ESPNcricinfo's magazine Cricket Monthly.
Who do you feel is India's best bat for the No. 3 slot in the second Test against Sri Lanka, starting on Thursday, August 20.
A rampaging David Warner smashed a run-a-ball century to fire Australia to 278 for two and wrest back the momentum from Pakistan after Azhar Ali's unbeaten double-century buoyed the touring side on day three of the second Test on Wednesday.
India captain Virat Kohli has questioned the 'utility' of pre-series tour games if the touring side is not provided with ideal conditions and opposition before a Test series starts.
Reaction to South African AB de Villiers smashing the fastest ever one-day century in 31 balls against the West Indies at The Wanderers on Sunday.
'When a player is so confident, even though I was not too keen, I thought, 'let him bowl another over'. They say, some things just happen for you and this happened with us'
The leaden-footed Australians found themselves bamboozled by Pakistan's wily spinners and their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand can expect similar treatment from Misbah-ul-Haq and his men in a three-Test series starting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol on Wednesday to discuss the sale of a stake in Serie A football club AC Milan, which he has owned for almost 30 years.
Steve Smith and George Bailey's brilliant knocks overshadowed Rohit Sharma's magnificent 171 as Australia beat India by five wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series in Perth on Tuesday.
'Sunny Gavaskar is very mischievous, Harsha Bhogle is like a schoolboy," sports broadcaster Alan Wilkins tells Rediff.com/Norma Godinho in an exclusive interview.
Virat Kohli's maiden double century was followed by Ravichandran Ashwin's third ton in Tests as India piled misery on a listless West Indies bowling attack to declare at 566 for 8 on day two of the first Test at Antigua on Friday. The West Indies in reply, lost their opener Rajendra Chandrika (16) with pacer Mohammed Shami forcing his outside edge to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha. The home team were 31 for the loss of one wicket at stumps with Kraigg Brathwaite (11) in company of night-watchman Devendra Bishoo (0).
Nikhil Lakshman remembers the times he spent with the legendary writer who passed into the ages six days before his 86th birthday.
The right-handed opener is regarded as one of the greats of Indian cricket and was one of their biggest match-winners, especially in Test cricket, where he scored 8,586 runs in 104 matches, with a strike rate of 82.23 and an average of 49.34, with 23 centuries, including two triple hundreds.
India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday credited his bowlers for the series clinching six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the third ODI, and said the home team's bowling unit dished out a 'brilliant performance' to restrict the visitors to 242 in Hyderabad.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from the Oval Test.
Such was Brian Close's reputation for bravery that he received a call back to the national team at age 45, to face the fearsome West Indian attack.
