South African Eric Simmons was on Wednesday retained as India's bowling coach for the World Twenty20 Championships starting next month in the West Indies.
Former captain Kevin Pietersen is not expecting England to reach the semi-finals at the World Twenty20 in India. England have reached the final four at the Twenty20 showcase just once and that was back in 2010 when Pietersen helped them claim the trophy in the West Indies. Despite mixed results in Twenty20 internationals of late - England lost a recent series 2-0 to South Africa - a lot is expected of Eoin Morgan's men on the sub-continent as they attempt to make up for their embarrassing early exit at the World Cup in Australia in 2015 when they failed to make the knockout stages of the 50-over tournament after losing their decider against Bangladesh. But Pietersen is unsure whether England will be able to match their exploits from 2010 and has earmarked four other countries as the teams to beat in India. Speaking in a Q&A with the Telegraph newspaper, Pietersen declared India, the West Indies, South Africa and Australia as the top four teams at the World Twenty20. He also said that Morgan would have to fire if England were to go deep into the tournament. "I think England's game changer at the World Cup has to be Eoin Morgan," Pietersen said.
De Kock will captain the team in the absence of Faf du Plessis, who will be in India for the Test series.
South African paceman Dale Steyn is to be investigated by match referee Jeff Crowe for allegedly spitting in the direction of West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn during the third and final Test in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com takes a look at some players Indian fans will miss following their exploits in the Indian Premier League.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from the first Test.
# MS Dhoni was captaining India for the 16th time in the World Cup. He now holds the record of making most appearances as a captain in the World Cup, eclipsing South African Graeme Smith's tally of 15 appearances.
Few in Zimbabwe dared to anger 'Gucci Grace' as Grace Mugabe was called. Robert Mugabe's wife was ruthless and terrifying, and her ambition clearly provoked the army's coup on Wednesday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has retained his top spot in the ICC ODI rankings but is closely followed by South African AB de Villiers, who has narrowed the gap with the Indian captain to just two points.
"It doesn't get more exciting," Arthur said of the hotly-anticipated contest at Old Trafford.
Going back to basics and ditching his doosra after an international ban has revitalised Johan Botha's career, the South African off-spinner said after his seven-wicket haul in the final Test in Barbados. Botha returned match figures of seven for 102 against West Indies in only his third Test to help South Africa clinch the series 2-0 on Tuesday.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's Adani group on Monday said it has reached an agreement to acquire GVK group's shareholding and control of Mumbai airport.
Seam bowler Ryan McLaren took five for 19 to lead South Africa to a 13-run win over West Indies in their Twenty20 international at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium on Wednesday.
The Barmy Army are bringing much more than just their thirst and their songs to the Test cricket arena in South Africa over the next month - an expected 10,000 visitors also provide a marked income boost for the sport, says South African cricket supremo Haroon Lorgat.
Senegal became the first team in World Cup history to be eliminated on yellow cards after finishing level with Japan on points, goal difference and goals scored in Group H on Thursday.
If Ravichandran Ashwin is being hailed as the best spinner in contemporary cricket, the 29-year-old lanky Indian owes it as much to those long fingers as to an ever-ticking brain.
England have replaced South Africa as Australia's nearest rivals after winning six of their last seven Tests.
South African opener Loots Bosman is relieved that Sachin Tendulkar won't be playing in the Twenty20 World Championships later this month but he feels even without the senior batsman India remains a very dangerous outfit.
No one expects Nigeria to win, but by now everyone knows that shirt...
Images from the IPL match between Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Chennai.
Shami will be given adequate rest in between matches, said Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson
Veteran batsman Younis Khan has become the first Pakistani cricketer to complete 10,000 runs in Test cricket as his team reached reach 201-4 in reply to West Indies' 286-10 on the third day of the rain-affected first Test at SabinaPark in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday.
In an attempt to honour swashbuckling batsman AB de Villiers, the Northern Cricket Union has named a suite after him at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Opening batsman Andrew Strauss was on Thursday named the new England captain.
'Every time I see Chris Gayle, I expect to see one Chris Gayle, and that's a positive Chris Gayle' 'I think we still have room for improvement'
Rajneesh Gupta picks instances of sledging which backfired spectacularly and the players had to pay dearly for their misadventures.
Having regained his form with two unbeaten knocks in the league stage of the cricket World Cup, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has gained two spots to be placed eight in the latest ICC batting rankings.
Among the Indians, while Robin Uthappa was bought by Rajasthan Royals for 3 crore, Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari went unsold.
Akbaruddin is currently serving as additional secretary in the MEA.
World number three Rory McIlroy, eyeing a comeback next week from injury, continued his tune-up with a round with US President Donald Trump in south Florida on Sunday, it was reported.
It was a day that saw brilliant centuries by South Africa's captain AB de Villiers and India's Rohit Sharma in the first One-Day International on Sunday. But some brilliant death bowling by the visitors saw them edge Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men by five wickets. Here are the statistical highlights from the match played at the GreenPark stadium in Kanpur.
Pacer Navdeep Saini, who is among India's standbys for the World Cup, says he is ready for his big break in the mega event should the need arises.
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh is aware that he's no Jacques Kallis but would like to bat well and contribute to the team's win in the World Twenty20, something the legendary South African is known for.
India Test skipper Virat Kohli has been named as the 'Captain of the Year'.
Toby Roland-Jones saw his dream debut continue as he completed a five-wicket haul to end South Africa's belated resistance and ensure England maintained their domination of the third Test at The Oval on Saturday.
AB de Villiers confirmed his status as the most destructive batsman in cricket with a magnificent unbeaten 162 from just 66 balls to lead South Africa to a record 257-run victory over West Indies in the World Cup on Friday.
On a night of mixed fortune for Indian cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named the ODI Player of the Year, Yuvraj Singh won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award but pacer Ishant Sharma failed to win the Emerging Player honour at the annual ICC awards function in Dubai.
Pietersen, Flintoff, Clarke, Panesar, Duminy, Tait, Haddin, Kyle Mills, Mohammad Ashraful likely to make debut in Season II of the DLF IPL.
