Gujarat Giants will be wary of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's newfound firepower in the middle-order when the teams clash in the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Rishabh Pant's leadership skills will be under scrutiny as a struggling Delhi Capitals would seek a much-improved performance from their bowlers when they take on an inconsistent Gujarat Titans in the IPL in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Lucknow Super Giants picked up their first-ever win over the Gujarat Titans.
From a maths perspective, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans can still reach the IPL playoffs, but they need to ward off inner gremlins on Saturday to notch a mandatory win to keep that dream flickering.
Australia's ODI World Cup-winning captain Pat Cummins was named as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2024.
Their campaigns wobbling after a string of defeats, bottom-rung teams Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans will be desperate to arrest the slide and get back to winning ways in their Indian Premier League match in Mullanpur on Sunday.
New pace sensation Mayank Yadav will be closely followed by all and sundry after his match-winning performances as Lucknow Super Giants eye a hat-trick of wins when they take on an inconsistent Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League match in Lucknow on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings created history as they became the first player to use the Impact Player card as Tushar Deshpande replaced Ambati Rayudu in the playing XI.
Punjab Kings batters to face different challenge against Gujarat Titans
Gujrat Titans will be striving for much needed consistency when they meet Delhi Capitals in an Indian Premier League match in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Gambhir expressed his confidence in Babar Azam's potential
IMAGES from the IPL match played between Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad in New Delhi on Thursday
India were also heavily fancied to beat New Zealand at the same stage of the 2019 edition, only to lose by 18 runs at Old Trafford.
Carey was ultimately denied his second Test century but cared little as he and his captain steered their side to their target 281-7 and a sixth win in seven Tests over the Australasian summer.
Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy made 86 and collaborated in two half-century partnerships to help Bangladesh finish day one of the first Test against New Zealand on 310-9 in Sylhet on Tuesday.
Amir, Imad recalled to Pakistan squad for NZ T20I series
The Australians still managed to score at a fair pace and will resume on Monday on 77-4 with Mitch Marsh, who was 27 not out, and Travis Head, unbeaten on 17, looking to cut deeper into their 279-run victory target.
Victory left New Zealand on 10 points and in pole position to bag the last semi-final spot and join India, South Africa and Australia. Pakistan will now need to beat England by a massive margin to leapfrog New Zealand on net run rate.
All-rounder Cameron Green thwarted New Zealand with a sparkling, unbeaten century after the hosts' seamers threatened to dominate the opening day of the first Test against Australia in Wellington on Thursday.
Former Pakistan player and cricket expert Sikander Bakht made a shocking claim about Indian skipper Rohit Sharma's toss technique.
New Zealand seamer Trent Boult on Wednesday said that it will be difficult to find a charismatic leader like Brendon McCullum, while admitting that current skipper Kane Williamson is going "through pretty tough time" as a captain. Asked to compare the two, Boult gave an elaborate explanation. "Kane is a classy player and has been ranked as a top batsman for a reason. In a way, he has had pretty tough time walking into the role of captaincy. It has been a learning experience for the whole team to be honest.
Pakistan lost two early wickets before captain Babar Azam steadied the ship with an innings of 79.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was on Thursday hit by a bug, compounding the visiting team's misery, but opener Tom Latham sounded optimistic about the batsman's availability in the second Test against India beginning in Kolkata on Friday.
Virat Kohli advanced four slots to ninth position after scores of 38 and 76 in the first Test against South Africa.
Sans Hardik, it's starting all over again for dominant India
Kane Williamson, spinners set up NZ's 35-run win over Ireland
Southee, who with fellow stalwart Kane Williamson was playing his 100th Test, said he thought the contest had been a great advert for the longest form of the game.
'India in their home conditions are a different beast and they have started unsurprisingly strongly - I see them as favourites to win the competition at this stage, no matter what happens in Dharmsala (on Sunday),' writes Ross Taylor in his column for ICC Media Zone.
Who do you think should be part of India's playing for the World Cup match against New Zealand?
Kyle Jamieson also returns to the squad after back surgery in February in a pace attack which includes captain Tim Southee and Matt Henry, who has recovered from injury.
Hardik Pandya will be aiming to build on the rich legacy of his predecessor Rohit Sharma when he begins his Mumbai Indians captaincy stint in the IPL 2024 match against Gujarat Titans, a team that the star all-rounder himself marshalled over last two seasons, in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Axar Patel claimed 2/23 and 2/16 in India's identical six-wicket wins over Afghanistan in the first two T20Is.
Describing Virat Kohli as "head and shoulders" above his international contemporaries, former England captain Andrew Flintoff says the Indian skipper is "on a different planet". "He's absolutely on his own. You look at the four main captains -- Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Virat Kohli. They're all very, very good players but Virat is head and shoulders above all of them," Flintoff was quoted as saying in the Cricket Australia website.
IMAGES from Day 2 of the 1st Test played between New Zealand and Australia in Wellington on Friday.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and senior batsman Ross Taylor will skip next month's limited overs series in Sri Lanka to prepare for December's home tests against West Indies, the country's cricket board said on Saturday.
New Zealand have never beaten South Africa in a Test series in nearly a century of trying and will rarely have a better chance to break that drought than in two matches against a severely depleted side starting on Sunday.
New Zealand cricket captain Tim Southee said they were outplayed by an "ever-improving" Bangladesh in the opening Test in Sylhet and refused to blame the defeat on any fatigue from their one-day World Cup campaign in India last month.
It was a starry affair at the Narendra Modi stadium as the skippers of all ten World Cup teams attended the captain's day.
IMAGES from the first semi-final of the ICC World Cup played between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
'It's just trying to understand what the best recipe is for the team you are in with the resources that you have'
