The presence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a leader makes the Indian team a good unit going into World Cup, former Pakistan cricketers Inzamam Ul Haq and Shoaib Akhtar have said.
Penpix of the Australia squad for the 2015 World Cup, which they are co-hosting with New Zealand.
Paceman Mitchell Johnson has been ruled out of the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh with a toe infection, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Sunday.
Australia's young skipper Steve Smith has warned India that any plans of sledging Mitchell Johnson in the future are likely to backfire just as they did in the second Test that ended in Brisbane on Saturday.
Dale Steyn ripped through the West Indies top order to claim his 25th five-wicket haul in Test cricket and give South Africa an innings and 220-run victory on the fourth morning of the first Test on Saturday.
Phillip Hughes's sad demise barely a week before the first India and Australia Test has put a question mark over the series opener and batting great Sunil Gavaskar feels the onus is on the cricket boards of the two countries to decide whether to call off the match or not.
Australia's batsmen need to concentrate as much on hitting the straight ball as worrying about movement when they face Pakistan's spinners in the ongoing Test series, coach Darren Lehmann has said.
The cricket pitch at the Roshnara Club ground came under scanner on the first day of the Ranji Trophy match between hosts Delhi and Vidarbha as the match had to be stopped for 28 minutes in order to make the 22-yard strip playable after one batsman was hit on shoulders by a bouncer.
Virat wouldn't have got 700 runs and smashed four centuries in Tests in Australia, says Ravi Shastri.
For a team that started off disastrously, entering the quarter-finals of the World Cup is quite an achievement. Rediff.com analyses what could have been the case.
India might have begun their World Cup campaign with a morale-boosting win over Pakistan but Jonty Rhodes feels that South Africa are a better all-round side and tipped them to win their high-profile clash against the defending champions in Melbourne on Sunday.
Describing India's clinical win over arch-rivals Pakistan, in their World Cup campaign opener, as one of the biggest in his career, India batsman Virat Kohli said he was happy to have played his part in the "amazing" victory.
'This WC will heavily rely on openers as they have to set the tone'
The series already in their pocket and the number one ranking cemented, a dominant India go into the third Test against New Zealand in Indore on Saturday, aiming yet another clean sweep of a Test rubber at home. The hosts had blanked Australia 4-0 in 2012-13 and the West Indies in the next season. They nearly repeated the feat against South Africa last year and this impressive history in recent past makes India favourites in the first-ever Test being hosted by this city which has a long tradition in the game.
Notwithstanding the 2-0 scoreline in favour of the home team, former Australian all-rounder Michael Bevan feels Indians have a good chance to bounce back in Melbourne in the third cricket Test, starting Friday.
The secret to Virat Kohli's phenomenal success, says Dhruv Munjal, lies in his fitness and a tenacious urge to be the best.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar believes India can win the Adelaide Test if they remain in a positive frame of mind despite another good batting show by Australia on the fourth day of the match.
David Warner punished a wasteful India with his second century as Australia seized control of the first Test at close of play on Day 4. The left-hander, who scored an emotional 145 in the first innings, added another 102 to help fire Australia to a 363-run lead at a sun-drenched Adelaide Oval on Friday. In the course of the day's play several milestones were set. Check them out.
A Mitchell Johnson bouncer that struck India captain Virat Kohli on the helmet during the first Test on Thursday might actually help players get past the shock of Phillip Hughes's death, according to Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
Cricketers at the elite level will simply need time to process the death of Phillip Hughes before they would be able to play again, according to a psychologist who works with New Zealand's high performance athletes.
India's stand-in-captain Virat Kohli is facing baptism by fire in the first Test against Australia in Brisbane next month, but former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin feels the result of this one match should not be the basis for passing a judgement on his leadership skills.
South Africa were left to rue the loss of cheap wickets after battling to 214 for five on the opening day of the second Test against Australia on Thursday.
Back on their favoured quick and bouncy pitches, Australia's failings against spin bowling are unlikely to figure at the World Cup and the co-hosts have an excellent opportunity to win a fifth trophy, according to former batsman Mike Hussey.
Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar paid tribute to retiring Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson on Tuesday, describing him as a special bowler.
Injury-prone all-rounder Shane Watson has been named in Australia's 13-man squad for Twenty20 matches against South Africa next month as he recovers from a calf strain.
A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay high court stating that IPL matches must be shifted out of Maharashtra owing to the acute shortage of water in the state. Advocate Ankita Verma, Partner, DM Legal Associates, advocates for the petitioners, tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf how hosting the IPL in Maharashtra is tantamount to wasting huge amounts of water.
Rajneesh Gupta salutes Tamim Iqbal's courage in the Asia Cup's opening game on Saturday and lists instances where cricketers braved injuries to battle it out for their teams.
The World Cup quarter-final at the Adelaide Oval looked set for a tame ending after Australia shot out Pakistan for a meagre 213. Paceman Wahab, however, sparked the match into life with two wickets and an enthralling duel with Shane Watson.
'In order to achieve Pakistan's psychological isolation and pariah status, breaking all cultural, economic and people to people contacts must become a government policy with clear linkage to a change in behaviour by the Pakistani regime.'
However, if aggression was the buzzword during the Australia Tests, the Kohli that was on show against Pakistan was a different version, a restrained one, and if one may say, after the Border-Gavaskar series, possibly a more matured one.
India's 2011 World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten says the 2015 tournament boils down to three games: quarters, semis and final.
- India are strong contenders to get into semi-final along with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - Rohit is a class player and if he gets going at the top of the order, then he also has the ability to single-handedly win matches for India
Wriddhiman does acknowledge that he didn't score too many runs despite getting starts (25 and 35) in the first innings of both the Test matches Down Under.
Phillip Hughes's tragic death cast a shadow over an eventful year that saw Ashes rivals Australia and England brawl on the field and bond off it, joining India to pull off a bloodless coup and take charge of the game.
Ahead of the four-Test series against Australia, pacer Ishant Sharma says it is vital to learn from whatever India did right on past tours, focus on that and keep doing the same.
Rajneesh Gupta lists the instances when cricketers died while playing a match.
Neverending injury concerns and a string of promising all-rounders in the wings have not dulled Shane Watson's optimism of playing a leading role for Australia across all formats of cricket.
Australia opener Aaron Finch has exuded confidence of successfully tackling the Indian pace attack in the semi-finals of the cricket World Cup in Sydney on Thursday.
The left-arm pacer, who was sidelined for five years, will make a return to the India squad for the Twenty20s against Australia. He also urges BCCI to nurture and look after bright fast bowling prospects
Shakya Mitra ponders why top batsmen like Michael Clarke bowing out early.
