India's left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped 20 places to his career-best ranking of 13 in the International Cricket Council's Rankings for ODI bowlers while Jasprit Bumrah and Dhawal Kulkarni also made progress after conclusion of the three-match series against Zimbabwe.
Lost in transition, defending champions Sri Lanka will look to come out of the rut and start well against a spirited Afghanistan in their World Twenty20 Super 10 opener at Eden Gardens on Thursday. The defending champions, who were also runners-up in 2009 and 2012, have managed to win only four of their 14 matches since they beat India to win the 2014 edition in Mirpur. They are in the middle of a transition phase after Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene's exit. The build-up to the tournament was also forgettable with series defeats in New Zealand and India followed by an early ouster in Asia Cup. To add to the misery, their 2014 WT20 winning skipper Lasith Malinga has stepped down as leader of the team, following concern over his slow recovery from a knee injury. Now Test and ODI skipper Angelo Mathews' task is cutout. Having joined the squad on Tuesday, Malinga is a doubtful starter for the match. His presence in the team would impact the team a lot.
Featuring Gayle, Kohli, Root, Dilshan and Butler.
India have time and again showed at the junior level the gulf that exists between them and other teams
Martin Guptill became the highest run scorer in One-Day International cricket this year as he guided New Zealand to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first game of their five match series in Christchurch, on Saturday.
A magnificent century by Moeen Ali proved in vain as England suffered a 25-run defeat to Sri Lanka in the first of seven one-day internationals on Wednesday.
Batsmen Mahela Jayawardene and Lahiru Thirimanne were named in Sri Lanka's 15-member squads for the Asia Cup and WorldT20 in Bangladesh next month following injury lay-offs, while strike spin bowler Rangana Herath was included subject to him proving his fitness.
Kumar Sangakkara celebrated his 350th one day international appearance with a career-best 169 on Saturday as Sri Lanka crushed South Africa by 180 runs at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Images from the Group A Champions Trophy match between Australia and Sri Lanka at The Oval on Monday.
Majestic Mahela Jayawardene joined 12,000 runs club in One-day Internationals.
The World T20 Championships has seen a plethora of records created since its inception in 2007. Rediff.com gives you a glance of all the interesting statistics from the tournament!
South Africa have slipped to number six in the world, behind fifth-placed Sri Lanka, and have a host of questions to answer, not least around a brittle top six and the balance of the side.
Sri Lanka scored an upset 22-run win over Australia in the first one-day final at Adelaide Oval on Friday.
Andre Fletcher produced a blinder of an innings, smashing 84 runs off only 64 balls, to power the West Indies to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
A poor showing by Misbah-ul- Haq, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Shane Watson and Lasith Malinga also cost their teams dear in previous editions of the Twenty20 marquee event.
Trent Boult produced an economical spell of bowling to take three wickets and help New Zealand to a tense three-run win over Sri Lanka in their first Twenty20 international on Thursday.
The South African opener took only 108 innings to reach the milestone, beating the previous record held by India's Virat Kohli, who took 133 innings for the same.
Pakistan survived a late order scare from Sri Lanka to pull off an exciting 11-run win in the first one-day international, to go 1-0 up in the five-match series in Sharjah.
Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson fell agonisingly short of centuries but New Zealand's imposing total ensured they beat Sri Lanka by 120 runs in the sixth One-day international on Sunday to take an unassailable 4-1 lead in their seven-match series.
Australia stormed into the World Cup quarter-finals with a 64-run victory over Sri Lanka, fired by a spectacular maiden one-day international century from Glenn Maxwell at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Kumar Sangakkara blasted a career-best 169 to help Sri Lanka crush South Africa by a huge margin of 180 runs in the first One-Day International, in Colombo, on Saturday.
Ganguly is set to be elected unopposed BCCI president on October 23 at the Board's Annual General Meeting.
Ajantha Mendis spun a web around New Zealand as a clinical Sri Lanka stormed into the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup, thumping the Kiwis by 48 runs in a crucial Super Eight match in Nottingham on Tuesday.
Kohli also became the first Indian captain to score two hundreds against the West Indies in the Caribbean.
Images from the second match of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, on Thursday.
Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) gave India a perfect start at the Asian Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan by thrashing local favourite Ibrahim Saleh in the opening round.
Kumar Sangakkara smashed a brilliant unbeaten 134 as Sri Lanka registered a thumping seven-wicket win over England to keep themselves in the hunt for a semi-final berth in the Champions Trophy.
Sri Lanka have rested left-arm spinner Rangana Herath from the first two One-day internationals against Bangladesh to be played at Hambantota on March 23 and 25.
A final-over blitz by Nathan McCullum gave New Zealand a thrilling last-ball victory by four wickets over Sri Lanka in the rain-hit second One-Day International on Tuesday.
Riding on half-centuries from skipper Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Joe Root, England put up a massive 293-7 from their 50 overs.
Images from the IPL match played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals in Bangalore on Saturday.
Sri Lanka has picked four specialist spinners to play Australia in the upcoming ODI tri-series as well as Twenty20 Internationals.
Sri Lanka held their nerve after a brilliant century by Jos Buttler to beat England by seven runs in the fourth one-day international at Lord's on Saturday and level the series at 2-2.
Captain Virat Kohli's blazing blade ensured a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the one-off Twenty20 International as the visitors completed a 9-0 rout of Sri Lanka across all three formats, in Colombo, on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka, needing 363 to win, were struggling at 47-4 in their second innings at stumps on the penultimate day of the second Test when 17 wickets fell.
Uncapped opening batsman Dilshan Munaweera and schoolboy off-spinner Akila Dananjaya were named in Sri Lanka's 15-man squad on Thursday for the Twenty20 World Cup on home soil next month.
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