Star batsman Virat Kohli's maiden T20 hundred went in vain as Gujarat Lions produced a clinical batting display to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in an IPL match in Rajkot on Sunday.
The indomitable Chennai Super Kings will have the advantage of familiarity with the conditions but the unbeaten Kolkata Knight Riders would still be a tough nut to crack when they clash in the Oppo Champions League T20 final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
A disciplined Chennai Super Kings produced an all-round effort to defeat Perth Scorchers by 13 runs in Bangalore and brighten their hopes of earning a semi-final berth in the Champions League Twenty20.
It will be a battle of tactics as a formidable Chennai Super Kings, led by the wily Mahendra Singh Dhoni, square off against a confident Royal Challengers Bangalore under an aggressive Virat Kohli in the second qualifier of the Indian Premier League, in Ranchi on Friday.
Chennai Super Kings' head coach Stephen Fleming says Harbhajan Singh's two wickets off successive balls tilted the scales in favour of Mumbai Indians.
Brendon McCullum struck a quickfire fifty before Ravindra Jadeja produced a brilliant spell of 4-11 as Chennai Super avenged its defeat over Rajasthan Royals with a 12-run win to virtually secure its place in the play-offs of the Indian Premier League in Chennai on Sunday.
Notwithstanding Ravindra Jadeja's poor showing in the ongoing Indian Premier League, Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has backed the all-rounder, saying he believes in giving chances to players rather than chopping and changing a winning combination.
India's limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, along with his teammates Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin, among others, will be up for grabs for the two new IPL teams in the draft to be held in Mumbai.
Chennai Super Kings cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over an out-of-sorts Royal Challengers Bangalore to strengthen their second place in the seventh edition of the IPL at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Suresh Raina's quickfire half-century went in vain as Chennai Super Kings went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in a thrilling finish in the Indian Premier League in Ranchi.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni reaffirmed his reputation as the best finisher in limited-overs' cricket with yet another fluent knock as the Chennai Super Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets in the IPL match in Ranchi, on Tuesday. Chasing a modest target of 149, Chennai won with two deliveries to spare as skipper Dhoni hit 11 runs, including a six, off James Faulkner's final over to seal the issue.
Skipper David Warner produced a majestic 93 as he single-handedly led Sunrisers Hyderabad into the IPL final after securing a four-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in the Qualifier 2 at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi. Chasing a tricky 163, Sunrisers overhauled the target with four balls to spare as Warner anchored the chase with his responsible 58-ball knock, embellished with 11 four and three sixes.
Brendon McCullum smashed an unbeaten 71 after Mohit Sharma's heroics with the ball to guide Chennai Super Kings to a comfortable seven wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match in Dubai.
Ravindra Jadeja's brilliant all-round display, after Dwayne Smith's fine batting, helped Chennai Super Kings defend a modest total and beat Rajasthan Royals by seven runs in Wednesday's IPL match in Dubai.
David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Zaheer Khan have all led from the front in IPL 9.
Still licking their wounds after a sound thrashing in the lung opener, India will have to regroup quickly and fortify the chinks in their armoury when they take on a determined West Indies in the second One-Day International in Delhi on Saturday.
351 cricketers -- 230 Indians and 131 foreigners -- will go under the hammer in Saturday's IPL players' auction.
Inspired by skipper David Warner's whirlwind fifty, Sunrisers Hyderabad outplayed Chennai Super Kings by 22 runs to notch up a much-needed win and hand the table-toppers their second consecutive defeat in the IPL match on Saturday.
Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell struck belligerent fifties after veteran Brad Hogg's four-wicket haul to help Kolkata Knight Riders return to winning ways with a seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling Indian Premier League match in Kolkata, on Thursday.
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming conceded on Friday that the spin department of his side hasn't been as effective as compared to previous IPL seasons, but denied that the team management has lost confidence on its slow bowlers.
Suresh Raina smashed an unbeaten half-century as Chennai Super Kings booked a berth in the second qualifier with a comfortable seven-wicket win over holders Mumbai Indians in the IPL eliminator in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Ravindra Jadeja kicked-off Chennai Super Kings' campaign in the opening match of the India leg of the Indian Premier League with a match-winning performance with bat and ball, as the two-time champions easily beat 2012 winners Kolkata Knight Riders by 34 runs, in Ranchi, on Friday night.
India's batting ace Yuvraj Singh commanded the highest price, Royal Challengers Bangalore paying a massive 14 crore for him, while Dinesh Karthik was a surprise pick at 12.5 crore by Delhi Daredevils.
"It probably was my best innings in T20 cricket. But it was upsetting that we lost."
Riding on skipper Rohit Sharma's blistering half-century, Mumbai Indians cruised into the Champions League Twenty20 semifinals with a crushing six-wicket victory over Perth Scorchers in their must-win final group match in New Delhi on Wednesday.
In the run-up to the 2015 World Cup, India seemed to stumble, but were a changed side once the tournament commenced. They have been clinical in their wins and have cruised to the quarter-final. Along the way, they continued their hold over archrivals Pakistan -- winning their sixth match against the neighbours in the mega event. They then thrashed the more fancied South Africa and took care of business in the other four first round matches. Here are the key moments that stood out in each of their first round matches.
India to be tested the way they were by the West Indies from the position they had gotten themselves in at one stage might just augur well for them. In fact they had a lot of positives to take away from the game. That they won, allows them to remain at the top of the table with a couple of games against Zimbabwe and Ireland. But given their win required a seventh wicket stand of 51 runs, it also means it would have given them a chance to experience what they could in their knock-out matches.
David Warner pulverized a listless Chennai Super Kings attack into submission with some breathtaking strokeplay as Sunrisers Hyderabad won by six wickets to keep slim chances of qualifying for the IPL play-offs alive.
Riding on half-centuries from their openers Mike Hussey and Lendl Simmons followed by excellent performance from their spinners helped Mumbai post a comfortable 25-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in a one-sided Indian Premier League encounter in Ahmedabad.
So 52 games have already been played in the Indian Premier League this season. Here are the Most Valuable players and some random observations by Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle.
A dominant Sri Lanka made it to the final of the ICC World T20 for the third time, knocking out defending champions the West Indies by 27 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method after thundershowers stopped proceedings in the 14th over of the second innings.
'Twenty20 cricket can be a lottery at times, but I think we'll definitely reach the semifinals.'
Defending champions the West Indies trounced Pakistan by 84 runs on Tuesday to set up a semi-final meeting with Sri Lanka in the ICC World Twenty20. Led by a late charge from Dwayne Bravo (46) and skipper Darren Sammy (42 not out) the West Indies put up an impressive 166 for six after electing to bat and then shot out Pakistan for a meagre 85 in 17.5 overs.
We are a cricket loving country and there is so much to learn from the game about investing and financial planning.
Andre Russell smashed a breathtaking half-century while Ryan ten Doeschate struck a fine unbeaten 51 to guide Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders to a stunning seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.
Penpix of the West Indies squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
India put up yet another clinical display to best defending champions West Indies with a commanding seven-wicket victory in a group league encounter to brighten their chance of a semi-final berth in the ICC World T20 in Mirpur on Sunday.
Barring Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, all players have declared their allegiances to IPL franchises over their respective countries' domestic sides ahead of the upcoming Champions League Twenty20.
'When Dhoni walked in, India needed 105 to win with 32 overs to play. The situation called for calm, nerveless, ice-cold execution without necessitating any adrenalin-fueled impestuosities -- the sort of situation that is the Indian captain's spiritual home.'
India Test regulars like Cheteswar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have also thrown their hat into the ring with base prices of Rs 50 and Rs 75 lakh respectively.