Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara eye top 10 places while Ravindra Jadeja jumps to career-best third position among Test all-rounders.
Although the PCB is leaving no stone unturned to allow suspended off-spinner, Saeed Ajmal a chance to make a comeback to international cricket, the national selectors and head coach, Waqar Younis are already planning for the World Cup without the services of the suspended spinner.
India cannot aspire for great power status unless our leaders truly understand the meaning of national security. Cricket can wait and so can people to people contacts, book launches and Bollywood camaraderie. Let us get down to brass tacks on our counter-terror mission, says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Ravichandran Ashwin produced another magical spell to scalp five wickets as India notched up a series-levelling 278-run victory in the second Test against Sri Lanka, denying the legendary Kumar Sangakkara a fairytale farewell from the game.
Opener Lokesh Rahul scored a fighting century as India recovered from early jitters to post 319 for six in their first innings on Day 1 of the second Test against Sri Lanka, in Colombo, on Thursday.
Having focused more on Test cricket over the last year, Man of the Series Ravichandran Ashwin has come to terms with the fact that cricket's longest format is no "child's play".
Suryakumar Yadav has been reported for a suspect illegal bowling action, becoming the fifth bowler to be called in the just concluded Champions League Twenty20 tournament.
The wily left-arm spinner picked up four wickets on the third day to complete his 23rd five-wicket haul in Tests.
Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes produced a record 273-run partnership in an unbroken opening stand to help Bangladesh whittle down Pakistan's huge lead to 23 runs at the close of the penultimate day of the opening Test at Khulna on Friday.
India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday described the 2-1 triumph over Australia as his side's best series win so far, saying his highly motivated team mates give it right back when poked.
In a fitting tribute to Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews spoke of Don Bradman and the retiring great in the same breath, calling him the most "consistent batsman he has ever seen".
There was a lot of criticism from all quarters when Rohit Sharma was moved down the batting order from one drop to No 5 but the talented right-hander is of the opinion that "no one owns any particular batting slot" in this team.
Former India pacer Chetan Sharma believes Ishant Sharma has matured as a bowler and is leading the attack well following good performances with the ball in the ongoing three-Test series in Sri Lanka.
Having stayed under legendary Muuttiah Muralitharan's shadow for the better part of his career, Rangana Herath feels that being in and out of the side over last decade is like "bread and butter" for him.
Having showed enormous amount of patience during his 134-run knock, opener Shikhar Dhawan Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan expressed great satisfaction in being able to show a different kind of batsmanship to the one people have been used to over last couple of years.
A dominant India will be eyeing to clinch the five-Test series against England with yet another comprehensive victory when the two teams square off in the fourth match of the series starting from Thursday. With an unassailable 2-0 lead after three Tests, the confidence of the Virat Kohli-led team is sky high and they would like to regain the Anthony de Mello Trophy which they had lost to Alastair Cook's side back in 2012. Even if England manage a draw, India will win the series after the visitors' hat-trick of wins- 2011 in England, 2012 in India and 2014 in England again.
Eager to see how Virat Kohli shapes up as a leader, former Sri Lankan batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana said India's new firebrand cricket captain looks hungry for wins.
Rediff.com presents India's top impact players in 2017.
After a successful but controversial career, off-spinner Ajmal finished with 178 wickets in 35 Tests, the last of which was at Galle in Sri Lanka in 2014, where his bowling action was reported for a second time.
Virat's 248 runs in the second Test, the highest by an Indian captain against England. Ashwin, only the second Indian bowler to take 50 wickets in consecutive years. Rajneesh Gupta looks at the numbers from the Vizag Test.
Sri Lanka took the upper hand after the third day of the opening Test at Galle on Friday, reducing Pakistan to 118-5 after Kaushal Silva's second Test century took the hosts to 300 in their first innings.
Asad Shafiq's seventh hundred and a belligerent 96 from Sarfraz Ahmed helped give Pakistan a sizeable lead against Sri Lanka on the fourth day of the opening Test at Galle on Saturday.
India captain Virat Kohli said that his team would be "ruthless" in the final Test making it clear that the team has not reached a phase where they can experiment with the playing eleven.
India skipper Virat Kohli lauds his third spinner, who made most of the little opportunity he got in the third Test against South Africa. Harish Kotian/Rediff.com listens.
Opener Dimuth Karunaratne missed out on a maiden double hundred but his 238-run stand with fellow centurion Dinesh Chandimal set up Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 484 on day two against West Indies in the opening test at Galle on Thursday.
Jimmy Anderson is the first Englishman to take 500 Test wickets.
Ishant Sharma claimed five wickets as India bowled out Sri Lanka for 201 to claim a healthy 111-run first innings lead, on Day 3 of the third and final Test in Colombo, on Sunday.
More runs from Virat Kohli. India winning the World T20 at home. A controversy-free IPL and more is what Harish Kotian/Rediff.com wants this year.
Ajinkya Rahane opens up on the slot he likes to bat at, Virat Kohli's captaincy and India's record against spin
India captain Virat Kohli rejected criticism of the pitch for the first Test against South Africa in Mohali and said it was 'errors in shot selection' that brought about wickets for spinners rather than the pitch playing tricks, a view his rival captain Hashim Amla also shared.
Harbhajan Singh's lackluster performance in the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka has put him under pressure.
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Virat Kohli, who turns 28 next month, is already one of India's most accomplished Test captains. Kohli's young Indian team thrashed New Zealand by 178 runs in the second Test on Monday, to dislodge arch-rivals Pakistan from the top spot in Tests rankings. The victory at Eden Gardens was also special for captain Kohli as he joined former legends Sunil Gavaskar and Tiger Pataudi with the number (9) of Test victories for India. Currently placed at 4th spot, Kohli is still some distance away from the 27 wins registered by MS Dhoni or the 21 victories achieved under Sourav Ganguly's leadership, but the 27-year old is slowly catching up with Mohammad Azharuddin (14 Tests wins) to get into the top 3 list. Catch India's Test captain Kohli in conversation with BCCI.tv about his journey as the leader of a young side.
Outstanding centuries from Quinton de Kock and captain AB de Villiers helped South Africa coast to a series-clinching 82-run win over Sri Lanka in the third and final one-day international on Saturday.
Australia has built an artificial pitch at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane to help its batsmen deal with spin-bowling on the slow tracks of the subcontinent, where they have so often struggled in the past.
China has invested millions in Sri Lankan infrastructure.
'India's military posture has become significantly stronger than China's on the 3,500-kilometre Line of Actual Control.' 'This is enhancing confrontation between the two sides,' points out Ajai Shukla.
The present elections were held in states where the BJP has a strong presence and organisation and where it was pitted directly against the Congress. But the party's real challenge lies in states outside the northern belt where it has a negligible presence and has to contend with strong regional players, reports Anita Katyal.
This cult of speed reaches its crowning glory during that peculiar Indian spectacle called medical camps. Medical camps are an activity in which doctors from cities travel to underserved areas, often on weekends, where the poor are then herded in hundreds for deliverance, photo-ops and freebies. In their more evolved form, there are surgical camps where bewildered and overawed patients are put onto operating tables and, much like an assembly line, a series of operations are performed in rapid succession. The surgical instruments are often magically sterilised in minutes between procedures, says Dr Sanjay Nagral.
'Despite almost $30 billion of funding since 2001, all the US reaps today is unmitigated hostility of a Pakistan emboldened to flaunt its China card.' 'How can the US give credence to any offers from Pakistan, which has trotted out the standard alibi of non-State actors time and again, including dreaded terror outfits being out of State control, Pakistan itself being a victim and so forth?'
'Modi's investment in the relationship with Washington is the biggest deliverable of this visit. He means business and that's fantastic!'
