Gautam Gambhir is a politician by choice but a cricketer at heart whose brain never stops ticking when it comes to conceptualising, planning and execution.
Despite chasing a huge 323, skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made the first ODI a lop-sided contest. The Indians cruised to the target in 42.1 overs for a 1-0 lead.
Kohli is the leading Indian batsman in the chart with 886 rating points behind Australia's Steve Smith (911 points).
Captain Virat Kohli continued his record-breaking run with the bat but the rest of the Indian batsmen failed to live up to expectations as West Indies levelled the five match series 1-1 with a 43-run victory, in the third ODI in Pune.
Kyle Jamieson took his second five-wicket haul as New Zealand ripped through the West Indies batting lineup to leave them in dire straits on 124-8 at the close of play of the second day of the second Test at the Basin Reserve on Saturday.
The 29-year-old left-hander was on 117 with Kyle Jamieson on one at stumps at the Basin Reserve.
Fortunes ebbed and flowed dramatically throughout the fourth day with 14 wickets falling before Roach stroked the winning runs through the covers.
India captain Virat Kohli will end the year as the top ranked batsman while Ajinkya Rahane slipped a rung to be seventh in the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Tuesday. Kohli (928) remained 17 points ahead of Australia's Steve Smith who occupied the second spot while New Zealand skipper Kane Willamson (864) ends the year at number three.
Plugging the runs at the backend of the Rajasthan innings and then getting Samson's wicket in the 20th over before Roy's assault -- not allowing Rajasthan's bowlers to settle tilted the match in Hyderabad's favour.
Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant says his team needs to quickly sort out the 'pattern' of losing wickets in a bunch and play less dot balls in the middle overs to turn things around after suffering successive defeats in IPL 2022.
Mayers added 216 runs with Nkrumah Bonner (86) to turn the match on its head
India's white ball players have that imposing alpha-male like presence out there in the middle even if their best player Kohli is on the wane.
All-rounder Dwayne Bravo wrote his own piece of history, while Praveen Tambe became the first Indian cricketer to play in the Hero Caribbean Premier League as Trinbago Knight Riders posted their fourth straight win, beating St Lucia Zouks by six wickets via D/L method in a rain-truncated match, in Port of Spain on Wednesday.
Rohit Sharma urged his players to be innovative and challenge themselves
Devdutt Padikkal (5) and skipper Virat Kohli (7) departed in quick succession early, both falling to Sandeep Sharma (2 for 20).
West Indies have failed to understand English conditions and paid the price for their one-dimensional tactics of trying to bounce out opposition
RCB suffered four consecutive defeats to finish the league stage at the fourth spot, SRH registered a hat-trick of wins to edge past Virat Kohli's men in the standings.
Kieron Pollard will continue to lead the West Indies in One-Day Internationals and Twenty20s on the upcoming tour of India, beginning next month, with Nicholas Pooran his deputy in the shorter format and Shai Hope taking over the role of the vice-captain in ODIs.
Kohli will be wary of the challenge that can be posed by the new ball pair of Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel
Archer, who has played his junior cricket in the Caribbean and qualified to play for England only in April, is a familiar figure for the West Indies camp and it knows what the 24-year-old is capable of.
Images from Saturday's Indian Premier League match between Kings XI Punjab and SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai.
CWI Lead Selector, Roger Harper, said that he is delighted with Gabriel's inclusion to the squad.
New Zealand's Kane Williamson grabbed the second spot while Cheteshwar Pujara is third on the list.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian side will look to clinch five-match ODI series against West Indies when they play the must-win fifth and the final match at the Sabina Park here on Thursday.
West Indies players will wear 'Black Lives Matter' emblem on the collars of their shirts during the upcoming Test series against England to show solidarity and help raise awareness regarding equality.
According to ICC rules, a player can be banned for life for on-pitch racist abuse if he breaches the anti-racism code three times. A first offence results in four to eight suspension points.
Windies get Holder, Roach boost in bid to level series
Kemar Roach and captain Jason Holder took four wickets each as West Indies thumped England by 10 wickets in the second Test in Antigua to gain an unbeatable 2-0 series lead.
Holder said the challenge in the batting friendly Indian conditions would be to get scores of 300-plus consistently.
Defending champions West Indies will be desperate to address their batting woes and keep their slim semi-final hopes alive when they take on an inexperienced Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup on Thursday.
India finished the second day on 308 for four in 81 overs. They trail West Indies by just three runs, after the visitors were bowled out for 311 earlier in the day.
Bolstered by Shreyas Iyer's return, Delhi Capitals will look to maintain the form they showed in the first half of the season as they resume their IPL campaign against a struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The home side were in the game at 107 for three when left-arm spinner Maharaj (5-36) claimed the scalp of Kieran Powell (51), who tried to launch him to the midwicket boundary but picked out lone fielder Anrich Nortje.
The hosts, who won the first Test in Hamilton by an innings and 134 runs, scored 460 in their first innings with Henry Nicholls notching his highest Test score of 174.
Earlier this week, former England batsman Michael Carberry said cricket was "rife with racism". ]
Kohli, thus, became the 12th batsman and third Indian after Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid to reach 20,000 international runs.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson led from the front with a double century to guide the hosts to a huge total in their first innings on Day 2 of the first Test against West Indies, at Seddon Park, in Hamilton, on Friday.
Virat Kohli is among the finest batsmen of all time, and has amassed a staggering 12,169 runs from 254 ODIs.
In other big movements, Punjab Kings have released their last edition's captain Mayank Agarwal, while West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran was released by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Opting to field, West Indies bowlers came up with a fine show to bundle out Afghanistan for 194 in 45.2 overs.
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