The 10 teams in the league will be bidding heavily for the Indian players in a list of 590 cricketer
Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan's power-hitting will be the focus of all eyes when the in-form Kolkata Knight Riders taken on Delhi Capitals with an aim to light up the Sharjah skyline in what promises to be another six-hitting IPL contest in Sharjah on Saturday.
Their fate still not in their own hands, India will again go for broke when they resume their battle for survival in the T20 World Cup in another must-win contest, against Scotland, in Dubai on Friday.
'I think anything over 220-230 is going to be pretty difficult, but not impossible obviously. It won't be easy.'
'I am always in favour of playing five bowlers, because if we play more batsmen, you can score 700 runs in a Test but that doesn't help in any way' 'We want to start the series with that same mindset, that our bowling should be strong enough to take 20 wickets' 'We have committed some mistakes we cannot afford in Test cricket if you want to be a champion side'
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.
Saker took the unusual step of publicly criticising his bowlers in the fourth and final Test against India in Sydney last month, revealing discord with staff over tactics.
For the Indian team, the Trent Bridge Test will be their last chance to save the series after being outplayed in the first two Test matches -- by 31 runs Edgbaston and then by an innings and 159 runs at the Lord's.
Shankar believes how he prepares will be the key factor going into the tournament.
Lauding the affable demeanour of the Kane Williamson-led side, Kohli said they are great ambassadors for the sport.
Any other result than India's resounding win looks highly unlikely, consdering the visitors' rampaging run in the preceding Test and ODI series, where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.
Skipper Virat Kohli batted like a man possessed, slamming an unbeaten 151 in company of another centurion Cheteshwar Pujara to steer India to a commendable 317 for four against England on Day 1 of the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
Mandeep Singh's confidence is on a high after an enlightening A tour to Australia where he spoke at length on his batting with the legendary Rahul Dravid. "It was amazing that a technically solid player like him (Dravid) never told me to worry about my technique. For four to five days he was by my side in the nets. If a player like him tells me that your technique is good and you just have to go about your training as usual, it works wonders for your confidence. That is what happened with me," Mandeep told PTI during an interaction. Mandeep was left frustrated in the recent ODIs against New Zealand as he could not get a game in the five-match series that India won 3-2.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's astute captaincy will be Chennai Super Kings' biggest weapon against a clinical Kolkata Knight Riders, whose troika of top-notch spinners promise to hold the aces in the high-octane Indian Premier League final in Dubai on Friday.
Jasprit Bumrah started off from where he had left before being laid low by stress fracture as he bowled flat out at the India nets in Guwahati ahead of their first T20 International against Sri Lanka on Sunday. Closely monitored by team's support headed by Ravi Shastri, Bunrah hit the straps straightway, bowling with pace on a breezy winter evening on Friday even as the Sri Lankan team decided to take rest for the day.
A few bruised egos will eye redemption when India square off against Australia in the second Test in Melbourne from Saturday, ready to bounce back in skipper Ajinkya Rahane's hour of reckoning after their batting debacle in the series opener in Adelaide.
India have the perfect opportunity to find a solution to their top-order batting woes before their year-end series in Australia when the world's top-ranked side host two Tests against lowly West Indies, starting on Thursday.
Shikhar Dhawan's poor technique in testing conditions along with the fitness status of Ishant Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin will come up for discussion when the selectors pick the Indian team for the two-Test series against the West Indies.
It would be interesting to see whether the selectors repose faith in veteran Gautam Gambhir, who made a half-century in the second innings of the third and final Test against New Zealand in Indore, if KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan are both passed fit to play.
Ravi Shastri spoke on a range of issues including the legacy he wants to create, preparations for the marquee meet, team culture and unfortunate injuries to his players.
India and Australia play their opening T20 match In Ranchi on Saturday. And, although the visitors have added fresh faces to their squad for the three-match series, India are clearly the dominant side in this match-up.
India went in for an optional practice on Saturday and Dhoni was seen doing what normally a skipper does -- inspecting the Eden Gardens pitch, taking local feedbacks and giving his team mates a pep talk.
Rohit could not have dreamt of a better start to his journey to reinvent himself as a Test opener
Enjoying one of the best phases in his career so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore's inspirational leader Virat Kohli is ready to play through pain against Kings XI Punjab with multiple stitches in his split webbing in another must-win IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli sustained split webbing in his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB's play-off qualification hopes alive. "I might need 7-8 stitches," Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB's manager Avinash Vaidya said that India's No 1 batsman will be playing in this crucial encounter.
India would be looking to sort out issues such as the opening blues, the middle-lower order conundrum and also the bowling strategies during the three-match T20 series against West Indies.
Selectors once again ignored Ashwin and Jadeja for the 3-match T20 series against Australia.
Put into bat in a stop-start, rain-hit match, India posted a commanding 336-5, with Rohit Sharma (140) smashing his second century of the tournament.
Hosts India would look to do an encore by putting England through another rigorous spin test when the two teams square off in the third Test starting in Mohali, on Saturday.
Rahane spoke about how pink ball's increased pace off the pitch during the 40-50 minutes of the twilight session, will be the biggest challenge for any batsman.
Finding a replacement for Dhoni will top the agenda when India's selectors meet in Mumbai on Sunday to pick the squad for the tour of West Indies.
India would eye nothing less than a clean sweep when they take on an Australian side significantly weakened by injury blows, in the third and final T20 International, in Sydney, on Tuesday.
New Zealand survived Ravindra Jadeja's late onslaught to stun India by 18 runs in a low-scoring thriller on Wednesday and reach the ICC World Cup final for the second time in a row.
A look at the key players to watch out for in Thursday's match between India and New Zealand.
A look at how India's players fared at the T20 World Cup.
It will be a crucial couple of weeks for Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey, who are back in the mix after being sidelined from India's 50-over World Cup plans.
Mumbai Indians will fancy beating a floundering Kings XI Punjab when both sides face-off in a must-win match
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement from Test cricket has left the Indian think-tank fretting over the ideal playing combination that will take on Australia in the fourth and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground starting next Tuesday.
Virat Kohli was effusive in his praise for Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha's record 199-run stand.
Should India try out Shreyas Iyer or Manish Pandey at No 4? Who should be the two spinners in the playing XI? Should India include young pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Navdeep Saini?
Shubman Gill's stellar show for India A in the recently-concluded two-match unofficial Test series against New Zealand is an indicator that he is ready for Test debut, believes senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Shubman had scores of 83 and 204 not out batting in middle-order in the first unofficial Test for India A and then scored a hundred while opening the batting in the second game, showing his versatility at different slots. Prithvi Shaw, back in the Test squad after 16 months, is also a contender in the playing XI with his equally dazzling repertoire of strokes.
