IPL Season 11 begins on April 7. Rajneesh Gupta has all the numbers.
Hamstrung, running out of partners and his team's title defence at stake -- the stage was set for Angelo Mathews to emerge from the Saturday night drizzle and enter Twenty20 folklore but the Sri Lankan captain fell agonisingly short. At 15-4, after England had set them a 172-run victory target in the World Twenty20 match, Sri Lanka's title defence looked all but over inside three overs. Their skipper then engineered a stunning recovery in the tournament's most portentous contest that was key to the semi-final hopes of three teams, including South Africa. But the lion-hearted effort took its toll on his hamstring and Mathews was clearly struggling when he took guard for the final over from Ben Stokes -- 15 runs separating him from Twenty20 greatness and his team from a place in the last four. As a mild drizzle fell on the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Stokes charged in with a ball in hand and ice in veins to thwart Mathews' audacious bid to pull off a heist.
Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis combined for a 58-run partnership to give Sri Lanka a nervous four-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their World Cup Pool A match at University Oval in Dunedin on Sunday.
It is time again to return to the shortest format of cricket as leading players, including India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, get ready to represent their respective franchises in the sixth edition of the Champions League T20.
India's quest for a historic treble ended in heartbreak as Sri Lanka came up with a clinical performance to beat them by six wickets in the final of the World T20 in Mirpur on Sunday. While Sri Lanka emerged third time lucky in a World T20 summit clash, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hopes of adding a second World T20 title to the 50-over World Cup triumph in 2011 and Champions Trophy in England two years later ended in disappointment.
Sri Lanka clinched the one-day international series against Pakistan after their bowlers, led by Thisara Perera, routed the tourists to secure a seven-wicket victory in the deciding third and final match on Saturday.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar wreaked havoc with a brilliant opening spell as he powered India into the final of the tri-series following a convincing 81-run victory over Sri Lanka via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-affected match in Trinidad, on Tuesday.
Twenty-four players, including 14 Indians (of which three are uncapped) and ten overseas, were retained as the retention window for the 2014 Pepsi IPL season closed at 1700 hours on Friday.
Rediff.com takes a look at the youngsters who impressed during the course of the eighth edition of the cash-rich Twenty20 extravaganza.
Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad face each other in a must-win IPL match.
Consistent death bowling from a Bumrah and spinners picking up wickets in the middle overs is why the average run-rate in the last few years hasn't exploded the way one would have expected, says Dhruv Munjal.
Their World Cup build-up halted by West Indies team's sudden mid-series pullout, India would resume the preparations for the mega-event when they square off against under-cooked sub-continental rivals Sri Lanka in a hastily-arranged ODI series starting in Cuttack on Sunday.
He has been roped in to arrest the downslide in Sri Lankan cricket and Asanka Gurusinha's assessment of the fall is quite simple -- not grooming anyone to fill in Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara's shoes.
Sri Lanka are never anybody's pre-tournament favourites but when the dust settles there they are.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma slammed centuries as a dominant India humiliated Sri Lanka by a record 168-run margin in the fourth One-Day International in Colombo, on Thursday.
The visitors have a 2-0 lead in the series and can wrap up the contest with another win here before leaving for the last leg of the tour in Colombo.
Sri Lanka shot out the Netherlands for just 39 runs, the lowest ever Twenty20 International total, before winning the Super 10 match in the World Twenty20 by nine wickets, in Chittagong, on Monday.
The hosts have hit nadir in both form and confidence, and, after a lop-sided 3-0 Test series victory, the script did not change much in the opening ODI, where India steamrolled the opposition by nine wickets.
Following Rising Pune Supergiants batsman Faf du Plessis's exit, Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com takes stock of the players forced out of the cash-rich Twenty20 extravaganza by injury.
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.
Mumbai Indians team celebrate their second IPL title at the iconic Wankhede stadium on Monday.
Hashim Amla's superb 103 enabled Punjab put up a competitive 198 for 4 in 20 overs but Buttler made a mockery of the target with Mumbai Indians knocking off the runs in only 15.3 overs.
A fuming Tom Moody says he was left 'embarrassed' after Sunrisers Hyderabad's poor batting performance against Mumbai Indians which saw them lose by 20 runs in the Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Saturday.
With 35 matches spread over 27 days, World T20 looks set to illustrate once again just how skewed the 20-overs game is against bowlers.
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.
Pakistan will meet Group A toppers England in the first semi-final on Wednesday at the same venue.
Chennai Super Kings' skipper MS Dhoni powered his team to a final over victory. CSK beat the hosts Mumbai Indians by four wickets at the Wankhede, Mumbai on Saturday night.
What separates the men from the boys? What is it that winners have but losers lack? Sonil Dedhia/Rediff.com lists lessons you can learn from Mumbai Indians' win against Chennai Super Kings at Eden Gardens on May 24.
Mumbai Indians will start as favourites when they take on laggards Kings XI Punjab.
An inconsistent Delhi Daredevils will look to break the home jinx when they take on Mumbai Indians in their sixth match of the IPL cricket tournament at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Thursday.
Erratic Sunrisers Hyderabad look to bounce back against inconsistent Mumbai Indians.
New Zealand will stick with their crash, bang, wallop brand of cricket in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against West Indies because it gives them the best chance of winning, captain Brendon McCullum said on Friday.
India have to be cautious against giant slayers Bangladesh
Images from the World Cup first quarter-final between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Sydney, on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka veterans Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara smashed imperious centuries to punish a wasteful Bangladesh.
New Zealand are looming as the popular dark horses for the cricket World Cup.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians finally snapped their losing streak on the back of a collective batting effort as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the Indian Premier League.
Statistical highlights of the first ODI match between India and New Zealand, in Dharamsala, on Sunday.
Skipper Angelo Mathews held his nerve under pressure and scored an unbeaten half-century as Sri Lanka recovered from a bad start to beat Bangladesh by three wickets in the concluding league match of the Asia Cup in Mirpur on Thursday.
This was the 36th tie in one-day international history and the 8th involving India.