The 'helicopter shot' has disappeared, the boundaries are not flowing from his bat and the whisper is now growing louder that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no more the middle-order finisher.
Ryan 'Ryno' Harris made a crucial contribution to Australian cricket at a critical time.
It was not long ago that Australia wicketkeeper Tim Paine was considering giving up the game entirely. Now he is set to captain the team as they look to pick up the pieces following the ball-tampering scandal.
Rediff.com takes a look at a few players who made a significant impact to their team's fortunes.
All-rounder JP Duminy claimed a hat-trick as South Africa stormed into the World Cup semi-finals with a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Depleted by the absence of high-profile names, Indian Premier League 2014 champions Kolkata Knight Riders have a tough task on hand when they lock horns with formidable Chennai Super Kings in the opening Group 'A' match of the Champions League T20, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
Pakistan side put its World Cup campaign back on track with an upset 29-run win via Duckworth/Lewis method over South Africa
South Africa put one foot in the World Cup quarter-finals by batting past the 400-run mark for the second successive match to hand Ireland a thumping defeat by 201 runs with five overs to spare at Manuka Oval on Tuesday.
Images from the World Cup first quarter-final between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Sydney, on Wednesday.
Supremely confident on home turf, defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will look to continue their forward march when they face an inconsistent Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament at Eden Gardens, in Kolkata on Thursday.
Here is a fact-box on Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died on Thursday. He was 25.
Rajneesh Gupta highlights important numbers featuring the South African team from the World Cups.
Following his impressive batting show in India's 5-0 series win over Sri Lanka, where he was named the man of the series, Virat Kohli has moved to second place in the ICC ODI Rankings for batsmen.
Sri Lanka thrashed South Africa by 128 runs in Colombo on Wednesday to wrap up the one-day series 4-1.
On a pitch offering extensive lateral movement, a target of 175 could prove to be a match-winning one for India.
English cricketers can "forget" about the shorter format unless they embrace the Indian Premier League, according to the maverick Kevin Pietersen, who says his efforts to get his countrymen to play in the IPL have fallen on "deaf ears".
Mohammed Shami led India's fight-back with a career-best five-wicket haul as India snapped nine wickets for 53 runs to dismiss South Africa for 177 and avoid a humiliating whitewash in the three-match series.
India will meet Bangladesh in the semi-finals in Birmingham on Thursday.
India opener Lokesh Rahul says the Test series against South Africa beginning next month will be the "biggest challenge" of his burgeoning career.
Kolkata Knight Riders rode on a brilliant all-round showing from Australia's Chris Lynn to score a dramatic victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League match, in Sharjah, on Thursday night. After propping the Kolkata innings with a 31-ball 45, the 24-year-old Australian pulled off an acrobatic catch at the deep mid-wicket boundary line to dismiss A B de Villiers in the last over of the match, and RCB, chasing 151 for victory, fell short by two runs.
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is baffled by his team's batting failure, which has left the side struggling to stay alive in the Champions Trophy after two successive defeats.
When he walked out to bat, India were in a precarious position with all their top batsmen back in the hut and once again it was Ravindra Jadeja who played the rescue act.
Chris Gayle hammered the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers into submission with a breathtaking 96 that guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to a three-wicket victory in an Indian Premier League encounter at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
India put up yet another dismal batting display, on seam-friendly conditions, to suffer a humiliating 134-run defeat in the second one-dayer against South Africa in Durban on Sunday.
Images from Day 1 in the fourth Test between India and South Africa, at New Delhi, on Thursday.
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.
Evin Lewis (70) and Darren Bravo (63) hit blistering fifties as Trinidad and Tobago registered a six-run victory over Titans via the Duckworth/Lewis method, in a rain-hit Champions League T20 match at the at the Sardar Patel stadium, in Ahmedabad, on Monday. The victory put the Caribbean side in strong contention for a berth in the semi-finals.
The series loss to South Africa notwithstanding, India held on to their second spot in the team list, while star batsman Virat Kohli rose up a rung to second in the batsmen's table of the latest ICC ODI cricket rankings.
Swashbuckling batsman Virender Sehwag, who announced his retirement from international cricket, will be the star attraction as Haryana takes on Karnataka in a Group A Ranji Trophy match, starting in Mysuru, on Thursday.
India might have begun their World Cup campaign with a morale-boosting win over Pakistan but Jonty Rhodes feels that South Africa are a better all-round side and tipped them to win their high-profile clash against the defending champions in Melbourne on Sunday.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith said his team will step on the field for the Boxing Day Test match against India with an aim to set right its poor record in Durban, having lost their last four games at the venue.
IMAGES from the 4th ODI played between India and South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday
South Africa's AB de Villiers and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara will take their battle for the coveted No 1 spot in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen to Sydney when they go head-to-head in the first quarter-final of the World Cup.
Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock have achieved career-high positions in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings after firing South Africa to an emphatic 177-run victory over Australia in the opening Test of the three-match series in Perth on Monday.
Rising Pune Supergiants will stand in the way of Kolkata Knight Riders's revival when they clash in an Indian Premier League T20 match?
'You have to just adjust to the conditions quickly because there is a big difference in the 50-over and 20-over cricket.' 'Even in Test cricket you can't be a classical spinner, which you were 20 years ago.' 'If I want to hide myself from my limitations, then I don't want to play this game.'
New Zealand entered their maiden ICC World Cup final, beating South Africa by five wickets in a thrilling rain-reduced World Cup semi-final at Eden spoPark in Auckland on Tuesday. Set 298 to win from 43 overs, the Kiwis, led by fine knocks from captain Brendon McCullum (59 off 26 balls) and Grant Elliott (84 off 73) got across the finish line with one ball to spare. Elliott hit the winning run with a six over long-on off the bowling of Dale Steyn.
"I don't know what to say. It is really a dream come true. I was confident of being picked for my base price of Rs 10 lakh but never thought of the crores. I just hope I get to play in the eleven," a soft-spoken Cariappa said.
Help coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli in selecting India's best 11 for the first Test against the West Indies.
India retained the No 1 spot in the latest Reliance ODI team rankings while Virat Kohli maintained the number two position with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni static at the seventh place in the batting chart released in Dubai.
