Sunrisers Eastern Cape came up with a clinical performance with both bat and ball to register a 58-run bonus victory over Durban Super Giants in the SA20 match at Kingsmead.
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner acknowledged the challenge posed by India's understanding of the conditions in the Champions Trophy final, but expressed confidence in his team's ability to adapt. Santner believes the experience of playing against India in a league match will help, and is hoping his batters will be better prepared to face mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy this time around.
Indian batter Abhishek Sharma and bowler Varun Chakaravarthy retained their career-best number two positions in the latest ICC T20I rankings.
'Kuldeep is bowling really well. He has been consistent in the last few months. With him and Chahal, I think India has two wicket-taking wrist spinners'
Varma's current rating of 832 points is the fourth-highest ever achieved by an Indian batter in T20I history, behind only Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul.
Ravichandran Ashwin's tactical foresight proved spot on as mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy dismissed the dangerous Travis Head early in India's Champions Trophy semifinal against Australia.
Shamsi has been roped in to replace injured Samuel Badree
IMAGES from the 1st T20I played between India and England at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Varun Chakravarthy believes the Rajkot pitch slowed down more than expected during India's run chase, contributing to the home team's first loss in the five-match T20I series.
'You want to get a game and find pitches where you have enough in it for the bowlers and enough in it for the batters.'
It is also learnt that the physios at the BCCI Centre of Excellence has not set a specific time frame for him to return to action, even though Bumrah has been steadily increasing his workload at nets and match simulations.
It could also open the door for in-form Andhra all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored a historic maiden Test century during the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Here are how the bowlers fared in Guwahati...
Noor Ahmad excelled on his Chennai Super Kings debut before Rachin Ravindra and Ruturaj Gaikwad stuck sublime half-centuries to set up a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians.
The common theme in their opening game defeats was how the seemingly powerful batting and bowling units of KKR and RR failed to fire.
The common theme in those defeats was how the seemingly powerful batting and bowling units of KKR and RR failed to fire.
Players from the other teams who could push the Men in Blue to the limit.
Rohit Sharma's attacking knock of 76 set the tone for India's four-wicket victory in the final against New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday.
IMAGES from the 1st T20I between India and Bangladesh played in Gwalior on Sunday
With a power-packed batting line-up, match-winning spinners and a solid pace attack, champions KKR are once again the team to beat.
Aiden Markram held on to three crucial catches, while Miller had the big fish.
At the mega auction, Mumbai Indians made some strategic buys, in a bid to build a strong team around their solid Indian core consisting of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jaspreet Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Tilak Varma.
Kapil Dev believes the injury-enforced absence of key players like Jasprit Bumrah can hamper any team and hopes India's pace spearhead will return to action soon.
Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has said that Sunil Narine is a difficult customer to read and added that he is well aware of the threat the mystery spinner could pose when they meet Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League final in Chennai on Sunday.
Although India are playing a strong brand of 50-overs' cricket of late, they have some selection riddles to solve before they face Bangladesh in their opening match of the Champions Trophy.
Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy termed his comeback into the India side after three long years as a "rebirth" and "emotional moment" even as he thanked legendary R Ashwin for helping him grow in confidence during last edition of Tamil Nadu Premier League.
Varun Chakravarthy credited the intense domestic grind and the role clarity provided by new head coach Gautam Gambhir as vital in helping regain his lost form.
Jaiswal earned his maiden ODI cap for India in the first ODI against England during the buildup to the ongoing marquee event. With a moment of brilliance in the field, he took a stellar catch but failed to live up to the expectations with the bat.
Mumbai Indians, the five-time IPL champions, have a robust scouting system that unearths hidden gems from across the country.
IMAGES from the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday
Kuldeep Yadav is one match-winner India can't afford to leave out for the upcoming Test series in England and the wrist spinner should be picked ahead of batting all-rounders, reckon former selectors and coaches.
The high-scoring IPL 2025 match between Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants in Visakhapatnam, which witnessed batters clobbering 29 sixes and 34 boundaries in total, five bowlers came up with decent bowling spells and withstood the onslaught.
Sunil Narine produced an all-round performance to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings, in Kolkata, on Thursday.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram acknowledged that the Proteas erred a bit in attempting to finish off the chase
We could have assessed the pitch better: Varun Chakaravarthy
Virat Kohli anchored a tricky chase with an unbeaten 100.
'Indian cricket is on an upward curve, definitely, other teams have to catch up with us and (the Champions Trophy) final is going to be crucial.'
Despite doing well in the IPL and domestic cricket over the past two seasons, Varun did not get a recall to the Indian team and that only made him hungrier.
Imran Tahir completed 500 wickets in the T20 format and became just the fourth player to achieve the remarkable feat.
India is facing form concerns and selection dilemmas as they enter the final phase of their Champions Trophy preparations.
