Unwilling to tinker with the line-up in view of next month's World Twenty20, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday said the team will prefer Suresh Raina in the No.4 slot in the series against Sri Lanka even though vice-captain Virat Kohli's absence has opened the No.3 position. "It did cross our minds (to use Raina at no. 3) but it will be slightly better if he (Raina) bats at the position in which he will most likely bat in the World T20," Dhoni said at the press conference before the first game of the three-match T20 series to be held on Tuesday. "We need to give him that exposure as we are a team, which doesn't play many T20s. It's usually one-game a series. This (three-game) series gives us the opportunity to expose him to No.4 slot for a considerable period of time. It will be more appropriate to keep him at No.4 so that he gets adjusted rather than use him at one drop and ask someone else to bat at 4," Dhoni explained elaborately at the MCA International stadium.
Raina feels the left-handed Rishabh Pant could be the X factor for India alongside Hardik Pandya
India gained the much-needed boost ahead of their ICC World T20 opener against Pakistan when they comfortably defeated England by 20 runs in their second and final warm-up game in Mirpur on Wednesday.
Light rain and overcast conditions have delayed the start of the first Test between India and England at Lord's. A slight drizzle a couple of hours before the scheduled start of play on Thursday, followed by dark sky caused the delay.
Middle-order batsman Suresh Raina made a comeback to the team fold after the newly appointed senior selection committee announced their India squad for the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Indian cricketers turned to social media to extend their heartfelt wishes on the occasion of the 77th Independence Day.
In two games on this tour, the 22-year-old Suresh Raina has wrenched his side of tight situations with authoritative half centuries (61 off 43 balls in the first T20 and 66 from 39 in the first ODI at Napier).
The Kirti Chakra awardees are Major Digvijay Singh Rawat of 21st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), Major Deependra Vikram Basnet from the Sikh Regiment's fourth battalion and Havildar Pawan Kumar Yadav from the 21st battalion of the Mahar Regiment, according to the defence ministry.
The Indian youngsters were rewarded for their good form as they were named in India's Billie Jean King Cup squad.
The froth in the small and midcap (SMID) space is limited to a few pockets, but regulatory scrutiny could lead to sustained volatility, observe India's top-drawer wealth managers. They add that they have been advising clients to reduce their exposure to smallcaps. Anand Rathi Wealth, which manages investor wealth through mutual funds (MFs), reports that its exposure to smallcap stocks, both through MFs and directly, has decreased by nearly 7 percentage points in the past few months, now standing at 23 per cent.
Tennis ace Rohan Bopanna, hockey great P R Sreejesh and table tennis legend Sharath Kamal, are gearing up for one last hurrah at the Asian Games, starting in Hangzhou, from September 23.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's Committee of Administrators (COA) on Tuesday doubled the annual retainership amount to Rs 2 crore for seven Grade A cricketers, including captain Virat Kohli and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Fielding has never been Indian cricket's strong point but stand-in skipper Suresh Raina says the side competing against the West Indies right now is the best fielding unit he has been part of in the past five years.
Statistical highlights of IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack.
Skipper Suresh Raina finally found some form, scoring up an unbeaten century on the fourth and final day, as Uttar Pradesh collected three points from their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha in Nagpur on Tuesday. Uttar Pradesh got the points on the basis of the first-innings lead, while Vidarbha one.
Chennai Super Kings went on expected lines as they retained their top five players including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League.
Buying an ear-splitting alarm clock might be on top of Suresh Raina's shopping list on Friday after the batsman almost missed his team's charter flight to Dhaka for their opening World Cup match against Bangladesh.
Images from Monday's IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils, in Delhi.
The premiere of the Netflix movie saw a full house, as Bollywood's A-listers came down to launch the careers of Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor and Agastya Nanda.
The Gujarat Lions team members and supporting staff came wearing orange turbans to the reception.
MS Dhoni will play for Pune in the next edition of the Indian Premier League.
A look at who stars in The Archies, and who's playing who.
The Indian cricket team think-tank's urge to play more all-rounders in recent years has got a lot to do with the current crop of top-order batters not rolling their arms over unlike some of their illustrious seniors from the bygone era.
In cricket, we have something that we can share with our families, neighbours and indeed, the whole country. It is colour-blind, language-neutral, truly secular and transcends all regions, from Kashmir to Kerala and Mizoram to Maharashtra, explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Suresh Raina, the captain of the Indian team for the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe, was upbeat about his team's prospects ahead of their departure on Tuesday.
'Watching Virat Kohli master the chase with remarkable consistency is becoming a routine for us.'
Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have to sit out of the IPL for 10 days due to an elbow injury, which he sustained during Tuesday's match against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Virat Kohli became the first RCB player to complete 100 catches, while CSK smashed the third-highest number of sixes in an IPL innings against KKR.
'In the 1971 War my battalion suffered 4 casualties after fighting for 14 days.' 'In Operation Blue Star, I lost 19 men in just one hour.'
'The good thing for India is that Virat Kohli loves the big occasion.'
A look at the records set during India's innings against the Netherlands in the ICC World Cup match in Bengaluru on Sunday.
India's stand-in captain Suresh Raina said the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh will be a good opportunity for trying out new players ahead of next year's 50-over World Cup.
The Freelancer has been made with workman-like efficiency, but the subject of Islamic terrorism could do with a break, points out Deepa Gahlot.
ICC names Sachin Tendulkar as 'Global Ambassador' for ODI World Cup
The Archies is an evergreen thought passed on from generation to generation. But Sukanya Verma wishes it had some of the comic's tee-hee humour and hyuk hyuk too.
Suresh Raina is still not available for selection for India's third ODI against New Zealand as "he has not yet fully recovered from viral fever" but Rohit Sharma spent a considerable time at the nets.
India's middle order batsmen Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina won the Ceat International Youngster of the Year and T20 Player of the Year awards respectively at a glittering ceremony in Mumbai on Saturday.
Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, who missed the first two matches due to injury, on Thursday, returned to the Indian team for the next three games of the ODI series against New Zealand while the selectors decided to rest batsman Suresh Raina and pacer Sreesanth, ahead of the upcoming South Africa series.
The club's cricket committee considers the nomination of players for life membership as recognition to the 'outstanding international careers for some of the greats of the game'.
Amazon Prime Video has announced 69 assorted Web series and movies, and the slate sure looks interesting.
