Kolkata Knight Riders will be aiming to exploit Sunrisers Hyderabad's recent run of poor form
Faf du Plessis stroked an unbeaten half-century as Chennai Super Kings edged past Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in Qualifier 1 to enter the IPL final, in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Moeen Ali survived five reviews in his charmed innings as he and Jonny Bairstow helped England overcome their spin discomfort and post 258 for seven in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, on Thursday.
Bangladesh thumped England in a bowler-dominated contest after home skipper Mashrafe Mortaza's all-round brilliance secured their series-levelling 34-run victory in the second One-day International on Sunday.
Delhi Daredevils paid the price for flawed team selection and poor fielding as Sunrisers Hyderabad pushed them towards exit door with a seven-wicket victory in an IPL encounter, in Hyderabad, on Saturday night.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan's attractive stroke-play vindicated skipper Virat Kohli's decision to bat first as India comfortably amassed 239 for no loss at stumps on the first day of their one-off Test against Bangladesh in Fatullah.
Riding on leg-spinner Rashid Khan's brilliant effort, Sunrisers Hyderabad produced an inspired bowling display to eke out a fighting 13-run win over in-form Kings XI Punjab in a low-scoring IPL match in Hyderabad, on Thursday.
A win over Sunrisers Hyderabad is imperative for Mumbai Indians to keep their chances alive of making it to the play-offs.
So 52 games have already been played in the Indian Premier League this season. Here are the Most Valuable players and some random observations by Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle.
Images from Tuesday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Chennai.
Soumya Sarkar's maiden century helped Bangladesh secure a 3-0 one-day series sweep against Pakistan after an eight-wicket win in the third and final match on Wednesday.
Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Eden Gardens to begin their Indian Premier League (IPL) defense on an emphatic note.
Surprised at the call up, Kolkata Knight Riders' South African recruit Johan Botha, who was brought in as replacement for injured Aussie Chris Lynn, said he's fresh after a three-week break and ready for the rigours of IPL-8.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza had no hesitation in terming India a far better team but said 'my Asia Cup was won' when Tamim Iqbal batted with one hand in their tournament opener, against Sri Lanka.
India go into the quarter-final against their neighbours as favourites, but will certainly not take them too lightly, not wanting to suffer the same fate as they did in the 2007 edition.
Bangladesh staved off a late fightback to beat England by 15 runs and enter the quarter-finals of the World Cup from Group B in Adelaide on Monday. They joined New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka in the last eight stage.
The victory put all the pressure on England for their showdown with Eoin Morgan's side on March 9 in Adelaide, with Bangladesh now on five points and level with third-placed Australia, while England have two.
There was no shortage of quotable quotes. Here's some of the more memorable ones.
Sri Lanka veterans Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara smashed imperious centuries to punish a wasteful Bangladesh.
Rohit Sharma-led India's main aim would be to settle their middle-order combination and also find a perfect batting position for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India captain Virat Kohli reclaimed the top batting spot, while Australia's pace ace Josh Hazlewood has achieved the number-one position in the bowlers' rankings for the first time in his career in the latest MRF Tyres ICC ODI Player Rankings.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would be eager to avenge their twin defeats in the league stage when they face old foes Mumbai Indians in the IPL Qualifer 2 in Bengaluru, on Friday.
Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav sizzled with the ball as two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders rode on its spin attack to advance into the play-offs of the ongoing Indian Premier League with a 22-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The India right-hander has 862 points in his kitty, still 25 points behind AB de Villiers of South Africa, who is heading the list.
Dwayne Smith starred with the ball before Suresh Raina struck a sublime half century to guide Gujarat Lions to a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Kanpur, taking them closer to a spot in the play-offs of the Indian Premier League.
- Mahela Jayawardene struck his seventh double hundred and Kithuruwan Vithanage reached his maiden century as Sri Lanka toyed with Bangladesh's toothless attack before declaring their first innings on a mammoth 730 for six in Dhaka on Wednesday.
A look at the Kolkata Knight Riders's IPL record over the years.
Images from the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Mumbai, on Wednesday.
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said his team could have done it if it had even one batsman of Indian skipper Virat Kohli's calibre.
Nerves will play a big role when title-hungry Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad look to outdo each other and regain the coveted IPL crown when they square off in the final in Mumbai on Sunday.
Ajinkya Rahane has become India's highest-ranked Test batsman in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings after scoring two centuries in the 337 runs victory over South Africa in the fourth and final Test, at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, which gave the home side a 3-0 series triumph.
Opener Ambati Raydu scored his maiden century in the Indian Premier League as Chennai Super Kings coasted to an easy eight-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad to virtually seal a play-offs berth, in Pune, on Sunday.
Off-spinner R Ashwin, who has been phenomenal in home conditions, has made it to the Test team as the 12th man, while pacer Mohammed Shami has been included in the ODI team.
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