The Indian bowling was a pleasant surprise in the recent World Cup but a bigger pool of genuine fast bowlers and spinners needs to be created for the team to be a consistent force in the future, feels the legendary Erapalli Prasanna.
Impressed with Kuldeep Yadav's performance in the ongoing Indian Premier League, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar offered "honest advice" to India's selectors to keep an eye on the young left-arm spinner.
AB de Villiers' masterly 85 in his 100th test could not gloss over South Africa's spin frailty as India took charge of the second Test after dominating the opening day at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
A round-up of results from the matches played at the Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 cricket tournament across the country.
Bangalore have been on a roll with skipper Virat Kohli enjoying one of the best phases of his career as he has four centuries under his belt.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav starred with an impressive four-wicket spell as he set up Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable six-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
Insisting that India are currently playing the "best cricket of the World Cup", West Indies batting legend Brian Lara feels that the defending champions must test their bench strength against minnows UAE in a Pool B match in Perth.
Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to earn two valuable points and move up to second spot in the points-table when they take on struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit couple of towering sixes in his 43 but once again failed as a finisher with Karnataka pipping Jharkhand by five runs in a group D league encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Sunil Gavaskar feels that India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni ran 'short of ideas' but at the same time wouldn't like to be too critical of him ahead of the ICC World Cup starting in two weeks' time.
Having tried quite a few permutations and combinations in the two losses so far, the Indian think-tank seems to have settled for Virat Kohli at the No.4 position to hit the right balance and stay alive in the ongoing tri-series.
During his tenure as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has gone from being extremely cautious to trying something fancy, hoping to catch the opponent by surprise. However, mostly, he's ended up with egg on the face, especially overseas.
Captain Ravichandran Ashwin's superb all-round showing helped Kings XI Punjab outclass Rajasthan Royals by 12 runs, in the IPL match, in Mohali on Tuesda
India's selectors went on expected lines, leaving out former champions while giving the nod to top performers in domestic circuit in the 30-man probables' list for the 2015 World Cup.
With the series already in pocket, the Indian team management has decided to rest senior batsman Suresh Raina for the fifth and final ODI in Ranchi on Sunday.
Up-and-coming Karnataka batsman Lokesh Rahul and Uttar Pradesh leg-spinner Karn Sharma were named in India's 19-man Test squad for the tour of Australia, which was announced after the selection committee of the Board for Control of Cricket in India met in Mumbai on Monday morning. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will miss the opening Test, from December 4, at the Gabba in Brisbane, because of an injury and Virat Kohli will stand in for him.
Manish Pandey says his maiden ODI call-up was long overdue and he now hopes to make his much awaited India debut during the short tour of Zimbabwe next month.
Veteran opener Gautam Gambhir kept his place, while all-rounder Hardik Pandya was the surprise inclusion in the 15-member Indian squad for the first two matches of the five-match Test series against England, starting in Rajkot, on November 9.
Left sleepless the last time he played a bad shot against Mumbai Indians, in-form Rajasthan Royals batsman Ajinkya Rahane said he was desperate to set the record straight and that inspired him to strike a sublime match-winning knock of 91 in an Indian Premier League match against the Delhi Daredevils on Sunday.
England ripped out India for 94 to win the fifth Test by a crushing innings and 244 runs at The Oval on Sunday and clinch the series 3-1.
England's four-pronged pace attack bowled India out for 148 before the hosts reached 62 for no loss in reply to take control of the fifth and final Test on an absorbing first day at The Oval in London.
Gurkeerat Singh Mann was a surprise addition to the Indian squad for the second Test against South Africa in Bangalore, however, India captain Virat Kohli says the Punjab all-rounder could be in the reckoning for an unlikely Test debut.
Under-fire batsman Virat Kohli finally came good and the bowlers delivered to help India beat Middlesex by 95 runs in the the 50-over practice game at Lord's.
Rohit Sharma's rollicking 150-run knock went in vain as South Africa pulled off a thrilling five-run victory in the first one-dayer against India in Kanpur to continue their winning run.
The Knight Riders have outplayed Rajasthan both in the home and away games this season.
Rediff.com rates the Indian players' performances in the ODI series.
An incredible innings of 95 not out from Jos Buttler kept Rajasthan Royals's play-off hopes alive as they edged past Chennai Super Kings by four wickets.
IMAGES from the IPL match played between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday
Images of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka being played in Colombo
Having spent considerable time under Rahul Dravid's tutelage in Rajasthan Royals as well as the India 'A' set-up, talented Karun Nair is grateful to the Karnataka legend for giving him the "right confidence" which has gone a long way in him earning a call-up to the Test squad.
Bowling coach Bharat Arun said that India are in a comfortable position currently and targetting a first innings lead of around 100 runs, in the second Test match against Sri Lanka, in Colombo.
Images from the opening day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Stung by a batting debacle, Royal Challengers Bangalore have the onerous task of picking up pieces when they face defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday, with a singular aim of keeping their hopes alive in the Indian Premier League.
Jacques Kallis feels that conditions in the sub-continent is "not conducive" for producing seam bowling all-rounders, something that the Indian cricket team has lacked for some years now.
Injury-hit RCB and Delhi look to outshine each other.
A vintage Yuvraj Singh blasted a quickfire half-century to help champions Sunrisers Hyderabad outclass Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 in the opening match of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com assesses the Indian side after the 2-1 series triumph in Sri Lanka.
India rode on a solid all-round performance to comfortably crush Zimbabwe by 62 runs in the second One-day International, thereby taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in Harare on Sunday.
A confident India, with a new coach at the helm, will seek to record a third consecutive Test series triumph on the Caribbean soil when the Virat Kohli-led side clashes with an inexperienced West Indies in the first cricket match, in Antigua, on Thursday.
Karnataka inched closer to winning the Irani Trophy crown after Chidambaram Gautam's brilliant 122-run knock guided them to a mammoth 606 in their first innings against Rest of India on the third day in Bangalore.
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