A rampant England team brimming with confidence go into the third Test against India on Wednesday primed to claim the victory that would secure the world number one ranking from their opponents.
Statistical highlights of the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore on Tuesday.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya is likely to play a specialist batsman in this year's Indian Premier League and might not be used as a bowler with Mumbai Indians keeping an eye on his workload.
Young right-arm fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun replaced injured Praveen Kumar in India's Test squad for the upcoming four-match away series against Australia.
India will, in all likelihood, go into the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, beginning Friday, with two of their crucial players missing from the line-up. While Zaheer Khan is certain to miss the Test (and maybe the third in Edgbaston as well), Gautam Gambhir also appears heading in the same direction, having suffered an elbow injury while fielding at short leg during the opening Test.
"We have three days, but I am not 100 per cent sure whether he will play or not," skipper M S Dhoni said, adding, "It is a long series and we don't want to risk any individual."
Injured speedster Ishant Sharma may not have lived up to his potential in the past few years but India's former bowling coach Eric Simons feels that team should invest in the lanky speedster as he has the ability to lead the attack once Zaheer Khan retires.
The Indian selectors named left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan in the 17-member squad for the tour of Australia, which begins on December 26, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
The opening day of the first Test between England and India at Lord's saw the visitors seize the initiative early on and let it slip, courtesy some patchy bowling and inept fielding, as the day progressed.
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.
Former Indian women's team captain Anjum Chopra has been awarded an honourary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) along with former men's team stalwarts Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag. She is the first Indian woman cricketer to get the prestigious life membership of MCC.
England seamer Stuart Board said he has learned a few tricks from former India pace spearhead Zaheer Khan on how to excel on the sub-continent pitches.
Itching to attain peak fitness ahead of the tough tour of Australia later this year, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan reckons the emergence of youngsters like Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron bodes well for Indian cricket.
Star players Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan expectedly returned to the team as the national selectors on Saturday announced a full-strength 17-member Test squad for India's upcoming tour of England starting mid July.
'We have taken all the recommendations of the CAC for Ravi Shastri as head coach and we will further discuss with him appointment of other coaches. We have set up a committee and they will speak to them (CAC), communicate with them after talking to Shastri. The support-staff has been decided in consultation with the head coach'
India's real test in the Test series will be how their batsman cope with the extra pace and bounce anticipated at Sabina Park, says former West Indies bowling ace Ian Bishop. By arrangement with Quba Media Works.
Former India Pacer Zaheer Khan, who recently retired from international cricket, has said that he has achieved everything he wanted to in his career spanning 14 years and there was "no missing link" for him to regret.
The selectors' idea of trying out the bench strength in the ODI series against the West Indies failed big time, says Bikash Mohapatra.
Sachin Tendulkar remained the highest placed Indian batsman at his unchanged fifth position, while injured pacer Zaheer Khan held on to his sixth spot in the bowling chart of the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Sunday.
Ravi Shastri's choice of bowling coach was always Bharat Arun and it is now apparent that Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) did not take the new head coach into confidence while recommending Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach.
Sachin Tendulkar rose three places to be the only Indian cricketer in the list of top-ten batsmen in the ICC Player rankings for Test cricket released on Tuesday.
Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has been appointed as the chairman of the selection committee for the senior and under-23 Mumbai men's team by the Mumbai Cricket Association.
Off-colour Harbhajan Singh was dropped while young spinner Rahul Sharma and pacer Sreenath Aravind are the two new faces in India's depleted 15-member squad for the first two one-dayers in next month's ODI series against England.
Impressed with his composure and control over his swing, former India batsman Yuvraj Singh said J&K young fast bowler Rasikh Salam is going to emerge as a special player in the next two to three years.
Sachin Tendulkar remained static at ninth in the batting list, while Zaheer Khan fell a rung, to occupy the ninth position in the bowling charts in the latest ICC Test rankings released on Friday.
Reader Rahul Lolage sent us these pictures from Wellington.
World champions India dominated the ICC ODI Team of the Year, announced in London on Monday, with four of its players figuring in the side, including Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was named captain.
Ricky Ponting shot back at Zaheer Khan for finding fault with his batting rhythm on Wednesday, saying what the Indian pace spearhead said about him could also be applied to the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India recommended pace spearhead Zaheer Khan for the prestigious Arjuna award following his excellent showing in India's World Cup-winning campaign.
Unfazed by the debacles in the first two Tests, India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan said the team will come back strongly in the third match, the key to which would be putting the in-form Australian batting line-up under pressure.
Australia bundled India out for 191 on the opening day of the second Test Tuesday, before coming through a top order crisis of their own to finish a frenetic day on 116 for three, 75 runs behind.
Hit hard by injuries on the disastrous tour of England, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni conceded that the players are overworked and called for a rotation policy to give them rest.
Paceman Tim Bresnan on Tuesday said England are looking to hit India hard in the upcoming One-day series as they aim to inflict another whitewash on the hapless World champions.
Images from day four of the first Test between India and Australia in Melbourne, on Thursday.
Images from Day 2 of the first Test between India and Australia, in Melbourne, on Tuesday.
In an interesting move, the Mumbai selection committee decided to include 14-year-old Armaan Jaffer in the Ranji Trophy probables list along with his uncle and state team stalwart Wasim Jaffer.
Mumbai batsman Ajinkya Rahane tells Harish Kotian the secret of his success at the domestic level, and why he was not surprised at being called up for the England ODI series.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday said injury-prone pacers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma are expected to be fit for the first Test against Australia.
Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has raised concerns over Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma's fitness, insisting the two Indian pacers have not bowled enough in the run-up to the Test series against Australia, starting on December 26.
India's bowling coach Eric Simmons defended RP Singh's inclusion in the playing eleven for the ongoing fourth and final Test against England, saying he was preferred over Munaf Patel because of his ability to swin the bowl.
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