Test Record in South Africa in Cape Town

Faf says: We will have a bat. The wicket is slow and it will get better to bat on as the day wears on. I don't look too much into stats. The conditions have changed over the last two years.
When we played Sri Lanka here it was slow initially and then it quickened up nicely. We are playing four seamers and a spinner which means one less batsman. Temba Bavuma misses out.

Jasprit Bumarh is making his Test debut

Virat Kohli says: Looking at the amount of the grass we would have bowled first. We want to unsettle them in the first 15-20 overs.
We will have three quicks and Hardik Pandya as the all-rounder. Ashwin is the lone spinner. Jasprit Bumarh is making his Test debut.

Ajinkya Rahane may pay the price for poor home run

Rahane’s form has been wretched since the start of the home series against England in late 2016. Since the start of the series,
Rahane has scored 617 runs at an average of 26.82 over a period of 14 Tests with the only hundred coming against a below par Sri Lanka at Pallekele.

Steyn needs just five wickets to become South Africa's leading wicket-taker in Tests

In 13 Tests at Newlands, Dale Steyn has taken 65 wickets at an average of a shade under 22. His overall record against India is remarkably similar - 13 Tests,
63 wickets at 21.4. In two Tests against India at Newlands he has 12 wickets at 17. Steyn needs just five wickets to become South Africa's leading wicket-taker in Tests.

Sanjay Bangar hinted Rohit Sharma could edge Ajinkya Rahane for a place in India XI

"As of now, the conditions that we found is, we are expecting that it will seam around a bit on day one. But days two and three are going to be very good batting conditions. We'll take a call tomorrow morning about
the extent of moisture in the surface and we'll take it from there." - Sanjay Bangar kept India's potential 'combinations' close to his chest, when asked to categorically state if this was a four- or five-bowler kind of wicket.

We have a score to settle with India

"I sent the Ferrari into the panelbeaters, just to get fixed. It was frustrating at times because everything (in the recovery) happened slower than I thought it would.
It's 11 weeks now and I feel now like I'm finally ready to play." - Faf du Plessis talks about his injury layoff, which has kept him out of action since October.

Virat Kohli scored three Test double centuries in 2017

All the double sessions in the week gone by meant India decided to rest their collective heels on the day before the Test. Ravindra Jadeja's illness has virtually eased one selection decision for India. Given his good recent form, the green-looking wicket and the fact that it's the first Test of the series,
India will use the additional batting insurance that Rohit Sharma provides at No. 6. The team management have a call to make on the opening and bowling combinations and on the evidence of Wednesday's training, it would appear that KL Rahul and Umesh Yadav will likely sit the Newlands Test out.

AB de Villiers is poised to play for South Africa against India

What to expect: Since encountering what Faf du Plessis termed "extreme conditions" in India in 2015, South Africa have been eager to exact some sort of revenge. To that end they will prepare lively pitches for this series, but Newlands is likely to be the most balanced of the three venues so far as bat and ball are concerned.
There will be some movement at times, but generally a true surface expected with good bounce and carry. Or, as du Plessis put it, "nothing extreme". Day three could experience some light showers but otherwise the forecast is good.

Indian team squad will be announce Tuesday against eng one day series

India's team selection panel will give a first indication of its upcoming World Cup plans on Tuesday when the selectors sit down to pick the squad for the 50 and 20 overs leg of the England tour. The selection committee, chaired by Sandeep Patil, will pick the squad for 5 ODIs, and one-Twenty20, starting August 25.

It will be interesting to see if the selectors reward fringe ODI specialists who were tried out at the senior level over the last couple of months. Barring a few regulars like Suresh Raina and Ajinkya Rahane, the squad to Bangladesh for 3 ODIs comprised mostly the domestic and IPL performers. And the same lot was given an extended run during India A's recent tour of Australia, which culminated with a successful campaign in the quadrangular one-day competition.

The selectors will have to decide if Suresh Raina, Robin Uthappa and Cheteshwar Pujara - none of whom had a memorable outing in Bangladesh - deserve to remain in contention for the World Cup. Robin Uthappa, the star of the IPL, was one of only 2 India players to have scored a 50 above in Bangladesh. Even though he shone with his captaincy skills during the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia, Uthappa had a mediocre outing with the bat. He scored 134 runs from 7 innings during the tournament.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar whose fitness is being stretched during the 5-Test series in England. Umesh Yadav, one of the stars of the first-class matches on the A tour, is likely to earn his place back in the squad.

Sanju Samson impressed with his during the A tour, including the team. But he will have to compete with the in-form Naman Ojha if the selectors choose to include a wicketkeeper-batsman as back up for MS Dhoni.

The spin duo of Akshar Patel and Parvez Rasool has been steady both in Bangladesh and Australia. But their chances depend on the balance of the squad, which will be finalizing after discussing it with Dhoni and Indian cricket Coach Duncan Fletcher.

The balance of the squad would also determine the fate of Manoj Tiwary, the returning nearly man of Indian team. Tiwary had a decent run in Australia and has also showed his prowess with the ball, picking a 5-for in one-dayers.

BCB announced India tour schedule to Bangladesh

India in the 3-ODI series in Bangladesh.BCB announced India tour schedule

Date	Match	Team	Place
Jun 15, 2014	1st ODI	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka
Jun 17, 2014	2nd ODI	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka
Jun 19, 2014	3rd	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka

Yuvraj Singh may get more chance to Play

India has had a great start to the tournament. They won both their matches against Pakistan and the West Indies with ease. But expect batsmen for Yuvraj Singh, and Shikhar Dhawan everybody has looked in form and has made meaningful contributions to the team cause.

Yuvraj Singh has not been his usual self while fielding too, and has dropped catches. He has so far scored 11 runs in the 2 games, of which came in the 2nd match against the West Indies.

However, from the indications during Wednesday’s net session, the talented left-hander might be given another opportunity, if not more than one, to regain form. Ajinkya Rahane hasn’t been tried as yet and he could get into the fray if Yuvraj fails once more.

On Wednesday, Yuvraj batted in the 2nd batch, after the 2 openers, and spent about 20 minutes polishing his strokes. This gives a fair signal that the Punjab batsman would continue to play. Also, the team would not like to disturb the winning combination.

To be fair to Yuvraj Singh, he has won many matches for India and made crucial help when the team won the 2011 World Cup in India. Yuvraj Singh won the Man of the Tournament award 2011.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, for instance, feels that Yuvraj Singh key to success is his fitness. He is a great player in the shorter version. If he gets his fitness back, he’ll always be great.

Sangakkara announced to retire after 2015 World Cup

A day after announcing his retirement from the shortest version of the game, Sri Lanka's former captain stalwart Kumar Sangakkara Monday decided to end his ODI career with the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

I am 36 years old now and will be 37 next year during the World Cup. By next World Cup, I will be 41 and I do not hope to play then. So 2015 World Cup will be my last series Sangakkara said here during a media interaction.

As far as ODI and Test cricket are concerned, it's hard to make a time frame. For Test cricket form, health and enjoyment factors are there for you to continue. There is no denying I am in the twilight of my job.

Kumar Sangakkara announcement came hours after team mate and previous captain Jayawardene said he too would retire from the Twenty20 after the showpiece event which concludes April 6. 

Sangakkara said that the exit of the 2 greats will not affect the transition of the team into the hands of the youngsters.

If I and Mahela decide to quit today, tomorrow or whenever we do, it is not going to make a huge difference. It's going to be fine. If you look at Thirimanne and Chandimal, they are ready to play in any form. Angelo Mathews is growing as the Test and ODI captain. Sri Lankan cricket is in very good hands, said the southpaw, who led Sri Lanka to the 2009 World T20 final where they lost to Pakistan.

India far from favorites world cup t20

Since winning the inaugural ICC World T20 back in 2007, India has never progress to the semi- finals of the mega event. It is with that record that the team now prepares for its next international assignment the World T20 in Bangladesh.

That triumph in South Africa was what jump started Dhoni captaincy career but, 7 years later, he will need to get his hurting team to turn its recent fortunes around fast.

It’s strange that the country that produces the biggest T20 spectacle all year, the IPL, has played just one T20I since January 1, 2013 a Yuvraj Singh-inspired win over Australia in Rajkot.

In ODI cricket, India has had a last 12 months. First, they went on a winning run that incorporated a series win over England, the Champions Trophy triumph in England, the tri-series win in West Indies, and series victories over Zimbabwe and Australia.

However, beginning with the tour to South Africa in December, India have been in free fall, notching up wins over simple Bangladesh and Afghanistan while losing to all the other top profile teams.

Asia Cup 2014 cricket Series latest schedule

The Asia Cup 2014 cricket Series will start on 25-feb- 14 in Bangladesh. The last match of the tournament will be held on Mar 8, 2014.

The Asia Cup 2014 Cricket schedule has come out. There will be 5 teams participate in this edition of the tournament team India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Date	IST	GMT	Match	Details	Venue
25-Feb	14:00	8:00	1st ODI	Pakistan vs Sri Lanka	Fatullah
26-Feb	14:00	8:00	2nd ODI	Bangladesh vs India	Fatullah
27-Feb	14:00	8:00	3rd ODI	Afghanistan vs Pakistan	Fatullah
28-Feb	14:00	8:00	4th ODI	India vs Sri Lanka	Fatullah
1-Mar	14:00	8:00	5th ODI	Bangladesh vs Afghanistan	Fatullah
2-Mar	14:00	8:00	6th ODI	India vs Pakistan	Mirpur
3-Mar	14:00	8:00	7th ODI	Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka	Mirpur
4-Mar	14:00	8:00	8th ODI	Bangladesh vs Pakistan	Mirpur
5-Mar	14:00	8:00	9th ODI	Afghanistan vs India	Mirpur
6-Mar	14:00	8:00	10th ODI	Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka	Mirpur
8-Mar	14:00	8:00	Final ODI	TBC vs TBC	Mirpur

World Twenty20 Indian squad announced Ishant dropped

India will play against Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup to be hosted in Dhaka and Fatullah from February 25 to March 8-2014. Ishant Sharma has been dropped from the Asia Cup and World T20 squads. Yuvraj and Raina have been named in the World T20 squad only.

World Twenty20 squad
MS Dhoni	Yuvraj Singh	Mohammed Shami
Shikhar Dhawan	Ajinkya Rahane	Varun Aaron
Rohit Sharma	Ravindra Jadeja	Stuart Binny
Virat Kohli	R Ashwin	Amit Mishra
Suresh Raina	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	Mohit Sharma

Swann enjoys bowling in tandem with Monty Panesar

Graeme Swann savored the chance of bowling in tandem with Monty Panesar as England turned to spin in pursuit of a series-leveling win over Australia in the 2nd Ashes Test on Thursday.

England decided to go with 2 spin bowlers on a dry Adelaide drop-in pitch as they try to fight back from their 381-run trouncing by the Australians in the first Test. Panesar is left field, says Swann.

It is the first time Swann and Panesar have bowled jointly since the 4rth Test against India in Nagpur a last year, and they each claimed a wicket as Australia went to stumps on the 1st day on 273 for 5. I love it when two spinners play, Swann told reporters. 

Graeme Swann said the England team enjoyed having the original Mondi Panesar in the team and took little notice of his recent off-field problems. Panesar has admitted that he thought he had destroyed his international career after being fined for urinating on a nightclub doorman in Brighton. The incident occurred in August after Panesar was asked to leave a nightclub in the town.

The 31-year-old was fined by police and released by county side Sussex, but was however named in the England squad for the return Ashes series in Australia. He’s always been left-field and a bit different to everybody else and it's one of the reasons why we love him so much, Swann said. 

He's one of the boys and we embrace him as ever and we love seeing him do well.

While Swann took a superb catch late in the day to dismiss George Bailey for 53, England still put down three catches and could have been in an even better time at the end of the first day. I think 5 wickets in a day is a pretty good return. He said.

We missed a couple of half-chances that we'll rue but if we turn up in the morning and take a couple of fast wickets it could all quickly be forgotten. There’s always a sense of frustration when catches exit down but we've taken some great catches on this trip so ... we're certainly not pointing fingers.

If we need to get on top in this game we need to keep Australia to below 350. A couple of early wickets tomorrow will put us in a great position.

India won ther Series Against WI by five Wickets

Dhawan 5th ODI century, possibly his 1st without the assistance of a ‘life’, was the feature of India series-clinching win over the West Indies in the third and final fixture at Kanpur, on Wednesday. Dhawan’s rollicking 119 (95b) helped the hosts chase down the 264 they were set to win on a pitch that aided seam bowling early in the day, but speedily settled down into a decent batting track as the sun came out.

The West Indies to 263, in an innings of marked imbalance. Once Johnson Charles was bowled by vicious Bhuvneshwar Kumar in swinger, the visitors rebuild through a big, if somewhat chance, 117-run partnership in 24.3 overs between opener Kieran Powell and Marlon Samuels. India trio of young seamers gained perceptible movement and several edges in hazy conditions, but were unable to get through again.

Ashwin removed them both. Powell perished to a top-edge on the sweep, while Samuels bowled on the third ball of the batting Power play. A phase of quiet came to be, as the West Indies lost Lendl Simmons and Dwayne Bravo, but good things were just around the corner.

K Powell (70), M Samuels (71),Darren Bravo (51*) and Sammy (37) clubbed two sixes apiece in a breakneck 6th-wicket stand of 67 in just 8.1 overs, the last 3 yielding 41 runs. The late flourish took the Carribbeans to a total that may have been competitive for a side other than India playing at home.

The chase was dealt a double blow when Ravi Rampaul dismissed Rohit Sharma (4) and Virat Kohli (19) early. But Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj (55) added 129 for the 3rd wicket in what turned out to be the decisive phase. Just like the Windies, India too lost their first in the 5th over of the innings.

Narine bowled 33 deliveries for just 18 runs to Yuvraj, who clearly struggled to read him. Just when it looked that the Chandigarh left-hander would eventually give in to relentless pressure, Sammy relieved it through a string of short balls that were duly dispatch to where they deserved to be dispatched to. Yuvraj Singh lived on to reach a laborious 5ty in 68 balls, and was lastly out to the man who deserved his scalp the most.

Victory arrived on the back of yet another good performance by Suresh Raina (34) and Dhawan eventual fall Neither, however, had too much of a bearing on the outcome. Finally India won the series 2-1.

Zaheer back, Gambhir ignored again for South Africa tour

Zaheer Khan has made an expected comeback to India team Test squad for the tour of South Africa, but Gambhir has failed to force his way back despite scoring a century for Delhi in his team's Ranji Trophy win against Haryana.

Zaheer Khan last appeared for India in a Test match against England at Kolkata in December 2012. The 35-year old Zaheer Khan has taken 13 wickets in the Ranji Trophy so far for Mumbai. Fascinatingly, Zaheer Khan, who has played 88 Tests for India, wasn't handed a central contact by the BCCI. Despite scoring 372 runs from 6 innings for Delhi, 32-year old Gambhir has been ignored by the selectors. Dhawan phenomenal run with the bat has ensured that one half of the opening slot remains untouched.

 

On the bowling front, Ishant manages to retain his place on the roster, following a 9-wicket haul against Haryana at the Ferozeshah Kotla. What he does with the long rope handed to him, is a question that only he can answer. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav will also be donning both the whites and the blues. With conditions ideal for pace bowling, the bowling grouping will be a no-brainer. But with R.Ashwin, Ojha and R.Jadeja also in the squad, Dhoni has a good problem on his hands.

The All-India Senior collection Committee that met in Vadodara also picked Ambati Rayudu, who makes his first appearance in India Test squad. Wriddhiman Saha has been picked as the 2nd wicket-keeper. 

This is India 1st Test series without the recently retired Sachin Tendulkar. The Test series between 1st-ranked South Africa and number 2nd India, which was at first scheduled for 4 matches, was curtailed to two to accommodate a farewell home series for him.

India tour starts with a 3-match one-day series, the first of which will be played on December 5. The 2-match Test series starts on December 18th at Johannesburg.

Well Starting Stuart Broad Ashes Tests Series

England's Stuart Broad hit back at booing fans with a devastating 5-wicket haul Thursday but Australian Brad Haddin’s fighting knock kept Australian hopes alive in a forceful start to the Ashes Tests.

Haddin and Mitchell Johnson came to the rescue after Broad, loud boos ringing in his ears at Brisbane Gabba ground, ripped through Australians top order on opening day one. The pair combined in a counter-punching 114-run stand for the 7th wicket before the outstanding Broad bowled Johnson (64) with the second new ball for his 5th wicket of the innings. Just before stumps, Australia lost another wicket when Peter Siddle was caught in the slips for 7 off James Anderson 14 balls. 

At the close, Australia were 273 for 8 and well short of what captain Michael Clarke would have expected after winning the toss, with Haddin unbeaten on 78 and Ryan Harris not out 4 runs. It was Haddin's 13th Test 50 as runs came easily in the last session. Johnson racked up his 8th Test 50 with a booming boundary before Broad had the last word.

If not for Haddin and Johnson's fight back, Australia would have been in a parlous state after Broad had struck twice in the morning session and twice more after lunch to have the home side teetering at 132 for 6. Broad, who was vilified in the build-up for not walking at a key moment during the recent Ashes Tests in England, reveled in his bad-boy role.

The boos rang out when Broad, branded a smug Pommy cheat by a local newspaper, stepped up to bowl but he fast snared opener Chris Rogers for one in his second over. Broad also accounted for Shane Watson (22) just before lunch, and he then took the prized scalp of Australian captain Michel Clarke in the second over after the first break.

Clarke looked uncomfortable against a short-pitched delivery and popped a gentle catch to Ian Bell at short leg for one, in what was a fast and tame end for Australia premier batsman. Opener David Warner had smashed Broad's first ball of the day for 4 but his determined innings ended with a whimper as he became the tall quick fourth victim just short of his half-century.

Warner looked disgusted at himself as he drove lazily at a short ball from Broad and spooned a catch in the covers to Kevin Pietersen, celebrating his 100th match, for 49 off 82 balls. The innings continued to unravel for Australia and debutant George Bailey edged Anderson to Alastair Cook for three, leaving the home side 100 for 5 in the 36th over.

Bailey only lasted 15 balls and he could have been out earlier if a snick off Anderson had carried to Cook at first slip. Steve Smith looked successful with his unconventional shot-making, but perished when he played away from his body and sparred Chris Tremlett to Cook at slip for 31.

It was not the start Australia needed as they bid to avoid losing four successive Ashes series for the 1st time since 1890, and defend an unbeaten record at the Gabba stretching back 25 years.

Broad had a fascinating duel with the pugnacious Warner, who hooked his 1st ball to the boundary and then dabbed an audacious upper-cut high over the slips for four. But Broad then prised the key wicket of Shane Watson, who needlessly played outside his off-stump and was snapped up by Swann in the slips.

India vs WI ODI Series India Squad

India vs WI ODI Series India Squad
MS Dhoni (capt)	Shikhar Dhawan	Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli	Yuvraj Singh	Suresh Raina
Ravindra Jadeja	R Ashwin	Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Mohammed Shami	Ambati Rayudu	Amit Mishra
Jaydev Unadkat	Dhawal Kulkarni	Mohit Sharma