Indian Cricket Team Updates

After their bowlers wrapped up the West Indies innings for a paltry 148, India A cantered to a nine-wicket win in 25.3 overs in the first practice game of the tour at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday.  ( Also Read:  Report: India A vs West Indies, warm-up match 2 ) Asked to bat first, the Kieron Pollard-led visiting side succumbed in 38.1 overs as the Indian spinners claimed six between them with Amit Mishra leading the effort with 3/26.  The West Indians struggled to get any momentum while batting, losing Leon Johnson without scoring and then watching as Lendl Simmons retired hurt.  The only half-centurion of the innings was Marlon Samuels who batted 59 balls for his 56, and once he was dismissed at 123 for 7 the rest of the innings stumbled to a close. Only Jason Holder (21 off 46 balls) and Kemar Roach (10* off 32) made it to double-digits.  For India A, leg-spinner Amit Mishra was the most profitable bowler with 3/26 in ten overs, his wickets being...

India registered their fourth consecutive win in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 with a 73-run victory over Australia. The Indian bowlers skittled the opposition out for 86 after Yuvraj Singh’s 60 off 61 balls helped them to a challenging total. Chasing 160, the Australians perished miscuing shots while taking the aerial route. Indian spinners fashioned Australia’s collapse. Ravichandran Ashwin starred with a four-wicket haul as India coasted to a win in their last league game.  (Also Read:  Stats Highlights: India vs Australia – WT20 2014  ) Earlier, opting to field first, George Bailey opened the bowling with spin from both ends. Rohit Sharma, who took first strike, began the proceedings with a boundary to deep square-leg off Brad Hodge. But two balls later, he was back to the dugout after handing a catch to point. Virat Kohli then joined Ajinkya Rahane in the middle. Rahane had replaced Shikhar Dhawan in the team, while Mohit Sharma got his T20I debut.  Kohli...

With a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Bangladesh, India posted their third consecutive win in the 2014 ICC World T20. The Indian spinners responded to their captain’s call by restricting Bangladesh to 138 for seven after MS Dhoni opted to field first.     (Also Read:  Stats Highlights: Bangladesh vs India – WT20 2014  ) While Ravichandran Ashwin (2/15) applied the breaks at the top, India’s man of the moment, Amit Mishra (3/26), spun a web around the Bangladesh batsmen later in the innings. Unfortunately, both spinners missed out on hat-tricks. Rohit Sharma (56) and Virat Kohli (56*) then helped India to an easy victory.  Earlier, with 13 runs off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first over, the Bangladesh openers had got their team off a good start despite Ashwin’s miserly bowling at the other end. Tamim Iqbal picked a boundary through the slips, while Anamul Haque sent the pacer through the covers and claimed four runs to deep square leg. The beating forced D...

127  Number of stumpings effected by MS Dhoni in all international cricket. He now shares the record for most stumpings in international cricket with Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara.  (Also Read:  Report: India vs West Indies – WT20 2014  ) 103.03  Chris Gayle’s strike-rate in the match – his second worst while facing 25 or more balls in an innings in Twenty20 Internationals. Interestingly, his worst (78.57) also came against India when he scored 22 off 28 balls at Lord’s in 2009. 16  Number of dot balls bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the match – most by any bowler in a three-over spell in Twenty20 Internationals. He now shares the record with Ireland’s Alex Cusack and South Africa’s Dale Steyn. 2  Number of batsmen who scored 50s in the Indian innings – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. This provided only the third instance of two Indian batsmen scoring 50s together in the same innings in a T20I. 1  Amit Mishra became the first Indian to win Man o...

The opposition was different but the script remained similar for India as they cantered to their second victory in the 2014 ICC World T20. After the spinners restricted West Indies to 130 runs, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took India to a seven-wicket win at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. Unbeaten on 62, Rohit anchored the innings to attain the target with two balls to spare.    (Also Read:  Stats Highlights: India vs West Indies – WT20 2014  ) Once again, MS Dhoni opted to field first, and his spin attack once again responded by keeping the defending champions to a modest total, after Bhuvneshwar Kumar posed questions early on. The wiry pacer bowled a superb initial spell of 3-0-3-0.  After surviving a chance while on the zero, Chris Gayle unleashed himself on Shami. He pulled the pacer over mid-wicket for six and then sent him racing for four in the same area. While Dwayne Smith struggled, the big-hitting opener kept the scoreboard moving. He als...

In the format where spinners prefer to contain the flow of runs by bowling a flat trajectory, Amit Mishra is a rare exception. The leg-spinner has achieved recent success in the Twenty20 format by sticking to his attacking instincts, which is to bowl to pick wickets. (Also Read: Stats Highlights: India vs Pakistan – WT20 2014 ) "I am not afraid of flighting the ball because I always think about taking wickets and not restricting the batsmen,” Mishra said after bowling India to a win against Pakistan in Mirpur. “I believe you can never succeed trying to stop the flow of runs instead of trying to take wickets. If you try to take wickets, you can put pressure on the batsman," Mishra said after his Man of the Match winning performance of 4-1-22-2 in India’s first game of the World Twenty20. (Also Read: Report: India vs Pakistan – WT20 2014 ) Mishra said his belief also got the approval from his captain, who encouraged him to bowl to his strengths. "The cap...

0 India have never lost to Pakistan in a World Cup match. They have won all four encounters in World T20 and all five in ODI World Cup. So, the Men in Blue are now 9-0 against their archrivals in World Cup competition. (Also Read: Report: India vs Pakistan – WT20 2014 ) 2 Number of times Suresh Raina has taken three catches in a Twenty20 International match. He now joins Ross Taylor as the only other fielder to do so more than once. (Also Read: I always think about taking wickets: Amit Mishra ) 4 Number of times Kamran Akmal has been dismissed run-out in T20Is. Two of them have come against India, making him the first batsman to suffer this fate. His brother Umar holds the Pakistani record with 5 run-outs. 33 Number of wickets taken by Saeed Ajmal in World T20. With this he equalled Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga’s tally of most wickets in the tournament. 1011  Number of days after which Amit Mishra appeared in a Twenty20 International. He made his T20I d...

India opened their account in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 with a seven-wicket win over archrivals Pakistan in their opening game of the tournament. In the Group 2 encounter, the Indian bowlers set up the game in their team’s favour by restricting Pakistan to 130 for seven. And later, following a 54-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina took India across the line with a 66-run unbroken partnership. (Also Read: Stats Highlights: India vs Pakistan – WT20 2014 ) Opting to field first, MS Dhoni opened the bowling with Ravichandran Ashwin. India went into the game armed with the spin trio of Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra, to complement the pace of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami. The spinners proved to be economical as India restricted Pakistan to a modest total. (Also Read: I always think about taking wickets: Amit Mishra ) Pakistan were on 115 for six till the 19th over. But Sohaib Maqsood unleashed h...

India’s Virat Kohli has reclaimed the number-one batting position in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen, which were released on Sunday at the conclusion of the Asia Cup which was won by Sri Lanka. Kohli had entered the Asia Cup, trailing number-one ranked AB de Villiers by two ratings points. Kohli’s tournament aggregate of 189 runs in three innings, with 136 against Bangladesh as his series best earned him 12 ratings points, which has put him ahead of South Africa’s ODI captain by nine ratings points. Following his knock of 136, Kohli had achieved his career high rating of 886 but finished with 881 ratings points after scores of 48 (against Sri Lanka) and five (against Pakistan). Kohli didn’t bat against Afghanistan. Kohli was last ranked number-one just before the ODI series against New Zealand in January 2014. Strong batting performances in the Asia Cup have resulted in a reshuffle of the positions, with Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne, who won the pl...

This was the 11th time these two sides were meeting in the Asia Cup. The record now reads: India 5, Pakistan 5, No Result 1.    (Also Read:  Report: India vs Pakistan – Asia Cup 2014 ) This was the 10th encounter between these two sides in Bangladesh. India are still ahead with a 6-4 record. Mohammad Talha was making his ODI debut. He became the 197th player to represent Pakistan in ODIs – and the 16th to make his ODI debut against India (later in the game, he suffered the ignominy of becoming first Pakistani to get a duck against India in his debut game). Amit Mishra made yet another comeback to the Indian side. Interestingly, he had made his ODI debut way back in 2003, but has played only 22 games thus far. Rohit Sharma made his fourth 50 against Pakistan. Plus, his strike-rate in this match (96.55) is his highest against Pakistan in an innings. In fact, it was the fifth highest for Rohit in an innings where he’s scored 50 or more. Virat Kohli has now aggregated 266...