Indian Cricket Team Updates

Everything went according to plan for India at the WACA. The bowlers worked as a unit, put pressure on the Windies batsmen and bundled them out for 182. In the run-chase though on what was thought of as a cake walk, India stuttered. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and finally for the first time in the tournament, India were under the pump. It required a disciplined batting effort to take India through and it came from their captain who led India to a close four-wicket victory scoring an unbeaten 45. There was a time in the innings when India had lost its top five and wanted Ravindra Jadeja the batsman to show character and play a supporting role to his captain. Jadeja instead lived dangerously, flashed a few and ultimately mistimed a pull and gave away his wicket at a crucial juncture of the match. “I think he needs to improve,” Dhoni said, reviewing Jadeja’s performance of late. “He needs to step up because we have a lot of faith in him. But at the end of the day you...

As India gear up for the ODI leg of their Australian tour, their eyes are firmly fixed on the big prize – the World Cup. Before that they play a tri-nation ODI series against Australia and England, which captain MS Dhoni said will be a preparation ground for their World Champions title defense. “In this series the most important thing for us will be to get the combination right for the World Cup,” Dhoni said ahead of their first match of the tri-series, against Australia, on Sunday. “At the same time we will ensure that we don’t push the players who have minor niggles so they don’t end up being major injuries. We will give them the extra time because we want every player to be at least 80 to 90 per cent fit going into a game.” Of the players with niggles are Ishant Sharma (left knee) and Ravindra Jadeja (left shoulder) and Dhoni said the two players will not be available for selection for the MCG ODI. “There are quite a few players with a bit of niggle here and there and we are mon...

The match was the 50th between India and West Indies on Indian soil. Only Australia (51) have played India more often in India.    (Also Read:  Report: India vs West Indies, 4th ODI ) MS Dhoni was playing his 250th ODI. He became first Indian and only the fourth wicketkeeper after Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Boucher and Adam Gilchrist to reach this mark. Virat Kohli (127) scored his 20th ODI hundred – his third against West Indies. Kohli took 133 innings to score 20 ODI hundreds, which makes him the quickest to reach this mark. Sachin Tendulkar held the previous record taking 197 innings. The hundred was Kohli’s eighth on Indian soil. This takes him ahead MS Dhoni’s tally of seven hundreds in India. Now only Sachin Tendulkar (20) has scored more ODI hundreds on Indian soil. Kohli on 17, completed his 1000 runs against West Indies. He became the fourth Indian to do so after Sachin Tendulkar (1573), Rahul Dravid (1348) and Sourav Ganguly (1142). By taking 21 inni...

The Chennai Super Kings took one step closer to progressing to the semi-finals of the Oppo CLT20 2014 after they defeated the Perth Scorchers by 13 runs in their final group stage match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Despite starting poorly, CSK recovered through a rearguard partnership between skipper MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to set a competitive target, and then bowled and fielded with a high degree of intensity to restrict the Scorchers to 142 for 7.  (Also Read:  QUICK STATS: M15 - PERTH SCORCHERS V CHENNAI SUPER KINGS ) Earlier in the evening, a stunning rescue-from-the-dumps kind of an association between Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni powered the Chennai Super Kings, who were put in to bat, to a respectable 155. On a sticky surface where the spinners got plenty of purchase, where the ball kept low many a times and didn’t offer the batsmen too much pace, CSK – courtesy some poor shot selection - found themselves in a miserable situation at 82 for 5 head...

Alastair Cook was captaining England for the 63rd time in an ODI. He now holds the record of captaining England on most occasions in ODIs, surpassing Andrew Strauss’ tally of 62 matches. ( Also Read:   Joe Root century sets up win for England ) Cook also became England’s leading run-scoring captain in ODIs. At the end of this match his tally stands at 2383, which takes him past Strauss’ tally of 2367 runs.  ( Also Read:  Skipper MS Dhoni lists positives from England series and points out areas that need improvement ) Joe Root (113) made his second ODI hundred in 36th match. This was also his highest score in ODIs. He had made 107 against West Indies at North South earlier this year. At 23 years 249 days Root is the third youngest England batsman to score an ODI hundred in England after David Gower (21 years 55 days) and Alastair Cook (22 years 239 days). Before this match, Root had scored 448 runs in 20 matches at home at an average of 23.58 with a highest of 68, whi...

India lost the last ODI of the five-match bilateral series by 41 runs at Leeds. Put in to bat at Headingley, England put up an improved performance, courtesy a diligently complied century by Joe Root to set India a challenging target. A 108-run partnership between the middle-order batsman and Joss Buttler gave the hosts the necessary boost to post 294/7 in fifty overs. The Indian batsmen were then kept on a tight leash by the English bowlers. They lost Ajinkya Rahane without a run on board and were left struggling on 49/3 at the end of 14 overs. The visitors couldn’t recover from the early blows and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 253 with eight balls to spare.  ( Also Read:  Stats Highlights: England vs India, 5th ODI ) Earlier, England’s brisk start showed positive intent after losing the toss once again. The opening stand was however halted for 23 by Umesh Yadav in the fourth over of the day. Replacing Dhawal Kulkarni in the team,...

With a thumping 133-run win over England in the second ODI, India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series. Suresh Raina propelled India to 304/6 with a sparkling century to setup the match for the visitors. Building on the 91-run platform laid by Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane after Chris Woakes had left India on 19/2, Raina put India in a commanding position with a 144-run stand with MS Dhoni. (Also Read:  S tats Highlights: England vs India, 2nd ODI ) However, with rain making an appearance and delaying the start of the England innings, the hosts’ target was revised to 295 runs of 47 overs. Although the Indian bowlers conceded runs early on, Mohammed Shami applied the break on the England innings by removing Alastair Cook for 19 with England having registered 54 runs on the board. India then struck at regular intervals, never letting the hosts get back into the game as they pushed towards victory.  Under the grey skies at Cardiff, India bowled England out for 1...

Ian Bell (167) made his third score in excess of 150 against India. He now shares the English record of most 150+ scores against India with Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook. (Also Read:  Report: England vs India, 3rd Investec Test - Day 2 ) Ian Bell, on 99, completed his 7,000 Test runs. He became 11th Englishman to do so. Gary Ballance (156) made his highest Test score, beating 110 also against India at Lord’s. Jos Buttler’s strike-rate of 102.40 (85 off 83 balls) is the second highest for a debutant in an innings of 80 or more. Only Shikhar Dhawan managed a higher strike-rate: 107.47 (187 off 174 balls) vs Australia at Mohali in 2012-13. Buttler’s innings is the highest by a wicketkeeper on Test debut against India, beating West Indies’ Desmond Lewis’ 81* at Georgetown in 1970-71. England’s 569 for seven declared provided the 45th instance of a side scoring 500 against India in first innings of a Test. Only once have India managed to win a Test out of 44 previous instances....