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Despite being one of the superpowers in the world of cricket, India will be one of the last teams to feature in a pink Test - alongside Bangladesh. It will be the first taste of the pink ball for both sides and it promises to be a cracker of a spectacle in Kolkata from 22 November. In the context of the series, India would start as overwhelming favourites. The visitors’ poor show in the first match was indicative of the gulf between the two sides in terms of quality and experience....

Stephen Constantine has handpicked a 22-member squad for the all-important International friendly. The Blue Tigers have never been able to overpower The Dragons in their entire history. 12 out of their 17 matches between the two neighbouring nations have been won by China while 5 ended in a stalemate. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is expected to guard the Indian goal, while there are a plethora of excellent options at the back – with Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Subhasish Bose, and Narayan Das all in the squad....

Here’s a look at all the numbers from Day Two: 80- England lost half their side on Friday with the score at 80. This is now their 6th lowest score after losing five wickets against India on Indian soil. In Ahmedabad in 2012 in the first innings, England had lost 5 wickets with 69 runs on the board. 1-Moeen Ali’s strike rate of 47.6 against India is now the best for any spin bowler with 25+ wickets in the last fifty years....

While India undeniably hold the upper hand in terms of form and history in the longest format of the game, the 55th Test match between the two sides will certainly be interesting as it will see two young teams with big futures ahead of them, taking each other on. New Zealand may not have won a Test series in India and it will be interesting to see how they go about toppling an in-form side in their own backyard....

That is India’s ODI team for the upcoming South Africa series. The tour gets underway with the first of three ODIs starting December 5, followed by the two Tests. Obvious and expected – that’s the normal reaction when one glances through the team. You don’t make many changes to a team that’s winning and is sitting at the top of the charts in the ODI rankings and to be fair, the selectors have got it right....

The biggest talking point from India’s squad selection is the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, alongside India’s leg-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Kohli will be returning as T20I skipper while his deputy Rohit Sharma, who was expected to be rested for the ODI series, has also been included. Also see – Big Bash League schedule India have picked a full-strength team for the series, which is not a surprise....

Asked whether a Chess Olympiad Gold was a possibility, Anand said, “Of course, we (India) will one of the top five- six teams (at the Chess Olympiad), even that by very small rating points. It will be silly to rule out the gold (medal) because of the nature of the Olympiad and the Swiss format. We have a good chance but so do many other (teams).” “Of course I was curious about playing it (Chess Olympiad), under different circumstances I might have played it earlier but it’s nice that I can come back now and play it,” he said during the final day of the IIFL Wealth 3rd Mumbai International Chess Tournament....

Team India has to tick many boxes in the upcoming match as they are struggling in the T20I format. They have lost another T20I at home series following their series defeat in New Zealand. Smriti Mandhana’s form is also a sight of worry for the hosts who are already without their regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in this series. Having lost both their matches at the same venue, India would be eyeing to bounce back in this final game against an in-form opponent....

“So far, the Indian players have let themselves and their supporters down. The batting has been so naive and irresponsible, it has bordered on stupidity. Wafting drives at tempting outswingers is thoughtless,” Boycott wrote in his column for the ‘Daily Telegraph’. Boycott, who had famously coined the moniker ‘Prince of Calcutta’ for former India captain Sourav Ganguly, felt that the Indian batsmen lack application while trying to flick outswingers, referring to Murali Vijay’s mode of dismissals....

I must say that there’s something about this Indian team that I missed when the squad was first announced in May. Perhaps not the greatest line-up on paper in terms of experience, there were enough apprehensions when the likes of Yuvraj and Gambhir didn’t find a place in the final squad. However, the younger players have reveled in such a scenario and have sufficiently done their bit to prove a number of detractors wrong....

The academy runs on a residential basis and imparts systematic and scientific training. It also grooms the youngsters to become full-fledged professional players. It takes care of the formal education of the trainees during the four year training period. The academy presently has an intake capacity of 36 boys being trained at its Sankhali premises. Also read: Goa Super Cup: Elite league to feature established youth teams like Dempo, AIFF Elite Academy...

Squad Goalkeepers: Atanu Bhattacharya (Bengal), Brahmanand Shankwalkar (Salgaocar SC). Defenders: Sudip Chatterjee (East Bengal Club - CAPTAIN), Krishendu Roy (Bengal), Tarun Dey (Bengal), Aloke Mukherjee (Bengal), Derrick Pereira (Goa), V.P. Sathyan (Kerala Police), Charanjit Singh (Punjab State Electricity Board). Midfielders: Prasanta Banerjee (Bengal), Bikash Panji (East Bengal Club), Debashish Mishra (East Bengal Club), Mauricio Afonso (Dempo SC). Forwards: Krishanu Dey (East Bengal Club), Biswajit Bhattacharya (East Bengal Club), Babu Mani (Bengal), Sisir Ghosh (Bengal), Camillo Gonsalves (Goa)....

It was India’s highest total in a test match against the West Indies, with Jadeja (100 not out) reaching his maiden hundred after Kohli departed for 139 — his 23rd test century. Prithvi Shaw, an 18-year-old debutant opener, had scored 134 on Day 1. In the West Indies’ reply, Kraigg Brathwaite (two) and Kieran Powell (one) fell to Mohammed Shami in the first five overs before India’s spinners took over....

said India have a “lot of ground to cover” in terms of winning series overseas but hoped they will have the last laugh in the ongoing duel in Australia. Heaping praise on Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s aggressive captaincy, Richards said that sledging sometimes helps the team and players bring the best out of them. “Earlier, India used to play with four spinners. They now have four fast bowlers. It is good that things have changed....

On being quizzed further if she thinks Saina Nehwal, who too has returned from a knee surgery, can get back to the top, the Spaniard made it clear that she would not allow competition from anyone else. “I would like to be the World No.1. So, I don’t think I am going to allow it”, the southpaw said with a smile, adding, “But there are some top players in the top 10....

Team India has also been a successful team in World Cup history. India won its first World Cup title under the leadership of the great Kapil Dev, beating the invincible looking West Indies in the final in 1983. Then, after a long wait of 28 years, the Men in Blue won the World Cup on home soil under the charismatic leadership of MS Dhoni. Moreover, Team India is considered to be the top favourite to win the 2019 World Cup too....

Though the immediate years following the World Cup did not bring much glory, the Indian team bounced back with a strong performance in the 2014 T20I World-Cup where they fell just a step short of the title as they were defeated by Sri Lanka in the finals. There was no looking back after that and the Indian team managed to find a set of core match-winners in the shortest format of the game and team’s performance in the past couple of years irrefutably advocates the same....

India has played 63 Tests in England, winning only 7 and losing 35 of them. The Indian batsmen have always struggled on the green pitches of England, whereas the spinners do not get the ambient amount of turn, which has been India’s headache over the years. India had to wait 39 years for their first Test victory in England. Since then, whenever India won a game, it has been memorable for every Indian cricket fanatic....

Trapped in front by a Ravindra Jadeja delivery, Cook reviewed but could not get the lbw decision overturned in what was a massive blow to England ahead of an intriguing fifth day’s play on Monday. Joe Root was batting on five with the tourists on 87-2, still needing 318 runs for an improbable victory on a track offering significant turn and uneven bounce. Chasing a daunting 405 on a deteriorating wicket, Cook and Haseem Hameed initially defied the Indian bowlers, who could not separate the openers in the afternoon session....