Dhawan ton spurs India against Zimbabwe

Opener Shikhar Dhawan took advantage of the three lives handed to him during the Indian innings as his 116 powered India to an imposing total in the second one-day international against Zimbabwe.

Dhawan was caught off a no-ball and then dropped twice on the way to his third one-day century, which helped India post 294 for eight after they were put in to bat by Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor.

Power of David Miller

David Miller came up with a blistering knock while Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Farhaan Behardien came up with fine efforts with the ball as South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 56 runs in the third ODI at Pallekele. Opting to bat, the visitors were reeling at 154/7 in the 42nd over before Miller's quick-fire 85 off 72 balls lifted them to a competitive 223/7. In reply, a fighting 65 from Thisara Perera went in vain as Sri Lanka were bowled out 167 with Tsotsobe (4/22) and Behardien (3/19) doing the bulk of the damage.

The victory was South Africa's first against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka since September 2nd, 1993 and skipper AB de Villiers was pleased that the visiting team were finally able to end their losing streak. Speaking after the match, de Villiers said: "It's hard to explain how proud I'm of the guys. It wasn't an easy game. We've made a big step forward after today."

While praising Miller for his fine knock, de Villiers was also happy with the performances of Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel. The South African captain though mentioned that his team played irresponsibly at times and have to improve going forward. "Lopsy (Tsotsobe) is a class performer and bowled exceptionally well today. Morne was quite aggressive today, he is the leader of the attack and set the standards upfront. Very irresponsible cricket at times from us, a run-out and I take responsibility for that. I cost Faf (du Plessis) his wicket."

Home team captain Angelo Mathews, who was back in the side after missing the first two games due to a suspension, said Sri Lanka did a good job with the ball but failed to deliver in the end overs. The Lankan skipper also praised Thisara Perera for his breezy knock while asking for the rest of the batters to step up.

"Our bowlers did a brilliant job, except for the last three overs we did well. The batters have to step up. Thisara was batting on a different strip, in the end it was too much for him. I got out at the wrong time, with Thisara at the other end I should have hung out, but it was unfortunate. Unfortunately, we kept losing wickets at the wrong time."

Man of the Match Miller said it was a tough track to bat on with the ball not coming on to the bat. He also mentioned that they could not accelerate a lot earlier as they did not have wickets in hand.

"It was tough upfront. The wicket was really slow and it took time to adjust. (I) really don't know where the power comes from, (I) work hard in the nets and then play my shots. Our plan was to go hard late on as we didn't have wickets in hand, (we) should have gone a bit earlier."

Smith three quick strikes Australia on top

Ian Bell continued his impressive form as he struck his third consecutive Ashes century but leggie Steve Smith pulled back things in favour of Australia with his three quick strikes in the last hour on the first day of the second Test at the Lord`s on Thursday.

Australia, who were struck hard by reports of rift between Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, put up an unified show and made England suffer in the first and the last hour. In the middle session, Bell (109) did the scoring while Jonathan Trott (58) and Jonathan Bairtsow (67) also contributed half-centuries to the home side`s cause.

India defeat Sri Lanka to win Tri-nation trophy

A beaming India's skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after leading his team to an amazing victory in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka that he backed his instincts to get 15 runs in the last over to clinch the match.

Dhoni in his post-match remarks Thursday said he knew any bowler who was going to bowl the last over would not be as experienced as Lasith Malinga and he backed himself to get the required runs.

"I knew I could look forward to getting the 15 runs in the last over as Shaminda Eranga was an inexperienced bowler and my instinct worked today (Thursday)," Dhoni said.

Dhoni said he had to change his bat twice in the closing stages of the match as he needed a heavier bat.

Dhoni, who pushed his deputy Virat Kohli ahead to receive the $60,000 winners' cheque and the Celkon trophy along with him as Kohli had led the side to the final, said he was blessed with a smart cricketing sense in assessing the situation.

A distraught Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews felt that Dhoni was a great finisher and eventually he made the difference.

Stellar performance from Bhuvneshwar Kumar

A stellar performance from Bhuvneshwar Kumar coupled with some good support from Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma helped India thrash a woeful Sri Lanka by 81 runs in a rain reduced contest at Port-of-Spain. Chasing a Duckworth-Lewis revised 178 off 26 overs, Lanka were bundled out for a paltry 96. India stormed into the finals where once again they will face their familiar and favourite foes on Thursday.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field expecting some moisture and seam movement with the heavy conditions around. Dilhara Lokuhettige replaced the injured Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath came in for Senanayake. The opening seam bowling pair of Eranga and Dilhara bowled a testing initial spell, keeping the length full and swinging the ball in both directions. Rohit Sharma appeared in particular discomfort and was very circumspect.

India win again west indies by 102 runs

Virat Kohli starred with a terrific hundred
while the bowlers made full use of the helpful
conditions bowling West Indies out for 171 to
hand the visitors a huge 102-run win in a rain-
affected game in Trinidad. India wasted a fine
start provided by openers Shikhar Dhawan and
Rohit Sharma before Kohli took charge and
boosted India's total with his 14th ODI
hundred while pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav shared 8
wickets between them to help India notch up
an important win with the bonus point.
Chasing a massive 312-run target, West Indies
got off to a bad start when they lost two quick
wickets to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the fourth
ODI at Queen's Park Oval. Bhuvneshwar picked
up the wickets of the dangerous Chris Gayle
(10) and Darren Bravo (1) in successive overs
to rattle the West Indies run chase before rain
played spoilsport and stopped the game for
over an hour.

Sri Lanka wallop hapless India

Sri Lanka came storming back into the series with an astounding 161 run win over India. Upul Tharanga was the star with the bat, smashing an unbeaten 174, while Mahela Jayawardene too was equally impressive during his sublime 112 ball 107. On the bowling front, Rangana Herath and Sachithra Senanayake picked five wickets between them to leave India in dire straits as they slumped to their 2nd straight defeat in the tournament.

Chasing a mammoth 349 to win, India suffered early setbacks with both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan falling cheaply. India failed to recover from the blows and were left trailing throughout the chase thereafter.

Dhoni ruled out in tri series

The Indian cricket team was dealt a major
blow on Monday with captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni being ruled out of the remainder of the
ongoing tri-nation ODI series due to a
hamstring injury, prompting the BCCI to
appoint Virat Kohli as the stand-in skipper.
Batsman Ambati Rayudu will be flown in as
Dhoni's replacement.
"Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ruled out of
the ongoing tri-series in the West Indies, due
to a hamstring injury. The All-India Senior
Selection Committee has picked Ambati Rayudu
as his replacement in the squad. Rayudu will
join the team at the earliest," BCCI Secretary
Sanjay Patel said in a statement.
"Virat Kohli will lead India in the remainder of
the tri-series," the statement added. Dhoni did
not keep wickets against the West Indies
during the team's tri-nation series opener in
Jamaica yesterday after sustaining a hamstring
injury while batting.
Dhoni handed over the wicket-keeping duties
to teammate Dinesh Karthik in the match,
which the West Indies won by one wicket at
Sabina Park here. The 31-year-old skipper,
who led India's triumphant campaign at the
ICC Champions Trophy, was to be examined by
the doctors.
The Cricket Board sources had earlier stated
that Dhoni was "not feeling good". In Dhoni's
absence, India's nine-match winning streak was
brought to a halt, and they would look to get
over the disappointment of a narrow loss when
they take on familiar sub-continental foes Sri
Lanka in their second match of the series on
Tuesday.

India to host World T20 2016 and WC 2023

In a triple bonanza for India, it will host the World Twenty 20 Cup competition in 2016 and World Test Championship 2021, both for the first time, and the 50-over World Cup for the fourth time in 2023, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced in London on Saturday.

The three competitions were allotted to India by ICC at its annual conference which finalized its global events from 2015 to 2023.

According to an ICC media release, the first edition of the World Test Championship will be staged in 2017 by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in June-July 2017 while the second edition will be held in India in February-March 2021.

ICC's chief executive David Richardson also put speculation to rest about ICC Champions Trophy being continued.

West Indies Thriller win again India

A splendid effort by the bowlers coupled with a fantastic 97 from Johnson Charles and a fine half century from Darren Bravo helped the West Indies beat India by 1 wicket in a thriller at Sabina Park in Jamaica. After restricting India to a moderate 229/7, the West Indies scraped through with just over 2 overs to spare.

West Indies won the toss and put India in. Dwayne Bravo was forced to sit out with a groin injury. Kieron Pollard was leading the side in his absence. Ravi Rampaul also missed the fixture due to a sprained ankle. India went in with an unchanged eleven for the sixth game in a row.