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India have a new coach in Rahul Dravid, while Rohit Sharma has replaced Virat Kohli as the skipper. The home team too has gone through a transformation. Led by new skipper Ben Stokes, they have just won two Test matches against New Zealand. Having sealed the series, they play the last fixture starting on Thursday before heading to Edgbaston, where they take on India from July 1.
The Rohit Sharma-led Indian Test squad is currently in Leicester in preparation for the fifth rescheduled Test against England to be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 1-5. India currently lead the Test series 2-1. India have named a strong 17-member squad for the Test and all eye will be on the squad which is just a draw away from sealing a famous series win. Currently India are the No. 2 side in the ICC Test rankings while the Ben Stokes-led England are No. 6.
The Rishabh Pant-led Indian cricket team drew 2-2 in the five match T20I series against South Africa after the fifth game was abandoned due to rain. It was the star wicketkeeper-batter's first series as India captain. Under Pant, the Men in Blue lost the first two games before bouncing back in style in the third and fourth matches. However, Pant's form with the bat was not up to the mark. In five matches, he scored only 58 runs at an average of 14.50.
Team India coach Rahul Dravid has gone on record to say that he wants to identify his core team for the tournament as soon as possible and by the end of the England T20Is in July, wants to have a fair idea about the 18 to 20-odd players he would be looking at ahead of the World Cup in Australia. Some of the regular players were rested for the series against South Africa. Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah were all rested. Surykumar Yadav was nursing an injury. KL Rahul was initially named the captain of the series before he got injured and Rishabh Pant was asked to lead for the first time. TimesofIndia.com here looks at players who were given a full run in the series, that is, they played all the five matches against South Africa and how some of them capitalised on the chances, while others failed to make the most of the opportunities - the hits and the misses. First a look at the players who made it count:
Glenn McGrath is viewed as one of the best bowlers to have ever played the sport and even after retiring, the former Australian pacer continues to impart knowledge to budding fast bowlers in India. McGrath is the Director of MRF Pace Foundation and is currently in the country to coach his wards. In a free-wheeling chat with NDTV over the phone, McGrath talked about the pace of Umran Malik, the form of Virat Kohli, and India's upcoming tour of England, comprising one Test, three ODIs, and three T20Is.
It was on this day, 11 years ago, that Virat Kohli made his debut in the longest format of the game. The right-handed Kohli had made his Test debut against the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, and in the game, he registered scores of 4 and 15. 11 years later, Kohli is one of the lynchpins of the Indian batting lineup and has made No.4 batting slot his own. Kohli also had a very successful captaincy reign in the longest format of the game.
India entered the five-match T20 series against a full-strength South Africa as the clear underdogs in the absence of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah.
Stand-in India captain Rishabh Pant was pleased with the way his team fought back in his first major test as skipper against South Africa to level the T20 series 2-2 after a washout in the fifth match on Sunday.