India coach Gautam Gambhir on Monday backed "incredibly tough men" Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to prove their critics wrong and find form in Australia.
India must start planning for Rohit Sharma's successor if the team do not play well in their five-Test series in Australia as the captain could well retire from the longest format, former skipper Krishnamachari Srikkanth has said.
With Australia looming large, the form of 37-year-old Rohit and superstar batsman Kohli, 35, is of particular concern to Indian cricket fans.
After India's batting frailties were brutally exposed in a 3-0 home series defeat by New Zealand, captain Rohit Sharma said it was important that his players get in the right frame of mind for what promises to be a challenging tour of Australia.
After stunning victories in Bengaluru and Pune, the Black Caps won the third Test in Mumbai by 25 runs to become the first team to whitewash India at home in a series featuring three or more matches.
Batsmen have forgotten how to defend in Test cricket because of the T20 game, India coach Gautam Gambhir said Thursday ahead of the third and final match against New Zealand.
Through three World Cup titles, two World Test Championship (WTC) finals, and a 12-year Test series winning streak on home soil, Kohli and Sharma, often together, have been integral to every major Indian success of the last 17 years.
After a surprising series defeat by New Zealand, India's skipper Rohit Sharma said undue expectation was being put on frontline spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, as he called for more collective bowling efforts to win Test matches.
Seamer Mohammed Shami will not play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy test series against Australia while spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been sidelined with a groin injury as the country's cricket board (BCCI) announced an 18-member squad on Friday.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first in their highly-anticipated clash of the World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today.
India skipper Rohit Sharma on Friday said the team remains confident going into a "massive" World Cup clash with arch-rivals Pakistan at the world's biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
Skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday slammed a record seventh World Cup century as India hammered Afghanistan by eight wickets in New Delhi.
Chasing 273 for victory, Rohit tore into the opposition attack at New Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium.
India's Rohit Sharma hit his 554th career six during the World Cup match against Afghanistan on Wednesday, surpassing the mark of West Indies star Chris Gayle.
Hosts India will be eyeing a near-perfect game to maintain their impressive form today against a sprightly Afghanistan in their second match of the ICC World Cup.
“The footwork is palpably slow to start with, and that makes him vulnerable to the incoming delivery. If he can rediscover the 2019 form, then India will be assured of a very good start to their campaign,” Gavaskar said.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said Saturday that a World Cup win at home was "unfinished business" for his men, channelling the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's words before the 2011 triumph that capped his career.
India skipper, however, said he appreciates "what's at stake" but will not get bogged down by the weight of expectation on his team to win another World Cup title at home.
Rohit is the only man to have made three double centuries in ODI cricket -- 208 against Sri Lanka in 2017, 209 against Australia in 2013 and the all-time highest of 264 facing Sri Lanka in 2014.