The big news: India lose to Kiwis by 19 runs

New Zealand beat India by 19 runs to win the fourth One-Day International in Ranchi on Wednesday. The five-match series is tied at 2-2 and Saturday’s clash in Visakhapatnam will be the crucial decider. New Zealand opted to bat first after winning the toss and were restricted to 260/7 in their allotted 50 overs. India fancied their chances of a win, after chasing 285 successfully in the third ODI. However, India started off on the wrong foot with opener Rohit Sharma again falling cheaply on 11.

Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli put up a 79-run partnership to steady the ship. But the match turned on its head after both batsmen fell in a span of 30 runs and India were reduced to 128/3. The New Zealand bowlers then capitalised on the breakthrough and got the prized wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was bowled by James Neesham on 11. Tim Southee took two back-to-back wickets to leave India struggling at 154/6. Eventually, they wrapped up the Indian innings for 241 to win the match.

Other top stories

  1. Pakistan’s Younis Khan climbed to No. 2 in the International Cricket Council rankings for Test batsmen. This is the Khan's highest ranking since becoming No. 1 in March 2009. With 860 points, Khan leads England's Joe Root by eight points and trails Australia's Steven Smith by 46 points. Spin wizard Yasir Shah climbed back into the top five as well in the bowlers rankings after his stellar show in the second Test against West Indies.
  2. England’s Zafar Ansari is set make his Test debut in the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Friday. While Ansari played spectacularly for Surrey in the County Championship, he was set to make his Test debut a year ago if he hadn’t injured himself on the field.
  3. South Africa head coach Russell Domingo was given a contract extension until the end of the team's England tour next August. Domingo, whose contract was due to expire at the end of April 2017, will be in charge for the next 13 Test matches and the Champions Trophy in June 2017.
  4. The Pakistan Cricket Board has barred its players from doing push-ups or press-ups after wins. PCB chief Najam Sethi confirmed to the National Assembly committee that the players would now not celebrate like that every again. Lawmakers had raised questions over the team’s celebrations at Lord’s against England and then Azhar Ali against West Indies after scoring a triple hundred.
  5. KL Rahul will not play for Karnataka in their fourth-round Ranji Trophy match against Assam in Mumbai on Thursday. Rahul, recovering from a hamstring injury, is undergoing rehabilitation and is yet to go through a fitness test, according to the Karnataka State Cricket Association.
  6. The BCCI told the Supreme Court that 12 of its member associations have kept the funds received by the board in a term deposit and would not use the money, unless they received orders from the Apex Court. The member states include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.