Saurabh Sunil Tiwary (Hindi/Bhojpuri: सौरभ) (born 30 December 1989, in Ramgarh, Jharkhand) is an Indian One Day International and first class cricketer. Tiwary is a left-handed middle order batsman. He was one of the key batsmen in the Indian team that won the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia. He was born in a bihari family in Bhagalpur, Bihar and brought up in Jamshedpur.

He represented Mumbai Indians from the 2008 Indian Premier League. He has become a regular player for them in the IPL 2010, where he was dubbed as a left-handed version of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

He has won the Under-23 player of the tournament for IPL 2010 representing Mumbai Indians as he had a fairly successful tournament, scoring 419 runs in 16 matches, at an average of 29.92 and strike rate of 135.59. He was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2011 Indian Premier League at a price of USD 1.6 million..

He was called into the squad for the 2010 Asia Cup, but did not play. He made his ODI debut against Australia in Visakhapatnam in October 2010 after a few first-choice players were rested.

Ishant Sharma  pronunciation (help·info) (born 2 September 1988) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm fast-medium bowler. Sharma has a high arm delivery action and does not swing the ball but depends on pace and movement off the seam.

At the age of 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006–07. However, after receiving the call and organising travel arrangements, it was decided not to send him on the tour. In reference to his height and lean physique, the 1.92-metre (6 ft 4 in) bowler is nicknamed Lambu. In 2011 he became the fifth youngest player to take 100 Test wickets.

Ishant plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and has taken 68 wickets in 14 first-class games, including a five-wicket haul against Baroda on the opening day of a match Delhi drew after failing to bowl Baroda out on the fourth day.

Ishant toured England with the India Under-19s in 2006 and Pakistan in 2006–07. He played three youth tests and six youth One Day Internationals for India.

Dale Willem Steyn (pronounced /ˈsteɪn/) (born 27 June 1983) is a South African cricketer who plays in Test and One Day International cricket for South Africa. He has been the number one ranked Test bowler in the world for the past three years and achieved the 900+ points benchmark on 13th Nov 2011. Steyn plays domestic cricket in South Africa for Cape Cobras. He is a right-arm fast bowler, and bowls at speeds of around 145–150 km/h (his fastest being recorded at 156.2 km/h during the 2010 IPL, Bangalore Royal Challengers against Kolkata Knight Riders). Steyn holds the record for the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Test Match cricket, a feat he achieved on 2 March 2008. Steyn currently has the third best bowling strike rate of all time in Test match cricket (amongst bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 2500 deliveries), behind George Lohmann and Shane Bond. He achieved a tally of 78 wickets at the world class average of 16.24 in Season 2007/08 and was subsequently rewarded with the prestigious ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award.

Amit Mishra  pronunciation (help·info) (born 24 November 1982) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right arm leg break bowler and right-handed lower order batsman. He usually bats number 10 or 11. Mishra is an attacking leg spinner who bowls leg break.

Mishra was initially called into the Indian squad for a Test against the West Indies in 2002, but was not selected. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut against South Africa during the TVS Cup in 2003. He plays for Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League.

Mishra made his Test cricket debut against Australia in the Second Test at Mohali (PCA ground) after captain and first-choice leg spinner Anil Kumble was injured. He took 5 wickets for 71 runs in Australia's first innings and then 2/35 in the second, making him the leading wicket-taker in the match as India proceeded to a decisive victory. Despite, this Indian coach Gary Kirsten said that Mishra would be dropped if Kumble recovered for the Third Test. However, Harbhajan Singh was injured so Mishra retained his place when Kumble came in. Kumble was then injured during the Test and retired, leaving Mishra as India's first-choice Test leg spinner.

Anil Radhakrishna Kumble or Anil Kumble ( pronunciation (help·info); born 17 October 1970) nicknamed "Jumbo", born in Bangalore, Karnataka is a former Indian cricketer and a captain of the Indian Test Cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin (legbreak googly) bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test cricket and One Day International cricket. He is also the first and the only cricketer in the history of Indian Test Cricket to have taken a 10-wicket haul. With more than 600 Test wickets, he is the third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, only the third bowler to achieve this record and the first bowler from India to do so. Since his debut in international cricket on 25 April 1990, he has taken 619 Test wickets and 337 ODI wickets.

Kumble was appointed as the captain of the Indian Test cricket team on 8 November 2007. He succeeded his state team mate Rahul Dravid, who resigned as the captain in September 2007. His first series as captain of Indian Test team was a three-match series against Pakistan which was played in India. The team won that series by 1–0.