Washington Sundar spun a web around the India Blue batsmen for his successive five-wicket haul of the match as India Red emerged champions of the Duleep Trophy with a 163-run victory, in Lucknow, on Thursday.
Mumbai defeated Vidarbha by six wickets in their Super League Group B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, in Indore, on Monday.
Skipper Parthiv Patel struck an exemplary fifty, while Axar Patel chipped in with an unbeaten 36, after picking two crucial wickets, as Gujarat edged out Vidarbha by two wickets and advanced to the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-day tournament, in Alur, Karnataka, on Thursday.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting began his new innings as the head coach of the Mumbai Indians who commenced their training at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the Indian Premier League season 8, scheduled to start on April 8.
The domestic season-ending five-day Irani Cup game between newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing in Mumbai from Sunday, will provide fringe players a good opportunity to stake claims for the national team. The first class match is the last occasion for hopefuls from both ranks to impress the five-member national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil before attention shifts totally to the T20 format, commencing with the ICC World T20 Championships. With the country expected to play over 15 Test matches post Indian Premier League till the end of next season, this match is the ideal platform for these players to strengthen their claims for the long Test haul. Mumbai, who clinched the Ranji crown for the 41st time last week by defeating Saurashtra by an innings, have a settled combination led by wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare. They appear to be better prepared than the motley bunch of Rest of India, being led by Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. However, they would take the Rest of India lightly at their own peril as the latter have a good bowling attack at their command even without originally named Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh who have been injured and replaced by Ankit Rajpoot and Anureet Singh, according to their coach Ashish Kapoor.
Senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will lead India Red, India Blue and India Green teams respectively in the Duleep Trophy to be played at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium from August 23 to September 14. The four-day tournament will be played for the first time with pink ball and under lights.
India Red predictably completed the formalities polishing off the India Green lower order early on the fourth and final day to win the inaugural Day-Night Duleep Trophy encounter by a comprehensive 219-run margin in Noida.
Vidarbha claimed their maiden Ranji Trophy after beating Delhi by nine wickets in the final of India's premier domestic tournament, in Indore, on Monday.
Saurashtra batsmen survived nasty body blows from Umesh Yadav during their gallant fight against Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy final, which is now on even keel after third day.
Displaying steely resolve, Dhruv Shorey stood out with an unbeaten century and steered Delhi to 271 for six, but Vidarbha did just enough to share honours on day one of the Ranji Trophy final in Indore.
It was batters who mostly lead their teams to victories and some into the knock-outs. While Mumbai trailblazer Sarfaraz Khan continues to find the big runs, Baba Indrajith's consistency wasn't enough for Tamil Nadu to make even the top two in Group H.
Saurashtra were best chasers during the knockout stage but their reliable batsmen came a cropper in the most-important clash.
A round-up of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played across the country on Saturday.
Arjun Tendulkar, son of cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and a left-arm pacer, has been named in the 15-member Mumbai squad for the upcoming 'Bapuna Cup' to be held in Nagpur.
Young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav kept the opposition batsmen on tenterhooks with a maiden five wicket haul as he took India Red on the cusp of an outright victory against the Green team in the inaugural Day/Night Duleep Trophy encounter in Greater Noida on Thursday. Chasing a mammoth victory target of 497, the Green team was tottering at 217/7 at the end of penultimate evening with another 280 runs to win the match. Suresh Raina was at the crease batting on 35.
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
Railways seamer Anureet Singh's five-wicket haul kept them in the hunt for the quarter-finals as they got three crucial points against Jammu and Kashmir by virtue of a first innings lead in a rain-curtailed Group B league match of the Ranji Trophy, in a home tie in New Delhi on Saturday.
Results from final league games of Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament
With spinners extracting significant turn and bounce exploiting the roughs, Sarwate (3/55) and off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (2/42) blew away Saurashtra's top half to seize the momentum.
Pacers Basil Thampi and Sandeep Warrier powered Kerala into the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy as the hosts registered a thumping 113-run win over Gujarat, on Day 3, in Wayanad, on Thursday.
At stumps on the second day, Jaffer was batting on 61 off 120 balls and Akshay Wakhare was yet to open his account, as Vidabha trailed by 89 runs.
An inconsistent Delhi Daredevils will look to break the home jinx when they take on Mumbai Indians in their sixth match of the IPL cricket tournament at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi on Thursday.
Nothing but a win will keep their play-off hopes alive as defending champions Mumbai Indians take on Gujarat Lions in a do-or-die battle, which will be their final IPL league match in Kanpur on Saturday. With seven wins in 13 matches, Mumbai are currently placed fifth, tied on 14 points with Royal Challengers Bangalore (3rd) and Kolkata Knight Riders (4th) -- both having better net run-rate with one match to go. A loss on Saturday will knock them out of the race for play-offs and Mumbai will hope to pull the rug from under the feet of the Lions this time after suffering a defeat during their home leg on April 16.
Mumbai Indians seek to maintain momentum against Kings XI Punjab.
Mumbai Indians will look to continue their rampaging run when they take on the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Youngster Shreyas Iyer slammed his third ton of the season, a strokeful 137, while senior batsman Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 110 as Mumbai made an imposing 407 for four on day one of their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Back in the top half of the league table after a convincing win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils will look to build on the winning momentum when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
Even as they struggle to find the winning formula, laggards Kings XI Punjab will still fancy their chances when they host Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Mohali on Monday.
Erratic Sunrisers Hyderabad look to bounce back against inconsistent Mumbai Indians.
Deepak Chahar's heroics (four wickets in an over) went in vain as Rajasthan went down by 1 run
590 cricketers -- including 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players -- will go under the hammer during the two-day mega auction in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.
Round up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country
The Pune outfit is presently languishing at the sixth spot in the eight-team standings with just four points.
Mumbai Indians are all set to open the defense of their title against new outfit Rising Pune Supergiants.
Buoyed by their thrilling last-ball win against Delhi Daredevils, a confident Rajasthan Royals will take on a beleaguered Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League cricket encounter in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Former captain Vinay Kumar hit an unbeaten 83 and shared a crucial 97-run stand for the last wicket Ronit More (10) to help Karnataka take a 39-run first innings lead against Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will be looking to take the confidence from their Monday night's nerve-wracking one-run victory when they clash with Mumbai Indians.
On a roll after a poor start, Delhi Daredevils will look to complete a hat-trick of victories on home turf when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter, in New Delhi on Saturday.
Pushed to the bottom of the table following their fifth defeat in six outings, former champions Mumbai Indians will look to keep their chances alive when they face a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad in a crucial Indian Premier League game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
A round-up of results from the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.