Rising Pune Supergiant, who have gone from strength to strength, will look to seal their place in the Play-offs with a win over inconsistent Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League in New Delhi, on Friday.
Skipper Vijay Zol continued his fine form as his century helped India colts thrash New Zealand by a whopping margin of 165 runs to register their third victory in an U-19 tri-series match in Darwin, on Thursday.
It was CSK who denied Delhi a top-two spot in the league standings with a crushing 80-run win at Chepauk and the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side stands in their way again, only the stakes are much higher.
The celebrated duo of head coach Ricky Ponting and mentor Sourav Ganguly has managed to instill belief in the team members and that is visible on the field. The team now seems to believe that it can win the title after a long spell as the perennial underachiever of the competition.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Tuesday
Sanju Samson and Kuldeep Yadav stole the limelight with individual brilliance as a strong India continued their unbeaten run with a crushing 245-run win over minnows Papua New Guinea in the Under-19 World Cup in Sharjah on Wednesday.
Skipper Sami Aslam (108) made a magnificent century as Pakistan colts held on to their nerves to pull off a narrow two-wicket win over India in the Under-19 Asia Cup in Dubai.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir led from the front with two half-centuries in the initial phase and when he failed to contribute, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey have stepped up to do the bulk of scoring.
Rising Pune Supergiant look to build on gains against Kings XI Punjab.
Skipper Vijay Zol continued to make merry against the Sri Lankan attack as he scored his second successive hundred of the series to give India's a huge first innings lead in the second and final 'Youth Test' in Kurunegala, on Tuesday.
List of players released by IPL teams ahead of next month's auction for 2020 season:
Axar Patel showed his all-round prowess with an unbeaten 69 as India 'A' posted 417 for 8 against South Africa 'A' and swelled their lead to 157 runs on a rain-hit third day in the second and final unofficial 'Test' in Wayanad, Kerala, on Thursday.
Their pride bruised following disastrous campaigns, Kings XI Punjab and Rising Pune Supergiants will look for a graceful exit from the ninth edition of the IPL when they square off against each other for one last time in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Supergiants are coming into the contest after a victory over Delhi Daredevils at the same venue, their home ground, while Punjab have lost their last two outings -- against RCB and table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad. Punjab's fourth and last win this season had come at this very ground, when they had got the better of Mumbai Indians.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim to stop a rampaging Rising Pune Supergiant when both teams meet in the Indian Premier League, on Saturday, in a bid to cement their place in the play-offs.
With a new captain in place, Rising Pune Supergiants would look to make amends for a poor last season but have a tough opening battle at hand against two-time former champions Mumbai Indians.
Deepak Hooda's all-round performance helped the Indian Under-19 cricket team register a comprehensive 148-run win over Zimbabwe in the opening match of the Quadrangular Under-19 One-Day Series, in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
Indian colts recorded their first victory in the tour of Sri Lanka as they beat the hosts by 22 runs in the second 'Youth ODI', in Kurunegala on Tuesday.
After making impressive debuts in their respective openers, Rising Pune Supergiants and GujaratLions will test each others' strengths when the two new entrants clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in Rajkot on Thursday. The two teams feature a lot of faces from the suspended Chennai Super Kings and at least six players, who played in the same side till last year, will now be in opposite camps. Close friends and CSK teammates Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina will now be devising strategies as rival captains. Both have admitted that playing in a jersey other than 'yellow' has been very "emotional" but have promised to give their all for their new teams. The Dhoni-led Pune Supergiants were very convincing and dominant when they handed defending champions Mumbai Indians a nine-wicket drubbing. They did not even require their middle order, packed with Dhoni himself and players such as Steven Smith, to come out with the top-order delivering it for them comfortably.
Ravindra Jadeja spiced up an otherwise uneventful final day with another lethal spell of left-arm spin as India Blue notched a crushing 355-run victory over India Red to win the inaugural day-night Duleep Trophy tournament, in Greater Noida, on Wednesday evening.
Led by aggressive Australian opener David Warner, Sunrisers would be relying mostly on foreigners to deliver the goods, given the scarcity of local stars in their ranks.
A determined Delhi Daredevils will make another push to stay in the hunt to make the playoffs when they take on bottom-placed Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
It will be a battle for survival for struggling Rising Pune Supergiants when they lock horns with formidable title-contenders Sunrisers Hyderabad in Tuesday's Indian Premier League match in Visakhapatnam.
Kings XI Punjab will be aiming to continue their late surge against Rising Pune Supergiant in a 'winner takes it all' Indian Premier League encounter, in Pune on Sunday.
Rising Pune Supergiants now face an uphill task of taming the rampaging Gujarat Lions in an Indian Premier League clash, in Pune, on Friday.
Abhinav Mukund and skipper Ambati Rayudu struck half-centuries as India A gained a slight edge, reaching 342 for six against South Africa A, thereby taking a 82-run lead at stumps on the second day of the second and final unofficial 'Test'.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel scalped five wickets as India 'A' spinners shot out South Africa 'A' for 260 on Day 1 of the second and final unofficial 'Test' in Wayanad, Kerala, on Tuesday.
Middle-order batsman Omphile Ramela struck an attractive century as South Africa 'A' posted a comfortable 293 for 4 on the opening day of the first unofficial 'Test' against India 'A', in Wayanad, Kerala, on Tuesday. Riding on the left-hander's 112 off 197 balls, the Proteas dictated terms after skipper Dane Vilas chose to bat.
Royal Challengers BangalorStruggling RCB face inconsistent Supergiant in must-win game will be striving to keep their IPL hopes alive when they meet an equally inconsistent Rising Pune Supergiant in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Pune on Saturday.
Shreyas Iyer smashed a hurricane hundred as the Indian colts beat Australia by 18 runs in a rain-curtailed match and enterd the final of the Under-19 Quadrangular tournament in Visakhapatnam on Friday. The victory enabled the India Under-19 team finish their league engagements unbeaten. They had earlier beaten South Africa and Zimbabwe.
A summary of the day's play in the Vijay Hazare One-day tournament.
Sarfaraz Khan's superb all-round showing and a five-wicket haul from Deepak Hooda helped India outclassed Pakistan by 40 runs in the Group A match of the ICC Under-World Cup in Dubai.
Sarfaraz Khan's brilliant all-round showing helped the Indian Under-19 team crush South Africa U-19 by 201 runs in the final to win the Quadrangular Series in Visakhapatnam.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to break the sequence of reverses and get Rising Pune Supergiants' campaign back on track when they lock horns with in-form Kolkata Knight Riders.
India skipper Vijay Zol (100) and Sanju Samson (100) scored contrasting centuries as India colts posted a comprehensive 40-run win over arch-rivals Pakistan to clinch the Under-19 Asia Cup title in Sharjah.
A supremely confident Delhi Daredevils return to their den and have a struggling and injury-ravaged Rising Pune Supergiants in their firing line up next in the Indian Premier League, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents statistical summary of Delhi Capitals formerly known as Delhi Daredevils and much more.
Table-toppers Mumbai Indians will be itching to avenge their double defeat against Rising Pune Supergiant in the league stage when the two teams face-off in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
While KKR suffered their heaviest defeat of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, Pune looked to have found their mojo in the business end of the tournament having registered consecutive wins in their last two matches.
The Pune outfit is presently languishing at the sixth spot in the eight-team standings with just four points.
Dhoni has to ponder over both the batting and bowling departments of his team.