While DC made a superb start under new captain Rishabh Pant, RR suffered a four-run defeat against Punjab Kings
A summary of the day's matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament.
A summary of all the action from Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.
New Zealand are hoping to give a better account of themselves when they take on the Indian Board President's XI in the final warm-up game on Thursday before the first One-Day International, in Mumbai on October 22.
Sudeep Tyagi and Siddharth Trivedi, the medium pacers from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat respectively, won't be a part of the Saurashtra Ranji Trophy squad for the first two matches this season.
The best-case scenario for RR would be Kings XI Punjab losing their last match and Sunrisers Hyderabad winning no more than one in their last two outings.
It has been a dramatic turnaround for the KL Rahul-led side after a string a losses earlier in the tournament.
Suresh Raina has been named captain of the India Blue team for the Duleep Trophy, which will be held in Kanpur and Lucknow from September 7 to 29, providing him a platform to make a return to the Indian team.
A chanceless century by Kirk Edwards, followed by a fine display in the field, enabled West Indies 'A' beat India 'A' by 45 runs in the third and final one-dayer at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Thursday. The victory gave the West Indies a 2-1 triumph in the three-match List A series, following victories in the second and third unofficial ODIs.
Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals have failed to live up to expectations in the IPL so far and are placed sixth and seventh respectively on the points table in the eight-team competition.
When AB de Villiers is in full flow, no target is beyond him. Rajasthan Royals discovered it the hard way when de Villiers came up with an incredible exhibition of strokeplay in the death overs to take Royal Challengers Bangalore to a seven-wicket victory from a difficult position.
Ajinkya Rahane's struggles in limited-overs' cricket continued as India B comfortably beat India C by 30 runs to enter the Deodhar Trophy final, in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
The dew factor will go out of the window but the searing heat will be an issue when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on a better prepared Rajasthan Royals in the first of the 10 IPL double-headers, in Abu Dhabi, on Saturday.
KKR will head to the game with the belief that the side can win from any situation, which they have demonstrated time and again.
Under-fire Indian pacer Ishant Sharma whose sloppy bowling cost India the third One-Day International against Australia, worked overtime with bowling coach Joe Dawes on Monday even as his team mates took a day's break ahead of their fourth match in Ranchi.
Rohit Sharma will lead a second string Indian team, comprising leading performers in domestic (Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 and IPL) tournaments, for the Twenty20 tri-series in Sri Lanka, starting March 6. S hikhar Dhawan will be his deputy in the side that has as many as six changes.
Shane Warne returned to Rajasthan Royals as team mentor, 10 years after he famously led the side to the Indian Premier League title in the inaugural edition.
Shaw continued from his unbeaten 240 from overnight and brought up his triple ton.
Saurashtra head coach Karsan Ghavri says the use of limited DRS hasn't served its purpose in the Ranji Trophy final. The DRS was the talking point once again on Day 4 after Saurashtra skipper and lead pacer Jaydev Unadkat was at the receiving end on two occasions.
Round-up of Ranji matches played on Tuesday.
The Men in Blue won the first T20I at Johannesburg by 28 runs and a victory on Wednesday will see them wrap up another series win on this tour.
Heavyweight Cheteshwar Pujara was down with fever as Bengal gained the upperhand against a scratchy Saurashtra on an attritional opening day's play in the Ranji Trophy final, in Rajkot, on Monday. Avi Barot and Vishvaraj Jadeja struck gritty half-centuries before Bengal pacer Akash Deep struck late in the final session to leave Saurashtra at 206 for five at stumps on Day 1.
Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara continued his good form with the bat as he and Robin Uthappa helped Saurashtra crush Punjab by eight wickets.
Handed a rude shock in the opening game, the Indian youngsters will have to raise their game in the second Twenty20 International to stay afloat in the three-match series against minnows Zimbabwe, in Harare on Monday.
Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina joined the run feast with superb centuries as India A posted a mammoth 582 for nine against South Africa A to take command of the first unofficial Test in Rustenburg on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina joined the run feast with superb centuries as India A posted a mammoth 582 for nine against South Africa A to take command of the first unofficial Test in Rustenburg on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma's quickfire half-century went in vain as Rising Pune Supergiant shocked table-toppers Mumbai Indians by three runs, in the Indian Premier League, in Mumbai on Monday.
Images from the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai suffered a batting collapse to be shot out for a paltry 182 in their second innings but still set the Rest of India an imposing target of 480 to win the Irani Cup title in Mumbai on Thursday. At stumps on the fourth and penultimate day, the Rest, who conceded a huge first innings lead of 297, were 100 for the loss of opener K S Bharat's (42) wicket to whittle down the lead to 380. Vidarbha's Faiz Fazal (41) and Sudip Chatterjee (17) of Bengal were the unbeaten Rest batsmen who will carry on the run chase on Friday at the Brabourne Stadium. Earlier Mumbai, who did not enforce the follow on last evening and resumed today at their overnight second innings score of 2 for 1, were shot out for 182 in 51.2 overs -- mainly by the efforts of spin-pace combine of Jayant Yadav (4 for 93) and Jaydev Unadkat (3 for 16).
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.
Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina joined the run feast with superb centuries as India A posted a mammoth 582 for nine against South Africa A to take command of the first unofficial Test in Rustenburg on Sunday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify the Most Valuable Players in the IPL so far.
Rahane dropped anchor to score an unbeaten 144 off 156 balls while the young Ishan Kishan smashed his way to an 87-ball 114 during their opening stand of 210, which took the C team's score to 352 for seven in 50 overs.
Mumbai trounced Himachal Pradesh by 200 runs in their final Elite Group D game to remain unbeaten in the league stage
Royal Challengers head coach Simon Katich was all praise for the South African after he single-handedly won the IPL game against Rajasthan Royals for them, in Dubai on Saturday.
The Virat Kohli-led RCB has won five of its eight games on the back of all-round performances but seemingly blundered in the eight-wicket defeat to laggards KXIP on Thursday.
Bolstered by the arrival of Ben Stokes, Rajasthan Royals will hope for a better showing from its misfiring top order as they try to settle scores against second-placed Delhi Capitals in their return leg IPL match, in Dubai, on Wednesday.
Rajasthan Royals, struggling at the penultimate spot on the points table after two wins and four straight defeats, need something special against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sunday's IPL match in Dubai.
Rajasthan will take inspiration from their two big wins in Sharjah, to turn things around against a dominant Delhi.
While the two T20 matches will be a precursor to the ODI series, vice-captain Rohit Sharma is likely to be given a short break to rejuvenate and come back fresh for the ODIs.
