As coach Ricky Ponting pointed out, he would expect a better "on his feet" thinking from the young captain.
Royals are more affected than Sunrisers with the absence of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Joffra Archer, who have left for England to join the World Cup camp.
Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai decided against enforcing the follow-on after taking a huge lead of 297 runs over Rest of India on Day 3 of the five-day Irani Cup match at the Brabourne stadium, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
Rishi Dhawan led from the front with an all-round show as Himachal Pradesh beat Services by 77 runs in the semi-final, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday, to set up the title clash against Tamil Nadu in the Vijay Hazare Trophy domestic One-Day championship.
Batsman Suresh Raina was on Sunday rewarded for his recent domestic performance with a recall to the Indian Twenty20 squad for the three-match series against South Africa, starting February 18.
Smith was handed a one-year ban along with his then deputy David Warner exactly a year ago for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
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.
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.
Images from the Indian Premier League match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, in Sharjah, on Thursday.
While DC made a superb start under new captain Rishabh Pant, RR suffered a four-run defeat against Punjab Kings
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the important numbers after the first week of IPL 2021.
Rajasthan's campaign started on a controversial note when Jos Buttler became the first cricketer in the IPL to be 'Mankaded', the practice of running out non-strikers, who back up early, by bowlers on their delivery stride.
The Rohit Sharma-led, Indian team, on Sunday, departed for the Nidahas T20 Trophy to be played in Sri Lanka from Tuesday.
Rajasthan Royals pacer Ben Laughlin ended Delhi's brief revival when he scalped the dangerous Glenn Maxwell.
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.
In addition to the Karnataka batsman, leg-spinner Karn Sharma, who has been in great form for India A against the Black caps A side, was called as a replacement for injured Rajasthan youngster Rahul Chahar.
IPL auction moved from Bengaluru to Jaipur
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.
Rising Pune Supergiant beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 27 runs in an IPL encounter.
Mumbai Indians suffered their fourth consecutive defeat as Delhi Daredevils thrashed the defending champions by six wickets in the Indian Premier League match in Sharjah.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan struck his second successive fifty to guide India to a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the Twenty20 Tri-Series match in Colombo on Thursday.
Royals core comprises of three Englishmen -- Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer and their Australian skipper Steve Smith.
CSK will be brimming with confidence having defeated the Royals earlier in the season
Images from Thursday's IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, in Kolkata.
A pool of 346 cricketers will go under the hammer at the IPL Player Auction in Jaipur on December 18.
Starting from where he left off in the opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders, Dave creamed the Rajasthan bowling in all directions of the field, not allowing any bowler to settle down.
Mumbai trounced Himachal Pradesh by 200 runs in their final Elite Group D game to remain unbeaten in the league stage
Karnataka spinner Shreyas Gopal sizzled in front of his home fans in Bengaluru to play a key role in Rajasthan Royals' victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore, on Sunday.
Mumbai Indians will look to continue in similar vein when they lock horns with Rajasthan Royals in
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.
Ahead of Thursday's Indian Premier League player auction, Royal Challengers Banglore captain Virat Kohli assured the fans that they will cover all bases and pick a strong team for the next edition of IPL. Ahead of this year's IPL auction, RCB had released 12 players from their squad, while retaining 13.
Glenn Maxwell, Dale Steyn, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh and Angelo Mathews have been shortlisted at the highest base price of Rs. 2 crore for the upcoming IPL auction, in Kolkata on December 19. Robin Uthappa, who was released by Kolkata Knight Riders last month, is the sole Indian player in the auction list with a base price of Rs 1.5 crore. As many as 332 cricketers will go under the hammer at the auction.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Saturday.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
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.
A young Indian cricket team comprising of many debutantes is being led by limited overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the ongoing series in Zimbabwe. With stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin being rested, Dhoni remains the only senior figure in this young tea
Pandit guided an unheralded Vidarbha side to second successive titles with a mix of strategic acumen and old school discipline.
Mumbai Indians lock horns with an out-of-sorts Rajasthan Royals in an IPL match in which home skipper Rohit Sharma's return from injury will also be awaited, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
Sixteen-year old Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb Zadran has some 'mystery element' about him which prompted the King XI Punjab to bid a whopping Rs 4 crore for him, said co-owner Preity Zinta.
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