Vijay Zol will lead a 15-member Indian under-19 cricket team in a quadrangular one-day series against Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe starting September 23 in Visakhapatnam.
A summary of Wednesday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
Defending champions India got a wake-up call as they lost to their Sri Lankan counterparts by five wickets in a warm-up game ahead of their ICC U-19 World Cup scheduled to begin on Friday.
Varun Aaron and Jayant Yadav claimed three wickets apiece to help India 'A' stage a superb fightback courtesy of their bowlers and take a narrow two-run lead against Australia 'A' on day two of the first unofficial four-day Test at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, on Friday.
India will defend its Under-19 World Cup title in the captainship of Vijay Zol, who recently led India to junior Asia Cup victory, as the talented batsman has been named skipper of the 15-man squad.
Set a near impossible victory target of 490 on a track that is offering help for the spinners, Jharkhand were 28 for one in their second innings with two full days' play left and 462 runs to get.
The fourth and final day's play between India 'A' and Australia 'A' was called off without a ball being bowled due to persistent rain and a wet outfield as the second unofficial Test ended in a draw with the home side clinching the two-match series 1-0 in Brisbane.
Manish Pandey blasted a quickfire 76-ball 77 before Mitchell Swepson returned with a four-wicket haul to dismiss India 'A' for 230 in their first innings against Australia 'A' in the opening match of the unofficial four-day Test Series in Brisbane, on Thursday.
Middle-order batsman Chirag Gandhi struck a timely, maiden first class hundred and remained unbeaten on 136 to lift newly-crowned Ranji Trophy champions Gujarat from deep trouble on day one of the Irani Cup game against the Rest of India at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.
Iyer made 82 off 137 deliveries with the help of nine boundaries and two sixes as Mumbai reached 208 for three in their second innings to take a handy lead of 108 runs at stumps on day three of the five-day encounter.
Against a quality side like Australia, the performers at the domestic level will get a chance to test themselves against the likes of Josh Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc if Steve Smith and Darren Lehmann decide to give them a few overs.
India salvaged some pride by comfortably beating Sri Lanka by 76 runs in the fifth place semi-final play-off at the ICC Under-19 World Cup, at the ICC Cricket Academy ground in Dubai, on Monday.
A summary of the third day's play in the quarter-final matches of the Ranji Trophy.
Following the senior cricket team's inspirational tri-series win in the West Indies, India's U-19 team added to that cheer for cricket fans. Indian bowlers ripped through the Australian line-up as the team thrashed the hosts by eight wickets to be crowned champions in the Under-19 International Series after a lop-sided final clash in Darwin on Friday.
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.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final matches played on Thursday.
Opening batsman Ankush Bains blasted his way to a scintillating century as India inflicted a humiliating nine-wicket defeat on Zimbabwe to seal a berth in the final of the Quadrangular Under-19 One-day Series, in Visakhapatnam.
"There is currently an ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) investigation underway in relation to the Ajman All Stars League held recently in Ajman, UAE," ACU general manager Alex Marshall said in a statement.
Shrugging off their disappointing loss against Pakistan in the last game, India U-19 boys held their nerves as they eked out a three-wicket win against Sri Lanka with five balls to spare as they set up summit clash with arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup in Dubai.
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.
Prithvi Shaw became the youngest cricketer to score a century in the final match of Duleep Trophy, reaching the milestone while propping up India Red against India Blue on the opening day, in Lucknow, on Monday.
Centuries by Sri Lanka's No 8 Binuka Fernando (100 not out) and No 9 A K Tyronne (123 not out) enabled Sri Lanka force a draw against India in the second 'Youth Test' in Kurunegala on Thursday. The two-match series ended in a draw, largely due to the 188-run eighth-wicket stand between Tyronne and Fernando, which helped Sri Lanka amass 499 in their second innings.
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.
In an interesting move, the Mumbai selection committee decided to include 14-year-old Armaan Jaffer in the Ranji Trophy probables list along with his uncle and state team stalwart Wasim Jaffer.
Cheteshwar Pujara waged a lone battle with a fighting 86 but Rest of India's batting line-up floundered against Gujarat's bowling attack and were pushed against the ropes by the newly-crowned Ranji Trophy champions.
Paceman Shardul Thakur and off-spinner Akhil Herwadkar shared six wickets between them as Mumbai eked out a narrow four-run win over Baroda in their West Zone match in the Vijay Hazare trophy, in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Sri Lankan batsmen led by their number three Kavindu Kulasekara provided stiff resistance against the Indian bowlers as the hosts finished the third day's play on 235 for five as the first 'Youth Test' looks set to be heading for a tame draw in Dambulla, on Thursday.
India's young batsmen produced a brilliant collective effort to pile up a mammoth first innings score of 503 for seven against Sri Lanka in the opening 'Youth Test' match in Dambulla, on Wednesday.
Pawan Negi, who became a household name for his whopping Rs 8.5 crore ($1.25 million) bid, has been released by Delhi Daredevils along with five other players for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Talented Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer with an attacking 138 stole the show on the final day on Friday as the team's Ranji Trophy Group 'C' match against Tamil Nadu petered out to a draw at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy BKC in Mumbai.
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.
Fifteen-year-old Mumbai off-spinner Sarfaraz Khan grabbed four wickets as India Under-19 comfortably beat their Sri Lankan counterparts by seven wickets to win the 'Youth ODI' series 2-0 in Dambulla on Thursday.
A young but mighty Mumbai have history and form firmly on their side when they chase their 41st Ranji Trophy title by locking horns with Saurashtra, who are taking a rare shot at domestic cricket's biggest prize, in the summit showdown beginning in Pune from Wednesday. While Mumbai will be appearing in their 45th final of the top domestic tournament, it is only the second time that Saurashtra are in the title clash. Incidentally, it was Mumbai who put paid to Saurashtra's hopes of a maiden triumph by wrapping the final in three days in 2012-13. That was the only time Saurashtra came close to the title. Mumbai won that match by an innings and 125 runs for their 40th trophy. Three seasons later, the scene remains more or less the same and it will take a huge effort from Saurashtra to upset a side which has almost won more titles than the rest of India combined. For the record, since 1990-91, Mumbai haven't lost any of the 10 finals they have played. Mumbai have at least five of those who played in the earlier final in the squad -- Aditya Tare, Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur and Vishal Dabholkar.
Attacking young Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer is confident that one day he will definitely get to play for India.
Wriddhiman Saha struck timely form with an attacking century and also put on a fighting, 203-run unbroken partnership with captain Cheteshwar Pujara to push Rest of India firmly towards the winning target on day four of the Irani Cup game against Gujarat on Monday.
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.
Mumbai crushed Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs in the final to win their 41st Ranji Trophy title, in Pune, on Friday.
A clinical all-round display earned India a comfortable seven-wicket victory over their counterparts from Australia and a berth in the final of the Under-19 Tri-nation series in Darwin on Monday. Opting to bowl, India restricted Australia to 191 for six in the allotted 50 overs, before chasing down the target in 45.4 overs.
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.