Thanks to half-centuries by Ankit Bawne and Rahul Tripathi, and a splendid final over by Dominic Joseph, Maharashtra beat Saurashtra by four runs in the West Zone Vijay Hazare one-day tournament in Rajkot on Friday.
Former champions South Zone have virtually qualified for semi-finals after reducing West Zone to 156 for 6 in on the penultimate day of their four-day Duleep Trophy match in Chennai on Saturday.
KB Arun Karthick struck a vital unbeaten 115 to help Assam garner three crucial points against defending champions Karnataka after their Group 'A' Ranji Trophy match ended in a tame draw, Guwahati, on Sunday.
The visitors were 38 for one in 14 overs at the draw of stumps on day three. Ravikumar Samarth (27 not out) and Ankit Bawne (5 not out) were on the crease after Abhimanyu Easwaran was dismissed in the seventh over.
The two squads comprise a host of players, who have performed consistently for their state teams and IPL franchises over the past couple of seasons.
India A have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead with back-to-back wins, after the first game was abandoned due to inclement weather and the second match ended in a tie.
India 'A' will play a one-day tri-series involving Australia 'A' and South Africa 'A' followed by two four-day matches against the hosts.
BCCI first named named Rajasthan medium pacer Deepak Chahar in the Board President's XI squad for the warm-up games against New Zealand only to replace him with cousin Rahul, who is a leg-spinner.
South Africa 'A' fast bowler Lungi Ngidi, on a comeback trail after injury, bowled Gill, who made a classy 90 in the first innings to leave India 'A' at 10 for one.
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.
India discards Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag finally got back among the runs as the duo struck fluent half-centuries to help Delhi outclass Haryana by three wickets in the North Zone leg of the Vijay Hazare One Day Tournament, in Dharamsala, on Wednesday.
The board will be working with the state associations on the experiment.
Defending champions Mumbai got their Ranji Trophy campaign back on track with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in their second group A league game in Mumbai on Monday, offsetting the heavy loss to Baroda in the opening game.
Batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara, ignored for the two-Test series against South Africa, cracked an unbeaten century as defending champions Saurashtra made a mockery of the Jharkhand bowling attack.
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.
Skipper Surya Kumar Yadav contributed with bat and ball as the Indian under-23 team beat Nepal by 84 runs in a Group 'A' match of the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup in Singapore on Tuesday.
Delhi's bid for a quarter-final berth received a major boost after their regular captain Ishant Sharma was released by the Indian team management for the fifth round Ranji Trophy Group A game against Maharashtra, starting in New Delhi on Friday.
Maharashtra State Sports Commissioner Omprakash Bakoria has written to the Board of Control for Cricket in India seeking 'strict action' against India Under-19 World Cup-winning member Rajvardhan Hangargekar for age fraud.
India suffered a shock 28-run defeat against Afghanistan but still qualified for the semi-finals of the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup tournament for the under-23 cricket teams, in Singapore, on Thursday.
The right-arm medium pacer caused Maharashtra's batsmen a lot of problems with his extra bounce on a green Wankhede wicket, taking four wickets for 62 runs as Maharashtra struggled to 219 for 7 in 57 overs in their first innings, at stumps on the second day, in reply to Mumbai's 402 all out.
Shreyas Iyer stroked his way to an unbeaten half-century in an otherwise unimpressive batting display by India 'A' in reply to Australia's first-innings total of 469 for seven declared on the second day of the three-day practice game in Mumbai.
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Teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw, who made a successful Test debut against the West Indies, will play for India 'A' captained by Dinesh Karthik.
The former Australia wicketkeeper joins former England coach Trevor Bayliss, who was appointed Sunrisers head coach last month.
All-rounder Krunal Pandya and medium pacer Deepak Chahar earned their maiden call up in the Indian squad to replace the injured Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah for the three-match Twenty20 International series against England, starting in Manchester on Tuesday.
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.
Kedar Jadhav continued his glorious form in the Ranji Trophy with a sparkling century as Karnataka maintained their upper hand despite a spirited fightback by Maharashtra on Day 4 of their Ranji Trophy final in Hyderabad.
Former champions South Zone progressed to the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy cricket tournament by pipping West Zone by virtue of a 313-run first innings lead after their four-day quarter-final ended in a draw in Chennai on Sunday.
England Lions pulled off a narrow one-wicket win over India 'A' in a low-scoring fifth and final match
Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils will look to salvage pride when they clash in the Indian Premier League in Kanpur on Wednesday.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav overshadowed young Shreyas Iyer, who struck his maiden first-class ton, with a 45-ball unbeaten 81 as the duo guided Mumbai to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Gujarat in the West Zone match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Ahmedabad, on Friday.
Cheteshwar Pujara made 49 and 43 in his two innings as Saurashtra lost to Haryana by four wickets.
From Under-19 talents such as Prithvi Shaw and Shivam Mavi to last domestic season's top run-getter Mayank Agarwal, the list includes all those whom the selection committee found worthy of national or A team call-up in the near future
Paceman Bhuvaneshwar Kumar followed up his team's superb collective batting effort with a four-wicket haul as India Blue lifted the NKP Salve Challenger Series Trophy with a convincing 50-run victory over Delhi in the final.
Tamil Nadu edged out last edition's runners-up Maharashtra by virtue of first innings lead in a drawn encounter, to set up a summit clash with their southern rivals and reigning champions Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament.
Out-of-favour India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has been handed a golden opportunity to get back into the reckoning after being named captain of Rest of India for the Irani Cup match against Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka, in Bangalore, from February 9 to 13. Also included in the Rest of India team is Gautam Gambhir, who is also keen to make a comeback to the Indian team. However, his Delhi team mate Virender Sehwag failed to make the cut after a poor run in the Ranji Trophy.
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.
Only pride will be at stake when Delhi Daredevils host embattled Royal Challengers Bangalore in an inconsequential IPL game in New Delhi, on Sunday, with both teams seeking an end to their misfiring campaign on a positive note.
Virender Sehwag scored a fluent fifty, but it was not enough to prevent formidable Delhi from going down to India Blue by 18 runs in the opening game of NKP Salve Challenger Series in Indore on Thursday.
With only 17 ODIs left for India before the World Cup, senior pros like Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin will aim to remain relevant in the 50-overs format in the forthcoming Deodhar Trophy.
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.
