Dravid recently coached the Indian team at the Under-19 World Cup. He was mentor of Rajasthan Royals in the last two seasons of the IPL before the franchise was suspended from the T20 tournament for two years by the Justice Lodha Committee in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the sixth edition of the T20 tournament in 2013.
Gambhir might be out of national reckoning, but he has been in ominous form this season and that is precisely one of the reasons behind Delhi's success.
Delhi survived a mighty scare before their lower order, led by Nitish Rana and Sumit Narwal, saved the day with some gritty batting as they beat Rajasthan by two wickets in their Group B Ranji Trophy match in Wayanad on Thursday. Resuming the final day on 51 for 3, needing 102 runs more to win, Delhi suffered a batting collapse but finally crossed the target of 153 with Rana (31) and Narwal (27 not out) playing some sensible cricket to take their side home at the Krishnagiri Stadium. The day's start for Delhi was a horrible one with overnight batsman Vikas Tokas (10) being bowled by Pankaj Singh in the fifth over of the day with the addition of just five runs to his individual overnight score. The score was 62 for 4 at that stage.
Let's delve into the world of IPL 2024 and meet the captains who are ready to leave their mark on cricket's biggest stage.
BCCI has summoned 20 potential all-rounders for a near three-week camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
Punjab's Shubman Gill refused to leave the crease after he was adjudged caught-behind by Delhi slow medium bowler Subodh Bhati during the Ranji Trophy match in Mohali on Friday. Showing dissent to the umpire's decision is a breach of the 'Code of Conduct' and there is a possibility that match referee P Ranganathan will have a word with the player. He could either be let off with a warning or charged with a Level 1 offence.
Praveen Amre has thrown his hat in the ring for the position of India's batting coach.
All that's transpired on and off the cricket pitch on Wednesday.
'Thank you Delhi Capitals for showing faith in me. I will give my 100 percent each and every day and hopefully we will cross the line this year.'
Exactly 13 years after he impressed with his incisive swing bowling in the Under-19 World Cup and the inaugural edition of IPL, left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan will now be a designated "net bowler" for Delhi Capitals in the UAE along with five others.
Twin tons by openers Tanmay Srivastava and Mukul Dagar helped Uttar Pradesh make a strong reply to Maharashtra's mammoth total of 764 for six declared, reaching 287 for one on day three of their Group B Ranji Trophy match in Pune on Sunday.
Dhull knows that there are no free lunches at this level and more he plays, the more his batting will be under scrutiny and there are better domestic attacks compared to Tamil Nadu, who will be dissecting each and every thread of his technique.
Pakistan was the designated hosts for the tournament scheduled for September, but with the BCCI making it clear that the Indian team would not be able to travel to the neighbouring country owing to security concerns, the event has been moved to Dubai.
A slender first-innings lead of 49 runs proved to be crucial for Haryana as it helped them take three points from their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh, in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Karnataka kept their semifinal hopes alive as they took three vital points by virtue of their first-innings lead against Vidarbha in their Ranji Trophy Group B match, which ended in a draw in Mysore on Tuesday.
Rahul Dewan's pugnacious knock of 93 and an equally important innings of 65 by Joginder Sharma paved the way for Haryana's slender lead of 44 runs in their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow on Sunday.
Muralidharen Gautam carried on with his good form as he completed his double century to lead Karnataka to a mammoth 619 for eight on day two of their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Vidarbha, in Mysore on Sunday.
Railways wrested the initiative in the final session to leave Rajasthan struggling at 56 for three in reply to their first innings score of 405 on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group A match in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Madhya Pradesh looked on course for an outright victory after pacers shared all wickets among themselves and enforce follow-on on table toppers Punjab in their Group A Ranji Trophy match in Gwalior on Sunday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
'There is a plan to add a '19 plus' level where all these boys could be integrated'
Pune Warriors seamer Krishna Kant Upadhyay and unknown Ranjit Mali from Assam rocked the depleted Bengal batting to give Railways a 77-run first innings lead thereby raising hopes of staying in the Group A.
Delhi youngster Rishabh Pant's stroked a fluent 87 and left-arm paceman Khaleel Ahmed claimed four for 41 to steer India to a comfortable 33-run win over Afghanistan in the Under-19 tri-series match, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
Having taken a small first-innings lead, Tamil Nadu eked out three points from their Group B Ranji Trophy match against Baroda, in Vadodara on Tuesday.
The two coaches Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra will be monitoring the progress of the players and a Yo-Yo test will also be conducted to get a hang of their fitness.
The 20-year-old, who had a dream debut in the Indian Premier League, tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian how a successful show in the Ranji Trophy helped boost his confidence in the IPL.
Fractured finger, swollen neck, bruised eye and gashed knee, Shikhar Dhawan endured a painful 2019 but the India opener is ready to make a fresh start reminding one that he 'hasn't forgotten how to bat'. Dhawan, who will be leading Delhi in their Ranji Trophy game against Hyderabad, is back after recovering from a knee injury sustained during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which required 25 stitches.
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).
'I feel fitter than ever and very much open to playing in overseas leagues.' Bhatia has done a course in bio-mechanics from an institute in Hawaii and wants to explore a career in that field.
Mayank Tehlan's 176 enabled Delhi take a 162-run lead against Maharashtra in the Ranji Tophy Elite Group 'A' match.
All eyes will be on 41-year-old Wasim Jaffer, who is only 853 runs shy of 20,000 first-class runs.
Repeated snubs from the Indian team selectors will not deter Unadkat
Stand-in captain Ambati Rayudu led from the front with an impressive half-century as Baroda ended the first day's play at a comfortable 252 for three against Delhi in the third round Ranji Trophy Group B encounter.
A brilliant 107 by Virender Sehwag dispelled doubts about his finger injury but favourites Delhi suffered the ignominy of a six-wicket defeat against a determined Uttar Pradesh in a thrilling Ranji Trophy Group B match in Ghaziabad.
Dinesh Karthik followed up on his 92 in the first innings with a match-saving 103 not out in the second to help Tamil Nadu walk away with one point against Bengal in their Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.
The injury happened in the fifth over of Vidarbha's second innings and Ishant's third over.
Ranji Trophy: Birla scion Aryaman hits maiden first-class ton, MP salvage draw against Bengal
Stuart Binny celebrated his maiden call-up into the Indian team with a scintillating 88 as table toppers Karnataka asserted their supremacy with a solid performance, scoring 226 for 5 at stumps on the second day of their final Ranji Trophy match against hosts Delhi, who are almost out of the race for a quarter-final berth.
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh shared a point each after their Group B Ranji Trophy match ended in a dull draw that saw 1433 runs being scored over four days on a dead track at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, in Pune, on Monday.
'The best move for him would be to go back to opening the batting. The new ball will come on to the bat; he can try and score off it.'