Punjab pummelled Delhi by 10 wickets for their maiden win of the season on Friday while handing the hosts their first Ranji Trophy loss at home in five years.
Even as they struggle to find the winning formula, laggards Kings XI Punjab will still fancy their chances when they host Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Mohali on Monday.
They endured a disastrous run the last time around to finish at the bottom of the heap and Kings XI Punjab would be aiming to make amends this season when they begin their campaign against newbies Gujarat Lions in their IPL opener in Mohali on Monday. Kings XI Punjab did not make any big buys this year and have a new captain in South African David Miller in place of Australian George Bailey who was released after leading the side to the last place in the previous season. Virender Sehwag has also retired and he will serve as team mentor this season. The Preity Zinta-owned side continues to lack the team balance as it has not added any significant player, only snapping the likes of all-rounders Farhaan Behardien and Marcus Stoinis, seamer Mohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh. Last season, their batsmen lacked consistency and whenever they did well, the bowlers let the side down. On the other hand, debutants Gujarat Lions have a balanced side with top-class performers in both batting and bowling. They have explosive batsmen in Brendon McCullum, captain Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and a plenty of top-notch all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday
Gautam Gambhir lived a charmed life but the famous grit was displayed in abundance on way to an unbeaten 92, his final knock in competitive cricket guiding Delhi to 190 for one.
Bengal batsmen cut a sorry figure on home turf to be bowled out for 147, giving Kerala an upperhand in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, Tuesday.
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.
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.
The Modi juggernaut is all set to paint the five south Indian states in saffron colours, writes R Rajagopalan.
Perennial under-achievers Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab will look to recover from opening losses and put their campaign back on track.
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.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday
Cheteshwar Pujara missed out on a second successive double hundred but his 182 went a long way in Saurashtra piling up a mammoth 570 in their first innings against Gujarat on the second day of the Ranji Trophy.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Tuesday
Much like Dhoni, Pant is an aggressive ball-belter who keeps wickets. But he will require enormous work on his keeping if he is to reach anywhere close to Dhoni's absurdly high standards, notes Dhruv Munjal.
Enjoying one of the best phases in his career so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore's inspirational leader Virat Kohli is ready to play through pain against Kings XI Punjab with multiple stitches in his split webbing in another must-win IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli sustained split webbing in his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB's play-off qualification hopes alive. "I might need 7-8 stitches," Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB's manager Avinash Vaidya said that India's No 1 batsman will be playing in this crucial encounter.
Table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to quickly bounce back from the disappointing loss against Delhi Daredevils and seal their place in the play-off when they take on a resurgent Kings XI Punjab in an IPL clash in Mohali on Sunday. Knowing that there is scramble among top teams for the playoff berth and holding on to top position is not an easy task, SRH will have to put the loss against Delhi behind and look to put up an all-round performance on Sunday. What has made this game at the I S Bindra PCA stadium even more important for Hyderabad is the fact that Punjab, which has struggled through the tournament, has suddenly started turning over a leaf under their new captain Murali Vijay, whose appointment was made mid-way. The Punjab outfit, which is lying at the seventh place with four wins from 11 outings, pulled off a comprehensive seven-wicket victory against Mumbai Indians at Visakhapatnam on Friday night.
Manish Pandey continued his good form in the limited-overs' format, scoring an unbeaten 99 as defending champions Karnataka beat Mumbai by four wickets to enter the semi-finals of the National One-Day Championship, for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Vadodara, on Friday.
Getting his team composition right will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's primary aim as Rising Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League cricket tournament encounter, in Mohali on Sunday.
Supremely versatile and unique, Ravindra Jadeja is now an indispensable part of the Indian Test set-up.
What impressed me right up front was the patience he showed towards a rookie reporter.
Three-time champions India continued their invincible run to enter the ICC Under-19 World Cup final for a fifth time after an emphatic 97-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first semi-final, in Mirpur, on Tuesday.
Desperate to get their campaigns back on track, the two bottom placed teams in the Indian Premier League -- Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore -- lock horns in Mohali on Monday, aiming to keep their winning momentum going to stay afloat in the ninth edition of the T20 league.
Kolkata Knight Riders are back in familiar home conditions but can ill-afford to take Kings XI Punjab lightly, who are showing signs of improvement under a newly-appointed skipper, when the two teams clash in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Wednesday
Avantika Bhuyan on how Feroze Gujral is making her mark on the world of art.
Sachin's Blasters has Lara, Sehwag, Mahela, Murali and, of course, Tendulkar! Warne's Warriers has Ponting, Kallis, Sanga, Akram and Donald...
'Where he used to sit bored, sulky and fiddling with his cell phone in the Lok Sabha (and was often missing during key debates) he is now noisy, aggressive and ready to lead his flock into the well of the House,' says Sunil Sethi.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda will battle it out against Congress strongman Narayanaswamy in this IT hub constituency of Bangalore North, which is all set to vote on development, infrastructure issues. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Shreevats Goswami finally came out of Wriddhiman Saha's shadow to hit a career best 225 which enabled Bengal post a commendable 475 for 9 on the second day of the Group A league encounter against Madhya Pradesh. At stumps, MP were 19 for 1 with Ashok Dinda getting the wicket of Aditya Srivastava. The day belonged to Shreevats, who played 328 balls hitting 25 boundaries and three sixes en route his maiden double hundred in First Class cricket. It was also a match where Bengal's lower order showed exemplary resilience as the last three wickets produced 268 runs after being reduced to 207 for seven.
India's amazing track record and an unbeaten run in the tournament makes coach Rahul Dravid's boys overwhelming favourites to defeat the West Indies in the final of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Mirpur on Sunday. India is on a 15-match winning streak since losing to England in the quarter-final of the previous edition in the United Arab Emirates two years ago. It has won 20 of its 21 one-day matches since January 2014. In the current tournament, India breezed through Group D with an all-win record against New Zealand, Nepal and Ireland, before crushing Namibia by 197 runs in the quarter-final and Sri Lanka by 97 runs in the semi-final. However, past achievements alone don't guarantee success in sport and the West Indies has done enough in the tournament so far to suggest it can go on to win its maiden title in the competition.
After a below-par effort against Pune Supergiants, the Delhi Darevils will be looking to hit the straps rightaway with their prime players set to comeback in the playing XI as they take on bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab in an IPL encounter at Mohali on Saturday. Following three horrendous seasons, the Daredevils have had a decent outing so far under Rahul Dravid's mentorship and Zaheer Khan's captaincy, having won five of their eight games and are placed third in the eight-team table. There has been no standout performer as such but contributions from most of the players in their five victories has made it clear that Dravid's men are certainly not dependant on any one individual to carry the team forward.
Kedar Jadhav's sizzling century and a cracking innings of 91 from young Vijay Zol helped Maharashtra stun defending champions Mumbai by eight wickets, to storm into the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy, in Mumbai on Saturday.
After an impressive comeback on India's tour of South Africa, pacer Zaheer Khan is hoping to inspire Mumbai in the crucial Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Maharashtra, starting Wednesday.
On paper, Kolkata Knight Riders are overwhelming favourites against King's XI Punjab.
Prabhu proposed an unprecedented 50% hike in investment.
Veteran India discard and Railways captain Murali Kartik found himself in the centre of a controversy when he 'Mankaded' Bengal batsman Sandipan Das leading to an ugly altercation with opposition coach Ashok Malhotra during a Ranji Trophy game in New Delhi on Sunday.
Sachin Tendulkar warmed up for his farewell series against the West Indies next month with a gritty unbeaten half-century to keep Mumbai's chances alive in their Ranji Trophy match against a spirited Haryana in Lahli, Haryana, on Tuesday.
India Test regulars like Cheteswar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have also thrown their hat into the ring with base prices of Rs 50 and Rs 75 lakh respectively.
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