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.
India A were back to winning ways as they defeated hosts South Africa 'A' by 18 runs via Duckworth Lewis Method in the second round-robin encounter of the tri-series tournament.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah earned his maiden call-up to the Test squad, while Parthiv Patel made a comeback for the three-Test series in South Africa.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to break the sequence of reverses and get Rising Pune Supergiants' campaign back on track when they lock horns with in-form Kolkata Knight Riders.
Uttar Pradesh comfortably beat Delhi by 46 runs to reach Hazare semi-final.
Chasing a modest target of 228, which was possible thanks to Pakistan-born batsman Sikandar Raza, who top-scored with a patient 82, and Elton Chigumbura's 34-ball 43, the World champions had things their way while winning with 31 balls to spare at the Harare Sports Club.
The Karnataka right-hander smashed an entertaining 87 off just 47 balls balls and was ably supported by skipper Gautam Gambhir, who made 62 off 46 deliveries, as two-time champions KRR thrashed Pune by seven wickets.
Flamboyant Australian Glenn Maxwell is expected to be a favourite, despite his under-whelming record, along with England's spin bowling all-rounder Moeen Ali, while Kerala's batting sensation Mohammed Azharuddeen could be in hot demand during a condensed IPL players' auction, to be held in Chennai, on Thursday.
A clinical India defeated Sri Lanka comprehensively by six wickets to continue their their winning run in the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-Series, in Colombo, on Monday.
While the auction ahead of the ninth edition, starting in April, was great for Indian players in general, there were a few surprises in store. Rediff.com takes a look at the Indian players who secured themselves the best deals.
J P Duminy and Heinrich Klassen hit superb half-centuries to steer South Africa to a six-wicket victory over India in the second Twenty20 International, in Centurion, on Wednesday night.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2021's Most Valuable Players up to Game 21.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2021's 50 Most Valuable Players up to Game 11.
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.
"The ball was too far outside, to be honest, but I don't really know whether it was wide or not," Harbhajan told reporters at the post match conference.
India's premier Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara will play for Team Zalawad Royals in the inaugural Saurashtra Premier League.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2020's Paisa Vasool Players.
On a day KKR star spinner Sunil Narine was expensive and returned wicket-less, the likes of Piyush Chawla, Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav stepped up to restrict Rajasthan 144 for four after batsmen put on board 169 for seven.
Images from Thursday's IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, in Jaipur.
Young Shreyas Gopal spun a web around a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up to claim four wickets for 16 runs and help Rajasthan Royals score a 30-run victory and stay in the reckoning for a play-offs berth in the Indian Premier League, in Jaipur, on Saturday.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav starred with an impressive four-wicket spell as he set up Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable six-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
Images from the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, in Mumbai, on Monday.
Zaheer Khan feels that one shouldn't go 'crazy or overboard' if the bowler in question is not ready for the challenge.
Powerful batting lower down the order followed by tidy bowling helped Mumbai thrash Saurashtra by 16 runs in the West Zone T20 league game, for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, at the MCA's BKC ground in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Images from Tuesday's IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, in Abu Dhabi.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Thursday.
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.
Facing early elimination, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders need to record a win to stay afloat when they take on table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad.
India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara hit the nets after more than three months as he resumed his cricket training along with his Saurashtra team mates in Rajkot. Captain Jaydev Unadakat, who led Saurashtra to their maiden Ranji Trophy, is also part of the training session along with his other team mates batsman Arpit Vasavada and medium pacer Prerak Mankad at Pujara's academy, located in the outskirts of Rajkot.
A steadily improving Delhi Daredevils look all set to challenge the might of title contenders Kolkata Knight Riders when the two teams clash for the second time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match, in New Delhi on Saturday.
Delhi done in by poor batting as Karnataka win by 4 wickets
Variation in any bowling attack makes it lethal and that's precisely the reason why bowling coach Bharath Arun is in search of a potent left-arm speedster, who enables Indian team to have all bases covered.
A total of 62 players were sold at the auction for the 13th edition with the eight franchises spending a total of 1.403 billion rupees ($19.73 million). Australia's Pat Cummins became the most expensive overseas buy ever in the Indian Premier League when the Kolkata Knight Riders paid a staggering Rs 15.50 crore ($2.18 million) for the fast bowler in Thursday's auction in Kolkata on Thursday.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra notched up a career-best haul (6-48) as India ended their Zimbabwe tour with another convincing victory, in the fifth and final One-Day International in Bulawayo on Saturday, thereby completing a 5-0 series sweep.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2021's 50 Most Valuable Players up to Game 29.
Rajneesh Gupta brings you all the numbers from the first 44 games in IPL-12.
Rajneesh Gupta brings you all the numbers from the first 35 games in IPL-12.
Rajneesh Gupta presents Rajasthan Royals's IPL record over the years.
It will not be the first time that the competition has had to be held outside India.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni roared back to form with a smashing half-century to power RIsing Pune Supergiant to a six-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Pune, on Saturday.