The Cricket Association of Bengal will stage the four-day final of the S K Acharya memorial tournament (Ranji Trophy pre-season tourney) with pink balls and under floodlights. The title round of the four-team tournament will be played at the Eden Gardens from October 1-4.
The India captain will become the first Indian cricketer to be bestowed with the honour on three occasions.
This was Dhoni's 17th List 'A' century, which includes 10 in ODIs, and first in domestic one-dayers since February 2005 when he had scored an unbeaten 102 for India Seniors in the Challengers Trophy against India B.
40 must know nuggets about the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
India's fastest bowler Varun Aaron has started his 10-day training programme under Australian legend Glenn McGrath at the MRF Pace Foundation as part of a tie-up between the BCCI and company.
India captain Virat Kohli's phenomenal batting form fetched him the BCCI's best cricketer award for two seasons, while World Cup stars Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana were chosen for the women's equivalent of the honour.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni holds the unique feat of captaining India in an international match without ever captaining his home teams Bihar and Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy or any other important domestic cricket match.
Jharkhand spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and Saurashtra batsman Sheldon Jackson rise to the challenge in these dark times.
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.
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.
Dilip Vengsarkar believes that he was able to do justice to the chairman's post because of the time he spent as head of BCCI's now defunct Talent Research Development Wing (TRDW) which found the gem called MS Dhoni.
There are many interesting facts and stats about Dhoni's fabulous career.
A summary of the first day's play at different venues in the Ranji Trophy.
A formidable India U-19 team coached by the legendary Rahul Dravid start as overwhelming favourites against minnows Ireland in their opening Group D league match of the ICC U-19 World Cup in Mirpur on Thursday. Being three-time champions, the tournament has always helped India unearth raw talent who have gone on to become big stars in the future. Whether it is Yuvraj Singh or India's current No. 1 batsman Virat Kohli, India have been lucky in terms of tapping quality talent from the tournament. It's no different this time round as the likes of Ishan Kishan, Risabh Pant, Avesh Khan would like to showcase their talent under the able guidance of Dravid, in an event which is widely televised.
A summary of the day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at different venues around the country.
A summary of the day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches.
Brothers Krunal and Hardik Pandya excelled with the bat and ball respectively as Baroda crushed Punjab by 75 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group A match.
Delhi's young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant batted himself into the record books as he struck the fastest ever hundred by an Indian in a first-class game by hitting a 48-ball ton against Jharkhand in a Ranji Trophy encounter in Thumba, Kerala, on Tuesday.
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.
A summary of the Ranji matches played across India on Sunday.
The 41-year-old Thakur replaced Shashank Manohar who quit the position to take up the ICC chairman's job. The Maharashtra Cricket Association chief and business magnate Shirke expectedly filled in the Secretary's post which was left vacant by Thakur's resignation on Saturday.
Krunal Pandya on Saturday became the costliest uncapped buy in IPL history, going for a whopping Rs 8.8 crore to Mumbai Indians as rookie players, both Indian and overseas, turned overnight millionaires in the auction in Bengaluru.
Former captain Anil Kumble said that many of the recommendations of the Lodha Committee report would be good for Indian cricket if they are implemented. "Many of the aspects of Justice Lodha recommendations are really good, especially the proposal to form Steering Committee of Players' Association. "If implemented, it will be good for Indian cricket," Kumble told reporters. The Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Panel had recommended the formation of players' association by a four-member steering committee comprising former union home secretary G K Pillai (chairperson) and former India cricketers Mohinder Amarnath, Kumble and Diana Edulji (ex-Indian women's team captain), to raise their concerns.
Playing for Jharkhand, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was playing his first domestic match in eight years, made just nine before he was dismissed by Jammu and Kashmir's left-arm spinner Waseem Raza.
A summary of the second day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches being played at different venues over the country.
A freak heel injury that was supposed to heal in three and half weeks took three and half months but Varun Aaron is back again raring to unleash his 140 plus thunderbolts as he gears up for another comeback to the India team.
Domestic giants Mumbai continued its winning run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy thrashing Madhya Pradesh by nine wickets in Mumbai on Monday.
His batting and wicketkeeping shone through in equal measure during the recent home Test series against England and Parthiv Patel attributes the success to segregating his twin skills during training sessions.
'Ravindra is probably the best all-rounder in India today.' 'He is a thinking spinner. He uses both his fingers and mind when bowling.'
Why has Lalu Prasad picked his youngest child, Tejashwi Yadav, as his political heir.