Hardik Pandya stood tall amid the ruins with an unbeaten 79 as India collapsed to 169-9 on a rain-hit opening day of the second four-day Quadrangular A Series match against Australia, in Brisbane, on Thursday.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
Rain played spoilsport as the One-Day match between India 'A' and South Africa 'A' was abandoned after 35 overs in the first innings, taking the Manish Pandey-led side to the top of points table in the quadrangular contest. The Indians were struggling for most part of the 35.2 overs bowled today after being put in to bat at the Harrup Park. Openers Mandeep Singh (29 of 51 balls) and Karun Nair (15 of 25 balls) put on 31 in eight overs before the latter was dismissed by Dwaine Pretorius.
Suresh Raina was presented a golden opportunity to force his way back into the Test squad after being named captain of the Board President's XI, which will play the West Indies in a three-day warm-up match ahead of the Test series that follows the ongoing One-day internationals.
An in-form Delhi Capitals will fancy their chances of securing a play-off berth when they face Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League in Sharjah on Tuesday.
On a roll after a poor start, Delhi Daredevils will look to complete a hat-trick of victories on home turf when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter, in New Delhi on Saturday.
Delhi Darevils opener Quinton de Kock, who scored the first century of the ninth edition of Indian Premier League, said that 192 against RCB was always a gettable target on a good batting track like the one at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Debutants Gujarat Titans will start as favourites against spin-heavy former champions Rajasthan Royals when the two teams face-off in the first IPL Qualifier, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Tuesday.
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.
Jos Buttler would be eagerly waiting to pounce on an inexperienced Chennai Super Kings attack in order to clinch a play-offs berth for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022 match on Friday.
Young batsman Krunal Pandya produced a blinder of an innings scoring 86 runs off only 37 balls as Mumbai Indians defended their massive 206-4 against Delhi Daredevils to record a convincing 80-run victory at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. This win by a huge margin has also boosted the net run-rate of Mumbai at a crucial time as they move above Gujarat Lions to third place in the points table. Pandya's knock was laced with half a dozen towering sixes and seven boundaries as he shared a 98-run fiery stand with opener Martin Guptill to power Mumbai to a commanding 206 for four.
Put into bat, KXIP were reduced to 36 for 3 in the fourth over after Umesh (3/23) dismissed Mayank Aggarwal (15), Aaron Finch (0) and Yuvraj Singh (4) in the space of six balls in his second over to leave the visiting side in trouble early in their innings.
Delhi Capitals need to win all their remaining three matches to keep their hopes alive of making it to the IPL 2022 play-offs.
Delhi Daredevils snapped their five-match losing streak with a comfortable six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to keep their hopes alive of making it to the play-offs, in the Indian Premier League, at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi, on Tuesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets to snap their five-match losing streak in the IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Ajinkya Rahane steered Rising Pune Supergiants home with an unbeaten half-century as the visitors outclassed Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets to keep their hopes alive, in the Indian Premier League in Delhi, on Thursday.
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.
Mohammed Shami was dropped after he failed to clear the fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
India again proved too strong for Zimbabwe, winning the second One-Day International by eight wickets in Harare, on Monday. After dismissing the hosts in 34.3 overs for a paltry 126, the tourists chased down the modest target in 26.5 overs and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, having won the opening ODI by nine wickets on Saturday.
Should left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav make his Test debut? Or must India retain the winning Bengaluru side?
The Delhi Daredevils coach is hoping his team can turnaround their fortunes and put up a better showing in their remaining matches.
Factbox on the four-Test series between India and Australia, which starts at Pune on Thursday:
Former India players Venkatesh Prasad and Sunil Joshi will make a surprise return to on-field action, in the fourth edition of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) Twenty20 tournament, to be played in August-September.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the national cricket team and the junior hockey side for their recent successes, saying that their performances have done done the country proud. In his 'Mann Ki Baat' address to the nation, Modi appreciated the sporting success that India has achieved in the past fortnight during which the cricket team routed England 4-0 in a Test series while the junior hockey team became world champion.
'It's been a series of missed opportunities, in terms of catches that cost us'
'We played pretty well against Mumbai (Indians at Delhi on April 23). We have another chance to play in Mumbai (at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, after the loss to Royals at the Brabourne Stadium) and against Mumbai. We need to win and keep in contention'
Pace bowler Mohammed Shami complained of soreness in his knee after the third Test.
Rajasthan Royals defeated Delhi Daredevils by three wickets.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Eoin Morgan said absence of paceman Ashish Nehra hurt them badly as they suffered a narrow defeat against Delhi Daredevils.
KXIP's chances of a top four finish took a serious hit after Rajasthan Royals handed them a seven-wicket loss,
KXIP got its campaign back on track with three consecutive wins -- over mighty Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore and the KL Rahul-led side would be hoping to carry the winning momentum forward to break into top four.
A win for Mumbai Indians will virtually seal them a spot in the play-offs while a loss for KXIP could send them out of contention.
Kings XI run into a RCB squad which has grown in confidence by leaps and bounds since their last meeting.
A near-perfect series for Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would strive for a handsome win over struggling Rajasthan Royals in their last round-robin game to stay ahead in the IPL play-offs race in Sharjah on Thursday.
Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, have done an excellent job in restricting the oppositions but KKR's top-order batting has hurt them the most.
KL Rahul and Co would like forget the unsavoury incident and focus on the task ahead.
Captain KL Rahul has been one of the few consistent performers in the formidable-looking Punjab batting unit and he once again led by example against MI
KKR have so far failed to come together as a unit and slipped to sixth in the table after starting the tournament on a high against Sunrisers Hyderabad.