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.
Mohammed Shami was dropped after he failed to clear the fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
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.
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:
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday.
KXIP's chances of a top four finish took a serious hit after Rajasthan Royals handed them a seven-wicket loss,
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.
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.
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.
Punjab, who are on eight points from 11 games, need to win the match to keep their play-offs hopes alive, while KKR (10 points from 11 games) also need a victory to boost their hopes.
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.
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.
'It's been a series of missed opportunities, in terms of catches that cost us'
Kings XI run into a RCB squad which has grown in confidence by leaps and bounds since their last meeting.
Pace bowler Mohammed Shami complained of soreness in his knee after the third Test.
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.
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
'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'
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.
Rajasthan Royals defeated Delhi Daredevils by three wickets.
Morgan's astute captaincy in using his bowling resources was the highlight as KKR had bowled out MI for a modest 152.
KL Rahul and Co would like forget the unsavoury incident and focus on the task ahead.
Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Eoin Morgan said absence of paceman Ashish Nehra hurt them badly as they suffered a narrow defeat against Delhi Daredevils.
Morgan said they have a good bench strength this season to deal with the challenges of injury and illness.
A near-perfect series for Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
SunRisers Hyderabad has the biggest purse while Kolkata Knight Riders has the slimmest purse.
Having made a commendable comeback from the brink of a series defeat, India will look to increase their stranglehold on hosts England to draw parity when the two teams square off for the fourth Test, in Southampton, on Thursday.
The current fiasco now completely established that there is no communication between the selectors and senior players, who decide their own schedule. 'Dhoni feels that it would not be fair for him to join us at this stage, given that the team has done so well and reached the quarter-final stage in his absence. He does not want to upset the team balance'
Karnataka bowlers, led by experienced Abhimanyu Mithun (2-24), put up a spirited show to restrict Maharashtra to 155/4 despite an unbeaten 69 by all-rounder Naushad Shaikh.
Here's the complete list of which team bagged who, and for how much!
Captain Manoj Tiwary (83) and Naman Ojha (82 batting) hit aggressive half centuries to rescue India A from initial wobble and take them to a comfortable 304 for six on the opening day of the first four-day match against Australia A.
This year's IPL was action-packed and Redifff.com reloads some of the memorable moments, in pictures, from this year's competition.
Royal Challengers Bangalore grabbed an impressive second spot in the IPL Play-offs with a six-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils as Virat Kohli continued with his superlative batting show by hitting a responsible 54-run knock, in Raipur on Sunday. The second position will provide RCB with two chances to qualify for the final.
Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a career-best 68 as Rajasthan Royals inched closer to the play-offs after outclassing Punjab Kings by six wickets, in the IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
Down but not out. That's what pacer Liam Plunkett tried to convey while summing up the mood in the Delhi Daredevils camp after suffering yet another loss in the Indian Premier League.
Failing to put up any fight against a rampaging Australia A, India A suffered a 10-wicket loss in the second unofficial Test to go down 0-1 in the two-match series on Saturday.