The clean sweep in the T20 series against Australia has lessened their dilemmas but selectors will debate.
Manish Pandey hogged the limelight by scoring the first century of the IPL II in South Africa and the young Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman is now eyeing upcoming Champions League Twenty20 in the Rainbow Nation to make his way into the star-studded India team.
Young Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey and his fast bowling team mate R Vinay Kumar were among the three new faces named in India's 30-member list of probables for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies in April-May this year. Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, who also had a successful domestic season, was the other new face in the list.
The Delhi Capitals will be looking to improve their batting performance in the middle overs when they face a struggling Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League match on Tuesday.
Each leader will look after six assembly constituencies.
Most of these leaders are known for their organisational skills and successful management of elections in their respective states.
Mumbai Indians' newcomer Ashwani Kumar made history on his IPL debut, becoming the first Indian bowler to take four wickets in a maiden IPL appearance.
Mumbai Indians bowled out Kolkata Knight Riders for a paltry 116 runs in their latest IPL encounter, winning the match by eight wickets.
In two of the three games CSK has won this season, Noor Ahmad has won the Player of the Match award.
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.
A struggling Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be aiming to break their losing streak when they face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday. CSK are currently ninth in the standings with one win and four losses, while KKR are in sixth position with two wins and three defeats. The home team will be hoping to turn around their fortunes at Chepauk, which has not been as advantageous this season as it has been in the past. CSK will need to adapt to the changed conditions and rely on their spinners to perform well at a venue where they have traditionally dominated. Meanwhile, KKR will be looking to bounce back from a narrow loss to the Lucknow Super Giants and secure a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The unexpected 10-day break has left both the RCB and the KKR with different goals to achieve and common challenges to hurdle over.
The common theme in their opening game defeats was how the seemingly powerful batting and bowling units of KKR and RR failed to fire.
The common theme in those defeats was how the seemingly powerful batting and bowling units of KKR and RR failed to fire.
If Punjab goes for a flat deck, there is no guarantee that the bowling unit can defend anything in the 220 range, especially when KKR have the likes of Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, and Venkatesh Iyer in their ranks.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will not be part of IPL-4, which kicks-off on April 8, while Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey will have to sit out of the first four matches of his new franchise, Sahara Pune Warriors, for breaching player guidelines, the league's Governing Council said on Friday.
For the home side, it has been a season of mixed returns so far. After early defeats to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians, KKR roared back to form in their last outing -- a commanding win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
A fit-again Rohit Sharma and Manish Pandey slammed strokeful centuries as India A feasted on Sri Lanka's mediocre attack before registering a comfortable 88-run victory in a warm-up match for the visitors ahead of their ODI series against India at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) on Thursday.
The cricketer with most catches in T20 cricket is former West Indies cricketer Kieron Pollard with 362 catches to his name.
Shreyas Iyer had led KKR to their first IPL title in a decade last year. However, on Saturday, he returns as captain of a rejuvenated Punjab Kings chasing a play-off spot.
Trent Boult's double wicket maiden helped Rajasthan Royals rout Delhi Capitals.
Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants, both struggling in the Indian Premier League, will be looking to turn their fortunes around when they face each other on Friday.
India's middle-order batsman Manish Pandey said his main aim is to keep scoring runs whenever he gets an opportunity and push for a permanent berth in the playing eleven.
Manish Pandey's scintillating century and leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal's sterling bowling effort helped Ranji champions Karnataka retain the Irani Trophy after beating Rest of India by a massive 246 runs on the fourth and penultimate day in Bangalore.
Champions Kolkata Knight Riders look like the most complete squad heading into IPL 2025.
Reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders will hope that their strife-ridden batting unit will tighten its act against in-form table-toppers Gujarat Titans in the IPL match in Kolkata on Monday.
Yet to get a game in the tournament, Rahane could find himself playing at his home ground in Mumbai if Yuvraj doesn't recover fully in time for the last-four game on March 31.
This is only the second time that Punjab Kings reached the IPL final, while it is the fourth time that RCB have made it to the title clash.
Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey smashed centuries to power India 'A' to a 34-run win over South Africa A and qualify for the tri-series final at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Pandey scored a half-century for Shikhar Dhawan XI while flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav smashed a quick-fire 50 odd for Bhuvneshwar Kumar XI.
Ajinkya Rahane's contribution can't go unnoticed, taking the catches of Warner and Axar and effecting that brilliant run-out of Marsh -- dismissals that put the game out of DC's reach.
With a power-packed batting line-up, match-winning spinners and a solid pace attack, champions KKR are once again the team to beat.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
Manish Pandey struck his maiden one-day century in a high-scoring thriller to secure India a pride-salvaging six-wicket victory against Australia in the fifth and final ODI in Sydney on Saturday.
As captain, Gautam Gambhir won KKR its two titles. Now, as team mentor, can he inspire KKR to achieve glory?
Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad find themselves in troubled waters, having lost two of their last three games
Having got off to a start so typical of themselves in the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians will hope for a quick turnaround when they take on defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai on Monday.
'...India has a really good top-order line-up and they bat out nearly 30-35 overs in ODIs with guys like Virat (Kohli) and then MS Dhoni comes ahead of me (at times). So yeah, with some more chances, I feel I can deliver a lot more than what I am doing right now' 'Over the last couple of years, Indian batting has also been doing very well. So you have to be very patient for your chances'
Pandey scored an unbeaten 71 off 47 balls as he hit a last-ball six to help SRH tie the match with Mumbai Indians on Thursday, though the visitors lost the game in Super Over.
With a dominant 24 runs victory over Mumbai Indians propelling second-placed KKR to 14 points and a step closer to qualification for the play-offs, the pressure is on KL Rahul's LSG to find a way past the threat that Shreyas Iyer's side poses.
