Aditya Tare played a captain's knock while Abhishek Nayar and Shardul Thakur complemented their fine bowling effort with half-centuries to help Mumbai take the all-important first innings lead over Tamil Nadu in the semi-final of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament in Rajkot. Tare made a fine 83 off 181 deliveries with the help of nine boundaries to hold together Mumbai's first innings. He was ably supported by Nayar (58) and Thakur (52) as Mumbai made 406 in their first innings in reply to Tamil Nadu's 305 before being bowled out at stumps on the third day of the five-day marque encounter.
Ishan Kishan celebrated his 26th birthday by offering prayers at the Shri Sai Baba temple in Shirdi.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
Ajinkya Rahane might have endured a wretched run with the willow but he was the "happiest man" at the Wankhede on Thursday, having led Mumbai to their 42nd Ranji Trophy title.
A summary of Tuesday's action in the Ranji Trophy.
IMAGES from Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy final played between Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Shreyas Iyer scored a fine century to enable Mumbai take the first innings lead against Saurashtra on the second day of the five-day Ranji Trophy final, in Pune, on Thursday. The 21-year-old, who registered his sixth first-class century while scoring 117 off 142 balls, that included 15 boundaries and two sixes, singlehandedly guided Mumbai to 262 for 8 off 66 overs, in reply to Saurashtra's 235 all out.
The outings of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Prasidh Krishna will be the primary focal points of India A's four-day match against their Australian counterparts
Suryakumar Yadav is a big fan of Rohit Sharma's leadership philosophy that inspires him to keep his flock together by understanding his players' psyche.
The result was a foregone conclusion; the fifth day only a formality. Mumbai sealed a berth in the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy by virtue of the first innings lead against Baroda at the Wankhede stadium on Thursday.
Run-machine Sarfaraz Khan had made a promise to his Mumbai teammates and his family after his younger brother Musheer was ruled out of the Irani Cup match against Rest of India, following a road accident: score a double hundred.
Opener Kaustubh Pawar defended doggedly to crawl to 89 as Mumbai reached 235 for five at stumps on the first day against Madhya Pradesh in a group league match of the Ranji Trophy in Indore on Saturday.
Himachal Pradesh, who were bowled out for 130 in their first innings, were 79 for one at stumps on day three needing another 393 runs for an improbable win.
Uncapped players who could create a bidding war between franchises at the IPL auction, come Sunday.
'Vaibhav just came to our trials and we were really happy with what he saw.'
Mumbai Cricket Association said it would prefer to host the Ranji Trophy final at Wankhede Stadium if their team makes it to the summit clash.
Mumbai, who scored 488 in the first innings, riding on captain Aditya Tare's 154, enforced the follow-on and the match was called off with Tamil Nadu 48 for one in 22 overs at the tea break.
Milind Kumar played seven seasons for Delhi in Ranji Trophy along with stints for Sikkim and Tripura before he migrated to the US in search of better opportunities.
Saurashtra reached a massive 465 for 9 at close on day two and look certain to move into the last four at the expense of the hosts.
The two points they earned from their drawn match against Railways ensured them a berth.
Mohammed Shami's first white ball outing since 2023 World Cup final was below par but Bengal survived a fine all-round effort by Arshdeep Singh
A round-up of day three action from the Ranji Trophy Super League games across the country on Friday.
Mumbai made it to their first Ranji Trophy final in three seasons even though they were denied an outright victory after fighting centuries from Madhya Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha and Harpreet Singh on Day5 of the semi-final in Cuttack, on Wednesday.
Mumbai will clash with Group C toppers Maharashtra at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai, while Bengal, who beat formidable Tamil Nadu in their last group match, will meet Railways at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals from January 8 to 12.
The match will be played in Chennai from March 26.
The 40-time champions were thrashed by an innings and 44 runs by Tamil Nadu in Chennai on Friday.
'Working (hard) every day is important, because then I'll become consistent. When I was dropped from playing XI in IPL, every day I was working with Zubin sir (Zubin Bharucha, director of cricket at RR) and training really well with support staff like Raj Muni and Yogesh. Zubin sir was keeping me motivated all the time.'
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has delayed the knock-out matches of the Ranji Trophy by two days. Now, the quarter-finals will begin on June 6 and the title clash of the country's premier domestic tournament will commence on June 22.
Young batsman Armaan Jaffer, who recently slammed a triple hundred for Mumbai Under-23 against Saurashtra, was named in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy squad for their upcoming game against Gujarat.
All-rounder Abhishek Nayar cracked an unbeaten 111 after coming into the Mumbai side following an injury lay-off to help the holders recover from a difficult pre-lunch period on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Delhi in Mumbai on Sunday.
Sahil Kukreja (87) and Ajinkya Rahane (89) were on course for individual centuries as reigning champions Mumbai posted 198 for 1 against Hyderabad on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy Super League match in Hyderabad. Mumbai still trail by 68 runs, but with nine-wickets in hand.
'With him in particular, I've had a lot of chats with him, a lot of conversations to try and make him a better cricketer.'
Karnataka took control of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Mumbai by taking a commanding 222-run lead over the 41-time champions on day two of the five-day game at the Vidharbha Cricket Association stadium in Jamtha.
'I will play under him again and I have played under him before, so I will try to learn a lot of things and how he gets performance out of players.'
Abhishek Nayar's 156 coupled with a sedate 69 by Iqbal Abdulla to give holders Mumbai firm control of their Ranji Trophy semi-final match against long-time rivals Delhi on the second day in Mumbai.
This was Shorey's highest first-class score in 45 matches, with his previous best being 145. The double-century will do more good to his already healthy batting average of 48.49.
A summary of Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
Spinner Harmeet Singh scalped three wickets for 25 runs as Mumbai sniffed victory against Railways in their Ranji Trophy Super League Group A match on Thursday. After skittling out the hosts for 187, Mumbai rode on Rohit Sharma's 101 to post 284 in the first innings and then left Railways reeling at 174 for 7 at the end of the day.
Batting sensation Shreyas Iyer was jubilant after finishing as the leading scorer in the Ranji Trophy this season and helping Mumbai win their 41st crown in the country's premier domestic cricket tournament.