While the auction ahead of the ninth edition, starting in April, was great for Indian players in general, there were a few surprises in store. Rediff.com takes a look at the Indian players who secured themselves the best deals.
A big win on Saturday will not only will boost Delhi's morale after the 80-run hammering at the hands of CSK but it could also propel the side to the second position in the eight-team standings.
Seeking home comforts after multiple reverses at the Ferozshah Kotla, Delhi Capitals will be desperate to buck the trend when they take on a rejuvenated Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, in Delhi, on Saturday.
Focus will now be on how Rabada would fare against the likes of Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and David Miller.
With ambitious generals knowing that political patronage might be rewarded, a worrying era of politicisation of the military looms ahead, observes retired Colonel Ajai Shukla who has known Generals Rawat, Bakshi and Hariz for a long time.
Delhi's performance at home is woeful, but having registered a win after two consecutive losses at the Kotla, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit is high on confidence.
It was CSK who denied Delhi a top-two spot in the league standings with a crushing 80-run win at Chepauk and the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side stands in their way again, only the stakes are much higher.
Having ensured three points by virtue of 104-run first innings lead by the end of the third day, Mumbai decided against sporting declaration reaching 321 for 5 when captains decided to call time.
With Yuvraj Singh in prime form and Australian Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting making all-round contributions, Sunrisers are favourites going into the match.
A confident Delhi are coming off two back-to-back victories against Royal Challengers Bangalore and a strong Kolkata Knight Riders outfit.
However, Rajasthan would be a bit more desperate than Delhi as they are languishing at the second last position in the points table with just three wins from nine outings.
Chesteshwar Pujara displayed his appetite for a big score with a superlative unbeaten 256 as India Blue piled up a mammoth 693 for six in their bid to outbat the Reds on the second day of the Duleep Trophy final.
Ravindra Jadeja spiced up an otherwise uneventful final day with another lethal spell of left-arm spin as India Blue notched a crushing 355-run victory over India Red to win the inaugural day-night Duleep Trophy tournament, in Greater Noida, on Wednesday evening.
The celebrated duo of head coach Ricky Ponting and mentor Sourav Ganguly has managed to instill belief in the team members and that is visible on the field. The team now seems to believe that it can win the title after a long spell as the perennial underachiever of the competition.
High on confidence after decimating a high-profile Royal Challengers Bangalore, an upbeat Gujarat Lions will be aiming to lift their game a notch higher when they face title contenders Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Rajkot on Saturday.
List of players released by IPL teams ahead of next month's auction for 2020 season:
Under pressure to retain his place in the Test XI, Cheteshwar Pujara overshadowed Rohit Sharma by scoring a solid hundred as India Blue made full use of a placid track to amass 362/3 against India Red on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final in Greater Noida.
Hosts Karnataka amassed three points on the basis of their crucial first-innings lead as their Elite Ranji Trophy Group A game against Mumbai ended in a tame draw in Belagavi.
Mumbai Indians seek to maintain momentum against Kings XI Punjab.
Mumbai Indians will look to continue their rampaging run when they take on the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad.
"Chennai Super Kings regrets his tweet which was without the knowledge of the Management and in bad taste," it added.
A hard-hitting half century from fit-again Hardik Pandya went in vain as Mumbai grabbed a narrow 29-run first innings lead after tea on day three of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Monday made a comeback to the Indian team for the first two Tests against South Africa, replacing veteran Harbhajan Singh, who was the only casualty from the team which won the Test series in Sri Lanka last month.
Spin legend Anil Kumble said it has been more satisfying to see Virat Kohli and Co. become self-sufficient in dealing with challenges both on and off the field.
Nothing but a win will keep their play-off hopes alive as defending champions Mumbai Indians take on Gujarat Lions in a do-or-die battle, which will be their final IPL league match in Kanpur on Saturday. With seven wins in 13 matches, Mumbai are currently placed fifth, tied on 14 points with Royal Challengers Bangalore (3rd) and Kolkata Knight Riders (4th) -- both having better net run-rate with one match to go. A loss on Saturday will knock them out of the race for play-offs and Mumbai will hope to pull the rug from under the feet of the Lions this time after suffering a defeat during their home leg on April 16.
Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara continued his good form with the bat as he and Robin Uthappa helped Saurashtra crush Punjab by eight wickets.
Even as they struggle to find the winning formula, laggards Kings XI Punjab will still fancy their chances when they host Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Mohali on Monday.
Erratic Sunrisers Hyderabad look to bounce back against inconsistent Mumbai Indians.
Monday's clash was the biggest confrontation between the two militaries after their 1967 clashes in Nathu La when India lost around 80 soldiers while over 300 Chinese Army personnel were killed in the confrontation.
Attacking the Congress government, the BJP claimed there is no rule of law in Rajasthan and the incident has put a question mark on the law and order situation of the state.
The Pune outfit is presently languishing at the sixth spot in the eight-team standings with just four points.
Mumbai Indians are all set to open the defense of their title against new outfit Rising Pune Supergiants.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday
Back in the top half of the league table after a convincing win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils will look to build on the winning momentum when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
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.
The former Congress president has been questioning the government over the martyrdom of Indian soldiers and has demanded answers from the prime minister.
China has not yet talked about the number of casualties suffered by the People's Liberation Army during the clash.
Sanju Samson smashed 72 off 56 balls as Kerala completed a five wicket win over Punjab to cruise into the quarterfinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, in Kochi, on Saturday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday
'I'm 79 + now, and I've been doing all this since my late 20s.' 'Sometimes the ideological war extends to the home as well.' 'Many nights I couldn't sleep when someone close to me uttered the smallest insult.' 'It would cause me a lot of pain. But one has to be honest to oneself.'
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