Chennai Super Kings will be aiming to tie up loose ends ahead of the play-offs when they take on a listless Delhi Daredevils
This being done by the Indian Army, with an eye on the future, which is focusing on strengthening its combative air assets by procuring attack helicopters.
Cheteshwar Pujara marked his comeback with a gritty unbeaten century as India recovered from an early slump to reach a decent 292-8 in their first innings of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Delhi Daredevils will have to learn from the mistakes made in the previous game against table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad
arpreet Singh Bhatia slammed his second first-class ton to lead the Madhya Pradesh run-spree in the second innings and set Bengal an improbable 788 runs for a win in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinals on Saturday. The 24-year-old Bhatia notched up 139 in 206 balls, studded with 14 fours, to help MP pile on runs after resuming on overnight score of 338 for five. MP finally declared at a mammoth second-innings total of 560 for 9, just before tea on the fourth and penultimate day. Bengal, who conceded a huge first-innings lead of 227 after being bowled out for a meager 121, are on the verge of a defeat as they were struggling at 113 for three in 31 overs at the close of play.
Facing an early exit after their sixth loss in eight games, bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils, under new skipper Shreyas Iyer, will have to treat each upcoming IPL game as a virtual knock-out, starting with their clash against Rajasthan Royals, in Delhi, on Wednesday.
India's Cheteshwar Pujara slipped a rung to seventh in the batting list but R Ashwin remained steady at fifth in the bowling chart of the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Thursday.
Delhi Daredevils find themselves in an 'oh-so-familiar' situation as they seek home comfort against a Chris Gayle-inspired Kings XI Punjab
Out of favour for more than four years, veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra staged a comeback to India's Test squad for the three-Test away series against Sri Lanka, starting August 12.
Delhi Daredevils will be aiming to display more impact in their batting department as they face a formidable challenge from defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL encounter, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
India A could not take advantage of a strong opening partnership and lost four quick wickets for an addition of just 16 runs as they ended the third day of their four-day game against Australia A at 158 for four, still needing 108 runs to avoid the innings defeat, in Brisbane on Saturday.
Brendon McCullum smashed an unbeaten 71 after Mohit Sharma's heroics with the ball to guide Chennai Super Kings to a comfortable seven wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League match in Dubai.
Back to their winning ways after sucessive victories, a rejuvenated Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to continue their good run when they take on laggards Kings XI Punjab in an IPL T20 clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on Saturday.
In reply to Sri Lanka's 411/9 declared, the Board President's XI were struggling at 31/2 after lunch on the second day, but Samson patiently built his innings and helped his side reach 287/5 when both captains agreed on a stalemate after 75 overs.
Notwithstanding Rising Pune Supergiants' poor run in IPL-9, Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman considers the debutante side as a formidable unit and said his team will have to put its best foot forward when they clash with them in their IPL match on Tuesday. "It goes without saying that (RPS Captain M S Dhoni) Dhoni will be looking forward to use Ashwin against Warner and Shikhar. I believe that Pune has got a very formidable batting line up," Laxman said in a pre-match press conference at Hyderabad. "Lot of people talk about Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf Duplessis being similar. They are all extrordinary T20 players. We cannot at all be complecent or we cannot at all underestimate the batting strength of Pune. We are very mindful," he added. The former Test batsman, however, exuded confidence that SRH can take on any opposition if it sticks to its plans and executes them well. "But, I believe that if we concentrate on our plans and try to execute our plans, then we can do well against any opposition. It's more about concentrating and playing to our strength, while strategizing for each and every opposition batsman or bowler," he said. Noting that the MS Dhoni-led Pune team would look to bounce back strongly, Laxman said no team can be ruled out as it is still the early part of the long IPL tournament.
Most farmers depend on rainwater for farming.
Keeping in view the approaching Lok Sabha elections, the All Indian Congress Committee has appointed a battery of high-profile spokesmen for the Congress to showcase the achievements of the last 10 years of United Progressive Alliance government and publicise the various sectors where the UPA has performed. Renu Mittal reports
Karnataka's in-form young opener K L Rahul has staked a strong claim for his inclusion in India's Test squad to Australia.
Sunrisers Hyderabad face an uphill task to find their way through in the ongoing Indian Premier League as they get ready to take on formidable Chennai Super Kings.
A special relief camp has also been set up in Gorakhpur.
A round-up of the opening day's actions of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country.
BCCI's interim President Jagmohan Dalmiya has promised that there will be no cover-up in the probe into the alleged conflict of interests issue over Mahendra Singh Dhoni holding stakes in a sports management firm that manages him and several other Indian cricketers.
Resuming at the overnight score of 36 for 2 on Day 3, Bangladesh 'A' were shot out for 151 in 39.3 overs, with Ishwar Pandey (3-28), Jayant Yadav (3-48) and Abhimanyu Mithun (2-23) doing the bulk of damage at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
After back-to-back losses against Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Supergiant, Sunrisers eked out a seven-wicket win over table-toppers Mumbai Indians at Hyderabad and David Warner's men need another inspiring show.
Sunrisers Hyderabad will aim to stop a rampaging Rising Pune Supergiant when both teams meet in the Indian Premier League, on Saturday, in a bid to cement their place in the play-offs.
Daredevils can be the banana peel and Mumbai Indians will be wary after Chennai Super Kings slipped in their penultimate game. The last time the two teams faced off, the Daredevils won by seven wickets in a last-over thriller.
A summary of the third day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches played at various venues across the country.
Lack of intent in Daredevils players has been very surprising.
India's out-of-favour seniors Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag have been omitted from the Board of Control for Cricket in India's contracted players' list for 2013-14. The retiring Sachin Tendulkar, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin are the five players in Grade 'A', and will pocket Rs 1 crore for the 2013-14 season.
Skipper Manoj Tiwary and lower-order batsman Pankaj Shaw cracked individual hundreds but could not save Bengal from suffering a huge 355-run defeat against Madhya Pradesh in the five-day Ranji Trophy quarter-final at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Starting the final day on 113 for 3 and chasing an improbable victory target of 788, Bengal were kept in the fight till the extended tea session by Tiwary (124), Shaw (118) and Ashok Dinda (52) before they folded up for 432. Lanky pacer Ishwar Pandey once again led the bowling honours for MP with a haul of 4 for 93 to add to his first innings tally of 4 for 45, while debutant pacer Chandrakant Sakure finished with a match haul of six wickets that included his second innings 3 for 114. MP, who thus recorded their second outright win over Bengal in nine outings in the tournament, now take on 40-time champions Mumbai in the five-day semi finals commencing at Cuttack on February 13.
Three persons were on Friday sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a court in Jaipur for raping a 20-year-old Japanese tourist on the Jaipur-Ajmer National Highway in February.
A summary of the first day's play in the Ranji Trophy league matches at various venues.
Even as both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh have been making claims of bringing forward women in politics, the parties have allotted few tickets to them for the November 25 assembly elections.
Even as both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh have been making claims of bringing forward women in politics, the parties have allotted few tickets to them for the November 25 assembly elections.
On a day dominated by pace bowlers from both sides, Madhya Pradesh held the upper hand over Bengal by taking a handsome first innings lead of 227 runs after skittling out the latter for a paltry 121 in their Ranji Trophy quarter-final, at the Brabourne Stadium, on Thursday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's form will remain in focus when the struggling Rising Pune Supergiant square off against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Pune, on Saturday.
Cheteshwar Pujara gained a spot to be the highest-ranked Indian batsman at seventh even as R Ashwin remained steady eighth in the bowlers' list of the latest ICC Test rankings released on Sunday.
Delhi Daredevils paid the price for flawed team selection and poor fielding as Sunrisers Hyderabad pushed them towards exit door with a seven-wicket victory in an IPL encounter, in Hyderabad, on Saturday night.
Daredevils once again had a stop-start campaign in the ongoing IPL and are standing on the verge of yet another early elimination.