Saurashtra were 317 for 5 at close on day two in reply to Bengal's 174 all out.
Bengal pacer Akash Deep bowled a game-changing spell on Friday
Kuldeep Sen blew away the last two batters with scorching pace and steep bounce to finish with a match haul of eight wickets as Rest of India won their 29th Irani Trophy with a walk-in-the-park eight-wicket victory over Saurashtra.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has returned to the team after recovering from a finger surgery he underwent last month. .
But they seemed to learn nothing from their past mistakes.
Ravindra Jadeja starred with a 12-wicket haul for Saurashtra, but India's top stars, including Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, failed to impress in the Ranji Trophy.
Punjab's Abhishek Sharma hammered a 96-ball 170 against Saurashtra, while Jharkhand's Utkarsh Singh's 91 fired his team to a big win against Odisha
A red-hot Bengal will have a chance to win their first Ranji Trophy title in 33 years when they face Saurashtra, bolstered by the return of pacer and domestic game heavyweight Jaydev Unadkat, in the summit clash in Kolkata from Thursday.
A summary of Thursday's action in the Ranji Trophy group stage matches.
A summary of Friday's action in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
Defending champions Mumbai's Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Haryana has been shifted from Lahli to Kolkata by the BCCI due to potential fog concerns in the northern region. The match will be held at the Eden Gardens from February 8 to 12.
Virat Kohli will miss Delhi's upcoming Ranji Trophy match against Saurashtra due to persistent neck stiffness.
The Indian cricket team's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar has been sacked just eight months
Skipper Iyer hit 137 not out as Mumbai crushed Puducherry by a massive 163 runs in their Group C game in Ahmedabad.
A summary of Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday
The match has been relocated from its original venue in Srinagar due to 'potential weather concerns' raised by the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
The Ranji Trophy resumes on Thursday, promising a star-studded spectacle as Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant headline a host of big names returning to action.
Saurashtra batter Avi Barot, a former India Under-19 captain and a member of the Ranji Trophy winning team in the 2019-20 season, has died after suffering a cardiac arrest at a shockingly young age of 29, the Saurashtra Cricket Association said.
Kotak highlighted the flexibility of Rahul, who came almost an hour early to the scheduled net session.
Rest of India remained firm favourites to win the Irani Cup match in Rajkot
India's star pacer Mohammed Shami set up Bengal's comfortable win against Meghalaya with a measly spell in their Group A contest in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Rajkot on Sunday.
Mohammed Shami rarely operated at his best and it had a cascading effect on Bengal as they went down by 41 runs against Baroda in the quarterfinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
'If you don't play well, then you can't complain. And if you play well, there is no point in saying whether you got an advantage or not.'
'...whether he is a top player or not, it doesn't matter.' 'If I go by a player's name I won't be able to bowl at my best.' 'For me he is just a batter, and my only focus is where I need to land the ball.'
Continuing his fine run in his comeback from ankle surgery, India pacer Mohammed Shami will be in the spotlight as Bengal face strong challenge from a rampaging Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 quarterfinal in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The Ranji match between Delhi and Railways will be live streamed on JioCinema.
In all, Axar has led in 24 matches across all formats, winning 12, losing 10 and two matches ended in a draw.
Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign opener, New Zealand's accomplished batter Kane Williamson has predicted big things for two young talented batters: Kiwi star Rachin Ravindra and India's T20I specialist Abhishek Sharma.
K L Rahul's indifferent form could throw Cheteshwar Pujara a lifeline for the tour of Australia, where he enjoys a great record.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Bharatiya Janata Party and all the alliance parties will contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu together under the National Democratic Alliance. The significant political development comes ahead of the TN Assembly election to be held in 2026,
Defending champions Saurashtra will start their Ranji Trophy preparations with a training camp in Rajkot from the first week of November by strictly following all the state government and BCCI guidelines on COVID-19 pandemic.
Skipper Ayush Badoni played the most defining knock of his short but eventful first-class career as his maiden double hundred not only gave Delhi three points against Jharkhand but more importantly kept them in contention for a possible quarter-final berth in the Ranji Trophy on Saturday.
The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association sacked its senior selection committee, comprising former National selector Gagan Khoda, Mayank Sidhana and Anil Bhardwaj, on Thursday after the state team was decimated by Saurashtra in a Ranji Trophy group league game.
A summary of Friday's action in the Ranji Trophy matches across the country.
According to ESPNCricinfo, Shubman Gill has also confirmed his availability for Punjab's upcoming Ranji Trophy sixth-round fixture against Karnataka, set to begin on January 23.
Samson had new batting batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and throwdown specialists for company.
Three national highways in Kutch, Navsari and Dang districts were blocked due to damage caused by rains. Fifty one state highways and over 400 panchayat roads have also been damaged, state Disaster Management Minister Rajendra Trivedi told reporters.
When a few fans called out his name, he instructed the security team to let them approach.
This is the first time DRS will be implemented in a Ranji Trophy final and both teams will get three reviews in each innings. This comes after last season's final between Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai was mired in controversy.
Prolific batsman Sheldon Jackson, who played a pivotal role in Saurashtra's maiden Ranji Trophy triumph in the season gone by, will compete for Puducherry in the domestic circuit this season, a decision which the cricketer said was "not easy".
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