Guilty of making too many changes at the top, Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to find a winning combination against Rajasthan Royals and snap their five-match losing streak in the IPL, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on Monday.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday.
Delhi Capitals will look to put the 'no-ball' controversy behind and gain much needed momentum against another side seeking course correction, the Kolkata Knight Riders, in the Indian Premier League.
While the return of pace spearhead Anrich Nortje, who had been nursing an injury, bolstered the bowling unit, the South African, who hasn't bowled since the T20 World Cup in November, looked understandably rusty.
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.
Opener Faiz Fazal led Rest of India's dominating display with the bat as the visitors chased down a record target of 480 against Mumbai to win the Irani Trophy. Half-centuries from Karun Nair (92), Sudeep Chatterjee (54), Stuart Binny (54) and Sheldon Jackson (59) powered Rest of India to an unlikely-five wicket victory against Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai, on Day 5, at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Fazal top-scored for the visitors as he scored 127 but Nair fell for 92, the second time he was dismissed in the 90s in the match. Bengal's Chatterjee played a steady innings of 54 before Binny provided the late boost as he smashed 54 from 51 balls. Saurashtra's Jackson carried his team home as he finished unbeaten on 59. For Mumbai, left-arm Iqbal Abdulla claimed five wickets for 154 in 42.4 overs but was still unable to prevent the visitors from chasing down the highest total in the history of the Irani Trophy.
Heavyweight Cheteshwar Pujara was down with fever as Bengal gained the upperhand against a scratchy Saurashtra on an attritional opening day's play in the Ranji Trophy final, in Rajkot, on Monday. Avi Barot and Vishvaraj Jadeja struck gritty half-centuries before Bengal pacer Akash Deep struck late in the final session to leave Saurashtra at 206 for five at stumps on Day 1.
Veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara slammed his second hundred of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, guiding Saurashtra to a comfortable 242 for four against Rajasthan on the opening day of their Group A match, in Jaipur on Friday.
India Blue reached the Duleep Trophy final on the basis of a massive first innings lead, completing a comprehensive performance against India Green even as the game ended in a draw in Greater Noida on Wednesday. There was only one team going into the final against India Red after India Blue took a huge 470-run first innings lead yesterday by dismissing the Green team for 237. India Blue had amassed 707
While KKR suffered their heaviest defeat of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, Pune looked to have found their mojo in the business end of the tournament having registered consecutive wins in their last two matches.
In-form chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav led India Red's fightback with a four-wicket burst to reduce India Blue to 200 for five on another rain-hit day in the Duleep Trophy in Greater Noida on Tuesday. Gautam Gambhir (77) and Mayank Agarwal (92) missed out on centuries before Yadav's sublime spell brought the match alive after a chunk of second day's play was lost due to rain, much like the opening day at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground. After 34.2 overs on day one, 27.4 overs were possible in the match played with pink ball and under lights.
The onus would be on their famed batting line-up of Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell to start firing once again and put pressure on the KKR batsmen.
Senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will lead India Red, India Blue and India Green teams respectively in the Duleep Trophy to be played at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium from August 23 to September 14. The four-day tournament will be played for the first time with pink ball and under lights.
Kolkata Knight Riders resemble a sinking ship ahead of a rather inconsequential IPL-15 match against bottom-placed Mumbai Indians who, even if already out of reckoning, will have their tails up in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
A round-up of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday
Vidarbha opener Atharva Taide struck his third first-class century and his second of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season
Gujarat Titans have been firing on all cylinders, with their batting prowess and bowling might.
Images from the IPL 2022 match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Powerful batting lower down the order followed by tidy bowling helped Mumbai thrash Saurashtra by 16 runs in the West Zone T20 league game, for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, at the MCA's BKC ground in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Their confidence severely dented after two comprehensive defeats, last edition's runners-up side Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking to get their inconsistent campaign back on track when they face Rajasthan Royals in the IPL match in Mumbai on Monday.
IMAGES from the IPL 2022 game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Mumbai, on Friday.
Back to winning ways, a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad will be forced to tinker their successful combination following all-rounder Washington Sundar's injury as they face Kolkata Knight Riders.
A round-up of Day 1 in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final matches.
Skipper Mayank Agarwal scored an unbeaten century as he rescued Karnataka from a poor start
Australia's ongoing tour of Pakistan ends on April 5 while KKR's fifth match of the season is scheduled for April 10.
An in-form Delhi Capitals will fancy their chances of securing a play-off berth when they face Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Short of match practice, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ashish Nehra and Ajinkya Rahane will captain the India A team for two warm-up matches against England at CCI, Mumbai next week. Dhoni, who has not played a competitive game in over two months, will lead the India A side in the opening warm-up here on January 10. Rahane, who is coming back from an injury, will captain the team in the second warm-up on January 12.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final matches played on Sunday.
KKR are placed at the sixth spot with 12 points and they will not only have to win but do it with a big margin
Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, have done an excellent job in restricting the oppositions but KKR's top-order batting has hurt them the most.
Captain KL Rahul has been one of the few consistent performers in the formidable-looking Punjab batting unit and he once again led by example against MI
KKR have so far failed to come together as a unit and slipped to sixth in the table after starting the tournament on a high against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Morgan's astute captaincy in using his bowling resources was the highlight as KKR had bowled out MI for a modest 152.
Abhinav Mukund and skipper Ambati Rayudu struck half-centuries as India A gained a slight edge, reaching 342 for six against South Africa A, thereby taking a 82-run lead at stumps on the second day of the second and final unofficial 'Test'.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would strive for a handsome win over struggling Rajasthan Royals in their last round-robin game to stay ahead in the IPL play-offs race in Sharjah on Thursday.
Punjab, who are on eight points from 11 games, need to win the match to keep their play-offs hopes alive, while KKR (10 points from 11 games) also need a victory to boost their hopes.
Jahnavi Mehta. Kaviya Maran. Preity Zinta.
Here's the complete list of which team bagged who, and for how much!
Here's the full list of players sold on Day 1:
Mumbai Indians have so far looked like anything but IPL's five-time champions, losing both their opening games - against Delhi Capitals by four wickets, followed by a 23-run defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals.
