A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
Defending champions Mumbai Indians paid the price for an indifferent showing and crashed out of the Champions League T20 after being beaten by New Zealand's Northern Knights by six wickets in the final qualifying round match in Raipur, on Tuesday.
From Captain Cool losing his, well, cool to Rabada's super over, and Malinga's unbelievable bowling for the cup, IPL 2019 was not short of magical moments. Here are a few.
Three consecutive defeats have more or less sealed their fate and for things to turn around for the Royals, every aspect of their game needs to improve and click for them.
CSK will be brimming with confidence having defeated the Royals earlier in the season
Kings XI Punjab will be looking to get their campaign back on track after a couple of defeats when they lock horns with bottom-placed Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League in Indore on Sunday.
The Royals are aware of the challenges facing them at the Sawai Mansingh Stadum, a few days after Sunrisers Hyderabad got the better of Kings XI Punjab to grab the second position in the standings.
With this, the anti-drugs agency has so far arrested 17 people in the case, including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, and some "high-profile organisers" belonging to a Delhi-based event management company.
Karnataka pacer Abhimanyu Mithun picked a five-wicket haul in their Group B match against UP. While Delhi's Ricky Bhui put his team in a good position against Andhra. A round-up of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Wednesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders delivered a professional performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in Jaipur on Wednesday, putting their Indian Premier League campaign back on track with back to back victories.
Images from Thursday's IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai.
'I think it has been a challenge for all the bowlers, coming to play after a break. We are lucky that we had one month here for preparation. Jasprit really wanted to back his yorkers against Royals, he wanted to go back to his strengths and use his bouncer as he normally does. That's Jasprit's strength, if he is not happy with his performances, he tends to bounce back to a new level. I know, traditionally through IPL, Bumrah tends to get better and better.'
A depleted Rajasthan Royals will have an onerous task of stopping the mighty CSK
Openers Lendl Simmons and Mike Hussey struck commanding fifties to hand Mumbai Indians a resounding 9-wicket win over Sri Lankan outfit Southern Express and keep their team in the hunt for the main draw of the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 in Raipur.
Rajasthan Royals outclassed Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to end their home campaign on a winning note and keep their play-off hopes alive, in the Indian Premier League.
Karnataka dished out a clinical show as they beat Andhra Pradesh by 53 runs in their Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, in Bengaluru, on Monday.
Uttar Pradesh came back strongly to keep their hopes alive for an interesting finish as they needed another 278 runs with nine wickets in hand to register an outright victory over Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final at Chinnaswamy stadium.
Umesh Yadav starred with a match haul of 12/79 as defending champion Vidarbha routed Kerala by an innings and 11 runs shortly after lunch on Day 2 to storm into the Ranji Trophy final for the second year in a row.
It was purely a 'Batsman's Evening' with Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund and talented Bengal boy Sudeep Chatterjee's twin tons took India Red to a commanding 354-run lead against India Green on the second day of the Duleep Trophy on Wednesday in Greater Noida. After the bowlers ruled the roost with 17 wickets on the first day, it was the turn of southpaws Abhinav (162 batting, 212 balls) and Sudeep (114, 182 balls) to conjure up a 240-run partnership for the second wicket.
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.
On a roll with four consecutive victories, two-time champions Mumbai Indians would look to continue the winning streak when they take on Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League match, in Indore, on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians will be fretting over their team combination as they take on a marauding Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League encounter, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
With a new captain in place, Rising Pune Supergiants would look to make amends for a poor last season but have a tough opening battle at hand against two-time former champions Mumbai Indians.
Weakened by the departure of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, Rajasthan Royals will have their task cut out when they lock horns with a resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League match in Jaipur on Saturday.
Their fate hanging in balance, a loss in the penultimate league round match may virtually sound the death knell for one of the two teams.
Kings XI Punjab registered a comfortable six wicket win over laggards Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, the two franchises that returned to the IPL after serving bans in the aftermath of the 2013 spot-fixing scandal, will come face to face for the first time in the ongoing edition, keen to regain lost momentum in Pune, on Friday.
A keen contest is on the cards as Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals cross swords in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
Putting up an all-round show, Karnataka defeated Mumbai by 5 wickets in their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy game in Mumbai on Sunday, inside two-and-half days. This was Mumbai's second consecutive loss at home, following their defeat against Railways.
Kerala hit back to reduce Gujarat to 97 for 4 after being bowled out for 185 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals.
Manish Pandey says his maiden ODI call-up was long overdue and he now hopes to make his much awaited India debut during the short tour of Zimbabwe next month.
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.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Wednesday
A round-up of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday
22-year-old Lokesh Rahul scored 337 as Karnataka amassed 719 for 5 in their Ranji Trophy match against Uttar Pradesh.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji reveal IPL-12's Most Valuable Players so far.
Delhi survived a mighty scare before their lower order, led by Nitish Rana and Sumit Narwal, saved the day with some gritty batting as they beat Rajasthan by two wickets in their Group B Ranji Trophy match in Wayanad on Thursday. Resuming the final day on 51 for 3, needing 102 runs more to win, Delhi suffered a batting collapse but finally crossed the target of 153 with Rana (31) and Narwal (27 not out) playing some sensible cricket to take their side home at the Krishnagiri Stadium. The day's start for Delhi was a horrible one with overnight batsman Vikas Tokas (10) being bowled by Pankaj Singh in the fifth over of the day with the addition of just five runs to his individual overnight score. The score was 62 for 4 at that stage.
You do wonder why this is so, especially because top Indian players earn significantly higher amounts than their international counterparts with similar or greater ability. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify the Most Valuable Players in the IPL so far.
Riding on Karun Nair's record innings of 328 and a magnificent all-round performance from captain R Vinay Kumar, Karnataka crushed Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs to successfully defend their Ranji Trophy title.