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.
Round up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played across the country
A summary of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Sunday
'I knew that since I would be designing for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film, the aesthetics would have to be correct.' 'He doesn't show poverty in his films.' 'He won't show someone standing on the streets in phate hue kapde.'
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.
Two seasoned, left-handed Bengaluru-born players -- Amit Verma and Sreenath Aravind -- representing rival teams, stole the honours on day one of a Group B Ranji Trophy match between Assam and Karnataka in Mumbai on Thursday.
Youngsters Sudip Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran showed maturity beyond years in a brilliant 163-run partnership before another familiar middle-order collapse saw Bengal end Day 1 in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Railways on 274 for 8 in Kolkata on Wednesday.
A summary of Ranji Trophy semi-finals played at Kolkata and Pune on Monday
Round up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played across the country
A summary of Tuesday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
All-rounder Stuart Binny tormented the East Zone batsmen with his controlled swing bowling as they lost as many as 14 wickets with South Zone marching towards a comprehensive innings victory at the end of second day in the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy.
A round-up of results of Ranji matches played on Sunday
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Thursday...
Kerala blew away home favourites Bengal by nine wickets and with a day to spare for their second successive win in the Ranji Trophy, consolidating the position atop the Elite Group B standings.
Stunning looking, Bulbbul keeps the scares to a minimum, observes Moumita Bhattacharjee.
A summary of the second day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches played at various venues across the country.
Cheteshwar Pujara missed out on a second successive double hundred but his 182 went a long way in Saurashtra piling up a mammoth 570 in their first innings against Gujarat on the second day of the Ranji Trophy.
'This is a giant film, a magnum opus drunk on its own magnum-ity, and it is perfectly clear early on, as the narrative races out the gate and gauntlets are flung up in the air and shot through with arrows, that a film like this can only work as opera,' says Raja Sen.
Bengal batsmen cut a sorry figure on home turf to be bowled out for 147, giving Kerala an upperhand in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata, Tuesday.
Round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played across India on Wednesday
Tail-ender Javed Khan, batting with a finger injury, saved Mumbai from following-on while chasing Railways' first innings score of 242 in the rain-truncated Ranji Trophy match, in Delhi, on Wednesday. A summary of the final day's play of the league matches around the country.
Manan Sharma returned a five-wicket haul as Delhi pulled off a dramatic 90-run win over Punjab following two stunning batting collapses on the third day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Patiala.
Round up of the Ranji Trophy matches being played in different parts of the country
A summary of the day's play in the Ranji Trophy matches played across the country.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Friday
A summary of Wednesday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
Stuart Binny celebrated his maiden call-up into the Indian team with a scintillating 88 as table toppers Karnataka asserted their supremacy with a solid performance, scoring 226 for 5 at stumps on the second day of their final Ranji Trophy match against hosts Delhi, who are almost out of the race for a quarter-final berth.
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