With the United Progressive Alliance government likely to announce a separate Telangana state on Tuesday, the call for carving out Vidarbha state out of Maharashtra has started gaining heat.
Pace sensation Mayank Yadav is expected to unleash his raw speed while the absence of India's T20 regulars will provide another opportunity to the fringe players in the three-match series against Bangladesh, beginning in Gwalior Sunday.
Wasim Jaffer missed out on a triple hundred but Vidarbha, in their bid to out-bat Rest of India, posted a mammoth 702 for five at stumps on a rain-curtailed third day of the Irani Cup, in Nagpur, on Friday.
Wasim Jaffer missed out on a triple hundred but Vidarbha, in their bid to out-bat Rest of India, posted a mammoth 702 for five at stumps on a rain-curtailed third day of the Irani Cup, in Nagpur, on Friday.
Pandit guided an unheralded Vidarbha side to second successive titles with a mix of strategic acumen and old school discipline.
After a month and half of topsy-turvy ride, eight teams have managed to steer themselves clear of other 24 contenders to enter the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals.
Vidarbha produced a brilliant bowling display as they bowled out Odisha for just 121 to place themselves in the drivers' seat in their Ranji Trophy group league match on the second day in Cuttack on Sunday.
'Ajit Pawar is trying to sideline us; he is trying to be in the BJP's good books at our cost.'
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final matches played on Monday.
Baroda took control of their Group B Ranji Trophy match after bowling out Vidarbha for 264 on the second day Vadodara.
Hosts Baroda pocketed three valuable points by virtue of the first innings lead after their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Vidarbha ended in a tame draw in Vadodara.
"We will carve out a separate Vidarbha state and name it as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Vidarbha Rajya," Mayawati told reporters in Mumbai.
Defending champions Mumbai got their Ranji Trophy campaign back on track with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in their second group A league game in Mumbai on Monday, offsetting the heavy loss to Baroda in the opening game.
The Ranji Trophy final of this season will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai from March 10 to 14, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) informed on Monday.
Ajinkya Rahane has always loved staying under the radar even when he was a highly successful India captain and that possibly explains his affinity for Mumbai's head coach Omkar Salvi, who seems to be cut from the same cloth.
With spinners extracting significant turn and bounce exploiting the roughs, Sarwate (3/55) and off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (2/42) blew away Saurashtra's top half to seize the momentum.
Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur starred with the ball to put Mumbai on top following a meek display from Tamil Nadu on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semi-final.
The strains are telling as old friends and new enemies face each other in the battlefield.
Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal announced that the entire prize money will be donated to the families of the CRPF personnel martyred in the dastardly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.
Adani group is on track to surpass a combined Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of Rs 1 trillion in the ongoing financial year (FY25) as it prepares for a $2 billion (over Rs 16,700 crore) share sale by its flagship entity Adani Enterprises next month, according to a source close to the matter.
Rajasthan's Mahipal Lomror put the IPL franchises on alert ahead of the mega auction with a sensational triple hundred comprising a staggering 13 sixes and 25 fours in their Ranji Trophy Group B match against Uttarakhand here on Thursday.
The parents said there is no truth in the allegations against their son.
Kolkata Knight Riders may miss out on the services of their captain in the first few matches of the Indian Premier League.
India recorded around 16 per cent more rainfall than normal in August, with rainfall over Northwest India recorded at 253.9 mm, the second highest in August since 2001, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.
Voters, it is said, get the government they deserve. We will soon see what voters in Maharashtra choose. Till then, a sense of helplessness and scepticism hangs in the air, notes Ramesh Menon.
Though he concedes he doesn't have many years left in him, the former India opener says he will continue to play as long as fitness allows him.
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.
Vidarbha and Jharkhand scored outright wins in the Ranji plate division on the third day.
The renewed demand for a separate state of Vidarbha in the backdrop of the Centre's decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh has brought to fore differences in the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.
Maharashtra Minister for Food and Civil Supplies and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh on Monday announced full support to Vidarbha statehood and agreed to join the proposed Vidarbha bandh call on January 20.
Vidarbha beat Railways by one wicket in the Central Zone Ranji Trophy limited overs league match.
The retiring Dhawal Kulkarni said he would be available to take up any role which keeps him associated with the sport.
Amol Ubarhande hammered his maiden first class century while Shalabh Srivastava hit a fifty as the two batsmen engineered a spectacular Vidarbha fightback against Karnataka on day three of their Ranji Trophy Group B match, in Mysore on Sunday.
Karun Nair is only the second Indian to score a triple hundred in Test cricket.
Opener Faiz Fazal led Vidarbha's strong reply with an unbeaten century as the home side put up 214 for 2 in their first innings on the third day of their Ranji Trophy group league match against Tamil Nadu in Nagpur on Monday. Fazal was undefeated on 110 off 271 balls (19X4) as Vidarbha ended the day 229 runs short of Tamil Nadu's first innings total of 449 for eight declared at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground.
It will contest 25 of the 66 seats in the region, in Maharashtra.
His unbeaten 138 steered hosts Vidarbha to 300 for 4 against Jammu and Kashmir on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy 'Plate' Group 'A' match.
Pacer Sandeep Singh grabbed four wickets in an impressive spell to help Vidarbha thrash Haryana by eight wickets on the third day of their opening Ranji Trophy group game in Rohtak on Sunday.
After taking a 56-run first innings lead, Vidarbha bundled out Rajasthan for a paltry 151 in their second innings on the second day of Plate Group-B Ranji Trophy league match.
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