In-form opener Abhinav Mukund struck a solid 96 as Tamil Nadu set a 308-run victory target for Himachal Pradesh on the penultimate day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Super League match in Chennai on Tuesday.
Openers Abhinav Mukund and M Vijay put on 256 runs for the first wicket As Tamil Nadu scored 262 for 1 against Saurashtra on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match in Chennai.
Unmukt Chand has been appointed India A captain for the upcoming ODI tri-series involving Australia A and South Africa A starting in Chennai on August 5.
The much talked about young duo of Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant will also be seen in action for India 'A' during the two-day warm-up match against Bangladesh, starting in Hyderabad, on Sunday.
'All you need is that players are in the frame of mind so that they can be at their best. After you take the field, you are expected to take over and adapt to situations'
Chesteshwar Pujara displayed his appetite for a big score with a superlative unbeaten 256 as India Blue piled up a mammoth 693 for six in their bid to outbat the Reds on the second day of the Duleep Trophy final.
'There was a point of time -- I am very honest about it -- that I was not raring to even put on whites. I wasn't part of any team -- I wasn't part of any first-class team. There was a time when I was dropped from my own first-class team. To have this opportunity to be part of the Indian team is such a huge bonus'
Pragyan Ojha bagged an impressive five-wicket haul as India 'A' dismissed Australia 'A' for 268 before extending their lead to 154 runs by the end of the third day's play in the first unofficial cricket Test, at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai, on Friday. At the close of play, the hosts were 121 for 3 in their second innings.
Young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav kept the opposition batsmen on tenterhooks with a maiden five wicket haul as he took India Red on the cusp of an outright victory against the Green team in the inaugural Day/Night Duleep Trophy encounter in Greater Noida on Thursday. Chasing a mammoth victory target of 497, the Green team was tottering at 217/7 at the end of penultimate evening with another 280 runs to win the match. Suresh Raina was at the crease batting on 35.
'I have been subjected to a lot of name calling and I have laughed and shrugged it off because I had bigger goals! Affected young, I toughened up because this was never something that would pull me down' 'Fair is not the only lovely or handsome guys! Stay true, stay focussed and be comfortable in your own skin'
Rahul Dravid, head coach of the India U-19 ICC World Cup-winning outfit, received Rs 2.43 crore as professional fees from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the six-month period ended December 31, 2017.
Former champions South Zone have virtually qualified for semi-finals after reducing West Zone to 156 for 6 in on the penultimate day of their four-day Duleep Trophy match in Chennai on Saturday.
If KL Rahul is fit, Abhinav Mukund will be expectedly left out, a strange coincidence because he was the original back-up opener in this Test squad ahead of Shikhar Dhawan.
Chahal, who has been an automatic choice in the limited overs format has not played any first-class cricket since December 2016 (against Haryana in Ranji Trophy), but the Indian team management and especially skipper Virat Kohli has indicated that he wants the wiry leg-spinner for five-day matches also.
Rahul down with fever ahead of first Test
Boosted by the arrival of their new coach Ravi Shastri, the Indian team departed for Sri Lanka on Wednesday high on confidence for a long tour featuring three Tests, five ODIs and a lone T20 International, starting on July 26.
It was an inauspicious start to the inaugural Day/Night Duleep Trophy match with a major floodlight malfunction grabbing more attention than Pink ball making its first class debut in India. A power failure saw two stoppages in play with the second one leading to lights going off completely in a couple of floodlight towers. There was a total 78 minutes of interruption due to power tripping in two towers in two separate phases.
Former champions South Zone progressed to the semi-final of the Duleep Trophy cricket tournament by pipping West Zone by virtue of a 313-run first innings lead after their four-day quarter-final ended in a draw in Chennai on Sunday.
To keep their minds off the Pune disaster, the team went on a hike at Tamhini Ghat on Monday, and the trek to the Western Ghats seemed to have brought out their inner Platos and Ramanujas.
India A put on a dominant performance as they raced to 91 for one after Bangladesh declared their innings at 224 for eight on the first day of their two-day warm-up match in Hyderabad on Sunday.
A talented Central Zone team led by Piyush Chawla is aiming to come out firing all cylinders when it squares off with an equally combative South Zone side in the final of the Duleep Trophy, starting in New Delhi, on Wednesday.
Kumble felt the ICC's proactive approach helped bring down the number of bowlers with suspect action in the last two years.
India 'A' will play a one-day tri-series involving Australia 'A' and South Africa 'A' followed by two four-day matches against the hosts.
Yuvraj Singh feels it moved a bit more than SG Test ball while Robin Uthappa's observations varied from colour change to lack of reverse swing as the first set of inputs on the much talked about 'Pink ball' Day-Night experiment in the Duleep Trophy came to the fore.
Only ten overs were possible on the second day of the Duleep Trophy final and, in the brief session post tea, North Zone reduced South to 33 for 2, at the Nehru stadium, in Kochi, on Friday.
Virat Kohli's participation in the fourth and deciding Test match against Australia, in Dharamsala, hangs in balance even as young Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer has been included in the team.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Wednesday.
Teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw, who made a successful Test debut against the West Indies, will play for India 'A' captained by Dinesh Karthik.
Factbox on the four-Test series between India and Australia, which starts at Pune on Thursday:
Skipper Vinay Kumar took five for 34 as defending champions Karnataka skittled out Tamil Nadu for 134 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament final, which saw 14 wickets tumble at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah produced his career-best spell in first-class cricket as Gujarat staged a sensational comeback to beat Jharkhand by 123 runs and reach their second ever final of the Ranji Trophy cricket Tournament. Bumrah finished with figures of six for 29 and alongside veteran pacer R P Singh plotted the downfall of Jharkhand, who were skittled out for 111 in their second innings after being set a target of 235 runs on day four of the semifinal.
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.
Priyank Panchal (103 retired), Shreyas Iyer (100 retired) and Vijay Shankar (103 not out) hit hundreds in the two-day warm-up match in Hyderabad which finished in a draw.
The four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy is locked at 1-1 and the match at Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA), which is organising it's first-ever Test, is set to be a make-or-break affair for both teams.
Mumbai, who scored 488 in the first innings, riding on captain Aditya Tare's 154, enforced the follow-on and the match was called off with Tamil Nadu 48 for one in 22 overs at the tea break.
Responsible batting by young Tamil Nadu all-rounder Baba Aparajith and talented Karnataka batsmen Manish Pandey to guide South Zone to 213 for three at stumps on the day one of the Duleep Trophy quarter-final match against West Zone in Chennai.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Sunday.
With only 17 ODIs left for India before the World Cup, senior pros like Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik and Ravichandran Ashwin will aim to remain relevant in the 50-overs format in the forthcoming Deodhar Trophy.
Whether it is by choice or compulsion of injuries, Kohli's fetish for tinkering with playing XI is well documented -- something that wasn't questioned till the South African debacle happened.
India amassed 600 in their first innings and returned to blow away the top half of the Sri Lankan batting order to tighten their grip on the first Test at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.