Auqib Nabi's journey from a small village in Baramulla to becoming a key player in Jammu and Kashmir's Ranji Trophy victory is a story of perseverance and dedication.
'The captain had a lot of faith in me, and I fulfilled my role very well.'
Under pressure, the BCCI announced that the final to be played from September 11-15 will be broadcast live.
Pacer Gurjapneet Singh, who earned an India A call on Sunday, picked up the scalps of Shubham Sharma and the promoted Saransh Jain, who was later adjudged player of the series, to create some anxious moments in the Central camp.
Azharuddeen was the vice-captain of the side, and now that role has been handed to Tamil Nadu's N Jagadeesan.
'Performances, I didn't really focus on it that much. I just wanted to have some fun. I haven't played competitive cricket in a long time.'
Central Zone advanced to the Duleep Trophy final by virtue of their first innings lead in the drawn match against West Zone.
Central Zone make four changes in squad for Duleep Trophy final against South Zone
Spinners Saransh Jain and Kumar Kartikeya exploited the indecisiveness of South Zone batters to share nine wickets between them to hand Central Zone advantage on the first day of the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Rajat Patidar and Yash Rathod exploited the lack of spin bowling options in South Zone ranks to craft easy-on-the-eye hundreds, taking Central Zone to a commanding 384/5 on Day 2 of the Duleep Trophy final.
Central Zone captain Dhruv Jurel and East Zone skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran missed the Duleep Trophy quarterfinals, which began in Bengaluru on Thursday, owing to fever and groin niggle respectively.
Jammu and Kashmir's Shubham Khajuria struck a fighting, unbeaten century to rescue North Zone, but South Zone remained favourites to progress to the Duleep Trophy final, in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Akash Deep and Ishan Kishan will miss the Duleep Trophy quarter-final match against North Zone as both the players are recovering from their respective injuries.
Skipper Ankit Kumar and promising batter Yash Dhull made contrasting hundreds to place North Zone on the cusp of the Duleep Trophy semifinals in Bengaluru, on Saturday.
East keep North in check at 308/6 on Day 1 of the Duleep Trophy quarter-finals in Bengaluru on Thursday.
The fringe and aspiring bunch will look to own the elevated Duleep Trophy stage as the red-ball competition returns to its traditional zonal format and marks the start of India's domestic cricket season.
Narayan Jagadeesan blended caution with aggression in right proportions during his undefeated knock of 148 as South Zone were comfortably placed at 297 for three against North Zone on the opening day of the Duleep Trophy semifinal at the BCCI-CEG ground in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Tilak Varma was in fine touch for Hampshire recently, smashing 100, 56, 47 and 112 in four innings for the English county side.
Gaikwad constructed a handy partnership 90 for the second wicket with Aarya Desai as West gradually entered a stabilised phase.
South leads by a mere 64 runs, and Central should be able to surmount the target without much fuss on the fifth day on Monday.
Yash Rathod makes 194 as Central extend command over South in Duleep Trophy final
Ayush Badoni's double hundred dots North Zone's Duleep Trophy semifinal entry
Decision on IPL matches at Chinnaswamy stadium after discussing it in Cabinet meet: Karnataka DyCM Shivakumar
Shreyas Iyer's 604 runs across 17 matches for Punjab Kings at a strike-rate in excess of 175 did not resonate with the selectors during the Asia Cup selection.
Venkatesh Prasad described the meeting with the two leaders as "extremely positive", saying the aim is to bring back international cricket and IPL to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
At 29, when most fast bowlers are either established or quietly drifting out of the spotlight, Auqib Nabi Dar has finally arrived through patience, persistence and a refusal to let geography decide his fate.
The Indian men ruled white-ball cricket, while South Africa ended decades of hurt by winning the World Test Championship at Lord's. Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally lifted their maiden IPL title, though the celebrations were dimmed by a deadly stampede. Above all, it was India's women who won a billion hearts by finally adding an ICC World Cup trophy to the cabinet.
'Players who are playing First-Class cricket throughout the year, they would have had 14 First-Class games potentially with India A games, the Irani Trophy, the Duleep Trophy or even more. So a bit of break in between, switching in the formats is always good.'
Rinku smashed a career-best 176 runs from 247 balls, his 100 coming off 157 balls against Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Easwaran has been a domestic cricket stalwart for Bengal, with 107 first-class games, 8,070 runs at an average of 48.32 with the help of 27 centuries and 33 fifties.
Grind pays off for Ruturaj Gaikwad, now upto him and luck to prove his 50-over mettle.
Kerala will have a new captain in Mohammed Azharuddeen.
'India gave me its heart first. So India will always have mine.'
Meghalaya's Akash Choudhary hits record eight consecutive sixes to make 11-ball fifty in Ranji
Yash Rathod has the sixth-highest first-class average for any Indian batter with at least 2000 runs, going past Vijay Hazare (58.38) and Vinod Kambli (59.67).
This year, Rajat led RCB to their maiden IPL title in 18 years and recently was crucial to the Central Zone's Duleep Trophy triumph for the first time since 2014-15.
India's opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to feature for Mumbai's Elite Group D fixture against Rajasthan in Jaipur in the third round of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy, scheduled to commence on November 1.
International Shardul Thakur will lead Mumbai in the 2025-26 edition of Ranji Trophy, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) announced while unveiling the list of probables for the prestigious tournament.
India Test skipper and T20 vice-captain Shubman Gill reached the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) for fitness assessment ahead of travelling to Dubai for the upcoming Asia Cup.
Indian cricketers, including Test skipper Shubman Gill and ODI captain Rohit Sharma, have cleared the pre-season fitness test which was conducted at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Sunday.
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