West Zone produced a clinical all-round performance to score a comprehensive 133-run victory over North Zone in the final and win their third successive Deodhar Trophy in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Riding on Kedar Devdhar's 94 and skipper Cheteshwar Pujara's patient half-century, West Zone posted a challenging 281 for 3 in 50 overs. Spinners Arpit Vasavada (3-20) and Akshar Patel (2-23) then emerged the pick of the bowlers as North Zone were bundled out for 148 in 37.1 overs at the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Round up of all the Ranji trophy matches played round the country.
A round-up of the opening day's play in the Ranji Trophy Elite division matches.
Experienced drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh returned to India's men's hockey team, which also features debutant Jaskaran Singh, for the tour of Australia, starting May 10.
Here is a look at the team that will open its campaign against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on April 12.
Rupinder Pal Singh (8th minute), Surender Kumar (15th), Mandeep Singh (44th) and Akashdeep Singh (60th) scored the goals for India.
Young Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh kept his cool under pressure as his breathtaking 18-ball 45 helped Royal Challengers Bangalore pip Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in a thrilling Indian Premier League match, in Bangalore, on Saturday.
Leg spinner Amit Mishra recorded the first hat-trick of the season as Deccan Chargers crushed Kings XI Punjab by 82 runs to dash their hopes of making the Indian Premier League play-offs in Dharamsala on Saturday.
Punjab seamer Siddarth Kaul returned with an impressive six-wicket haul to dismiss Delhi for 107 in their first innings on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match.
India's young guns will get an opportunity to fire on the big stage and carry forward the team's exceptional dominance over England when they clash with the visitors in the three-match Twenty20 series, starting in Kanpur on Thursday.
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.
Veteran off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has invited Indian orthopaedic surgeon and former medical consultant to the Sri Lankan team Mandeep Singh Dhillon to witness his swansong Test against India in Galle.
Images from Saturday's Indian Premier League match between Kings XI Punjab and SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai.
Sreesanth, who was part of the triumphant Indian squads in the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup, was earlier named in one of the squads for a local T20 tournament to be conducted by Kerala Cricket Association in Alappuzha from December 17.
Mandeep Singh's brilliant century helped North Zone consolidate its position against West Zone on the opening day of the Duleep trophy semi-final match at Motibag palace ground in Vadodara on Wednesday.
Mandeep Singh's confidence is on a high after an enlightening A tour to Australia where he spoke at length on his batting with the legendary Rahul Dravid. "It was amazing that a technically solid player like him (Dravid) never told me to worry about my technique. For four to five days he was by my side in the nets. If a player like him tells me that your technique is good and you just have to go about your training as usual, it works wonders for your confidence. That is what happened with me," Mandeep told PTI during an interaction. Mandeep was left frustrated in the recent ODIs against New Zealand as he could not get a game in the five-match series that India won 3-2.
In the FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final 2012-13, the Indian team outplayed the European team by 6-2 in which young Mandeep Singh scored two back-to-back goals. In the second season of FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final, India again met France in the semi-final round in Belgium and defeated them 3-2.
Mohammed Siraj was given the responsibility to take RCB home and he repaid Skipper Kohli's trust.
The barbaric incident at the Line of Control in Kashmir in which the body of an Indian Army jawan was mutilated after being killed by terrorists, aided by the cover fire by Pakistani Army, sparked an outrage on Saturday even as a pall of gloom descended on his native village in Haryana.
Royal Challengers Bangalore head coach Daniel Vettori said their star player AB de Villiers is fit for Saturday's Indian Premier League match against Chennai Super Kings.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
Karnataka defended their title in grand style after their top-order led by centurion Mayank Agarwal rose to the occasion to crush a hapless Punjab by 156 runs in the Vijay Hazare one-day tournament final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Both KXIP and the Royals would look to build a winning momentum after starting the tournament as underdogs.
Chennai Super Kings would look to plug the bowling loopholes when they take on a struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore
It was batters who mostly lead their teams to victories and some into the knock-outs. While Mumbai trailblazer Sarfaraz Khan continues to find the big runs, Baba Indrajith's consistency wasn't enough for Tamil Nadu to make even the top two in Group H.
Varun Kumar converted a penalty corner in the 24th minute to hand India the lead before Simranjeet Singh (55th) scored a diving field goal from skipper Manpreet Singh's brilliant pass to secure full three points for the five-time champions.
Veteran midfielder Sardar Singh was on Friday dropped from India's 18-member squad for next month's Hockey World League Final, while the fit-again Rupinder Pal Singh and Birendra Lakra made comebacks.
Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion from Rupinderpal Singh, India were trailing when Mandeep got into his goal-scoring act in the second half. Having squandered the early lead provided by a penalty corner conversion from Rupinderpal Singh, India were trailing when Mandeep got into his goal-scoring act in the second half.
The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League will commence, on Saturday, April 7 and will end on 27th May
A superb all-round display by left-arm spinner Gaurav Jathar helped India Under-19 team beat South African side Gauteng by five wickets in their first tour match in Johannesburg.
After a barren first quarter, Manpreet scored in the 21st and 26th minutes while drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty corner in the 36th as India registered their second consecutive win of the tournament.
Images from Friday's IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, in Abu Dhabi.
Kaur, daughter of martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, received support from her college -- the Lady Shri Ram college -- which termed her act as sensible and brave.
A 21-member Indian men's hockey team will embark on a 15-day tour of Europe, starting July 31. High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans will take over as the chief coach of the side following the unceremonious ouster of Paul Van Ass.
Indian defence crumbled under the onslaught of a rampaging Australia as they were handed a 1-5 thrashing by the world champions in their second league fixture of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia on Thursday. Australia, the eight-time winners of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, launched their campaign to reclaim the title they lost to New Zealand last year with a dominant performance against the Indian side seeking to provide exposure to several youngsters. Blake Govers (fifth minute), Jacob Whetton (13th), Eddie Okkenden (20th), Simon Orchard (25th) and Matt Ghodes (53rd) scored for Australia, who have brought virtually their full-strength squad to prepare for the Olympic Games. India's lone goal came through a penalty corner conversion by Rupinder Pal Singh in the eighth minute. This was Australia first outing in the round-robin league, while India prevailed 2-1 over Japan on Wednesday in an unimpressive campaign opener.
India defeated Uzbekistan 10-0 in their last pool A match, on Monday, in the ongoing FIH Men's Series Finals at Kalinga Stadium
Medium pacer Harshal Patel bagged three wickets and Mayank Agarwal and Avi Bharat scored half centuries as India easily won the first three-day match against their under-19 Australian counterparts in Hobart on Monday.
Defending champions India made a mockery of Sri Lankan challenge pumping in 20 goals to remain unbeaten in the pool stages, setting up a tricky semi-final clash against Malaysia in the men's hockey competition at the Asian Games in Jakarta, on Tuesday.
With three wins and a draw, India are currently leading the six-team league table with 10 points and a goal difference of eight.