The focus will be firmly on India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and young prodigy Prithvi Shaw when Mumbai take on Karnataka in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B game, beginning in Mumbai on Friday. Both Rahane and Shaw failed with the bat in the last Ranji Trophy game against Railways which the domestic giants lost by 10 wickets inside two and half days.
IMAGES from the Ranji Trophy final played between Mumbai and Vidarbha at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
'Ajinkya has 12 centuries and more than 4,000 runs in Test cricket. So he knows his game and he has gone through such kind of bad phases before as well.'
India head coach Gautam Gambhir, BCCI president Roger Binny and all-rounder Hardik Pandya led the long list of joyous members of the cricketing fraternity in lauding Jay Shah, who was on Tuesday elected unopposed as the ICC Chairman.
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The India Test vice-captain has scored just three hundreds and eight fifties from 48 innings since 2016.
Tanush Kotian's five-wicket haul helped Mumbai bounce back as the visitors bowled out Baroda for 185 in their second innings.
Gautam Gambhir believes that the onus will be on stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane to lead the fightback against Australia
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will look to set their house in order and get back to winning ways when they face an upbeat yet unpredictable Punjab Kings for the second time in a row in the IPL match in Dharamsala on Sunday.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday
He believes that being overlooked for the limited overs leg of the UK tour will give him more time to do his homework for the five-match Test series against England, starting on August 1.
Ajinkya Rahane's wretched form will not be a big concern for the South Africa-bound Indian team, feels former captain Sourav Ganguly.
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will lead India in the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur, starting November 25, before regular skipper Virat Kohli returns to take charge from the second Test in Mumbai.
Ajinkya Rahane wants to take on the New Zealand pace battery with more intent in the second Test. He has a foolproof strategy, which includes countering the awkward angles which became a nightmare for Indian batsmen during the first Test at the Basin Reserve.
Punjab, starting the penultimate day on 73/3 and needing 144 more runs, crumbled under pressure from Sindhu's relentless spin and Jayant Yadav's precise off-spin (3/35 in 10.4 overs), collapsing well before lunch and handing Haryana their second outright win in four matches.
A few bruised egos will eye redemption when India square off against Australia in the second Test in Melbourne from Saturday, ready to bounce back in skipper Ajinkya Rahane's hour of reckoning after their batting debacle in the series opener in Adelaide.
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Insisting that Indian players have played on worse tracks back home, vice captain Ajinkya Rahane termed the Wanderers' pitch as 'challenging' and not dangerous.
A round-up of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday.
Ajinkya Rahane said his side were determined to be 'ruthless' in their approach after the hosts demolished Afghanistan by an innings and 262 runs inside two days in its debut Test match, in Bengaluru.
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It's been more than a year that Rahane is out of Indian ODI team but he still will like to stick to his own method.
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Teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw, who made a successful Test debut against the West Indies, will play for India 'A' captained by Dinesh Karthik.
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The shortest format may have resulted in change of batting philosophy for many but India's star batsman Ajinkya Rahane says that he will never trade his "copybook style" for fancy shots.
'Time has come for Indian selectors to pick same players in all formats of the game for rhythm and confidence' Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday said he was surprised to not see Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane in the ODI squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against West Indies. In a tweet, Ganguly wrote, "There are many in the squad who can play all formats ..surprised not to see Shubman gill ..Rahane in the one-day squad". "Time has come for Indian selectors to pick same players in all formats of the game for rhythm and confidence.. too few are playing in all formats ..great teams had consistent players ..it's not about making all happy but picking the best for the country and be consistent..@bcci," Ganguly tweeted. On Sunday, India had announced the squads for the upcoming T20Is, ODIs and Test match series against West Indies. Many people expressed their displeasure over the omission of Gill from the squad as the player enjoyed good form in the recently-concluded five-match unofficial ODI series between India A and West Indies A. The player went on to amass 218 runs in the series against West Indies A. After India were knocked out of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in the semi-finals, former BCCI Secretary, Sanjay Jagdale had backed Rahane to be the number four batsman in the ODI format. "In my opinion, the Indian team needs a batsman like Ajinkya Rahane at number four. We have tried many options at the batting position for the past three months. We tried those batsmen who did not have a good record overseas. Rahane has always scored good runs in England," Jagdale had told ANI. Team India chief selector MSK Prasad on Sunday had announced the squads at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai for the upcoming series in Windies. Putting all speculations to rest about India captain Virat Kohli's participation in the limited-overs series, he was chosen to lead the team in all formats. Dhawan, who was ruled out of the World Cup after sustaining an injury to his left hand in the region between the index finger and thumb, returned for both ODIs and T20Is. Meanwhile, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was rested for three ODIs and as many T20Is. Veteran wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni was rested as well; Rishabh Pant will be keeping the wickets for the team. Pant has been named across all three formats and Wriddhiman Saha found a spot in the two Tests.
Rahane dropped anchor to score an unbeaten 144 off 156 balls while the young Ishan Kishan smashed his way to an 87-ball 114 during their opening stand of 210, which took the C team's score to 352 for seven in 50 overs.
Openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock hit fifties as LSG trounced CSK by eight wickets.
CSK can ill-afford to take Punjab Kings lightly, who are coming in to this match after chasing down a world record total of 262 against KKR.
Rahul Dravid's tenure as India Head Coach, which ended gloriously with the T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados on Saturday, will remain a case study on how to be stately and understated at the same time in modern-day cricket coaching.
In need of a victory to firm-up their position in the IPL play-offs race, Chennai Super Kings have the heavy task of nullifying a deeply hurt and frustrated Rajasthan Royals in Chennai on Sunday.
The Indian players of the Delhi Capitals team arrived, in Mumbai, on Thursday, and they will be flying out for United Arab Emirates on Sunday for the league that begins on September 19.
There is a possibility that some of the senior India players may play against England Lions when they tour India for a full-fledged series in end January-February.
Sanjay Manjrekar said although Ajinkya Rahane has been getting some Test runs of late but the player himself would ideally like to be more consistent.
Nathan Lyon has already started his homework on rising batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal
The talent is in plenty in this squad and if this machine runs smoothly, a sixth IPL trophy will be at touching distance for Thala and Co.
Rahane is playing back-to-back Ranji games after a long time and it would be a good opportunity for him to get some runs under his belt, especially at his home turf, before he heads for New Zealand with the India 'A' team.
Rajasthan Royals have traded bowling all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham to Kings XI Punjab before the IPL players' transfer window expires on Thursday.
Rahane and a few Rajatshan Royals players, who had come for training found the SMS gates locked by the sports council employees for close to half an hour before they could enter after the intervention from franchise officials.
India cricketers Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were, on Friday, conferred with the coveted Arjuna Award for this year and the previous year respectively by Sports Minister Vijay Goel in New Delhi.
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