Skipper Robin Uthappa played a sparkling knock of 139 to save Karnataka from a total rout by Saurashtra on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final tie at the Brabourne Stadium, in Mumbai on Friday.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir led from the front with two half-centuries in the initial phase and when he failed to contribute, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey have stepped up to do the bulk of scoring.
Robin Uthappa garnered the maximum bid in round seven of the IPL's players' auction, as Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai team him for US $8,00,000 against his base price of US $2,00,000. The next-best bid in the round was for Mumbai's batting sensation Rohit Sharma, who was taken over by Hyderabad for US $7,50,000.
Chris Gayle hammered the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers into submission with a breathtaking 96 that guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to a three-wicket victory in an Indian Premier League encounter at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
Karnataka, replying to Maharashtra's modest first innings tally of 276, made steady progress before finishing 37 runs behind the home team's score on the second day of the Elite Division Group A Ranji Trophy match in Ratnagiri on Wednesday.
Saurashtra's Sandeep Jobanputra grabbed six wickets to leave Karnataka tottering at 216 for nine in the first innings.
India won the toss and elected to bat in the second ODI in Abu Dhabi.
Reader Sheron Vishwambaran sent us this picture from Johannesburg.
India crushed Australia by seven wickets in the one-off Twenty20 international at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni defended out-of-form predecessor Rahul Dravid, saying every player goes through bad patches in his career.
Robin Uthappa promised the Indian team would "make amends" in the remaining one-day internationals against Australia.
Players like Rohit Sharma or Dinesh Karthik who could never command more than Rs 10 to Rs 15 lakh can now hope to hit Rs 30 lakh for new deals. Bowler Sreesanth's endorsement tag has shot up from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat in the Twenty20 World Cup final against Pakistan in Johannesburg on Monday.
Replying to Uttar Pradesh's first innings of 264, the visitors scored 296 for seven at close on day 2 of the Ranji Trophy match.
The 21-year-old Uthappa, called in to replace Dinesh Karthik, scored an unbeaten 47 to lead India to a daunting target of 317 with two balls to spare.
India beat England by two wickets in the sixth ODI to level the seven-match series 3-3.
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming says the secret of his ageing warriors' success is that they rely more on gut feel and interpersonal relationships instead of going too deeply into analytics and numbers.
'I don't think he (Karthik) will be under pressure. First and foremost thing will be to give guidance to this group. He has got a lot of experienced players around him, particularly in overseas group, and there's the likes of Piyush Chawala, Vinay Kumar and Robin Uthappa.'
Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets on Wednesday to score their third straight win in the Indian Premier League.
Chasing a victory target of 297, India were 32 without loss in 6.5 overs against England Lions when rain stopped play in the one-day tour match at Northampton.
Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa scored fifties in a seven-wicket victory, in the Royal Stag One-Day International in Glasgow.
India rested key players Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan besides leaving out Rohit Sharma.
A league of this nature will be nothing more than a money-spinning machine, unless it has the added plus of throwing up domestic talent.
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting was awestruck by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's cool demeanour under pressure, describing the legendary Chennai Super Kings skipper as one of the greatest finishers of the game.
The Indians are hoping to erase the bitter memories of the 4-0 loss in South Africa by winning the three-match series, beginning in Belfast on Tuesday.
The South Zone team will face the West Zone in the Duleep Trophy match at Vadodara from October 20 to 23.
Promising India batsman Robin Uthappa says playing the world's best makes one grow as a cricketer.
After his knock of 76 in 70 balls at Adelaide, Yuvraj Singh has now reduced the gap between him and Sachin Tendulkar in the race to be this season's most valuable Indian ODI player.
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.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik blamed Nitish Rana's 'silly' run-out for their defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second IPL qualifier in Kolkata on Friday.
S Sreesanth replaced Munaf Patel, who is down with a stiff back, for the deciding fourth ODI against Sri Lanka.
India dropped opener Robin Uthappa and middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh, who missed the previous two games with a back injury, returned to the side.
Robin Uthappa's innings of 70 runs off 41 balls (SR-170.73) is the third best by any batsman scoring at least a fifty against West Indies
"I don't think we need to prepare specially for Shoaib. He is their frontline bowler but that's about it. I am not too worried about him," said hard-hitting batsman Robin Uthappa.
The Karnataka batsman said his best is yet to come and warned the Australians to expect a "tough series" when India visits Down Under later this year.
The left-arm spinner claimed six wickets and then scored an unbeaten 21 as India beat Australia by two wickets in the seventh ODI.
Robin Uthappa's drop catch costs KKR the match!
Robin Uthappa's third century of the season powered Karnataka to 309 for six on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu.
The Indian opening batsman is doubtful for Monday's fourth one-dayer against Australia due to a groin injury.
