Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji analyse Week 1 in Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings.
Tamil Nadu edged out last edition's runners-up Maharashtra by virtue of first innings lead in a drawn encounter, to set up a summit clash with their southern rivals and reigning champions Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament.
Kolkata Knight Riders will have to break the agonising sequence of debacles when they clash with defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL eliminator, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran's maiden double hundred went in vain as Bengal failed to qualify for the knockout stages after their final Ranji Trophy Group B encounter against Punjab ended in a draw in Kolkata.
Rishabh Pant of the Delhi Daredevils, with a most valuable player index of 897, is the most valuable player of IPL 11.
Facing early elimination, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders need to record a win to stay afloat when they take on table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad.
A summary of the first day's play in the Ranji Trophy league matches at various venues across the country.
Swapnil Singh broke an eleven-year jinx as he scored his maiden first class century, a knock of 164 without a blemish, to help Baroda take a massive first innings lead of 404 runs against Mumbai on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy Group C match.
Central Zone upstaged star-studded North Zone by four runs in a close match to remain in the hunt for the title in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Inter Zonal League at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Only 5 batsmen have hit a six to take their team to victory when they needed 4 or more off the final ball.
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.
However, the hosts cannot be complacent and need to go all out with guns blazing when they take the field in the four-day match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Skipper Parthiv Patel struck an exemplary fifty, while Axar Patel chipped in with an unbeaten 36, after picking two crucial wickets, as Gujarat edged out Vidarbha by two wickets and advanced to the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-day tournament, in Alur, Karnataka, on Thursday.
Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would look to assert their supremacy, while Sunrisers Hyderabad will have revenge on mind when the two teams clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator in New Delhi on Wednesday. Both Sunrisers and KKR finished their league engagements on 16 points each but the Gautam Gambhir-led side ended fourth behind Sunrisers due to inferior net run rate. But going into the do-or-die game, KKR have psychological advantage over the Sunrisers having beaten them on both the occasions during the league stage. KKR thrashed Sunrisres by eight wickets in their first meeting this season and came out victorious by 22 runs in a must-win match last Sunday to qualify for the play-offs.
Unbeaten in all the three games they have played so far in the tournament, Gujarat Lions would look to continue with their impressive winning run when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Rajkot on Thursday. The Lions have been in red-hot form in their debut season with convincing wins in all the three games and they would seek to maintain a clean slate tomorrow at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. The home side will also be bolstered by the return of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who did not play in the Lion's seven-wicket thrashing of defending champions Mumbai Indians in Mumbai due to his wedding.
The India Test spinner had one wicket to show in 21 overs during Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy Group B match against Madhya Pradesh.
He could be overtaken by Sunrisers Hyderabad Captain Kane Williamson (760) or Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Sunil Narine (703) or even the intrepid Ambati Rayadu (675) of the Chennai Super Kings.
BCCI's North Zone curator Sunil Chauhan overwatered the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch and then, breaching protocol, left the venue before the start of Delhi-Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy match on Saturday, his indiscretion leading to a delay of two and half hours.
The likes of Robin UthaManoj Tiwaryppa, Manoj Tiwary and Kedar Jadhav will get another chance to impress the selectors and push their case for a comeback to international cricket when Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka clash against Rest of India lock in a five-day Irani Trophy match, in Bangalore, starting on Tuesday.
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.
Needing 392 runs to avoid the follow-on, after the South Africans posted a mammoth 542 in their first innings, the hosts were shot out for a meagre 204 in 66.3 overs in their first essay, conceding a huge lead of 338 runs.
The Indian cricket team went from strength to strength in 2019, especially in Test cricket where they are rightly perched at the top. They went unbeaten in Test cricket in 2019 which included winning their first-ever series in Australia, after which they registered three successive whitewashes against West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh.
Rajneesh Gupta profiles the cricketers playing the World Cup 2019.
Desperate to break their title jinx, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore will be hoping for a positive start to their campaign in the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League, when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad, in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
Riding on Karun Nair's record innings of 328 and a magnificent all-round performance from captain R Vinay Kumar, Karnataka crushed Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs to successfully defend their Ranji Trophy title.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni reaffirmed his reputation as the best finisher in limited-overs' cricket with yet another fluent knock as the Chennai Super Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets in the IPL match in Ranchi, on Tuesday. Chasing a modest target of 149, Chennai won with two deliveries to spare as skipper Dhoni hit 11 runs, including a six, off James Faulkner's final over to seal the issue.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Monday
A summary of the Ranji matches played across India on Sunday.
Shreyas Iyer was the lone ranger as his unbeaten 191 helped Mumbai to 328/6 in their Group A Ranji Trophy cricket match against Gujarat in Hubballi on Wednesday. At stumps on the third and penultimate day, Mumbai trailed Gujarat by 109 runs with four wickets remaining in the first innings. Gujarat were all out for 437 in their first essay after Priyank Kirit Panchal slammed 232.
A summary of Monday's play in the Ranji Trophy matches at various venues across the country.
Led ably by Shardul Thakur, Mumbai bowlers put up a much better display than the previous game and shot out Railways for a paltry 217 on day one of their four-day Group 'B' Ranji Trophy tie at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
Pacer Shardul Thakur had match figures of eight for 113 as Mumbai beat Delhi by 204 runs to enter the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy.
Virat Kohli's inspirational leadership for Royal Challengers Bangalore will be up against the brute force with which David Warner has steered Sunrisers Hyderabad when the two teams, eyeing their maiden IPL title, square off in a high-intensity summit clash in Bengaluru on Sunday. RCB, however, will have a slight advantage over Sunrisers as they have the experience of playing in an IPL final twice in the past -- 2009 and 2011, but on both occasions, they had finished runners-up. Sunrisers' best finish was a play-off berth which they managed in their debut season in 2013.
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the fascinating career numbers of players in the World Cup.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy group matches played on Thursday.
A round-up of results of Ranji matches played on Sunday
Abhimanyu Easwaran dropped anchor at one end as his 97-run stand with Shreevats Goswami enabled Bengal to reach 185 for four against Madhya Pradesh on the first day of their final group league encounter of the Ranji Trophy, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
'People didn't associate Dinesh with hitting sixes. He had the ability to hit fours and the odd six, but hitting sixes (regularly) is one aspect of the game we have really worked hard on.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances