A dominant Tamil Nadu kept one foot on the knock-out door with a commanding 209 run victory over Chandigarh in a group D match of the Ranji Trophy here on Sunday. Left-arm spinners Ajith Ram (4/89 in 19 overs) and R Sai Kishore (4/62 in 21 overs) shared bulk of spoils as Chandigarh were shot out for 193 in pursuit of an improbable 403 on the final day. Veteran Manan Vohra carried his bat through with an unbeaten 100 but eight of his batters failed to reach double digits.

Tamil Nadu now have 25 points from six games. In their final group match against Jharkhand in Jamshedpur, they will need at least one point to secure their qualification for the next stage of the National First-Class Championship.

Group D has presented some intriguing possibilities with an open-ended points table. Despite the defeat, Chandigarh remains in contention with 19 points and a final game against Chattisgarh in Raipur where they need to win outright (25) or with a bonus point (26) to remain in contention for knock-out stages.

In case they get a first innings lead (22 points), it could be curtains for them considering the quality of opposition in the last round for Tamil Nadu and Saurashtra.

Saurashtra, which beat Delhi in just one and half days are currently third in the table with 18 points and have the best chance of getting another seven on an under-prepared track at Rajkot where they will get Assam as an opposition.

In a situation where Tamil Nadu lose their match outright and Saurashtra win with bonus points, both will be on 25 points. It will then be decided on NRR as both TN and Saurashtra have two bonus point victories in league stages.

As far as Delhi (14 points) and Railways (17 points) are concerned, they both need bonus points in theory but that might not be enough in the end.

Bihar vs Uttar Pradesh

Left-arm spinner Shivam Sharma picked up five wickets as Uttar Pradesh bowled out Bihar for 236 to secure an innings and 119-run victory, their first in six games, in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match here on Sunday.

Needing 225 runs to force Uttar Pradesh to bat again, Bihar resumed their second innings at 130 for 5, hoping for a remarkable recovery to salvage a draw. However, they could manage only 106 more runs before being dismissed.

Uttar Pradesh, who had declared their first innings at a massive 603 for 2, put up a clinical bowling performance to finish off Bihar’s innings with ease.

Overnight batters Ayush Loharuka and Sachin Kumar put up a dogged show in the first session, taking Bihar to 176 for 5 in 71 overs. But Shivam Sharma made the crucial breakthrough when he trapped Loharuka in front after lunch, triggering a collapse.

Sachin completed his half-century before being run out by Shivam Mavi, as Bihar slipped to 191 for 7. Sharma then took the wickets of Himanshu Singh (16) and Nawaz Khan (0) off successive deliveries in the 88th over, with skipper Veer Pratap Singh (29) being the last man dismissed.

With this win, Uttar Pradesh gained seven points, bringing their total to 13, and moved to fifth place in Group C. Haryana (26 points) are on top of the group, followed by Karnataka (19).

Meanwhile, Bihar, after suffering their fifth loss, remain at the bottom of the table.

Uttar Pradesh will meet Madhya Pradesh, while Bihar next play Kerala in their final game.

Kerala vs Madhya Pradesh

Kerala fought valiantly to secure three points, thanks to their first-innings lead, after drawing their Group C match against Madhya Pradesh in Thiruvananthapuram.

Set a daunting target of 363 to win, Kerala began the final day at 28 for 1 but quickly found themselves in trouble, slipping to 47 for 5. However, a spirited lower-order fightback helped them finish at 268 for 8, saving the match and securing the points.

Mohammad Azharuddeen (68) and Jalaj Saxena (32) provided the initial resistance with a 74-run partnership before the latter was dismissed.

Azharuddeen then joined forces with Aditya Sarwate (80), and together they added 90 more runs, keeping Kerala in the hunt.

Azharuddeen’s departure, clean bowled by pacer Kuldeep Sen (3/64), brought Baba Aparajith to the crease, and he, along with Sarwate, added another 37 runs.

Sarwate’s dismissal by Kumar Kartikeya (3/106) didn’t deter Aparajith, who, along with number 10 MD Nidheesh (4), held firm to salvage the draw.

With this result, Kerala accumulated 18 points, occupying third place, while Madhya Pradesh, with 10 points, remained near the bottom of the table.

Brief Scores

In Salem: Tamil Nadu 301 and 305/5. Chandigarh 204 and (target 403) 193 (Manan Vohra 100, Ajith Ram 4/89, R Sai Kishore 4/62). TN won by 209 runs. Points: TN 6. Chandigarh 0.

In Guwahati: Railways 250 and 124/5 (B Vivek Singh 52). Assam 216 ( Kunal Yadav 5/65, Himanshu Sangwan 4/59).

Match Drawn. Points: Railways 3. Assam 1.

In Jamshedpur: Chattisgarh 230 and 250 (Anuj Tiwary 66, Ashutosh Singh 64, Vikash Singh 4/30).

Jharkhand 376 and (target 105) 105/2 (Kumar Suraj 59 not out). Jharkhand won by 8 wickets.

Points: Jharkhand 6. Chattisgarh 0. PTI 

In Patna: Bihar 248 & 236 in 90.4 overs (Sachin Kumar 50; Shivam Sharma 5/58) lost by an innings and 119 runs to Uttar Pradesh 603 for 2 declared.

In Thiruvananthapuram: Madhya Pradesh 160 & 369 for 8 declared in 101 overs drew with Kerala 167 and 268 for 8 in 104 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 68, Aditya Sarwate 80; Kuldeep Sen 3/64).

The year 2024 was one to remember for Kolkata Knight Riders as they clinched their third Indian Premier League title and first in the last 10 years. KKR won IPL trophies back in 2012 and 2014 but what followed was a long drought for the side. During this period, the closest KKR came to the coveted title was in 2021, when they lost to Chennai Super Kings in the final in Dubai. 2024 was a different story. The Shreyas Iyer-led KKR registered a one-sided victory over SunRisers Hyderabad in the summit clash to claim its third title.

The dominance of KKR throughout the tournament was simply amazing as the side thrashed finalists SRH thrice in the tournament. First in the league stage, then in the Qualifier 1 and finally in the final. KKR won the final by 8 wickets and 57 balls to spare and Qualifier 1 by 8 wickets and 38 balls to spare.

Fast forward to October 31 and Shreyas Iyer, KKR’s title-winning captain, could not find a place for himself in the team as he was not retained by the franchise. Interestingly, IPL 2024 was the best season for Iyer in terms of average and strike rate. He played 14 matches and scored 351 runs at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 146.86.

Three-time champions KKR retained six players. Rinku Singh was the first-choice for KKR at a price of Rs 13 crore, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell all three were paid Rs 12 crore each, while Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh got Rs 4 crore apiece.

Destiny had better plans for Shreyas Iyer and the batter soon found it out at the IPL 2025 Auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The franchises broke banks while bidding for Iyer. For a brief duration, he even went on to become the costliest player in IPL history. Punjab Kings bought the batter for a massive sum of Rs 26.75 crore, surpassing the record of Mitchell Starc‘s 24.75 crore.

This was, however, not the biggest sum splurged for a player in the IPL 2025 Auction as minutes later, Rishabh Pant was sold to Lucknow Super Giants for a massive sum of Rs 27 crore. He too was released by his franchise Delhi Capitals ahead of the bidding war.

While Pant was expected to get such a big amount, Shreyas surprised many. What was even more surprising was the fact that KKR bought Venkatesh at the bidding war for a massive sum of Rs 23.75 crore despite having no Right-To-Match card. These stars turned out to be the three costliest players sold in IPL 2025 auction. Pant and Shreyas even registered an all-time record of becoming the top-two costliest players in IPL.

Mumbai leaned on their collective batting strength to subdue a spirited Madhya Pradesh by five wickets to clinch the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Bengaluru on Sunday. Mumbai were stretched on more than one occasion during the chase of 175, a target MP built around skipper Rajat Patidar‘s fluent unbeaten 81, on a slightly tacky pitch, but eventually they reached 180 for five in 17.5 overs. This was Mumbai’s second SMAT title after winning it for the first time in 2022, while MP’s wait for a maiden trophy prolonged to another season.

After a brief period of lull, Suryakumar Yadav (48, 35b, 4×4, 3×6) reactivated his run-making ways and added 52 runs for the third wicket with Ajinkya Rahane (37, 30b, 4×4).

It helped Mumbai to recover from the early dismissals of Prithvi Shaw and skipper Shreyas Iyer, both of them falling to rather causal shots.

Just when it seemed that the two veteran batters would carry Mumbai home, Rahane slashed Venkatesh Iyer straight into the hands of Rahul Batham at deep.

Suryakumar followed soon, top-edging off-spinner Shivam Shukla to Avesh Khan at short fine leg.

At 129 for five in 14.4 overs, Mumbai needed 46 runs but any worries were soon eased by the big-hitting Suryansh Shedge (36 not out, 15b, 3×4, 3×6) and Atharva Ankolekar (16 not out, 6b, 2×6) who knocked off the remaining runs without much fuss in a little over three overs.

Earlier, Patidar shone brightly while hammering his fifth fifty of this tournament.

The right-hander, who was retained by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, entertained an over 15,000-crowd, who backed him and MP to the hilt, with twinkling shot-making.

In fact, Patidar singlehandedly held the MP innings together as the next highest was a 23 by Shubhranshu Senapati.

Madhya Pradesh had made a rather sedate beginning to their innings after losing openers Arpit Gaud (3) and Harsh Gawli (2).

They reached 38 for two in the Power Play, which later transpired to 114 for five in 15 overs.

However, Patidar found an able ally in Batham (19, 14b) as they added 56 runs for the sixth wicket as MP added 60 runs in the last five overs.

Patidar, a clean-striker of the balls, too upped the level of his play, as indicated by a stunning walk-across-the-line six off pacer Shardul Thakur.

But individual brilliance was not enough to stop the Mumbai juggernaut on the night.

Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh: 174/8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 81 not out, Subhranshu Senapati 23; Shardul Thakur 2/41, Royston Dias 2/32) lost to Mumbai: 180/5 in 17.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 48, Ajinkya Rahane 37, Suryansh Shedge 36 not out; Tripuresh Singh 2/34) by 5 wickets.

Pacer Mohammed Shami rarely operated at his best and it had a cascading effect on Bengal as they went down by 41 runs against Baroda in the quarterfinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Wednesday. Opener Shashwat Rawat top-scored with a 26-ball 40 (1×4, 3×6) as Baroda posted a competitive 172 for seven, and Bengal ended up with 131 all out despite Shahbaz Ahmed (55, 36b, 3×4, 4×6) playing a fine cameo. Skipper Hardik Pandya (3/27) along with his pace colleagues Lukeman Merriwala (3/17) and Atit Sheth (3/41) were the lead bowlers in Baroda’s stroll into the semifinals.

Shami’s outing was more in focus as the seasoned quick has been striving hard to join the Indian squad in Australia at least for the last two Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

His overall numbers ahead of this match was 11 wickets from eight matches at an economy rate of 7.8, but on this day Shami looked anything but sharp.

He started with two wides in the first over and hardly looked in control of the proceedings for the rest of his spell.

The 34-year-old clocked deliveries around 140 clicks across two spells and bowled a few yorkers, but generally struggled to zoom in on the stumps as he often does.

Shivalik Sharma (24, 17b) clobbered him for two successive sixes, though one was an edge that flew behind the third man.

Shami got two consolation wickets of Shivalik and Atit Sheth towards the end when Baroda was trying to accelerate.

Shami could not make any impact with the bat either falling for a two-ball duck to India teammate Hardik Pandya.

Later, Baroda pacer Merriwala derailed Bengal’s chase taking three wickets in the fourth over.

Merriwala got rid of in-form Karan Lal, skipper Sudip Kumar Gharami and Writtick Chatterjee, who fell to a sensational tumbling return catch.

Shahbaz tried to resurrect Bengal’s innings towards the backend but there was no real support for him.

MP in semis

In the other quarterfinals at Alur, Madhya Pradesh rode on the all-round show of Venkatesh Iyer to enter the last four with a fine six-wicket win over Saurashtra.

Venkatesh took two wickets and made an unbeaten 38 off 33 balls as MP overhauled Saurashtra’s 173 for seven with four balls to spare.

Delhi in last four

Anuj Rawat made a brutal unbeaten 73 off 33 balls (7×4, 5×6) as Delhi defeated Uttar Pradesh by 19 runs in their quarterfinal match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

They will face Madhya Pradesh in the semifinal here on Friday.

Rawat’s innings powered Delhi to a healthy 193 for three after being asked to bat first. UP were bowled out for 174.

There was a minor altercation between Delhi skipper Ayush Badoni and UP all-rounder Nitish Rana after the former pulled away from strike a couple of times.

It required the intervention of the on-field umpires to separate the players.

Uttar Pradesh were never really in contention as India batter Rinku Singh (10, 7b) failed to take off.

Priyam Garg made a well-timed fifty (54, 34b, 6×4, 3×6) but none was there to back him up.

Brief scores:

Baroda: 171/7 in 20 overs (Shashwat Rawat 40, Abhimanyu Rajput 37, Shivalik Sharma 24; Mohammed Shami 2/43, Pradipta Pramanik 2/6) beat Bengal: 131 all out in 18 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 55, Ritwik Roy Chowdhury 29; Lukeman Merriwala 3/17, Hardik Pandya 3/27, Atit Sheth 3/41) by 41 runs.

Delhi: 193/3 in 20 overs (Anuj Rawat 73 not out, Priyansh Arora 44, Yash Dhull 42) beat Uttar Pradesh: 174 all out in 20 overs. (Priyam Garg 54, Sameer Rizvi 26; Ayush Badoni 2/37, Prince Yadav 2/27) by 19 runs.

Saurashtra: 173/7 in 20 overs (Chirag Jani 80 not out; Venkatesh Iyer 2/23) lost to Madhya Pradesh: 174/4 in 19.4 overs (Arpit Gaud 42, Venkatesh Iyer 38 not out, Rajat Patidar 28) by 6 wickets.

Venkatesh Iyer was bought for Rs 23.75 crore in IPL 2025 auction© BCCI/Sportzpics

Kolkata Knight Riders’ failure to bring back skipper Shreyas Iyer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction has left the franchise bosses with plenty to ponder. The name of Venkatesh Iyer, the franchise’s top buy at INR 23.5 crore in the mega auction, has surfaced for the leadership role but it seems like the 2024 champions have another player in mind. As per a report, Ajinkya Rahane is the No. 1 candidate to lead KKR in the IPL 2025 season. Rahane, bought in the auction for his base price of INR 1.5 crore, was reportedly purchased with the sole option of leading the team.

Rahane is a proven leader, having captained multiple teams in different formats across competitions. He has also led the Indian team in the absence of full-time skippers and is the captain of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy team at present. In the IPL, however, Rahane has only led the Rajasthan Royals, in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

KKR, having failed to buy another captaincy candidate in the auction, are reportedly set to give Rahane the responsibility.

“Yes, at the moment it’s 90% confirmed that Ajinkya will be the new KKR captain. He was bought by KKR specifically for the purpose of being a viable captaincy option,” a source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Earlier, Venaktesh Iyer had himself thrown his hat in the captaincy ring. After being bought by the franchise for INR 23.75 crore, he made the big pitch to the bosses.

“I have always believed that captaincy is just a tag, but leadership is about creating an environment where everyone feels they can play for this team and contribute. If given the responsibility, I would be more than happy to do it,” Venkatesh had told the broadcasters JioCinema.

“I had the opportunity to captain the side in Nitish Rana‘s absence when he was unfortunately injured, and I was the vice-captain as well;” he had asserted.

KKR could look to make Rahane the full-time captain for the 2025 campaign and hand Venaktesh the vice-captaincy. Such a structure would also enable Rahane to groom the all-rounder as a full-time captain for future.

The only other IPL team the 36-year-old previously led was Rajasthan Royals, in 2018 and 2019. The team just won nine of the 24 matches during the period.

KKR CEO Venky Mysore at the IPL 2025 Auction© AFP

Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who is now the mentor of reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders, has defended the team’s strategy of “going all out” for Venkatesh Iyer to keep the “core” of the IPL championship-winning side intact. Seen as a potential captaincy candidate for KKR, Venkatesh’s acquisition has sparked some criticism over why he wasn’t retained if leadership was part of the team thinktank’s plan for him. “Getting Venky (Venkatesh Iyer) was one of the main priorities for us, as you could see, we went all out for him,” said Bravo, a four-time IPL winner at Chennai Super Kings.

“It’s good that we have 90 per cent of the players from the championship-winning team. That in itself is a positive sign.

“It’s important to keep your core because when you have to build from scratch, it becomes complicated to make combinations and all.” “We started planning while I was in Trinidad. We had come with a proper plan, the players we wanted to target,” added Bravo, who will be in charge of all the franchises of the Knight Riders label in T20 leagues.

At a staggering Rs 23.75 crore, the 29-year old Madhya Pradesh all-rounder, who has represented India in nine T20Is and two ODIs, emerged as the third most expensive player at the two-day IPL mega auction that concluded here on Monday.

Only Rishabh Pant (Lucknow, Rs 27 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (Punjab, Rs 26.75 crore) were ahead of Venkatesh on the list of most expensive players as he even eclipsed experienced Indian batter KL Rahul, a former Lucknow Super Giants captain, who was picked up by Delhi Capitals for Rs 14 crore.

Bravo was also excited that KKR roped in fiery pacer Umran Malik.

“The pace at which he operates, I always admire him — his work ethic, energy and all. Happy that we’re able to nail him down.” KKR CEO and MD Venky Mysore added: “The way the retention rules are set up, the RTM rules, the salary caps, marquee players, and the two-day auction — this was definitely more demanding, for sure. Quite nerve-wracking because of the nuances. “The think tank’s unanimous view was to maintain the structure, which we have done. In certain areas, we have also improved and upgraded. Hopefully, it will continue to work well.” Mysore also highlighted the value Rovman Powell would bring to the Kolkata Knight Riders setup, emphasising his extensive experience and leadership qualities.

“Rovman Powell, over the years, we have seen what he has done in the CPL, other leagues, and, of course, the IPL as well. He’s highly experienced, leads West Indies — that leadership experience, captaincy, and what he has achieved — all of it put together makes him really, really special. Great to have him in the side.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) CEO Venky Mysore explained the rationale behind acquiring all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for a heft price tag in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. The IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah saw a couple of surprise picks, with Venkatesh’s return to KKR being one of them. Throughout the fierce bidding war with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, KKR didn’t back down from shelling out money to bring the all-rounder back to Eden Gardens. After successfully signing the all-rounder, KKR revealed that they were given an ‘ultimatum’ by the player ahead of the auction.

After brushing away competition from the rest of the franchises, Venkatesh was sold to KKR, who broke the bank by acquiring him for Rs 23.75 crore, the fourth-highest in the history of the cash-rich league.

Mysore explained their decision to go all out for Venaktesh to bring him back and said during a press conference, “The auctions are this way only. At the end of the day, it is about the player you want and the type of player you want. It [the prices] surprises you all the time. When you have salary caps like this, which keep going up, the prices will expand.”

“For us, it was about keeping our core. We kept six players and have brought 2-3 players back from last year. That was the thinking. We definitely didn’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we would not want him back. But on an overall basis, it all balances out,” he added.

During KKR’s title-winning campaign in the IPL 2024, Venkatesh hammered 370 runs, averaging 46.25 with a strike rate of 158.80. Mysore also revealed that KKR were given an ultimatum by Venaktesh ahead of the auction. 

“They’ve proven on the field what they can do. You saw in a championship year, and one year we went to the final as well, in 2021. He (Venkatesh) was highly instrumental and terrific guy in the team. He had clearly given us an ultimatum that, ‘If you don’t pick me, I will be very sad’. So we didn’t want him to be sad, and we’re also very happy,” said Mysore.

In the first play-off, when KKR faced SRH, Venkatesh played an unbeaten 51 to ensure they chased down the target with more than six overs to spare.

In the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Venkatesh pummelled an unbeaten 52 to ensure KKR got their hands on its third IPL title. He would be keen to replicate his performance and live up to his big price tag.

With ANI Inputs

After attracting a Rs 23.75 crore bid from Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL mega auction, Venkatesh Iyer made a small right step while producing an all-round effort to propel Madhya Pradesh to a 101-run win over Meghalaya in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Group A match on Monday. Venkatesh got the third highest bid in the auction being held at Jeddah after Rishabh Pant (Rs 27 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (Rs 26.75 crore). Venkatesh first made a 17-ball 37 (4×6) which along with Rajat Patidar’s 78 (36b, 6×4, 6×6) guided MP to 222 for five in 20 overs.

Venkatesh, then took a wicket (2-0-9-1) to support Mohammed Arshad Khan (2.4-0-5-3) as Madhya Pradesh bundled out Meghalaya for 121 with two balls to spare.

Harshal, Chahal sparkle

A blistering hundred by Nishant Sindhu (100, 48b, 11×4, 4×6) and a brisk 91 (45b, 11×4, 4×6) by Himanshu Rana powered Haryana to 255 for two against Arunachal Pradesh in a Group C match at Mumbai.

The Arunachal batters could not tackle the guiles of pacer Harshal Patel (4-0-12-5) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-15-2) to get bowled out for 80 as Haryana celebrated a huge 175-run win.

Chahal was a Rs 18 crore buy by the Punjab Kings while Harshal went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 8 crore.

Pandya brothers shore up Baroda

Hardik Pandya (41 not out, 21b, 2×4, 3×6) and skipper Krunal Pandya (45, 35b, 3×4, 1×6), who joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru for Rs 5.75 crore, played key roles as Baroda chased down a 166-run target set by Uttarakhand to notch their second successive win in Group B.

Earlier, Hardik chipped in with a wicket as well to help Baroda restrict Uttarakhand to a manageable 165 for seven.

Brief scores: At Rajkot: Group A: Madhya Pradesh: 222/5 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 78, Venkatesh Iyer 37) beat Meghalaya: 121 all out in 19.4 overs (Arshad Khan 3/5, Venkatesh Iyer 1/9) by 101 runs.

At Mumbai: Group C: Haryana: 255/2 in 20 overs (Himanshu Rana 91, Nishant Sindhu 100 not out) beat Arunachal Pradesh: 80 all out in 17 overs (Harshal Patel 5/12, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15) by 175 runs.

At Indore: Group B: Uttarakhand: 165/7 in 20 overs (R Samarth 42, Avneesh Sudha 38; Hardik Pandya 1/25, Lukeman Meriwalla 2/37) lost to Baroda: 168/5 in 18.4 overs (Hardik Pandya 41 not out, Krunal Pandya 45; Agrim Tiwari 2/28) by 5 wickets. PTI UNG 7/21/2024 KHS