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INS Kora departs island
The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kora, which made a call at Colombo port on 16th November 2023, departed the island today (17th November) on successful completion of her visit. The Sri Lanka Navy bade customary farewell to the departing ship in compliance with time-honored naval traditions, at the port of Colombo.
The vessel, measuring 91.1 meters in length, is a Missile Corvette belonging to the Indian Navy and she is manned by a crew of 125. Meanwhile, Commander RM Nambiar, the Commanding Officer of INS Kora, called on Rear Admiral Saman Perera, Commander Western Naval Area, and Commandant Volunteer Naval Force, at the Western Naval Command Headquarters on 16th November.
With scores of 74*, 135, 102 and 65* in his last four ODIs, Virat Kohli seemed to be telling the world he was no longer willing to be dismissed unless he had reached three figures. This sequence seemed to be stretching into the new year, with Kohli batting on 93 and taking full control of a chase of 301.
Then, a familiar nemesis appeared. Kyle Jamieson has caused Kohli and India numerous headaches in Test cricket, and now he burst this first ODI wide open in the space of seven balls with the wickets of Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer.
Having been cruising to victory minutes earlier, India suddenly needed 59 off 53 balls with five wickets in hand and two new batters at the crease. And with Washington Sundar held back, nursing a side strain, one of them was the lower-order batter Harshit Rana.
A match dominated by India moved now to an exciting finish, and both Rana – who made a 23-ball 29 – and the hobbling Washington played their part in it, before KL Rahul put the finishing touches, hitting debutant Kristian Clarke for 4, 4, 6 to seal victory with six balls to spare.
The first men’s international game at the Kotambi Stadium got the finish fans may have craved, but its tension had seemed inconceivable when Kohli was in the middle, putting on stands of 118 with Shubman Gill and 77 with Iyer.
Kohli’s innings was one of both vintage and new-age rhythms. He was all intent at the start, stepping out to the seamers, prepared to go over the top, hitting six fours in his first 20 balls. Thereafter, he knew he was in charge, and dictated the tempo like a deep-lying midfield playmaker.
There was, for instance, the shot he played to go from 75 to 79. Having hit just one boundary in 55 balls (and not being any worse off for it), he manufactured one off Clarke with his expert manipulation of the middle-overs field restrictions, with only four fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. He took stance outside leg stump, telling the bowler anything on the line of the stumps would go over the off side, with no one on the boundary at deep cover or mid-off. Clarke followed Kohli with a ball at his hip, and he wristed it expertly to the unguarded backward-square-leg boundary.
Within sight of a century, however, Kohli fell, charging Jamieson and failing to find the elevation needed to clear mid-off. Jamieson then took out Jadeja and a set Iyer, who had batted authoritatively until then upon his return from injury, taking a heavy toll of legspinner Adithya Ashok. Both were soft dismissals, though both came off cross-seam deliveries that misbehaved just enough off this black-soil Vadodara surface to punish shots lacking neither defensive nor attacking conviction.
Then Rana, surviving a dropped chance from Daryl Mitchell on the midwicket boundary, dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 37 with Rahul before falling with 22 needed off 22. With Washington only able to walk between wickets, India still managed a single nearly every ball, before Rahul applied that emphatic finish with nine needed off nine balls.
That India were in full control for much of their chase indicated two things: one, the lack of experience in New Zealand’s injury-ravaged attack, and two: the inadequacy of their total.
Their innings began promisingly, with Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls putting on 117 for the first wicket, but as well as they batted, India’s bowlers never let the scoring rate run away. Then Rana dismissed both openers, diddling out Nicholls with a wide slower yorker before bowling Conway off the inside edge with an inducker.
Thereafter, New Zealand’s innings was full of promising innings and promising partnerships that ended just when they were beginning to look threatening. India’s seamers did the bulk of the wicket-taking, while Kuldeep Yadav took out the dangerous Glenn Phillips with a cleverly looped-up wrong’un.
Amid all that, Mitchell ensured New Zealand wouldn’t fall short of a competitive total with an innings of industry – he only took 51 balls to get to his half-century despite only hitting four boundaries in that time – and well-timed spurts of aggression, including a sequence of 4, 6, 4 off Prasidh Krishna in the 48th over – the highlight a scooped four over short fine – before falling lbw next ball.
Brief scores:
India 306 for 6 in 49 overs (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56, Shreyas Iyer 49; Kyle Jamieson 4-41) beat New Zealand 300 for 8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62, Devon Conway 56; Mohammed Siraj 2-40, Prasidh Krishna 2-60, Harshit Rana 2-65) by four wickets
(Cricinfo)
Dasun Shanaka clobbered 34 off 9 balls, Kusal Mendis, Kamil Mishara, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka and Janith Liyanage all chipped in with quick runs, and Sri Lanka raced to 160 for 6 in 12 overs, but Pakistan still made them sweat.
The match had been shortened to 12-overs-a-side after rain forced a delay of two hours and 20 minutes. A wet outfield also made bowling significantly more difficult, with both spinners and seamers struggling to grip the ball.
But in any conditions, this was a run-fest, Sri Lanka traveling at 13.3 an over across their innings, while Pakistan’s run rate was 12.25. In the end, Sri Lanka’s bowlers made frequent-enough incisions to slow the opposition. Wanindu Hasaranga was chief among the destroyers, taking 4 for 35 in his three overs.
Salman Agha layed the most daring innings in the chase, thumping 45 off 12 balls. Had he survived for two further overs, Pakistan might have had the momentum to get over the line. In the end, they fell 14 short.
Sri Lanka’s captain was under a little pressure to impose himself after recently reclaiming the leadership. To this match he brought his best big-hitting self, and transformed a good total into a daunting one. Shanaka came in with only 19 balls left in the innings, then smoked his second and third balls for six. Then, in the final over bowled by Mohammad Wasim, Shanaka thumped three sixes off the first three balls, depositing two of those over the deep cover boundary. He holed out off the third-to-last ball of the innings, but he had produced a gem.
The stage had been set for him by a top order that had already prospered, however. By he time Shanaka arrived, Sri Lanka were already 100 for 5 after 8.5 overs.
Although the ball was difficult to grip, this Dambulla surface still took decent turn. And Hasaranga can be devastating on such tracks, particularly when the opposition has no choice but to target him. Although often Hasaranga gets plenty of bowled and lbw dismissals with his googly, all four of his victims on Sunday were caught attempting big shots. His speed through the air and degree of turn created most of those dismissals.
Of the 12 he faced, the only ball Agha didn’t score off was the one he got out to. Agha hit three sixes, five fours, one three, and two twos in his innings. He took a particular liking to the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana, who went for 22 runs in the third over. His most spectacular shot was an over-the-shoulder scoop against Matheesha Pathirana in the fourth over, which sailed over the boundary. But then Pathirana wised up, bowled fuller, and Agha sent a catch to short fine leg to end his innings.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 160 for 6 in 12 overs (Kamil Mishara 20, Dasun Shanaka 34, Kusal Mendis 30, Dhananjaya de Silva 22, Charith Asalanka 21, Janith Liyanage 22*; Naseem Shah 1-35, Mohammad Wasim 3-54, Mohammad Nawaz 1-08, Faheem Ashraf 1-09) beat Pakistan 146 for 8 in 12 overs (Salman Agha 45, Mohammed Nawaz 28, Khawaja Nafay 26; Eshan Malinga 127, Matheesha Pathirana 2-34, Wanidu Hasaranga 4-35) by 14 runs
(Cricinfo)
One person has died and 300 properties have been destroyed in bushfires that have torn across south-east Australia.
The fires have raged in dozens of locations across the country for several days, mostly in the state of Victoria, but also in New South Wales, burning through land almost twice the size of Greater London.
A state of emergency has been declared in Victoria as thousands of firefighters and more than 70 aircraft battle the blaze. Residents in more than a dozen communities have been advised to leave their homes.
Authorities fear the fires, which are being fuelled by very hot, dry and windy conditions, could burn for several weeks.
Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan said 30 active fires were burning across the state, 10 of which were of particular concern.
She said 350,000 hectares had been burnt across the state as of 08:00 local time on Sunday (23:00 GMT on Saturday).
“We will see fires continue for some time across the state and that is why we are not through the worst of this by a long way,” she told Australian media.
“There are fires that are continuing right now that are threatening homes and property.”
Human remains were found in the village of Gobur, near the town of Longwood, some 110km (70 sq miles) north of the state capital Melbourne, police said. The victim has not yet been identified.
Allan praised the emergency workers who worked to retrieve the body. “This is difficult and confronting work, and it takes a heavy toll.”
“The Gobur community is grieving,” she said.
Bushfire smoke is impacting air quality in many areas across Victoria, including metropolitan Melbourne.
Authorities said the fires were the worst to hit the south-east of Australia since the 2019-2020 blazes that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.
(BBC)
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