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Sri Lanka salvage draw in Mathews’ farewell Test

Published

10 months ago

2025/06/21

Priyan

Taijul Islam got Angelo Mathews out in his last Test innings [Cricinfo]

Sri Lanka batted out 32 overs in the final session and ensured that the first Test in Galle ended in a draw. But it wasn’t a result without minor jeopardy, as Sri Lanka lost four wickets on the way before Dhananjaya de Siva and Kamindu Mendis shut up shop for good.

The teams shook hands with five overs left to play in the day, with the pair having played out 53 balls in their partnership. But reflection later on might leave Bangladesh with the one hanging question – could they have declared sooner?

Dhananjaya and Kamindu had come together after Sri Lanka had lost both Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal in quick succession, both to the excellent Taijul Islam who ended on figures of 3 for 23.

But despite Taijul and Naveen Hassan’s best efforts, it was clear the remaining six wickets would not fall before the 37 overs were up. But what if Bangladesh had a further 13 overs to play?

Valid question, but one we may never get an answer to. As things panned out, Bangladesh added 48 runs in 11 overs in the post-lunch session after a roughly two-and-a-half hour rain interruption. Sri Lanka were set a target of 296 off 37 overs – at a required rate of eight an over – if they wanted to steal an unlikely win.

Those 37 overs might have been more, but the primary goal of Bangladesh continuing to bat after the rain break seemed to be for Najmul Hossain Shanto getting to his second century of the game – it was the third instance of a Bangladeshi batter scoring two centuries in the same Test, and the second time Shanto had accomplished the feat.

It took 50 deliveries after the restart for Shanto to get to the milestone, during which Bangladesh had scored just 19 runs and lost the wickets of Litton Das and Jaker Ali – both succumbing to the growing turn on offer, and frustration with defensive lines down leg. In the next 16 balls though, Bangladesh ransacked 28 – including a trio of sixes from Shanto down the ground off the spinners.

That those runs had come as the pitch had begun to take some pretty extravagant turn, likely down to the moisture trapped under the covers, made them even more impressive. But it also served to bring into a more critical light the pace at which Bangladesh had proceeded at the start of the day.

In the hour and a bit in the morning session before the rains came, Bangladesh had seemed content to plod along at a session run rate of just 3.15. Conventional wisdom would have indicated the need for a minimum of two sessions to bowl Sri Lanka out, and with Bangladesh no doubt wanting a lead in excess of 300 – a run rate of five or more seemed to be the call of the day. But with Sri Lanka also happy to set defensive fields, Bangladesh – who have a had a very lean period in Tests as of late – had no desire to put valuable World Test Championship points at risk.

In hindsight, maybe even with a lead of 247 – which is what they had by the break – the early declaration might have still been the correct option. There were 50 overs in total to play at that point, and there’s little doubt Bangladesh would have liked every one of those available to them by the end of play.

Taijul and Nayeem certainly would have, with both utilising the now stricken Galle surface much better than their Lankan counterparts. Taijul in particular was proving a handful, threatening both edges – as highlighted by the wickets of Mathews and Chandimal. The former was caught bat-pad following an arm-ball that took the inside edge and popped up to silly point; the latter had one rip past his forward defence and peg off stump.

Earlier he had seen Lahiru Udara advancing and dragged one shorter to zip it past the edge and have him stumped. Nayeem, meanwhile, had Nissanka playing early to one, and chipping it to short midwicket.

There’s no way to say for sure how exactly the game would have panned out if the declaration had come sooner, but Taijul and Nayeem, more than most, would have loved to have found out.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 485 (Pathum Nissanka 187, Kamindu Mendis 87, Nayeem Hassan 5-121, Hasan Mahmud 3-74) and 72 for 4 (Pathum Nissanka 24, Taijul 3-23, Nayeem Hassan 1-29) drew with Bangladesh 495 (Mushfiqur 163, Najmul Hossain Shanto 148, Litton Das 90, Asitha Fernando 4-86, Milan Rathnayake 3-39) and 285 for 6 decl (Najmul Hossain Shanto 125*, Shadman Islam 76, Mushfiqur Rahim 49, Tharindu Rathnayake 3-102)

[Cicinfo]

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Oil rises above $106 per barrel as US, Iran deadlocked in Strait of Hormuz

Published

6 hours ago

2026/04/24

Priyan

Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, the United Arab Emirates, on March 11, 2026 [Aljazeera]

Oil prices have jumped on heightened tensions between the United States and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz following Washington and Tehran’s tit-for-tat captures of commercial vessels.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, topped $106 per barrel early on Friday morning as Washington and Tehran stepped up their confrontation over the key maritime route for transporting the world’s energy.

Brent stood at $106.80 as of 01:00 GMT, up nearly 5 percent from its closing price on Wednesday, when it surpassed $100 per barrel for the first time in two weeks.

US stocks fell overnight, with the benchmark S&P 500 index dipping 0.41 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropping 0.89 percent.

Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas, remains at a standstill as Iran continues to demand the right to decide which vessels may pass and the US blocks Iran’s maritime trade.

US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday that he had ordered the US Navy to destroy any Iranian boats laying mines in the strait, shortly after the Pentagon announced that it had seized a tanker carrying sanctioned Iranian oil for the second time in less than a week.

Trump also appeared to expand the scope of the US naval blockade beyond Iranian ports, writing on Truth Social that no ship “can enter or leave” the strait without the approval of the US Navy.

“It is ‘Sealed up Tight,’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!” Trump said.

Trump’s threats came a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the capture of two foreign cargo ships in the waterway.

The IRGC said it had seized the Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and Greek-owned Epaminondas after the vessels had endangered maritime security “by operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems”.

The Greek Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Ministry has denied that the Epaminondas was captured and said the vessel remains under the control of its captain.

Only nine commercial vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, compared with seven on Tuesday and 15 on Monday, according to maritime intelligence platform Windward.

Before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28, the waterway saw an average of 129 transits each day, according to United Nations Trade and Development.

[Aljazeera]

Latest News

Samson century, Hosein four-for hand Mumbai Indians their biggest defeat

Published

9 hours ago

2026/04/24

Priyan

Sanju Samson continued his good form [Cricinfo]

Playing the first IPL El Clasico of their career, Chennai Super King’s Sanju Samson (101 not out) and Akeal Hosein (4-1-17-4) handed Mumbai Indians their biggest loss by runs in T20 history. CSK’s batting revolved around their new talisman; their second-highest score was 22. MI crumbled to spin, eight of their XI dismissed for single-digits.

CSK and MI came into the game as the seventh and eighth-placed teams in the season. And yet the amped-up nature of a game between the IPL’s two most decorated teams ever was on show from the very first ball, where Sherfane Rutherford couldn’t find the wicketkeeper with a regulation throw and the short fine leg fielder backing up didn’t do his job properly either. Jasprit Bumrah, the bowler, asked his fielders to calm down and then, in a sign that he was pushing himself harder too, overstepped. In the chase, Tilak Varma and Jamie Overton got into a brief but heated argument.

This game was a tactical give-and-go. Hardik Pandya quickly realised how well the ball was coming onto the bat. He went for 38 runs in two overs. So he took pace off in the powerplay. The two overs of spin he went to yielded two wickets. CSK countered that by promoting Shivam Dube. AM Ghanzafar took him down for 5 off 8. He was brave to take the pace off. Dube, along with Ruturaj Gaikwad, the other batter Ghazanfar dismissed, are having a poor IPL 2026. The CSK captain has a high score of 28 and a strike rate of 119.54. Aaruchaamy, Dube’s nickname, loosely translated as god of sixes, has hit only five in seven innings.

Deeply aware of the disadvantage batting first at Wankhede Stadium, every batter made an effort to hit early boundaries. CSK put up 73 for 2 in the first six overs. Only once have they made more against MI, and that was way back in 2015. When the field spread and MI looked like regaining control, taking two wickets and only giving two boundaries in a stretch of 3.3 overs, Dewald Brevis walked out and smashed Mitchell Santner for two sixes. One of them made Santner trying to hide the ball outside off stump look entirely silly. This is the talent Brevis has. MI knew they had to get rid of him.

There were plenty of mistakes – too many on the pads, too many with width – but there were also good plans. MI showed signs that the pressure was getting to them but they didn’t buckle. In the 11th over, after being taken for two fours, Ashwani Kumar didn’t lose sight of what his team wanted to do. Go short at Brevis. He made things better for himself by taking pace off as well. So when the batter tried to upper cut him, the ball didn’t have enough to clear the boundary. Brevis’ wicket for 21 off 11 left CSK at 122 for 4, with Kartik Sharma and Overton left to bat.

All night long, he had shown his touch. Creaming Bumrah through cover point for the first boundary of the innings. Whipping Hardik off his pads for six. Often it seems he expends no effort to score these runs. Nothing exemplified this aspect of his game more than the boundaries he got through third man. All he needed to do was beat the infield. Later, he did push himself. Facing a free-hit against Bumrah in the 19th over, he predicted the fast bowler would go for a yorker, so he walked down the pitch, shaping to play the reverse ramp, saw the ball was a little too straight and so went proper ramp and got four for it. When he ended the over with a single, he and Bumrah had a little laugh about the shot. This is what MI vs CSK is. The best players doing unbelievable things against each other. This hype won’t die.

Samson was 44 off 20. CSK started losing wickets. And he had to throttle down. 15 off 14. He hit only one boundary from over 7.5 to 15.1 because CSK just could not afford to lose him. They also couldn’t afford a total less than 200. Samson jugged these two opposing responsibilities – guarding his wicket but also finding the boundary – so well. Hardik refusing to bowl himself after the early pasting helped. Krish Bhagat, playing his first IPL season, had to bowl the 16th and the 20th overs and Samson targeted him, facing all 12 of his balls, denying singles in the last over, and smashing 31 runs, including three sixes and three fours. The last of those boundaries brought up his second century for CSK. No one has made more, and he’s only played seven innings for them. Bumrah, Hardik and Suryakumar Yadav all came over to congratulate Samson. In his own dressing room, Steven Fleming pulled him into a bear hug.

CSK dropped Akeal against Sunrisers Hyderabad, worried by what power-hitting left-handers might do to him. MI had left-handers too but clearly not the fear inducing kind like Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan. Akeal started his evening getting hit for six by Quinton de Kock but ended it by taking down Tilak Varma. In between, he bowled a wicket-maiden in the powerplay and got plenty of opportunity to bring out his masked man celebration, where he hides his face behind one hand with his eyes peeking out through spread fingers.

Akeal bowled two overs in the first six. He used the around-the-wicket angle to keep himself in the game against left-hand batters. Bowling in tandem with Noor Ahmad, he helped CSK pick up four wickets for three runs and create one of the lasting visuals of the night. MI batters walking in and being crowded out by slips and short legs and short covers. Nine wickets to spin was an IPL record at Wankhede Stadium.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 207 for 6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 101*, Rutraj Gaikwad 22, Sarfaraz Khan 14, Dewald Brevis 21, Kartik Sharma 18, Jamie Overton 15; Jasprit Bumrah 1-31, AM Ghazanfar 2-25, Mitchell Santner 1-44, Ashwani Kumar 2-37) beat Mumbai Indians 104 in 19 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 35, Tilak Varma 37; Akeal Hosein 4-17, Mukesh Choudhary 1-31, Anshul Kamboj 1-10, Noor Ahmad 2-23, Jamie Overton 1-14, Gurjapneet Singh 1-07) by 103 runs

[Cricinfo]

Foreign News

Trump tells BBC that King’s visit could ‘absolutely’ help repair relations with UK

Published

10 hours ago

2026/04/24

Priyan

The King and Queen will travel to the US for a four-day visit beginning on Monday (BBC)

US President Donald Trump has said next week’s state visit from King Charles and Queen Camilla could help repair relations with the UK.

When asked in a phone interview with the BBC whether the visit could help repair the relationship, Trump said: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.”

“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” he said. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”

The president also spoke about his relationship with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who he said could only “recover” if he changed course on immigration.

The King and Queen will travel to the US for a four-day visit beginning on Monday, and will meet with Trump at the White House.

The King will have a private meeting with the president and also deliver an address to Congress.

After two days in Washington DC, they will travel to New York, Virginia and Bermuda before returning to the UK.

The Foreign Office said the trip would mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, and would celebrate a partnership of “shared prosperity, security and history”.

In the five-minute interview on Thursday, Trump was also asked about his relationship with Sir Keir.

The two leaders have appeared at odds over the war in Iran, and the prime minister has faced mounting pressure over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said Lord Mandelson was “a really bad pick” but the prime minister had “plenty of time to recover”.

When asked what he meant by that post, Trump said: “If he opened the North Sea and if his immigration policies became strong, which right now they’re not, he can recover, but if he doesn’t, I don’t think he has a chance.

Trump has repeatedly called on the UK to increase oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.

“I make my decisions based on what’s in the British national interest and not what other people say or do,” Sir Keir said while talking to broadcasters about the president’s comments on Thursday.

“That is why I took the decision that we would not be dragged into the war in Iran,” he said. “I’m not going to be diverted or deflected from that by what anybody else says.”

(BBC)