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Jansen too hot for India as South Africa start dreaming of series sweep

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5 months ago

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Marco Jansen has dominated the Test so far [Cricinfo]

Marco Jansen all but ensured the world Test champions South Africa a rare series win in India by bowling the hosts out for 201 and securing a first-innings lead of 288 on day three. On a pitch still hard to beat the defensive bat on, India collapsed from 95 for 1 to 122 for 7, losing all hopes of coming back to win and level the series. They were on the back-foot anyway after conceding 489 to South Africa, who also hold an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series.

Things happened quickly in the second hour of the day as the odd ball turned or bounced more than usual for spinners Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj. Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav then batted together for nearly 35 overs without trouble to show it was just the early moisture that helped the odd ball turn.

But Jansen rose above the pitch with aggressive short-pitched bowling to take his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests to go with his momentum-shifting 93 and an excellent catch to get rid of India’s only half-centurion in the series, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Nobody has ever taken as many wickets with bouncers in a single innings in India since the advent of ball-by-ball records. Those nasty bouncers took out Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Jasprit Bumrah on an otherwise placid surface. On Ian Botham’s birthday, Jansen’s six-for went a long way towards emulating the greatest all-round performance by a visiting player in India  a century and 13 wickets in 1980 in the Jubilee Test.

Before Jansen broke the game open with a spell of 8-1-18-4 with a fairly old ball either side of the first session break, South Africa benefitted from some luck and possible panic in the young Indian batting line-up. Not since the 1960s have India had Nos. 3 and 4 with just one hundred and fewer than 1000 career runs between them. That this is being played in the east, that we have lost 10 overs on the first two days because of the early sunset, might have had something to do with some of the frenetic batting from India, who need a win in this match to prevent a second home series defeat in 12 months after 12 years of none.

Only four balls jumped or turned more than usual in more than an hour after the fast bowlers operated for the first half hour. India looked solid in getting to 65 without any loss, but then two of those four balls that did more than usual ended up in the wickets of openers. One long hop settled with short midwicket, and two batters fell trying to force the pace when only one batter has been able to dominate the bowling in this Test: Jansen.

KL Rahul got the first of the good ones, bowled by Maharaj at 79kmph, well slower than any of India’s fingerspinners. Harmer, who has been excellent – sharp turn or not – then bowled the second one. Jaiswal had looked in control both when defending and attacking, but he checked a back-foot shot when this delivery stopped and stood up. Jansen, who had already denied him six runs on the cut with his long levers at backward point, took the catch diving forward. Not many could have even got to this on the full.

B Sai Sudharsan, back as the No. 3 after being left out in Kolkata, was conscious to not get caught back to full deliveries, which has been his undoing in the past. He played two lovely cover-drives, but ended up pulling a short ball from Harmer to the left of short midwicket, where Ryan Rickelton took a rebound while diving.

It was all Jansen after this – plus a little bit of chasing the game. Jurel was kept runless for 10 balls when he tried to hook a wide bouncer from Jansen. It was too high and too wide for him to be able to control. That this came about in the last over before tea made it worse.

Post-tea, captain Rishabh Pant tried to counterattack by charging at Jansen. All he managed was an edge to the keeper. Reddy and Jadeja got brutes. Reddy had to throw his hands in front of his face in self defence, and Aiden Markram took a catch to match the earlier two, diving from second slip to gully. Jadeja tried to sway out of one’s line, but it followed him, hit the shoulder and then took the periscope on the way to second slip. On average, Jansen could bowl a metre fuller than Siraj for the ball to be a bouncer, giving them less time to adjust. He also bowled when the pitch had lost pace and bounce.

With Jansen done, the moisture drying out and the push for a comeback win dissipating for India, Washington and Kuldeep defended with ease. No. 3 in the last Test, Washington came close to scoring only the second half-century for India this series, but was outdone by a lovely offbreak from Harmer just before the second new ball became available. Kuldeep registered his longest Test innings, turned down a single to protect Jasprit Bumrah, but couldn’t keep Jansen out. Not that Bumrah could be protected anyway: Jansen ended the innings with another nasty bouncer.

Without even a full day’s rest, India’s bowlers were back on the park again. Bumrah created a chance in the first over of the third innings, but it flew wide of second slip. South Africa went into stumps 314 ahead, only a couple of sessions away from batting India out of the series.

Brief scores:
South Africa 489 in 151.1 overs [Senuran Muthusamy 109, Mzrco Jansen 93; Kuldeep Yadav 4-115] and 26 for 0 inn8 overs  (Ryan Rickelton 13*, Aiden Markram 12*) lead India 201 in 83.5 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 58, Washington Sundar 48; Marco Jansen 6-48, Simon Harmer 3-64) by 314 runs

[Cricinfo]


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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued For Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western province

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3 hours ago

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2026/04/25

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Advisory for Severe Lightning
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 12.00 noon 25 April 2026 valid for the period until 11.30 p.m. 25 April 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur in the  Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya
districts after 1.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning
activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that
people should:
• Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
• Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
• Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
• Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
• Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
• For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Kohli, Padikkal hit fifties as Royal Challengers Bengaluru ace the chase against Gujarat Titans

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9 hours ago

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2026/04/25

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Virat Kohli hit eight fours, to go with four sixes [Cricinfo]

An exhibition of clean hitting by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal ensured Sai Sudarshan’s measured 100 off 58 balls ended in a losing cause as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) beat Gujarat Titans (GT) by five wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

After winning the toss, RCB captain Rajat Patidar had no hesitation in putting GT in. Sudharsan laid a strong foundation on a pitch he described as “two-paced and sticky to start with”. But even when the surface became easier to bat on, GT could not get into overdrive. They scored only 35 in the last four overs and finished on 205 for 3.

In response, Kohli, who was dropped on zero, smashed 81 off 44 balls and Padikkal blasted 55 off just 27. They put on 115 in 9.5 overs for the second wicket, and despite a bit of wobble towards the end, RCB romped home with seven balls to spare.

The GT openers prefer to take as few risks as possible and it was no different on Friday. Sudharsan was circumspect at the start and was on 17 off 16 after three overs. But he found his timing after that and moved to 41 off 27 by the end of the fifth. Gill had faced just three balls till then. GT finished the powerplay on 57 for no loss.

Sudharsan went inventive after the powerplay, scooping Romario Shepherd for a six. When Krunal Pandya bowled a bouncer, he uppercut him over deep third. Later in the over, he slog-swept the spinner for another six, reaching 2000 runs in the IPL. Taking 47 innings, he was the fastest to get there, bettering Chris Gayle’s record by one.

He and Gill added 128 in 12.4 overs, with Gill contributing 32 off 24 balls. The GT captain was starved of strike throughout his stay and holed out to long-on off Suyash Sharma. Sudharsan brought up his hundred off 57 balls, the slowest of the six so far this season. There was no cutting loose after reaching the milestone either. He was out on the very next ball he faced.

GT were 170 for 2 after 16 overs but Suyash, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hazlewood gave away only 17 in the next three. At 187 for 3, Rasikh Salam ran in to bowl the final over but he stopped even before he could bowl a delivery. It looked like cramps and despite the physio working on him, he had to walk off the field. Krunal replaced him and was hit for a six by Jason Holder off the first ball. After another ball, Krunal too pulled out of his delivery stride holding his groin. But after a bit of medical attention, he completed the over, but ended up leaking 18 runs.

With Phil Salt injured, Jacob Bethell finally got a chance to play this season. Opening the innings after coming in as Impact Player, he had a close shave in the second over. He got an inside edge to a length ball from Kagiso Rabada but it missed the stumps and beat Buttler for four. In the next over, he shuffled across and hit Mohammed Siraj for a four on either side of the wicket. But when he tried the same trick later in the over, he hit it straight to the backward point. He made 14 off ten.

Kohli was dropped off the first ball he faced. It was a length delivery from Siraj that he flicked uppishly towards short midwicket but Washington Sundar grassed a regulation chance. Kohli made his intentions clear in the following over when he hit Rabada over mid-on for a four.

Padikkal was even more ruthless. He opened his account with a first-ball six, picking up a 153.6kph length ball from Rabada over square leg. The GT bowlers didn’t help themselves by bowling onto his pads, and he kept flicking them fine for boundaries.

Rashid Khan wasn’t spared either. He dropped one short to Kohli and the batter duly pulled it over deep midwicket for a six before cutting the following delivery for four. In the spinner’s second over, Padikkal hit him for two sixes, the second one taking him to his fifty off just 20 balls. It made Kohli’s 30-ball fifty look pedestrian.

Rashid bowled Padikkal with a googly from around the wicket, and Kohli played Holder on but not before hitting the allrounder for back-to-back sixes.

Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma kept the attack going. They hit a six each off Rashid but fell in quick succession. Suddenly, RCB were five down with 31 required from four overs. Krunal, though, bashed Manav Suthar for two fours and a six in the 18th over, bringing the equation down to seven needed from 12. In the penultimate over, he swatted Holder through midwicket for four before wrapping up the game with a gentle pull to fine leg.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206 for 5 in 18.5 overs (Jacob Bethell 14, Virat Kohli 81, Devdutt Padikkal 55, Jitesh Sharma 10, Tim David 10*, Krunal Pandya 23*; Mohammed Siraj 1-25, Jason Holder 1-35, Rashid Khan 2-49, Manav  Suther 1-19) beat Gujarat Titans 205 for 3 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 100, Shubman Gill 32, Jos Buttler 25, Washington Sundar 19*,Jason Holder 23*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-31, Josh Hazelwood 40, Suyash Sharma 1-36) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western, Sabaragamuwa and  Eastern provinces during the day time

Published

10 hours ago

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2026/04/25

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Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 24 April 2026, valid for 25 April 2026.

Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in Northern, North-central, North-western, Western, Sabaragamuwa and
Eastern provinces during the day time.

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.


Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

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