Sports

Kohli’s go to man – Nuwan Senevirathne

Published

3 years ago

2023/01/13

Rex Clementine in Calcutta

The streets of Calcutta are well decorated and a walk along Park Street in the night is quite a spectacle. Calcutta was India’s original capital under the British and Park Street is like the Cinnamon Gardens of Colombo.

Park Street is also known as the street that never sleeps as Calcutta’s night life is centered around here with several pubs and night clubs such as Peter Cat, Oly Pub and Blue Fox. The cities’ leading schools and colleges are also situated along this long stretch. All western posh restaurants and coffee shops can be seen along this street and as you walk further down the road, you see the other side of the city; abject poverty and disorderliness.

Traffic can be a nightmare in Calcutta so the safest mode of transport is the British built trams that are still running. Calcutta is known as City of Joy and it’s a shame that the team spent just two nights here.

For all its history and glory, Calcutta is not the most spectator friendly ground and the press box is below average. Yes, yes, SSC press box doesn’t cover itself with glory either, but late Michael de Zoysa did much to address the issue and thanks to him SSC has improved leaps and bounds in recent years.

So it was a bit of a surprise walking in to the Calcutta press box and finding that the place had got a complete facelift. The President of Cricket Association of Bengal is Snehasish Ganguly, the brother of former India captain Sourav and he is addressing several issues the ground is facing.

Eden Gardens had a capacity of 110,000 but that was at a time when people watched the game standing in certain stands. With several new stands coming up, the venue can now host only 65,000. But spectator comforts have improved. It was a full house yesterday. The cops had a tough job managing all the fans. Unlike in other Indian cities, Police in Calcutta wear white.

In Sri Lanka we had an IGP by the name of Mahinda Balasuriya and he had a bright idea to change the police uniform. Taking a leaf out of Calcutta he preferred white uniforms for his cops. The change of uniform was going to cost an arm and a leg for the treasury. So when the idea was taken to President Mahinda Rajapaksa who shot it down saying that as a youth he himself had jitters when seeing the khaki uniform and people would not fear the cops anymore when the colour is changed.

As Virat Kohli walked in to Eden Gardens to warm-up ahead of the game, he signalled to the team’s throw down specialist to come over to the nets. He is a Sri Lankan by the name of Nuwan Senevirathne popularly known as ‘bauwwa’.

Bauwwa

had played a bit of cricket and was a school van driver. After the morning drop to St. Bridget’s, he used to sit at NCC and watch Sri Lanka ‘A’ team train. Quietly, he started helping the fielding drills of the team as there was no fielding coach. Bauwwa was quite good at what he was doing and the ‘A’ team coach Roy Dias recommended him to Sri Lanka Cricket to be employed.

Bauwwa

joined the board and through sheer hard work made it to the national team assisting the fielding coach. Bauwwa is a gym freak. He does two sessions a day. He wakes up at 4:30 in the morning and does a two hour session starting at 5:00 and another in the evening. He has strong forearms and can do throwdowns at a terrific pace.

In 2017, India came to Sri Lanka and Kohli witnessed the pace that bauwwa was generating. He was quite impressive. Soon there was a call from the Indian board to Bauwwa. They were offering him ten times what SLC was giving. It was a deal Bauwwa could not turn down. He has been with India for six years. Ravi Shastri has come and gone, Sunil Joshi has come and gone, Bharat Arun has come and gone, but Bauwwa stays.

What’s so special about Bauwwa? Well, he is left-handed. In training Kohli wants someone who can generate the pace close to Mitchell Starc and our man is Mr. Kohli’s go to man.

One day at the India nets Kohli copped a nasty one from Bauwwa. It hit his rib-cage. Kohli was in pain but resumed training. Bauwwa reduced the intensity. Kohli found out after two balls. He called him and gave him a piece of mind asking to go at full speed. That’s Kohli. He doesn’t leave anything for chance. We have much to learn from the great man. We have much to learn from Bauwwa too. Keep doing what you are doing with the purest of heart giving your all and one day some big shot will come calling for you. Here’s hoping that Mukesh Ambani thinks of us for his latest business venture. A cricket website called Cricketnext.

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Lutkenhaus, 17, upsets Olympic champion Wanyonyi in Oslo

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/11

Priyan

Wanyonyi (left) finished behind Lutkenhaus (right) in Oslo [BBC]

American teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus produced a stunning performance to hold off Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi in the men’s 800m at the Diamond League meeting in Norway.

The 17-year-old crossed the line in a personal best of one minute and 42.08 seconds to edge out the Kenyan by one hundredth of a second in Oslo, despite Wanyonyi recording his fastest time of the season (1:42.09).

Lutkenhaus was unbeaten in his five previous 800m finals this year, having claimed gold at the World Indoor Championships and become the Diamond League’s youngest ever winner on his debut in Stockholm last weekend.

“This boy [Lutkenhaus] is in a good shape,” said the 21-year-old Wanyonyi, who missed the event in Sweden following the birth of his first child.

“Can you believe that as an Olympic champion, you are trying to knock down a 17-year-old boy?

“I started the race in front and after 600m to go, I tried to see who is coming to push me. Then I saw him passing me so then I tried to respond. But my target today was to run my season best, to improve.”

British sprinter Amy Hunt placed second in the women’s 100m in 10.99 seconds, with St Lucia’s Olympic champion Julien Alfred taking victory in a time of 10.76.

Amber Anning was fourth in the women’s 400m as Norway’s Henriette Jaeger enjoyed success, while her fellow Briton, Jake Wightman, finished fifth in the Dream Mile behind Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot.

There was Ethiopian dominance in the women’s 3,000m race, with Freweyni Hailu, Likina Amebaw, Senayet Getachew and Hawi Abera occupying the top four positions.

Hailu recorded the fastest time in the world this year, crossing the line in 8:24.22, while GB pair Megan Keith and Innes Fitzgerald finished seventh and ninth respectively.

In the final event of the evening, home favourite Karsten Warholm’s time of 47.40 was only enough to earn the Swede second place behind Brazilian rival Alison dos Santos (46.89) in the men’s 400m hurdles.

[BBC Sports]

Sports

From UAE heartbreak to fresh hope in England

Published

6 hours ago

2026/06/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sri Lanka’s fortunes depend heavily on their captain Chamari Atapattu. She’s seen taking part in religious observances prior to the team’s departure to the UK last week.

Sri Lanka will open their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup campaign against hosts England when the 12-nation tournament gets underway in Birmingham on Friday. The event carries a prize purse of USD 8.7 million, underlining the remarkable growth of the women’s game in recent years.

Every participating team is guaranteed a minimum of USD 250,000, even if they fail to win a game during the group stage.

Sri Lanka have been drawn in Group A alongside hosts England, defending champions New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland and West Indies. The top two teams qualify for the semi-finals.

The islanders endured a miserable campaign at the previous Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, losing all four of their group games. More concerning than the defeats themselves were the margins of those losses. Since then, however, the side has made significant progress and, under new Head Coach Jamie Siddons, there is a renewed sense of belief within the camp.

Sri Lanka arrived in Birmingham after comprehensive warm-up victories over Pakistan and the Netherlands in Derby. The team was scheduled to train under lights at Edgbaston on Wednesday evening as preparations entered the final phase.

Having qualified for the tournament by virtue of their international ranking, Sri Lanka will be quietly confident of giving a good account of themselves.

Following the opening game in Birmingham, they will travel to Southampton, Bristol and Manchester for the remainder of the group stage. A trip to London will materialise only if they progress to the knockout rounds.

Since the last World Cup, Sri Lanka have played a considerable amount of bilateral cricket and also underwent an intensive residential camp in Pallekele in the lead-up to the tournament.

Several exciting young players have emerged over the last year, adding fresh energy to the side and raising expectations. The biggest challenge, however, will be adapting to English conditions.

Australia remain the most successful team in the tournament’s history, having lifted the trophy six times. England, West Indies and New Zealand have each won the title once.

Rex Clementine in Birmingham

Sports

Gaikwad 101 trumps Arachchige 74 as India A win thriller against Sri Lanka A

Published

6 hours ago

2026/06/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sahan Arachchige's 74 was not enough as Sri Lanka A collapsed in the chase [SLC]

India A began their tour of Sri Lanka with a nervy eight run win against the hosts in Dambulla. A series that has been given the added edge by the presence of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi opened under hot weather on a two-paced surface. The stroke-making on the pitch was anything but easy. Here’s a look back at the match which India A eventually snatched from the jaws of defeat.

There had been a frenzy around him ever since he arrived in Sri Lanka three days ago. Fans, officials and media alike clamoured for a glimpse of him. Their first sighting of the 15-year-old in action was brief. Yet, it offered a tantalising glimpse of what they could expect.

After Prabhsimran Singh played out a first-over maiden, Sooryavanshi got off the mark with a boundary off his very first ball – a slap over the infield. Three fours followed in a 12-ball knock that yielded 14 runs. His innings ended in the fourth over when an attempted loft off seamer Mohamed Shiraz flew flat to mid-off, where captain Sahan Arachchige pulled off a superb diving catch.

Sooryavanshi has three more group games, followed by a final if India A qualify, to make amends before he flies to Ireland. There, he will link up with the senior Indian team for the T20I series.

Rutrraj Gaikwad wasn’t even in the original squad, but a hamstring injury to Riyan Parag earned him a late call-up to Sri Lanka, and unexpectedly, the vice-captaincy. On Tuesday, he made the most of that opportunity, showing he could thrive in the No. 4 role in one-day cricket with a measured 114-ball 101 that anchored India A’s 277.

It was another reminder of Gaikwad’s pedigree in the format. His only ODI century for India came in his most recent appearance, against South Africa in December 2025, when he shared a 195-run stand with Virat Kohli in Raipur. However, this innings was different.

On a slow surface where Sri Lanka A’s spinners controlled much of the middle overs, Gaikwad prioritised strike rotation over boundary-hitting. He struck just six fours and three sixes, yet dominated a 150-run fourth-wicket partnership with captain Tilak Varma.

Gaikwad was reprieved on 49, when Niroshan Dickwella missed a straightforward stumping opportunity off legspinner Vijaykanth Viyaskanth. Gaikwad kicked his innings into high gear thereafter by hitting the next ball, a full toss, for six over deep midwicket to bring up his half-century.

The hundred brought a unique record: it was his 21st List A century, achieved in just his 96th match, making him the fastest player to reach the mark. Pakistan’s Khurram Manzoor, the previous quickest, needed 130 matches.

India’s search for a seam-bowling allrounder beyond Hardik Pandya has largely centred on Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shivam Dube. But there is growing promise in Suryansh Shedge. The Mumbai allrounder provided the finishing touches to India A’s innings with an unbeaten 26 off 14 balls.

Then, with the ball, Shedge extracted appreciable seam movement and bounce in a lively opening spell, troubling Sri Lanka A’s batters despite finishing wicketless with 8-0-41-0. If he can bowl as consistently as he did here, he will continue to strengthen his case after a solid IPL 2026.

Anukul Roy, meanwhile, showed why he remains a highly-rated spin option. The left-arm spinner returned 2 for 49 from his ten overs, but the figures only partly reflected his impact. He broke an 86-run stand by enticing Sadeera Samarawickrama into a mistimed loft to long-on, before dismissing Ravindu Fernando caught and bowled off a leading edge in his next over. Those strikes led Sri Lanka A from cruise control to full-blown turbulence. They were eventually bowled out for 269 in the 49th over.

SCORES:

INDIA A

277/6 in 50 overs [Priyansh Arya 32, Rutraj Gaikwad 101, Tilak Varma 60; Mohamed Shiraz 2-67] beat SRI LANKA A 269 in 48.5 overs [Niroshan Dickwella 47, Avishka Fernando 45, Sadeera Samarawickrama 46, Sahan Arachchige 74; Arshad Khan 2-24, Anukul Roy 2-49, Ayush Badoni 2-46, Vipraj Nigam 2-46] by 8 runs