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India in driver’s seat after Ashwin, Umesh share eight wickets

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Umesh Yadav and R Ashwin picked up four wickets each to put India on top despite Mominul Haque’s 84 on return. Batting first in the second Test in Mirpur, Bangladesh were 213 for 5 at one stage after tea but lost their last five wickets inside the next 14 runs to be all out for 227.Each of Bangladesh’s top seven batters reached 15 but apart from Mominul, no one could cross 26. Whenever a partnership seemed to be brewing, they lost a wicket. Five of the first six wickets featured a stand of 39 or more but the highest of them was only 48.

India were left with 14 overs to face. The play went into the extra half hour but bad light allowed only eight of those to be bowled. In that short passage, KL Rahul looked circumspect against Taskin Ahmed and Shakib Al Hasan, and finished the day on 3 not out off 30 balls. Shubman Gill was keeping him company, his unbeaten 14 off 20 comprising a six and a four.In the morning, India went in with three seamers and two spinners on a grassy pitch, replacing Kuldeep Yadav, the Player of the Match in the last game, with Jaydev Unadkat. This was Unadkat’s first Test in 12 years and only his second overall. Between his two appearances India played 118 Tests, the second-most missed games for any Test cricketer.

Umesh and Mohammed Siraj found movement with the new ball but neither really pitched it up to fully exploit the grassy pitch. That resulted in a lot of plays-and-misses but the Bangladesh openers, Zakir Hasan and Najmul Hossain Shanto, survived their spells.Bowling first change, Unadkat, the slowest of the Indian seamers, didn’t find as much movement but his higher release point fetched him extra bounce. Soon, he was bowling with four slips, a gully and a short leg, and hitting batters on the gloves regularly.

With Bangladesh on 39, Zakir decided to cut a short-of-length delivery from Unadkat, only to be done in by the extra bounce. The ball hit him on the glove and lobbed to fourth slip, giving Unadkat his maiden wicket in Test cricket.In the next over, Ashwin trapped Shanto lbw. The batter, playing for the turn, shouldered arms to a length ball that went with the arm from around the wicket and struck him on the pad. He was given out lbw on the field, and a review returned an umpire’s call verdict with ball-tracking showing the ball tickling off stump.

Coming in at No. 4, Shakib took the aerial route against Ashwin even before he had reached double digits. He first hit Ashwin inside-out over extra cover before dancing down the track later in the work to deposit him beyond deep-midwicket boundary.

Mominul and Shakib enjoyed slices of luck too. Mominul’s cut against Ashwin flew between the wicketkeeper and slip, and then in the last over before lunch, Rishabh Pant missed a difficult leg-side stumping when Shakib charged at Ashwin and the ball sneaked through his legs.

The reprieve, though, didn’t prove costly as Umesh sent Shakib back on the first ball after the break. The Bangladesh captain tried to loft him over mid-off but didn’t get the timing right and ended up offering the simplest of chances.

Mominul and Mushfiqur, starting slowly before hitting six fours in the space of ten balls, stitched together 48 for the fourth wicket before Unadkat broke the stand. Bowling around the wicket, he once again found the extra bounce, the ball taking the outside edge of Mushfiqur’s bat before settling into Pant’s gloves.

Litton Das started positively, punching Siraj for four and following it with a pulled six on the next ball. He quickly moved to 25 but failed to keep a flick off Ashwin down and was taken at short midwicket.Mominul, meanwhile, kept pressing on and ramped two more fours off Unadkat to bring up his half-century. He and Mehidy Hasan Miraz ensured Bangladesh didn’t lose another wicket before tea despite some close calls.

The pair added 41 for the sixth wicket but post tea, Mehidy felt unwell. The physio came out to check in on him, and the batter decided to continue. Umesh, though, removed him soon after, Mehidy trying to cut a ball that was too close to him and nicking it behind.

Mehidy’s wicket triggered the collapse. In his next over, Umesh got one to reverse in to trap Nurul Hasan lbw. The on-field umpire deemed it not out but India got the decision changed on review. Taskin didn’t last long either, slicing one to Siraj at point who held onto the chance after a bit of juggling. Earlier, Siraj had put down Shanto off Umesh on the first ball of the second over of the day.

All this while, Mominul was firm at one end. But he found himself in two minds against an Ashwin carrom ball. He looked to drive at it first before shouldering arms. It was too late as the ball brushed his gloves and Pant latched onto it. Ashwin wrapped up the innings two balls later when Khaled Ahmed hit a full toss straight to Unadkat at deep midwicket.

Brief scores:

India 19/0 (Shubman Gill 14*) trail Bangladesh 227 (Mominul Haque 84; Umesh Yadav 4-25, R Ashwin 4-71) by 208 runs

(Cricinfo)



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Virat Kohli tells BCCI that he wants to retire from Test cricket

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Virat Kohli has 30 centuries from his 123 Tests

Virat Kohli has communicated his desire to retire from Test cricket to the BCCI ahead of the big five-match series in England  starting June 20, for which he is expected to be a part of the squad. ESPNcricinfo understands that Kohli has been having these conversations with officials of the BCCI for the past month or so.

If Kohli doesn’t change his mind, he will bring the curtain down on a glorious career that has spanned 14 years and included 123 Tests – 68 of them as captain – in which he has 9230 runs at an average of 46.85.

But it hasn’t been a particularly fruitful time in the format for Kohli of late. When he scored 100 not out in the Perth Test in November 2024, it was his first century in Tests since July 2023 (against West Indies in Port of Spain), and his average, 55.10 at its peak after he scored his career best of 254 not out vs South Africa in Pune in 2019, has been 32.56 over the last 24 months.

(Cricinfo)

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Remainder of PSL postponed indefinitely amid India-Pakistan tensions

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The PSL is not moving to the UAE anymore

The remainder of PSL 2025 has been postponed indefinitely. The PCB cited the “worsening of the situation” at the Pakistan-India border as the reason, saying the board had acted on advice from the Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The board said it had “sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home” and that was considered when making the decision.

The development came less than 24 hours after the PCB had announced that the remaining eight games of the PSL would be played in the UAE, without specifying the dates or the venues, with the expectation that it would take about a week to resume.

Overseas players as well as Pakistani players who currently hold visas to the UAE were scheduled to leave on Friday night, with the remaining visas being applied for over the weekend. That, however, has changed, and the teams have begun disbanding with immediate effect, with travel back home being arranged for foreign players.

There is no word yet on when, or if, the remaining games will be played. The postponement came hours after the IPL was temporarily suspended owing to the tensions between the two countries.

The PSL held an emergency meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, and involved the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi meeting with foreign players, who overwhelmingly expressed a desire to relocate the league to the UAE.

“The PCB recognises the efforts and support of its partners, franchises, participating players, broadcasters, sponsors, and organisers in having ensured the smooth conduct of the tournament thus far, however; cricket while being a unifying force and a source of joy, must take a respectful pause…” the PCB statement said.

[Cricinfo]

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Kalinga, Dharshana, Nadeesha, Nishendra to compete against European powerhouses 

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Sri Lanka’s 4x400m mixed relay team for the World Relays. (From left) Nishendra Fernando, Nadeesha Ramanayake, Sayuri Lakshima, W.M.G. Thushara (Manager/Coach), Kalinga Kumarage, Sadew Rajakaruna and Aruna Dharshana

World Relays 2025

A ‘full strength Sri Lanka 4×400 metres mixed relay team’ will compete against formidable European powerhouses when they take part in the first heat of the relay on day one of the World Relays in Guangzhou, China on Saturday.

“We will field our best four for the heats,” said W.M.G. Thushara, the mamager cum coach of the Sri Lanka team in an interview with The Island after reaching Guangzhou yesterday.

There is one junior athlete in the six member team but Sri Lankan authorities have decided to field the full strength team in the heats.

“It will be Nadeesha Ramanayake, Nishendra Fernando, Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana as we are planning to produce our best performace,” Thushara said.

Ramanayake, Kumarage and Dharshana were part of the team that established a new national record in the mixed relay at the Asian Athletics Championship in 2023. Only missing member from that team is Tharushi Karunaratne.

Sri Lanka team will compete in the first heat where Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and hosts China are the others. The first two from the heats will directly qualify for the World Relays and also the World Championships to be held in Tokyo.

Sri Lanka fielded only the mixed relay team for the World Relays despite the men’s 4×400 team qualifying for the event. The World Relays starting today is the main qualifying competition for relay events at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

by Reemus Fernando 

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