Sports
At Modi’s hometown

Rex Clementine in Ahmedabad
There are many women leaders who have shaped politics of their countries. We produced the world’s first female Prime Minister in Sirimavo Bandaranayake. Then, Israel had Golda Meir, India had Indira Gandhi, Britain had Margret Thatcher and Australia had Julia Gillard.
There is a famous story regarding Gillard. During the Sri Lankan cricket team’s tour of Australia in 2012, she hosted the team for tea at her residence in Canberra. Team Manager Charith Senanayake was introducing the players to the Prime Minister, and they came up to a certain all-rounder. The Prime Minister shook his hands and asked, ‘how are you keeping.’ Our man apparently told, ‘I am not a wicketkeeper, I am a fast bowler.’
Talking of women leaders, Calcutta’s Chief Minister is a lady – Mamata Banerjee. She is serving her third term and hugely popular here in Bengal and at the age of 68 she is tipped as a national leader.
From Calcutta where Australia and South Africa played a thrilling semi-final, we head to Ahmedabad, the city that will host the final. It’s relatively a long three hour ten minute flight. Strange. From Bombay to Colombo it takes you only two and half hours.
Ahmedabad is the de facto headquarters of Indian cricket at the moment. The IPL final, marquee Test matches and now the World Cup final, all big cricket games are slotted to Ahmedabad.
It has been the case always. Bombay used to be the capital of Indian cricket. Then when Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya ruled the sport, it shifted to Calcutta with Eden Gardens getting all the important games. Next could be Madras.
Rupa Gurunath calls the shots at Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. She is the daughter of N. Srinivasan, India Cements owner and former ICC boss.
Coming back to Ahmedabad, Sri Lanka played a Test match here in 2009, where Mahela Jayawardene produced a stunning effort. His 275 is still the highest score by an overseas batsman in India, quite remarkable indeed as India have been playing Test cricket for 89 years now.
It was also here in Ahmedabad that Mr. Michael Tissera’s Ceylon team beat the Indian team captained by Tiger Pataudi. It was an unofficial Test match. Since then, Sri Lanka have never overcome India in a Test match.
That was of course before the ground underwent reconstruction. The modern ground is an architecture marvel and it’s the largest stadium in the world able to host 138,000 fans.
The ground is named after the Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi. He is expected to be present at the finals.
Ahmedabad is the capital city of the state of Gujarat. The other main cities of the state are Rajkot and Baroda. Although most Indian states have just one First Class team, Gujarat has three First Class teams – Saurashtra, Baroda and Gujarat. The reason for that is the state is so vast and there are so many cricketing talents.
The Prime Minister is not the only reason why Ahmedabad gets all the prominent games. Jay Shah, the Secretary of the Indian Board is also from this part of the world.
Jay Shah is the son of India’s interior Minister Amit Shah. At the age of 35, Jay has come a long way in cricket. Although he may not have many fans back in Sri Lanka, he is supposed to be a very efficient person and it is no doubt he is ICC President in waiting.
Under his watch, the Indian board has got a new facelift and a lot of things in Indian cricket are changing. No doubt the likes of Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma deserve a lot of credit for making Indian cricket so formidable.
So does Jay Shah. His greatest contribution to the sport has been to look after the administration part and not to meddle with the cricket affairs leaving it to the experts. That’s where folks back home have faulted. They have meddled with everything from selection to fitness standards.
The selectors had a very good plan to make any player who failed a fitness test ineligible for selections. Our administrators went and vetoed it and introduced pay cuts for those who failed fitness tests treating them with kids’ gloves. Results have been devastating. Praising Jay Shah maybe not a very popular thing back home, but that’s the reality. Let’s learn from him. Here’s hoping that we have our own Jay Shah.
Sports
Mandhana’s masterclass powers India to tri-series title

India capped off a dominant tri-series campaign in Colombo with a resounding win over Sri Lanka, posting their highest-ever women’s ODI total on Sri Lankan soil—344 for five —before bowling the hosts out for 245.
Smriti Mandhana led the charge with a superb 11th ODI hundred—her first against Sri Lanka—anchoring partnerships of 70 with Pratika Rawal and 120 with Harleen Deol.
Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Jemimah Rodrigues chipped in with brisk 40s, while India smashed 90 runs in the last 10 overs.
Despite a spirited effort, Sri Lanka’s daunting chase faltered. Chamari Atapattu’s 50 and a few half-century stands weren’t enough to close the gap. Seamer Amanjot Kaur struck early, removing two of the top three, while offspinner Sneh Rana starred with four for 38, finishing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker.
India’s batting wasn’t without drama—Rawal survived an early chance, and Mandhana was twice let off before unleashing her full range of strokes. She was especially brutal on Atapattu, sweeping her repeatedly through square leg and cover en route to a 92-ball century.
Amanjot’s return in the middle overs derailed the chase further, bowling Gunaratne and setting up Rana’s match-turning spell. Atapattu, despite reaching her 19th ODI fifty, was undone by Rana, who later removed three more to slam the door shut.
Late resistance from Sanjeewani and Kumari delayed the inevitable, but a run-out and two quick Rana strikes wrapped up the win.
India’s comprehensive display sent a strong message ahead of the Women’s World Cup, reaffirming their title credentials.
Brief scores:
India
342 for seven (Mandhana 116, Rodrigues 44, Kumari 2-59) beat Sri Lanka 245 (Atapattu 51, Rana 4-38, Amanjot 3-54) by 97 runs.
Sports
110th Colombo Championships Apna, Dinara win singles titles

Apna Perera and Dinara de Silvaemerged as the men’s and women’s singles champions respectively at the 110th Colombo Championships continued at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association clay courts.
In the men’s singles final, Apna beat Ashen Silva 7-6, 6-1. Dinara registered convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over Venuli Jayasinghe in the women’s final.
In the boys’ Under 18 semi-finals, Ashlin de Silva beat Nethmika Wickramasinghe 6-2, 6-1 while Mayooran Kubheran beat Aahil Kaleel 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.
Sports
Yodasinghe dazzles in Yupun’s return

National champion Chamod Yodasinghe secured a creditable second place rank for an impressive performace of 10.27 seconds as he out did a strong field in the 100 metres at the Dubai Grand Prix on Friday.
Yodasinghe who was entered only for the 4x100m relay received a golden opportunity in Dubai when his request to run the 100 metres there was granted by the organisers. The athlete trained by sprint coach Sanjeewa Weerakkody equalled his personal best (10.27 seconds) in winning his race.
Incidentally, his winning time was second only to the winner of the first race where top ranked athletes including Yupun Abeykoon competed.
Oman’s Ali Al Balooshi was the fastest as he clocked 10.19 seconds while Abeykoon finished fifth with a time of 10.39 seconds.
Abeykoon who was making his first 100 metres appearance of the year was ranked sixth overall.
In the 4×100 metres relay Sri Lanka’s quartet finished third in a time of 39.41 seconds.
Yodasinghe will next compete at the Asian Athletics Championships later this month.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s 4×400 metres mixed relay team finished last in their heat at the World Relays in China yesterday.
by Reemus Fernando
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