Latest News
Bumrah and Ashwin beat England’s bazballers as India draw level
Bumrah’s figures of 3 for 46 in 17.2 overs were less spectacular than his first-innings six-for, but the timing of his breakthroughs was everything on a fraught fourth day – in particular, his priceless extraction of Jonny Bairstow on the stroke of lunch, a dismissal that capped a five-wicket session for India and left England’s chase with too far to run, having bursted out of the blocks with now typical gusto.
The loss was only England’s third in 11 fourth innings chases since the start of the Bazball era, and if a target of 399 had always seemed outlandish, their all-out total of 292 was still higher than the previous successful chase by a visiting team in India – West Indie’s 276 for 5 in Delhi in 1987-88.
For all of their endeavour, England will rue a handful of key moments that derailed their hopes – most particularly a lbw verdict against their most composed chaser, Zak Crawley, moments before the Bairstow extraction, and an atypically lax piece of running from the captain, Ben Stokes, that sawed off his ominously poised innings before it could cut loose. Joe Root, nursing a damaged finger, played a wild knock of 16 from 10 balls that begged several questions too, particularly given how composed England’s tail proved to be in adversity, most notably Tom Hartley, who was last man out for 36 from 47 balls.
The tone of England’s chase was established in the opening moments of the day. At one end, there was Crawley, all poise and calculation as he lined up India’s dangerman Bumrah and committed only to the balls that his 6’5″ frame could drive with impunity. At the other, there was Rehan Ahmed, a blur of ambitious strokeplay as he resolved to live dangerously and burgle his runs before India could get settled, as he did with a brace of boundaries in Axar Patel’s second over.
Rehan was there for a good time, not a long time, and Axar duly had the final word with a plumb lbw from round the wicket, but not before Rehan’s 23 from 31 balls had helped to add 45 runs in 11 overs for the second wicket. Out came Ollie Pope, the second-innings hero in Hyderabad, and as he too launched onto the offensive with a lasered drive for four first-ball, it was clear England weren’t about to go into their shells.
Crawley strode onto the front foot once more to dump Axar through long-off to reach a supremely measured 83-ball half-century, but while he sought to provide a very Bazball definition of an anchor, Pope was business personified in the course of a fleet-footed cameo. His faith in the sweep was a clear indication that the bounce had gone out of the surface, at least while Axar was in his sights, from whom he picked off all five of his boundaries in a 21-ball stay.
Brief scores:
India 396 (Yashaswi Jaiswal 209, James Anderson 3-47, Rehan Ahmed 3-65, Shoaib Bashir 3-138) and 225 (Shubman Gill 104, Tom Hartley 4-77) beat England 253 (Zak Crawley 76, Jasprit Bumrah 6-45, Kuldeep Singh 3-71) and 292 (Zack Crawley 73, Jasprit Bumrah 3-46, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-72) by 106 runs
(Cricinfo)
Latest News
618 dead, 209 missing as at 2000hrs on Saturday [06]
The Situation Report issued by the Disaster Management Center [DMC] at 2000hrs on Saturday [06] confirms that 607 persons have died due to the recent flooding and landslides while another 209 persons were missing.
The death toll in the Kandy district which one of the most affected districts has risen to 232, and 1800 houses have been fully damaged.The number of missing persons reported is 81
100,124 persons belonging to 29,874 families were being housed at 990 safety centers established by the government.

Foreign News
Deadly border fighting breaks out between Pakistan and Afghanistan
Border clashes have erupted again between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban forces, with each sides accusing the other of breaking a fragile ceasefire.
Residents fled the Afghan city of Spin Boldak overnight, which lies along the 1,600-mile (2,600 km) border between the two countries.
A medical worker in the nearby city of Kandahar told BBC Pashto that four bodies had been brought to a local hospital. Four other people were wounded. Three were reportedly wounded in Pakistan.
There has been sporadic fighting between the two countries in recent months, while Afghanistan’s Taliban government has also accused Pakistan of carrying out air strikes inside the country.
Both sides have confirmed they exchanged fire overnight but each blamed the other for initiating the four hours of fighting.
Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accused the Taliban of “unprovoked firing”.
The statement continued: “An immediate, befitting & intense response has been given by our armed forces. Pakistan remains fully alert & committed to ensuring its territorial integrity & the safety our citizens.”
Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesperson said Pakistan had “once again initiated attacks” and said it was “forced to respond”.
Residents on the Afghan side of the border said the exchange of fire started at around 22:30 (18:00 GMT) on Friday.
Footage from the area showed a large number of Afghans fleeing on foot and in vehicles.
Ali Mohammed Haqmal, head of Kandahar’s information department, said Pakistan’s forces had attacked with “light and heavy artillery” and civilian homes had been hit by mortar fire.
The latest clashes came less than two months after both sides agreed to a ceasefire mediated by Qatar and Turkey.
It ended more than a week of fighting in which dozens were killed – the worst clashes between Pakistan and the Taliban since the group returned to power in 2021 – though tensions have remained high.
The government in Islamabad has long accused Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban of giving shelter to armed groups which carry out attacks in Pakistan.
The Taliban government denies the accusation and has accused Pakistan of blaming others for their “own security failures”.
The Pakistan Taliban have carried out at least 600 attacks on Pakistani forces over the past year, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
Last week delegations from both sides met in Saudi Arabia for a fourth round of negotiations on a wider peace settlement, but did not reach an agreement.
Sources familiar with the talks told BBC News that both sides had agreed to continue with the ceasefire.
[BBC]
Latest News
Advisory for severe lightning for the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and Galle and Matara districts
Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 12.15 p.m. 06 December 2025 valid for the period until 11.00 p.m. 06 December 2025.
The public are being cautioned that thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.
There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers.
The 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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