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Dhananjaya de Silva digs deep for Sri Lanka as England cement their dominance

Published

2 years ago

2024/08/21

Priyan

Dhananjaya de Silva is congratulated by Milan Rathnayake after reaching his half-century [Cricinfo]

Dhananjaya de Silva was a lone figure of resistance for Sri Lanka, as he justified his own decision to bat first with a battling 74 from 84 balls on the first day of the Old Trafford Test. Sadly for the captain, however, the rest of his top-order could not summon the same levels of gumption. An initial collapse of three wickets for no runs in ten balls gave way to a tea-time total of xx for 8, as de Silva’s own dismissal to Shoaib Bashir five minutes before the break continued a satisfying first taste of international captaincy for his counterpart, Ollie Pope.

De Silva himself arrived at a sickly scoreline of 40 for 4 in the 16th over, moments after Kusal Mendis had been blasted from the crease by a brute of a delivery from Mark Wood. But, after making it to lunch on 28 not out, he grew into his role as wickets continued to slide away in the afternoon, bringing up a 56-ball fifty as he found some doughty allies lower down the order, not least the debutant Milan Rathnayake, with whom he added 63 for the eighth wicket.

It was a gutsy knock from de Silva, who farmed the strike well in between a diet of eight well-struck boundaries, each of them showcasing his sharp footwork and delicate balance. But having survived a stumping off Bashir on 65, when Jamie Smith failed to gather cleanly with the bails at his mercy, he fell to the same bowler nine runs and ten overs later, when Dan Lawrence at leg slip scooped up a sharp low deflection off a big-turning offbreak.

Nevertheless, de Silva alone had showed what should have been possible on a hard and dry surface that offered good carry to the quicks, and which Pope expected would stay true for the first half of the contest at least.

Choosing to bat first may have been the brave option for Sri Lanka, but Pope himself admitted he would have bowled first anyway, and even before the end of the first half-hour, de Silva’s call was being made to look distinctly foolish. After inching along to 6 for 0 in a misleadingly sedate first 5.3 overs, the innings was soon in tatters at 6 for 3 after seven.

The first blow was landed by Gus Atkinson, whose initial focus had been on a full length and a tight line, to limit Dimuth Karunaratne to a solitary scoring stroke in his first 17 deliveries. Atkinson then bent his back on a sharp lifter from just back of a length, and Smith reached high behind the stumps to claw down a thin top-edge, as Karunaratne fluffed his first shot in anger, an expansive swish across the line.

Four balls later, Nishan Madushka’s early discipline also deserted him as Chris Woakes served up a juicy outswinger that he could only scuff straight to Joe Root at first slip, who clung on in the heel of his palms. And with the final ball of the same over, Woakes had his second courtesy of a ghastly misjudgement from Angelo Mathews. The hero of the 2014 series win was gone for a five-ball duck, burning a review in the process as he offered no stroke to an inducer that was shown to be hitting the top of middle.

Kusal and Chandimal showed some gumption in a limited counterattack, with the first five boundaries of the innings all coming in the space of 12 balls, four of them to Kusal off Matthew Potts, whose wide angle into the stumps offered the chance to free the hands through the off-side.

But, after limping to drinks on 37 for 3, there was another challenge waiting for the second hour. Wood tore into his opening spell with typical gusto, and struck with his seventh ball – a gruesomely quick lifter to Kusal that crashed into his left thumb and looped to Harry Brook at second slip. Much like the snorter that broke Kevin Sinclair’s wrist in the West Indies series, Kusal left the crease wringing his hand, and looking in urgent need of an ice-pack at the very least.

Out came de Silva to shore up the listing innings, but with lunch approaching, his measured stand of 32 in seven overs with Chandimal was undone in cruel and unusual fashion. Shoaib Bashir entered the attack for an exploratory pre-lunch spell, and struck in his second over with an unplayable daisycutter, reminiscent of Nasser Hussain’s viral moment against Carl Hooper in Trinidad in 1998.

Chandimal was the luckless victim, nailed on the shin in line with off stump as he played back to a length delivery that scuttled more wickedly than you could even have expected on a fifth-day wicket, let alone before lunch on day one. He gambled on the review, hoping against hope that he’d been struck outside the line, but Bashir’s sheepish appeal and celebration could have told him everything he needed to know.

Sri Lanka’s steady seepage of wickets continued into the afternoon. Kamindu Mendis, who came into the match with a towering Test average of 107.00 after five previous innings, looked settled for a time, particularly when he rocked back on a rare wide delivery from Woakes to lash his first boundary through the covers. One ball later, however, Woakes changed his approach to round the wicket and delivered the sucker punch: a length ball, angling into the stumps, that the newly pumped-up batter couldn’t resist flirting through to the keeper.

Atkinson then bagged his second in similarly guileless fashion. Prabath Jayasuriya looped a limp uppercut to gully as England switched to a short-ball ploy, only to be reprieved by the third umpire who called no-ball for three bouncers in the over. Not to be discouraged, Atkinson simply fired the extra delivery through on a fuller length, and Jayasuriya snicked off with his feet stuck in the crease.

Rathnayake, however, would not prove quite so gullible in his shot selection. Despite channelling a bashful schoolboy while being presented with his Test cap by Kumar Sangakkara before the start of play, he was more than man enough to withstand England’s eager attempts to dislodge him, picking off four fours in his 67-ball 32 not out. More of the same will be needed after tea if Sri Lanka are to nudge their total past 200.

Brief scores: [at Tea]

Sri Lanka 178 for 8 in 52 overs (Kusal Mendis 24, Dhananjaya de Silva 74, Milan Rathnayake 32*) vs England

[Cricinfo]

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Salt and Patidar power RCB past Mumbai Indians

Published

2 hours ago

2026/04/13

Priyan

Phil Salt smoked 78 off 36 balls [Cricinfo]

The toss is crucial in night matches at Wankhede Stadium with a true flat pitch and dew giving the chasing side a significant advantage. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost that toss. Then went ahead and did what you need to do: score the highest IPL score at the ground, 240, and defended it with considerable ease.

Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar set RCB up with knocks of 78 off 36 and 53 off 20, Patidar’s fastest fifty. The duo hit a hat-trick of sixes once each with Salt also taking three fours in a row. A total of 11 sixes and 10 fours flew off their bats, resulting in RCB chants at Mumbai Indians’ home ground. Between them they compensated for Virat Kohli, who himself didn’t seem too pleased with his 50 off 38 even as the other end kept producing big runs.

Off the field during the second half of the match, Kohli didn’t need to fret much from the sidelines as the spinners Suyash Sharma and KrunalPandya expertly shut the chase down. Suyash did so with the wickets of the rampaging Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma in his first over while Krunal bowled four overs for just 26 runs, signing off with just reward in form of Suryakumar Yadav’s scalp. The RCB spinners bowled eight overs for 73 runs and three big wickets as against MI’s two spinners conceding 83 in six overs.

Kohli registered the first boundary of the innings with a six in the first over, but it was Salt who kept on the assault, scoring 47 off 22 in the powerplay. This involved welcoming Mitchell Santner, a reluctant powerplay bowler, with three sixes and a four. MI were forced to bowl Jasprit Bumrah for two overs inside the powerplay; still RCB got to 71.

The next key moment for RCB was the introduction of legspin with a right-hand heavy batting line-up, but that didn’t matter at all with Mayank Markande extracting little turn in either direction. Salt stayed back to hit three consecutive fours off his flatter lengths, and was waiting to hit a six the moment he gave it a hint of air.

When all else failed for MI, Shardul Thakur, bowling for the first time as late as the 11th over, executed wide yorkers to tie Kohli down and take the wicket of Salt caught at extra cover.

With 25 and a wicket off the last 17 balls, MI were hoping for a way back into the contest when RCB captain Patidar walked out. For some reason, Thakur gave up his death bowling and went searching, letting Patidar get off with a chipped four over mid-off first ball.

The return of Markande proved disastrous for MI as Patidar toyed around with him, hitting three back-to-back sixes, including one reverse-sweep. From 22 off 4, the likely direction Patidar’s strike rate could travel was down, but he made sure it wasn’t a long way down.

In his second over, Thakur completely went to pieces with his wide yorkers not landing and slower short balls travelling over the head on a red-soil bouncy surface. The 10-ball over went for 23 as RCB moved to 167 for 1 in 13 overs.

RCB had a big opportunity to put matters past any plausible chase, but Kohli couldn’t get the boundaries despite trying to hit hard. Missing the reverse-sweep in his arsenal, he couldn’t take the clever Santner down, who eventually ended up with the wicket of Patidar.

Even though Bumrah’s two overs at the death were excellent, keeping him at just 35 in four overs, he has now gone five straight IPL matches without a wicket if you count the Qualifier that MI lost last year. With his 34 off 16, Tim David did enough to keep them at an even two a ball.

Rickelton got the chase off to a flying start, MI racing away to 39 for 0 in three overs and 48 for 0 in four, which promised a close match. However, Krunal’s introduction began to raise the asking rate. Only eight came off his first over with Impact Player Rasikh Dar conceding just 15 in his two overs inside the powerplay.

Rohit Sharma went off with what seemed like a hamstring injury, and at 72 for 0 in seven overs, MI were already looking at 13 an over to win. Rickelton had no time to get a sighter at Suyash, who started off with a wide wrong’un and a top edge on the slog sweep. Later in the over, he went outside leg with a wrong’un to Tilak, getting him caught at short fine leg.

Hardik walked in and hit a six first ball, but the asking rate went higher than it was at the start of the over.

MI needed 120 off 46 balls when Suryakumar got out. The asking rate soon went past three a ball, and Sherfane Rutherford’s 71 off 31 only serving to control the net-run-rate damage to MI.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Patidar 53, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 34*, Jitesh Shqrma 10; Trent Boult 1-50, Hardik Pandya 1-39, Mitchell Santner 1-43, Shardul Thakur 1-32) beat Mumbai Indians 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 37, Rohit Sharma 19, Suryakumar Yadav 33, Sherfane Rutherford 71*, Hardik Pandya 40; Jacob Duffy 1-38, Krunal Pandya 1-26, Rasikh Salam 1-23, Suyash Sharma 2-47) by 18 runs

[Cricinfo]

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Prasidh, Buttler set up comfortable win for Gujarat Titans

Published

3 hours ago

2026/04/13

Priyan

Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant hug at the toss [BCCI]

Prasidh Krishna is beginning to make a mark at IPL 2026. Three nights after his clever slower bouncer to David Miller sealed a tense last-ball win over Delhi Capitals, he followed it up with 4 for 28 – blending typical Test-match lengths with sharp pace-off variations – as Gujarat Titans made it two in two, this time edging out Lucknow Super Giants in their own backyard on Sunday.

Mohammed Siraj and Ashok Sharma were just as vital at the two ends of LSG’s innings, striking early and closing things out respectively. They played the perfect supporting acts to Prasidh’s headline-grabbing performance to restrict LSG to 164. GT captain Shubman Gill then calmly anchored the chase, scoring a half-century off 34 balls. His second-wicket stand of 84 with Jos Buttler helped them scale the target in 18.4 overs with seven wickets in hand.

The mini-battle to watch was Mohammed Shami vs Gill: India’s bowling veteran looking to force his way back into the international reckoning, up against the country’s current Test and ODI captain. Shami had set it up nicely, conceding just 10 runs off his first two overs, with enough movement to keep Gill honest.

It had all the makings of a proper contest. Until Gill consigned it to one-way traffic in the third, as he peeled off three fours and a six. That six was no ordinary hit, but a lofted hit on the up, straight over Shami’s head, eliciting an extra second’s pose to the cameras. The boundaries were pleasing too: a delectable leg glance, a stab through the covers, and a wristy flick over midwicket. This helped Gill gallop towards a half-century.

Buttler gave more than an inkling of form in the previous game when he made 52 off 27 against DC. Having come in at the fall of Sai Sudharsan’s wicket – he helped a half-tracker straight to short fine off Digvesh Rathi in the sixth- Buttler punched one through the covers off the third ball to raise GT’s fifty.

Rathi was unlucky not to have Buttler in his second over when he nicked behind, for Rishabh Pant to put down a regulation chance on 12. LSG would rue that missed opportunity as Buttler quickly took charge to dismantle the spinners, forcing Pant to turn to his faster men quickly.

In came Avesh Khan with a plan of trying to hit hard lengths but Buttler responded by hitting him for three back-to-back fours off the 12th over, and soon brought up his half-century, his 100th in T20s, off just 29 balls. By now, the chase was down to being a mere formality. He celebrated the fifty by reverse-sweeping Linde over point.

Gill fell with the target in sight, gloving a short ball behind off Prince Yadav, but Buttler stayed on to seal victory.

Kagiso Rabada began by being hit for 10 off his first two deliveries, but had Mitchell Marsh pick out mid-on to complete a fine comeback as GT struck early. This brought Rishabh Pant to the middle, and he seemed keen on taking the attack to the bowlers, but was snaffled by Siraj’s hard lengths as the ball caught the splice and lobbed to mid-off to leave LSG 45 for 2 in the fifth.

One second, Prasidh had hands on his head when Aiden Markram’s imperious flick just eluded a diving Glenn Phillips running across from deep square leg. Three balls later, he celebrated his first when Markram picked out deep midwicket perfectly. In his second over, Ayush Badoni fell in almost identical fashion as LSG slumped to 74 for 4 in the ninth.

That brought Nicholas Pooran to the middle, but this wasn’t the white-ball destroyer, but an avatar searching for form and confidence; his stroke play lacked any kind of fluency as the faster men kept tucking him up. Pooran seemed to have found a release when he hit Rashid Khan for back-to-back sixes, but that surge was all too brief with the end almost tame as he flat-batted Prasidh’s into-the-pitch delivery to Gill at mid-off. Pooran made 19 off 21.

He should’ve been run out off his third delivery when he tried to pinch a single to cover, but Ashok Sharma missed the stumps at the striker’s end despite having all three stumps to aim at from short cover. Then Mukul was hit on the helmet by a 150.2kph bouncer from Ashok.

But not long after, the trademark whip behind square that he unleashed to astonishment in Kolkata three nights ago, made an appearance, eliciting hopes of a grandstand finish. But that wasn’t to be as he got a big nick behind attempting to pull Prasidh’s slower bouncer. His 18 off 14 helped LSG nudge past 150, before Shami and Linde’s mini-cameo set up a 165-target.

Six overs in, it became increasingly evident those were at least 30-40 runs too little.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 165 for 3 in 18.4 overs (Sai Sudarsan 15, Jos Buttler 60, Shubman Gill 56, Washington Sundar 21*, Rahul Tewatia 10*; Mohammed Shami 1-36, Prince Yadav 1-31, Digvesh Rathi 1-31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 164 for 8 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 30, Mitchell Marsh 11, Rishabh Pant 18, Nicholas Pooran 19, Abdul Samad 18, Mukul Choudhary 18, George Linde 16, Mohammed Shami 12*; Mohammed Siraj 1-19, Kagiso Rabada 1-54, Ashok Sharma 2-32, Prasidh Krishna 4-28) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

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Heat Index at Caution level’ in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.

Published

4 hours ago

2026/04/13

Priyan

Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 12 April 2026, valid for 13 April 2026.

Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Northern, North-central, North-western, Western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.

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.