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Hridoy’s stunning 96* lifts Bangladesh to 286
Following innings of substance Soumya Sarkar and Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy’s slow-burn innings provided the ideal finishing touches as he propelled Bangladesh to a competitive total of 286 for 7 in the second ODI in Chattogram.
Hridoy, who had come into bat in the 13th over, ended unbeaten on 96 off 102, an innings and strike rate that belied the acceleration he provided at the death, to boost an innings that had looked in danger of stumbling at the final hurdle. Along with Taskin Ahmed, whose cameo of 18 off 10 also provided excellent support, the pair put on 50 off just 23 deliveries as Bangladesh scored 80 off the final 10 overs – 54 of which came in the final five. The hosts’ showcase of big hits late in the innings helped them grab the momentum at the break.
Before that Wanidu Hasaranga who had gone wicketless last time out, had threatened to derail Bangladesh’s efforts grabbing four wickets for 45 runs, while Dilshan Madushanka too proved pivotal grabbing two wickets early in the innings, as well as a superb take in the deep to dismiss Sarkar. But worryingly for Sri Lanka he walked off the field midway through his seventh over clutching his left hamstring.
With the potential of evening dew firmly on their minds, Sri Lanka had won the toss and elected to bowl first this time out. Madushanka wasted little time – just three deliveries in fact – in sending Litton Das packing for a second consecutive duck.
And it might have been even better for the visitors had Pathum Nissanka at slip held on to a thick edge from Shanto off Pramod Madushan an over later, or indeed if Sri Lanka had had the presence of mind to review a waft from the same batter two balls later, one which replays showed he had nicked.
Shanto to his credit rode this luck and used it as a catalyst to take the attack to the Lankan seamers, scoring 64 inside the first powerplay. A couple of sumptuous drives through the covers on the up showed his growing confidence, but his innings was cut short as he edged a seaming delivery from Madushanka through to Kusal Mendis for an acrobatic take.
The scoring rate however would not ease as by this time Sarkar had also got his eye in. With an uncertain Hridoy at the other end, Sarkar took on the role of aggressor and ensured the scoring rate stayed above six an over. The pair put on 55 off 54, and were threatening much more – particularly Sarkar who was starting to middle the ball with increasing consistency – before he was dismissed by an outstanding catch in the deep by Madushanka.
After Sarkar had nailed a reverse sweep off Hasaranga destined for the ropes, Madushanka sprinted to his right and threw himself at the ball grabbing an incredible catch with both hands in full flight. Sarkar could only stand there in disbelief, while the shouts of jubilation from Hasaranga provided insight into the pasting he had suffered at the hands of Sarkar before that.
One then brought two, as a moment of madness from Mahmudullah saw his charge Hasaranga and swing all around a googly to find himself stumped miles out of his crease. This meant Bangladesh had suddenly gone from 130 for 2 to 130 for 4, and it was left to Hridoy and Mushfiqur Rahim to consolidate. And so they did in a stand worth 43 off 57.
But just as Mushfiqur had begun to shift gears, Hasaranga struck once more. A tossed-up leg break on leg stump saw Mushfiqur miss his attempt at a sweep, and the resulting appeal for leg before was both loud and long. But with umpire Masudur Rahman unmoved, Sri Lanka went for the review, which vindicated their excitement with three reds.
When Hasaranga then dismissed Mehidy Hasan Miraz a couple of overs later, Bangladesh were suddenly in danger of floundering at the pivotal moment in their innings – much like Sri Lanka had two days earlier.
But Tanzim Hasan Sakib in a 33-ball innings of 18 proved an able and stubborn deputy, holding up one end as Hridoy kept the scoreboard ticking over before Hridoy and Taskin imparted the flourish the crowd in Chattogram was crying out for.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 286 for 7 in 50 overs (Soumya Sarkar 68, Towhid Hridoy 96* Najmul Hossain Shanto 40, Mushfiqur Rahim 25; Dilshan Madushanka 2-30, Wanidu Hasaranga 4-45) vs Sri Lanka
(Cricinfo)
A huge 7.7 magnitude earthquake has hit central Myanmar, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
At least 144 people have died and 732 have been injured so far in the country, Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing said.
The epicentre was 16km (10 miles) north-west of the city of Sagaing, sending strong tremors that were felt as far as south-west China and Thailand.
Meanwhile, around 100 construction workers are missing after an unfinished high-rise building collapsed hundreds of miles away in Bangkok, according to Thailand’s deputy prime minister.
At least seven people have died at the site in Thailand, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
A rescuer in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, told the BBC the damage is “enormous”.
The total number of people killed and injured by the earthquake are expected to rise in the coming days.
There have been reports of roads buckling in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw, and the country’s military government has declared a state of emergency in six regions.
The earthquake struck near Mandalay, which has a population of about 1.5 million people.
A second quake struck 12 minutes after the first, according to the USGS, with a magnitude of 6.4 and its epicentre was 18km (11.1 miles) south of Sagaing.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from Britain in 1948, but its recent history has been marked by unrest and conflict.
The military seized power in 2021, ten years after agreeing to hand over control to a civilian government. Since then, the junta has cracked down hard on dissent, executing democracy activists and jailing journalists. The state controls almost all local radio, television, print and online media, and Internet use is restricted in the country, which often makes access to information difficult.
According to a recent BBC data project, the country is now controlled by a patchwork of groups, making relief and recovery efforts more challenging.
It is even harder to find accurate information about what is going on in rebel-held areas of the country.
The junta made a rare call for international assistance in the wake of the earthquake.
However, the complex situation on the ground is likely to hamper search and rescue operations as well as the free flow of aid into the country.
Rescue workers operating in villages near Mandalay have told the BBC they do not have access to the heavy machinery needed to reach people trapped under the rubble. “We’re digging people out with our bare hands,” one man said.
The earthquake has added pressure to an already dire humanitarian situation in the country, where 3.5m people are estimated to have been displaced by fighting.
The Sagaing region, near the epicentre of the quake, is a volatile key battleground in the civil war.
Charities and opposition parties working in the country have raised concerns about the “politicisation” of aid in the coming days.
Montse Ferrer, the deputy director of East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International, told the BBC the junta has “a history of denying aid” to areas where resistance forces are active.
The tremors were felt hundreds of miles away in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok, where rescue teams worked through the night to free the construction workers trapped beneath the rubble.
Buildings across the city were evacuated, including a hospital holding patients in acute need of medical attention. A woman gave birth on the street amid the commotion, lying on a stretcher surrounded by hospital staff.
Bui Thu, a BBC journalist who lives in Bangkok, told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme that she was at home cooking when the initial quake happened. “I was very nervous, I was very panicked,” she said.
“Buildings in Bangkok are not engineered for earthquakes, so I think that’s why I think there’s going to be big damage.”
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited the site of the collapsed building on Friday afternoon.
Search and rescue teams using drones, sniffer dogs and diggers have been mobilised and disaster centres set up to help with the rescue operation.
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IPL 2025: Patidar, bowlers lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru to first win over Chennai Super Kings in Chennai since 2008
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ended their Chennai jinx in style, beating Chennai Super Kings (CSK) there got the first time since the first IPL – by a whopping 50 runs, CSK’s biggest defeat at home. The contest was so dead that more than half of CSK’s chase was all about finding out if and when MS Dhoni would bat. He eventually did so at No. 9, only for the second time in his career.
The build-up was all about how RCB would tackle 12 overs of spin, but the conditions rolled out inverted the spotlight: how would CSK handle eight overs of traditional seam and swing from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazelwood? Not very well, as their combined figures of 7-0-41-4 demonstrated.
And that after RCB’s batters dominated the CSK attack on what was not a straightforward pitch. Like Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar, Khaleel Ahmed drew seam movement and extra bounce, but CSK didn’t have any more such bowlers. Rajat Patidar led RCB’s innings, full of intent, capitalising on a dropped catch when he was on 17, and finishing with 51 off 32 balls. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were allowed to bowl only five overs, which were taken for 59 runs.
Khaleel drew some seam movement and uneven bounce in the first over, but CSK hadn’t planned for such conditions. They don’t have quick bowlers who can hit the good length and just short. They were going to open with Ashwin, and they did. Only for the first ball to not come out right and for Phil Salt to pull him for a six. The over went for 16, forcing the early introduction of Noor.
On his way to the Purple Cap, Noor and Dhoni recreated a lightning stumping to get rid of Salt for 32 off 16 balls, but Devdutt Padikkal denied them any relief. The left-hand batter took down Jadeja in ways Jadeja is not accustomed to: a sweep and a charge down the wicket to consign him to a 15-run first over.
When Ashwin got Padikkal out for 27 off 14 deliveries, CSK would have hoped to re-establish control. But the presence of Patidar meant they were not able to bowl spin at Virat Kohli, who struggled to achieve even a run a ball. Patidar took a six off Noor the moment he overpitched. Kohli, playing Matheesha Pathirana for the first time, took 16 runs off his second over, and RCB were 109 for 2 in 11 overs.
Like Ashwin earlier, Jadeja nearly had his own back when he drew a mis-hit from the enterprising Patidar, but Deepak Hooda dropped a sitter at long-off. In the next two overs, Patidar offered three half-chances, but none of them was taken. Kohli’s offering was taken, though, and the pressure on Liam Livingstone, and eventually his wicket, reduced RCB to 145 for 4 in the 16th over.
RCB kept the intent up, though, and Jitesh Sharma hit the second ball he played for the shot of the match, an inside-out drive off a Noor wrong’un over extra cover for six. Patidar played a delectable pick-up shot off a Pathirana slower ball in the next over. This 27-run stand in 13 balls gave RCB the impetus they needed before the death overs.
In the death overs, though, both fell, even resulting in just one run off the 19th over, bowled by Pathirana. However, Tim David took them 20 past what CSK believed to be par with three sixes in the last over, bowled by Sam Curran, who has now bowled four overs for 47 runs in two matches.
Hazlewood got Rahul Tripathi and Ruturaj Gaikwad in his first over with steep bounce, and Bhvuneshwar took his 73rd powerplay wicket when he nicked off Hooda.
Dhoni kept teasing his fans by batting after Jadeja and Ashwin. Yet there were 4.4 overs left when he walked out to bat at No. 9. Only in the last two overs did he get some hits in, but couldn’t avoid a record home defeat.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 196 for 7 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 51, Phil Salt 32, Virat Kohli 31, Devdutt Padikkal 27, Liam Livingstone 10, Jitesh Sharma 12, Tim David 22*; Khaleel Ahmed 1-28, Ravichandran Ashwin 1-22, Noor Ahmad 3-36, Maheesha Pathirana 2-36) beat Chennai Super Kings 146 for 8 in 20 overs (Rachin Ravindra 41, Shivam Dube 19, Ravindra Jadeja 25, Ravichandran Ashwin 11, MS Dhoni 30*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-20, Josh Hazlewood 3-21, Yash Dayal 2-18, Liam Livingstone 2-28) by 50 runs
[Cricinfo]
Magnitude 7.7 and 6.4 earthquakes have struck Myanmar, killing at least three in Thailand’s capital Bangkok and trapping dozens others after an under construction building collapsed.
The first tremor hit 16km (10 miles) northwest of the city of Sagaing at a depth of 10km (6 miles) at about 12:50pm (06:20 GMT) on Friday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Myanmar’s ruling military declared a state of emergency in six regions and states. “The state will make inquiries on the situation quickly and conduct rescue operations along with providing humanitarian aid,” it said on the Telegram messaging app.
A major hospital in Naypyidaw was declared a “mass casualty area”, an official at the facility told AFP news agency. Rows of wounded were treated outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed general hospital, some writhing in pain, others lying still as relatives sought to comfort them.
According to two witnesses from the town of Taungnoo in Bago region who spoke to Reuters news agency, at least three people died after a mosque partially collapsed. “We were saying prayers when the shaking started … Three died on the spot,” one of them said.
Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng reporting from Naypyidaw said he was outside Myanmar’s Defence Services Museum when the earthquake hit, right after interviewing a government spokesman. “We’d just stepped outside to say goodbye when things started shaking,” Cheng said, adding he and others sought shelter under a doorway as large roofing and side panels crashed down.
The tremors began gently but quickly intensified, causing concrete panels to break off the building, Cheng noted. “I’ve been in earthquakes in this region before, and I’ve never felt anything as strong as that,” he said. “We have felt a considerable number of aftershocks. It put everybody here on edge.”
Social media posts from Mandalay, Myanmar’s ancient royal capital that is at the centre of its Buddhist heartland, showed collapsed buildings and debris strewn across streets of the city.
A witness in the city Htet Naing Oo told Reuters that a tea shop had collapsed with several people trapped inside. “We couldn’t go in,” she said. “The situation is very bad.”
Marie Manrique, programme coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross said to reporters in Geneva, via video link from Yangon that the organisation anticipates the impact to be “quite large”.
“Public infrastructure has been damaged including roads, bridges and public buildings. We currently have concerns for large scale dams that people are watching to see the conditions of them”, she said.
Skyscraper collapses in Bangkok
In neighbouring Thailand’s capital Bangkok, at least three people were killed when a 30-storey under-construction tower collapsed, Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai announced. He added that 81 people were trapped under the rubble of the building.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan who was in the city when the earthquakes struck, said the entire public transport system has been shuttered for safety reasons.
“People are out on the streets here. None of the trains are moving,” he reported. “Traffic is absolutely gridlocked. The buildings have been shuttered in the centre of the city.”
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced a state of emergency in her country. Meanwhile, Bangkok has been declared a disaster area, the capital’s city hall said on Friday.
Urban rail systems in Bangkok were temporarily closed but expected to resume services on Saturday.
The earthquakes were also felt in the Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China, causing injuries and damage to houses in the city of Ruili on the border with northern Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.
Videos that one outlet said it had received from a person in Ruili showed building debris littering a street and a person being wheeled on a stretcher towards an ambulance.
Cambodia, Bangladesh and India also reported tremors.
Previous quakes in Myanmar
Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, where six strong quakes of 7.0 magnitude or higher struck between 1930 and 1956 near the Sagaing Fault, which runs north to south through the centre of the country, according to the USGS.
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.
The impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a strained medical system, especially in its rural states.
Moreover, Al Jazeera’s Cheng said it was important to remember that Myanmar was a country currently in the grips of a bitter civil war.
“A lot of the people have moved from the countryside into the cities to try and escape,” he noted. “That has meant it is densely overcrowded and the building standards are not particularly strong.”
[Aljazeera]
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