Sports

India favourites, but don’t count out Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Published

2 years ago

2024/07/19

Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana have been in excellent form this year

The Asia Cup has become essential in women’s cricket.Yes, there is no Naagin dance. The India-Pakistan rivalry is not feisty here. India have been the powerhouse, winning three out of four T20 versions and all four 50-over editions.

From the lens of the bigger teams – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – the tournament is an opportunity to rectify their past errors, zero in on the right combination, shake off some rustiness, and finalise the squad before the T20 World Cup in October. But when the lens is tilted a bit, the tournament’s higher purpose has been to give exposure and structure to associate teams – UAE, Thailand, Malaysia and Nepal – that do not play against the top-ranked sides often.

A lot has changed in the last two decades since the tournament’s inception, and with that, its purpose too.

Twenty years ago, only India and Sri Lanka took part and played five ODIs against each other to decide the winner. In 2005-06, Karachi hosted the event and Pakistan made their maiden appearance. The fourth edition, in 2008, saw Bangladesh as a new entrant.

Four years later, it was decided that the Asia Cup would be conducted in the T20 format, serving as a preparatory tournament for the women’s T20 World Cup. In 2012, the tournament also grew bigger as an eight-team event and welcomed Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Nepal for the first time, in Guangzhou. It was all India winning the tournament till 2016 before Bangladesh shocked the then six-time champions for a maiden title in the 2018 event in Malaysia.

Returning after the pandemic break, the 2022 edition witnessed seven teams vying for the trophy. One of the highlights from the last edition was Thailand pulling off a stunning upset win over Pakistan.

This year, the event has expanded to eight teams.

The route to the Asia Cup 2024 was not easy either – 16 Associate teams fought in the ACC Premier Cup for four spots and Thailand, Malaysia, UAE and Nepal – the four semi-finalists – advanced to the main draw of the Asia Cup. Over the years, the likes of Thailand and Malaysia have taken strides in women’s cricket while UAE, too, have shown a glimpse into their future, first clinching the Premier Cup in February and then coming close to beating Sri Lanka in the World Cup Qualifier.

When the tournament kicks off in Sri Lanka today , India once again begin as favourites. But irrespective of results, the Asia Cup offers hope for women’s cricket, especially the Associate sides, who try and inspire others.

India are coming into the tournament on the back of a drawn 1-1 T20I series against South Africa at home and a 5-0 win against Bangladesh in Sylhet. The two series have given the defending champions several positives: their vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is in excellent form, their spin department looks sorted and Pooja Vastrakar has stepped up as the pace-bowling mainstay.

Pakistan, their opponent on July 19, have not had a consistent run since Nida Dar took over the captaincy after Bismah Mahroof quit the role in 2023. Of the 19 T20Is played since April 2023, they have won only seven. They completed their first T20I series sweep against South Africa last September but lost 2-1 to Bangladesh next. Pakistan toured New Zealand in December and beat them 2-1. However, they have lost seven of eight matches this year, which includes a 4-1 defeat to West Indies in Karachi and a 0-3 loss in England. This is largely due to their struggles with the bat. They bank heavily on Sidra Amin and Muneeba Ali – their top two run-getters this year – to do the bulk of damage.

Like Pakistan, Bangladesh have also found the going tough with the bat. Nigar Sultana, their captain, holds the side together on the field and with the willow. That only Dilara Akter in the top six has a strike rate over 100 this year also suggests of their slow batting approach. In helpful conditions, Bangladesh’s spinners are capable of exerting pressure. Bringing back the experienced pair of allrounder Rumana Ahmed and fast bowler Jahanara Alam after more than a year provides them with some hope, having lost all eight matches this year.

That apart, hosts Sri Lanka also head into the tournament as a strong contender. They have won nine of their 12 matches this year and no longer just depend on captain Chamari Athapaththu to deliver. There have been handy contributions from Vishmi Gunaratne, the second-highest run-getter for Sri Lanka this year with 324 runs in 12 innings. The team has also benefitted from Kavisha Dilhari’s all-round ability – she has 145 runs at a strike rate of 136.79 and 12 wickets from 11 matches with her offbreaks.

(Cricinfo)

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Sports

St. Joseph’s basketball dominance continues

Published

3 hours ago

2026/04/19

Thilina Walpola

The victorious St. Joseph’s team

Rarely have St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10, missed out on a semi-final berth in top-tier basketball competitions over the last two decades and they continue their dominance with remarkable consistency. More often than not, they end up in the final, with only the opposition changing; St. Peter’s, Royal, Ananda and Gateway seemingly taking turns to challenge the Joes.

Last week, they secured the Under-20 All-Island ‘A’ Division title, completing back-to-back excellent seasons. The final against Ananda was a one-sided affair, with the Joes cruising to a 70-37 win.

On their way to the title, St. Joseph’s defeated leading basketball-playing schools such as Trinity, S. Thomas’, D.S. Senanayake, Wesley and Prince of Wales.

Leading from the front was captain Methika Jayasinghe, whose outstanding performances throughout the tournament earned him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. He was ably supported by vice-captain Mareen Abishake, along with a talented and well-balanced squad comprising Darren Bernard, Adrian Wijayawardena, Chamindu Wijesinghe, Aaron Gerald, Damketh Dammalage, Raphael Suraweera, Nathan Gunarathne, Praveen Kariyawasam, Isindu Edirisinghe and Brandan Xavier.

Darren Bernard was named Best Offensive Player.

The team’s success was guided by the dedicated efforts of coaches Randima Sooriyaarachchi and Shane Daniel. The duo’s excellence extended beyond St. Joseph’s, with Randima also serving as Head Coach of St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo 07, in their championship-winning campaign at the Under-17 Girls All-Island ‘A’ Division, Tier 1 Basketball Championship, while Shane guided Holy Family Convent, Colombo 04, to victory at the Under-20 Girls All-Island ‘A’ Division, Tier 1 Basketball Championship.

This latest triumph also marks a historic milestone for St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10, as it completes a perfect season across age groups. The college’s Under-17 and Under-20 teams secured all four major titles in 2025, winning both the National Schools Basketball Championships and the All-Island ‘A’ Division, Tier 1 Basketball Championships in their respective categories, an outstanding four-out-of-four record. Remarkably, this builds on an equally successful 2024 campaign, where St. Joseph’s also went four for four in the same tournaments, achieving back-to-back perfect seasons and reinforcing an unprecedented era of dominance in school basketball.

Sports

Gill’s silken 86 keeps Kolkata Knight Riders winless after six games

Published

1 day ago

2026/04/18

Priyan

Ajinkya Rahane consoles his team-mates after another loss [Cricinfo]

A display straight out of Gujarat Titans‘ (GT) time-tested playbook – high-quality fast bowling to restrict the opposition, and a chase of a below-par target led by the silken Shubman Gill – ensured Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) remained winless six games into their IPL 2026 campaign.

KKR began the contest with a questionable selection – they left out Finn Allen, their highest-ceiling top-order option – and a questionable toss decision – they opted to bat when the home captain, Gill, expected dew to set in later in the evening. And for most of the 39.4 overs of the actual match, they were distinctly second-best.

There was only one brief period of KKR dominance, when they scored 52 in three overs (12th to 14th) as Cameron Green went on a boundary-hitting spree. Green’s 55-ball 79, however, was a strange and ultimately frustrating innings: he struggled for fluency early on, scoring 27 off his first 29 balls, and finished with a whimper, scoring just four off his last 11, a period in which KKR collapsed around him while starving him of strike: they went from 147 for 4 in the 15th over to 180 all out.

The conditions weren’t the flattest – Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada swung the new ball right through the powerplay, and all of GT’s quicks found a bit of seam movement – but this was, nonetheless, a below-par total.

This set up a chase made for GT’s top order. Gill picked off the boundaries surgically in the powerplay – he scored 34 off 15 in that phase – and slowed down when the field spread. He slowed down dramatically, in fact – he only scored 52 off 35 outside the powerplay – but he could afford to because GT had knocked 71 runs off their target in the first six overs, with B Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler contributing quick cameos.

The rest of the chase showed the question marks that still hang over this GT line-up – they continued to huff and puff even when the required rate was in the region of a-run-a-ball, and eventually got home with just two balls remaining – and KKR would have ended the match wishing they had scored 20 runs more.

Every ball of Siraj’s first over was an outswinger, and while Tim Seifert – playing his first IPL game since 2022 – put away one that offered a little too much width, the others all asked questions, and one of them took out Ajinkya Rahane, the KKR captain, skewing one high in the air with the swing causing his bat to twist in his hands.

The second over was similar, with Seifert pulling Rabada for a six before the bowler struck back to remove the other batter. This time, the ball swung from a hard length, with extra bounce, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi nicked off in Test-match manner.

GT stuck with their new-ball pair through the entire powerplay, and both bowlers kept asking questions with their accuracy and movement. There was one more wicket – Seifert slapping an innocuous ball from Rabada straight to point – and not many more runs. KKR’s 37 for 1 was the fifth-lowest six-over score of IPL 2026, and their second entry in the bottom five.

Green struggled to middle the ball early on, and went at less than a-run-a-ball – and at a control percentage in the mid-50s – for nearly 30 balls. Then he flicked on a switch, putting his long levers to devastating use, particularly against Rashid Khan, whom he put under pressure with decisive use of the feet. Ashok Sharma, who had dismissed Rovman Powell by changing up from mid-140s hard length to a back-of-the-hand slower one at 106kph, also travelled, and KKR found momentum out of nowhere.

At 147 for 4 in the 15th over, KKR were well on course for 200.

Then came the strangest of collapses. Green was stuck at one end, facing just two balls while KKR lost 5 for 26 at the other. When Green finally got on strike in the 19th over – via Kartik Tyagi getting run-out in the attempt to steal a bye – Prasidh Krishna tied him down expertly, nailing his yorkers even when Green presented a moving target.

And Green, having lost his rhythm, struggled spectacularly in the 20th over, against Rashid, whom he had till then dominated. He scored just one run off the bat off the five balls he faced in the over – a questionable single with No. 11 at the other end – and his most positive scorecard contribution came when he charged, missed, and collected four byes with the unsighted Buttler missing the stumping. Green nicked off to a wide legbreak off the last ball of KKR’s innings, bringing an odd and ultimately unconvincing knock to a close.

Gill stroked three buttery fours in the first two overs, and launched Anukul Roy’s left-arm spin for an effortless inside-out six in the third. Then he took a single and let Sai Sudharsan take on his favourable match-up, which he did with two leg-side sixes to close out a 20-run over.

GT were 40 for no loss in three overs, and Gill kept the momentum going with a sumptuous straight six off Vaibhav Arora in the fifth over. GT didn’t cede any control even when Sunil Narine took out Sai Sudharsan in the sixth over, with Buttler hitting him for two fours – one fortuitous, off the inside edge – and a six off the first five balls he faced. At 71 for 1 with 14 overs to go, there was only going to be one winner.

Gill’s middle-overs slowdown made perfect sense from a situation point of view. KKR needed quick wickets to win this, and they weren’t going to get them from one end as long as Gill was in the middle. But boundaries dried up at the other end too, particularly when Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Buttler in the tenth over.

Washington Sundar scored a run-a-ball 13, and Glenn Phillips struggled to time the ball, and when Gill sliced Arora to a diving Green at deep point in the 17th over, the contest began to look ever so slightly interesting.

The boundaries came in a drip, and Phillips and Rahul Tewatia entered the final over with five runs needed. All of KKR’s main bowlers had bowled out, and Roy’s left-arm fingerspin wasn’t going to be risked with the left-handed Tewatia at the crease. Green, struggling with cramps, hadn’t bowled all evening.

So the task of bowling the last over fell to the military-medium Ramandeep Singh, and he managed to get a bouncer to climb high enough to have Phillips caught on the boundary off his first legal ball, leaving GT with four to get off five balls. GT ultimately got there, but who knows what a more challenging target could have done to them.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 181 for 5 in 19.4 overs (Sai Sudarshan 22, Shubman Gill 86, Jos Buttler 25, Washington Sundar 13, Glenn Phillip 19; Vaibhav Arora 1-35, Sunil Narine 1-28, Varun Chakravarthy 2-34, Ramandeep Singh 1-05) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 180 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 19, Cameron Green 79, Rovman Powell 27, Ramandeep Singh 17; Kaiso Rabada 3-29, Mohammed Siraj 2-23, Prasidh Krishna 1-32, Ashok Sharma 2-45, Rashid Khan 1-44) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Pathirana primed for comeback after injury layoff

Published

1 day ago

2026/04/18

Thilina Walpola

Sri Lanka speedster Matheesha Pathirana has passed his fitness tests with Sri Lanka Cricket and linked up with Kolkata Knight Riders, ready to steam in again after a frustrating spell on the sidelines.

The Knight Riders are propping up the table without a win, their campaign already wobbling placed last. Injuries and indifferent form have left their bowling attack looking toothless and Pathirana’s return could be just the spark they need to stop the rot.

The slinger will undergo further assessment by the franchise’s medical staff, but is tipped to be in the mix for Sunday’s clash against Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens.

“It’s been a challenging few months for me following an unfortunate injury, but I’m grateful for the support throughout this period,” Pathirana said. “I’m now focused on regaining my confidence during the ongoing IPL, contributing to Kolkata Knight Riders and performing to the best of my abilities. I’m looking forward to making a strong comeback and earning my place back in the national team.”

Pathirana, who fetched close to USD 2 million at the auction after being released by CSK, had his progress stalled by a calf injury picked up during Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign, a tournament where the co-hosts were forced to juggle their resources as injuries ripped through their bowling ranks.

Sri Lanka Cricket, tightening the screws on player fitness, made it mandatory for players to pass tests before being granted No Objection Certificates. While the likes of Wanindu Hasaranga and Nuwan Thushara failed to clear the bar, Pathirana ticked all the boxes and got the green light to join the IPL.

Still only 23, the fast bowler with the slingy, Lasith Malinga-esque action has been a handful for batters worldwide, firing in yorkers at will when on song. But his career has been a stop-start affair, with niggles halting his run just when he seemed to be hitting top gear.

KKR, meanwhile, are in desperate need of a breakthrough. Their bowling unit has struggled with Akash Deep and Harshit Rana ruled out with injuries, while seasoned campaigner Mustafizur Rahman had to pull out before the tournament. To make matters worse, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, the world’s number two-ranked bowler, has struggled to find his rhythm.

If Pathirana can hit his straps early, KKR might just find a way to drag themselves back into the contest. For now, though, they are staring down the barrel and hoping the new arrival can deliver a match-winning spell.

Telecom Asia Sport