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Jadeja razes South Africa for 83 after Kohli scores 49th ODI ton
Virat Kohli gifted himself a record equalling 49th ODI century and India their eighth successive victory in this World Cup, on his 35th birthday. When Kohli drew level with Sachin Tendulkar, with a punched single in the penultimate over of India’s innings, a near-capacity crowd at Eden Gardens celebrated with Kohli and made it a memorable birthday bash.
Kohli, who walked out to bat in the sixth over after Rohit Sharma had won the toss and challenged India to bat, batted till the end of the innings, lifting India to an above-par 326 for 5. He ended up outscoring South Africa who could manage just 83 in 27.1 overs. Ravindra Jadeja bagged career-best figures of 5 for 33 to wreck South Africa’s chase.
Most of Kohli’s centuries in recent times have had an air of inevitability about them. Sunday’s innings was anything but. The conditions in Kolkata were challenging and even Kohli had struggled to get the old ball away. South Africa’s left-arm spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi also challenged Kohli with drift, dip and turn.
In his very first over, Maharaj had knocked Shubman Gill (23) over with a ripper that beat his outside edge to trim the off bail. When Maharaj bowled a similar delivery to Kohli, the ball missed the outside edge. Having run away to a fast start – he was on 17 off 13 balls at one point – Kohli slowed down against spin, but he saw out that passage of play to pick the seamers away. When Lungi Ngidi was brought back into the attack in the 35th over, Kohli jumped out of his crease and shovelled him away for four.
Maharaj’s boundary-less spell – 10-0-30-1 – was a throwback to ODIs in the 90s. Even Shreyas Iyer, who is arguably India’s best player of spin, couldn’t throw Maharaj off his lines and lengths. Iyer instead lined up Shamsi for four boundaries and allowed Kohli to bat deep into the innings. After being on 12 off 35 balls, Iyer zoomed to 77 off 87 balls.
With no batting insurance in the form of Hardik Pandya, who has now been sidelined from the rest of the tournament, Kohli refused to take any undue risks. Suryakumar Yadav (22) and Jadeja (29) took such risks at the other end, ensuring that India passed 300.
It was Rohit who had laid the foundation for the 134-run third-wicket partnership between Kohli and Iyer. The India captain dashed out of the blocks in the powerplay, cracking 40 off 24 balls. He dismantled Marco Jansen, the most prolific bowler in the powerplay in this tournament, and Ngidi, South Africa’s enforcer in the absence of Gerald Coetzee.
Jansen ended up conceding 94 in 9.4 overs for just one wicket. As for Ngidi, he left the field two balls into the final over of India’s innings with an injury scare.
South Africa’s troubles then seeped into their batting. Quinton de Kock chopped Mohammed Siraj on in the second over while Temba Bavuma was bowled by Jadeja, who got the new ball to drag away past the outside edge.
Things were only going to get tougher against the older ball. Jadeja and Mohammed Shami overpowered South Africa’s middle order. Jadeja removed Henrich Klaasen and David Miller while Shami bested Aiden Markram with Test-match line and length. After bringing a pair of deliveries back into Markram from over the wicket, Shami had one to leave the batter and kiss the outside edge.
At one stage, it appeared like India might not even need Kuldeep Yadav, their premier spinner, with the ball. But Jansen and the tail wagged long enough to prompt the introduction of the left-arm wrist-spinner. Kuldeep kept them guessing by turning the ball both ways and came away with two wickets. Jadeja claimed his second five-wicket haul in ODI cricket; he also became the second Indian spinner after Yuvraj Singh, to take a five-for in World Cups.
Brief scores:
India 326/5 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 40, Shuban Gill 23, Virat Kohli 101*, Shreyas Iyer 77, Suryakumar Yadav 22, Ravindra Jadeja 29*; Keshav Maharaj 1-30) beat South Africa 83 in 27.1 overs (Marco Jansen 14; Ravindra Jadeja 5-33, Mohammed Shami 2-18, Kuldip Yadav 2-07) by 243 runs
(Cricinfo)
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Sameer Rizvi aces another tricky chase as Delhi Capitals floor Mumbai Indians
Sameer Rizvi picked up his second Player-of-the-Match award in as many games in IPL 2026, this time scoring 90 off 51 balls to help Delhi Capitals [DC] seal a tricky chase against Mumbai Indians [MI] with six wickets and 11 balls to spare. If you include his Player-of-the-Match award from DC’s last game of the 2025 season, it makes it three in a row. Only seven others have done so, and no one has gone beyond.
Before the Rizvi show, the DC bowlers restricted MI to 162 for 6 on a slow, black-soil pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. With Hardik Pandya unwell, Suryakumar Yadav captained MI and top-scored with 51 off 36 balls. But most other batters struggled to play their shots. In fact, the first six of the MI innings came on the last ball of the seventh over.
DC, too, lost KL Rahul and Nitish Rana early in the chase but Pathum Nissanka’s counterattack kept them going. Nissanka made 44 off 30, after which Rizvi, coming in as DC’s Impact Player once again, ran away with the game.
Mukesh Kumar started waywardly, and Ryan Rickelton made him pay with two leg-side boundaries. From the other end, Rohit Sharma did the same against Lungi Ngidi. But Mukesh bounced back in his second over. He had Rickelton miscuing to mid-off and then caught and bowled Tilak Varma off a knuckleball.
With two right-hand batters, Rohit and Suryakumar, in the middle, Axar immediately brought himself on and sneaked in a three-run over. Rohit did hit two fours off Ngidi’s slower ones in the sixth over, the first a streaky one but the second a caress through covers, to take MI to 41 for 2, but it was a six-less powerplay for them. The last time it happened for MI was in 2023, against Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk.
Axar had a good match-up against Rohit coming into this game and he improved it further by having the batter caught at cover in the tenth over. Rohit made 35 off 26 balls. His match-up against Axar in the IPL now reads 77 balls, 67 runs, four dismissals.
Sherfane Rutherford didn’t last long and holed out to deep square leg against Vipraj Nigam, but Suryakumar kept MI going. He attacked the spinners and hit Kuldeep for two sixes. In the company of Naman Dhir, he brought up his fifty but was lbw to Ngidi off the following delivery. In Hardik’s absence, MI could score only 38 runs in the death overs.
Against Lucknow Super Giants, Rahul was out for a first-ball duck. Here he lasted three balls and made 1 before being caught down the leg side off Deepak Chahar. Rana was run out in the next over when Jasprit Bumrah, after fielding the ball off his own bowling, nailed a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.
At 7 for 2, Nissanka decided to take the attacking route. In the fourth over, he picked up back-to-back fours off Mitchell Santner, the second of which came via a reverse-hit over a leaping Rohit at cover. In the following over, he smashed two fours and a six off Shardul Thakur. Nissanka got a life on 41 when Dhir dropped him off Corbin Bosch but he fell to Santner three runs later.
After ten overs, DC were 73 for 3 – the exact score MI were at the same stage of their innings. The game was in the balance. Rizvi was batting on 25 off 23 but shifted the momentum in just one over. He flayed Bosch over mid-off, ramped him to the deep-third fence, cut him over deep point and launched him down the ground for 20 runs in all.
To ram home the advantage, he used his feet against Mayank Markande in the following over for back-to-back sixes. The first of those took him to his fifty off 31 balls. Such was his dominance that when the fifty stand for the fourth wicket came up, David Miller’s contribution in that was 1 off five balls. He was more of a bystander than a partner.
By the end of the 15th over, the result was a foregone conclusion. The only real interest left was whether Rizvi could reach his hundred. DC needed 25 to win, Rizvi needed 17. On 90, he attempted yet another big hit off Bosch but holed out to long-off.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 164 for 4 in 18.1 overs (Sameer Rizvi 90, Pathum Nissanka 44, David Miller 21*; Deepak Chahar 1-20, Mitchell Santner 1-22, Corbin Bosch 1-39) beat Mumbai Indians 162 for 6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 35, Suryakumar Yadav 51, Naman Dhir 28, Mitchell Santner 18*, Corbin Bosch 11*; Mukesh Kumar 2-26, Lungi Ngidi 1=34, Axar Patel 1-22, Vipraj Nigam 1-24, T Natarajan 1-24) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
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Sun directly overhead Dodanduwa, Rathgama, Yakkalamulla, Akuressa, Mulgirigala, Ranna, Kalamatiya and Ussangoda at about 12:13 noon today (05th April)
On the apparent northward relative motion of the sun, it is going to be directly over the latitudes of Sri Lanka during 05th to 15th of April in this year.
The nearest areas of Sri Lanka over which the sun is overhead today (05th) are Dodanduwa, Rathgama, Yakkalamulla, Akuressa, Mulgirigala, Ranna, Kalamatiya and Ussangoda at about 12:13 noon
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Heat Index at Caution Level in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala district
Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 04 April 2026, valid for 05 April 2026
The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Eastern, North-western, Northern and North-central provinces and in Monaragala 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.
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