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Jayasuriya, Peiris leave New Zealand in tatters

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Prabath Jayasuriya continued his love affair with Galle through another dominant spell [Cricbuzz]

In what was a shambolic batting performance from New Zealand on the third morning of the second Test, they lost nine wickets across two innings in the first session in Galle. After being bowled out for a paltry 88, their lowest Test total against Sri Lanka, the hosts enforced the follow on with a lead of 514, and New Zealand continued to struggle against spin as Tom Latham fell early in the second innings. The visitors went into Lunch at 3/1, trailing by 511 runs.

Mitchell Santner top-scored with 29, but none of the other New Zealand batters even crossed 13 in the first innings. Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was the wrecker-in-chief picking up 6-42, while debutant offspinner Nishan Peiris (3-33) also got amongst the wickets as they combined to give the hosts the highest first-inning lead for a team in a Test since 2006.

New Zealand were in early trouble at the start of the third day as Jayasuriya got Kane Williamson lunging forward and got him to edge to slip. Rachin Ravindra tried to steady the innings with Ajaz Patel at the other end but his outing was cut short when he Nishan Peiris’s maiden Test scalp, bowled for 10 after missing a paddle. Daryl Mitchell began to counter attack, striking a four and a six off Jayasuriya but New Zealand soon slipped to 52/5 as Ajaz was trapped in front by Peiris.

Things went from bad to worse for New Zealand as Jayasuriya had Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips both caught at slip to bag two wickets in the 27th over. Santner struck a four and a six off Jayasuriya but the left-arm spinner had Mitchell caught at long-on to pick up a five-wicket haul. He wasn’t finished yet as Dhananjaya de Silva bagged his fifth catch when Tim Southee edged Jayasuriya to slip.

William O’Rourke hung around for a while as Santner scored a few boundaries and farmed the majority of the strike in the final wicket partnership, which turned out to be the highest partnership of the innings when it reached 18. They batted for more than seven overs before Peiris cleaned Santner up to pick up the last wicket.

Tom Latham fell in the first over soon after New Zealand were asked to bat again, as the opener handed a catch to Pathum Nissanka at bat-pad off Peiris. Williamson and Devon Conway were unbeaten at Lunch, with New Zealand having a lot of work to do to prevent an innings loss.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 602/5 decl lead  New Zealand 88 in 39.5 overs (Mitchell Santner 29; Prabath Jayasuriya 6-42, Nishan Peiris 3-33) & 3/1 (Nishan Peiris 1-0) by 511 runs.

 



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Sameer Rizvi aces another tricky chase as Delhi Capitals floor Mumbai Indians

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Sameer Rizvi was afforded a slow start by a blazing Pathum Nissanka [Cricinfo]

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)

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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

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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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