Harshitha Samarawickrema was 14 when Sri Lankan women’s cricket first pricked the national consciousness. She had already been playing cricket for her school, Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, but had largely pursued cricket merely for the sake of playing a sport, and also because she had enjoyed watching the men’s team play. But watching Sri Lanka defeat England in a thriller at the 2013 World Cup stirred up a deeper yearning.

“I’d watched all of the matches at that World Cup actually – that was the first time those kind of matches were telecast,” Samarawickrama said once. “That’s when I decided I was going to play and win matches for Sri Lanka one day.”

That victory against England was a new dawn for Sri Lanka’s women for two reasons. First up it was the highest-profile victory on their ledger until then, marking an unexpected high point in a World Cup in which little was generally expected of the team. But it also marked the rocket-powered arrival of Chamari Athapaththu, who top-scored with 62 to help set up the chase.

After a close-fought win against Sri Lanka A, India A continued their tri-series campaign with a defeat to Afghanistan A in a rain hit match in Dambulla. Prabhsimran Singh, Rutraj Gaikwad and Captain Tilak Varma all hit half-centuries to take India A to a big total, but Afghanistan A’s batters did enough to help them edge the game on DLS. Here are the key talking points from the game.

After showing glimpses of his talent in the tri-series opener against Sri Lanka A, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi put on a more impactful display against Afghanistan A. He lay down the marker early, cutting the first two balls he faced through cover point for fours.

He predominantly targeted the off side, driving or slashing anything offering width, finding the cover and point boundaries with ease, helping India A reach 50 in 4.5 overs.

He didn’t hit a six, but hit nine fours before a nick to the keeper off Abdollah Ahmadzai sent him back for 44 off 22 balls.

At the other end, Prabhsimran also started well, even if he wasn’t quite as explosive as his 15-year-old opening partner. He drove fuller balls through the covers and when the bowlers pulled their lengths back, he was happy to walk down the track and put away some punchy square drives.

He brought up a 39-ball half-century in the 14th over, driving left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan straight of mid-off to get to the milestone. He finished that over with a deft touch to beat short third.

Prabhsimran picked up three more boundaries through and over the mid-off region across the next two overs, taking India A to 140 for 2 at the first drinks break, and also bringing up a half-century stand with Gaikwad off just 38 balls.

His first 12 boundaries all came through the off side, before he drove two Zahir full-tosses past mid-on to take India A to 150 in the 18th over. He eventually got out on 84 while trying to paddle-scoop Afghanistan A captain Imran Mir, and only managed a feather touch to the keeper.

Gaikwad, fresh off a century against Sri Lanka A, started off from where he left off, meeting his first ball with a glorious back-foot cover drive. That was his only boundary during his partnership with Prabhsimran, and he was happy to go at around a run a ball while Prabhsimran did the heavy lifting.

Once Prabhsimran fell, Gaikwad was joined by Tilak, and the two kept the scoreboard ticking mainly through singles and doubles, in the effort to ensure India A had the platform for a big finish. They shared a 78-run stand, during which Gaikwad brought up his half-century.

Gaikwad eventually got out trying to up the tempo, lobbing a top-edged slog off medium-pacer Farmanullah to midwicket.

Tilak also brought up a second consecutive half-century, before Suryansh Shedge and Anukul Roy applied the finish to take India A to 349 for 9 in their allotted 49 overs.

After a short delay during the first innings, more rain followed during the innings break, delaying the restart. Afghanistan A began their chase needing 294 from 38 overs. With the light likely to start fading, and with floodlights not in action, the match was most probably going to be decided by DLS.

Afghanistan A openers Hassan Eisakhil and Imran started off quickly, with Eisakhil the initial aggressor. India A’s new-ball bowlers Anshul Kamboj and Arshad Khan failed to threaten, until Arshad drew a top edge from Eisakhil with a bouncer in the eighth over, and later in the same over had the Afghanistan opener pulling another short ball to deep square leg.

Among the spinners, Roy looked the most dangerous, trapping Khalid Taniwal lbw with an arm ball, but Vipraj Nigam and Ayush Badoni were mostly ineffectual.

This allowed Imran and Bahir Shah to keep the scoring rate ahead of the DLS par score without losing wickets. Imran made 75 not out off 70 deliveries while Shah was on 51 off 52 after Eisakhil’s 29-ball 34.

Rain and bad light eventually stopped play at 5.28pm, with Afghanistan A four runs ahead on DLS.

SCORES:
Afghanistan A 177 for 2 in 25.5 overs  (Imran 75*, Bahir Shah 51*; Anbukul Roy 1-24) beat India A 349 for 9 in  49 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 84, Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi 44, Rutraj  Gaikwad 66, Tilak Varma 66, Suryansh Shedge 40; Abdollah Ahmadzai 5-68, Farmanullah 3-85)by 4 runs (DLS method)

[Cricinfo]

Tasmania and Hobart Hurricanes legspinning allrounder Nikhil Chaudhary, who was born in India, has been called into his maiden Australia T20I squad as a replacement for the rested Travis Head.

Chaudhary, 30, played 14 matches for Punjab between 2017-19, including 12 T20s across the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (inter-state) as well as two List A games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

He travelled to Australia to visit his uncle in Queensland in 2020 when Australia shut its international borders due to the Covid pandemic. Chaudhary remained in the country and currently holds a temporary visa that is valid until 2027. He does not yet have permanent residency or citizenship but his five years living in Australia allows him to qualify to play for the national side under ICC rules despite not yet being a citizen. He has had three excellent seasons in the BBL for Hurricanes after being spotted by then Hurricanes bowling coach, now Sydney Sixers coach, James Hopes while playing grade cricket in Brisbane.