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Rahul, Jadeja fifties put India in dominant position

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Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel added an unbeaten stand of 63 runs for the eighth wicket in the last hour and a half of Day 2 (Cricbuzz)

Valuable contributions from the middle order has put India in a dominant position in the opening Test against England in Hyderabad. While KL Rahul made 86 and Ravindra Jadeja finished the day unbeaten on 81, there was support from the likes of Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat and Axar Patel as well as India went into stumps on Day 2 with a lead of 175.

England actually began the day with a bang when they got rid of overnight batter Yashasvi Jaiswal in the very first over of the day. Jaiswal appeared to continue from where he left after he smashed Joe Root over his head for a boundary off the second ball of the day. However, the former England skipper got his revenge as Jaiswal chipped one back to the bowler in the same over to depart for 80.

Shubman Gill at the other end was content batting time but at one point lost focus and wanted to smash one down the ground to break the shackles. Fortunately, the mistimed shot landed safe, much to the batter’s relief. However, he couldn’t really cash in on that opportunity as he eventually got out while attempting to break free again. Tom Hartley, who copped a beating on the first day, managed to open his account with a fuller delivery that Gill attempted to whip with no real control. It was Rahul who was doing the bulk of the scoring for India in that opening session.

After fetching back-to-back boundaries against Hartley, Rahul farmed the strike against Mark Wood even though he was brought on to target Iyer. In the process, Rahul added to his boundary tally as he sent three balls to the fence. With time, Iyer grew in confidence as well as India managed to get closer to England’s total by the lunch break. Post resumption, Iyer fell immediately after mistiming one to find the fielder in the deep but Rahul took a liking to Rehan Ahmed’s bowling to smash him around for a couple of fours and a couple of sixes in successive overs to give India the lead.

Jadeja then got going by punishing a full toss from Joe Root straight down the ground for a boundary before taking full toll of a half-tracker from Rehan. Jadeja also ensured that Jack Leach didn’t get to settle in immediately after being introduced into the attack by hammering him over mid wicket for his first six of the innings. At the other end, Rahul fell against the run of play after looking well on course to bringing up another century. Like Iyer, he too managed to find the fielder at the deep to fall 14 short of a ton.

One more wicket at that stage could have helped England limit the damage but a determined Bharat hung on alongside Jadeja to extend India’s advantage. The duo frustrated England for a substantial period of time, guiding the lead beyond the 100-run mark. Taking the new ball finally worked for England but it was Root who came up with the breakthrough as England persisted with spin despite choosing to bowl with the brand new cherry. Bharat was trapped lbw for 41 by Root and a mix-up saw R Ashwin and Jadeja get stranded at the same end, only for the former to lose his wicket.

Despite the two quick wickets, England couldn’t cash in and run through the tail as Axar joined forces with Jadeja to pile on the misery. The two batters guided India’s total beyond 400 and then went into a shell right towards the end of the day’s play before Axar exploded to smash 4,6,4 off the final three balls of the day to rubber-stamp India’s dominance.

Brief scores:
India
421/7 in 110 overs  (KL Rahul 86, Ravindra Jadeja 81*, Yashasvi Jaiswal 80, Rohit Sharma 24, Shubman Gill 23, Shreyas Iyer 35, Srikar Bharat 41, Axar Patel 35*; Joe Root 2-77, Tom Hartley 2-131) lead England 246 by 175 runs



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Heavy showers about (100-150) mm are likely at some places in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces

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WEATHER FORECAST FOR 13 October 2026
Issued at 2.00 p.m. on 12 October 2026 by the Department of Meteorology

A low-pressure area may form over the southeastern Bay of Bengal by 13 October.

Under the influence of this system, an increase in rainfall is expected over the island and the deep and shallow sea areas around the island during the next few days from tomorrow (13).

The general public, as well as the naval and fishing communities, are requested to be attentive to the future forecasts and bulletins issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.

Heavy showers about (100-150) mm are likely at some places in the Central, Sabaragamuwa, Uva and Southern provinces.
Fairly heavy showers  above 75 mm are likely at some places in the other areas of the island. Showers or thundershowers will occur in most parts of the island.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Misty conditions can be expected at some places in the Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces during the early hours of the morning.

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Farhan and Sadaqat help Pakistan seal series in style

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Maaz Sadaqat clobbered 96 off just 51 balls [Cricinfo]

Maaz Sadaqat crashed 96 off 51,Sahibzada Farhan clobbered 73 off 44, and Pakistan scorched their way through the last 12 overs of their innings to mount a fearsome total of 215 for 3. Pakistan reaped 156 runs just in the last 12 overs of their innings, as a 73-run stand between Sadaqat and Farhan was followed by a manic 72-run partnership between Sadaqat and Hasan Nawaz.

Sri Lanka’s batting was woeful in response. They slumped to 64 for 5 by the 11th over, with none of their top seven managing to get to 30. They limped to 133 for 7, having had their hopes of leveling the series wrecked by quicks Mohammad Imran and Salman Mirza, who took five wickets between them.

Sadaqat propels Pakistan into the stratosphere

The openers had laid a decent platform with Pakistan having got to 55 for 1 by the end of the seventh over. But it was Sadaqat who injected the energy that truly set Pakistan on course to their mammoth total. Having gone at less than a run a ball in his first eight balls, Sadaqat unleashed a spectacular lofted square drive off Eshan Malinga to collect his first six, before pumping the same bowler down the ground later in the 10th over.

Sadaqat would go on to clobber six further sixes and five further fours. The big hits tended to come down the ground, while his fours were more square of the wicket. Of the 125 runs Pakistan plundered in the second half of their innings, 79 off 40 came from Sadaqat, who pummeled both pace and spin with equal relish. Off the sixteenth over, bowled by Maheesh Theekshana, Sadaqat thumped three sixes in the arc between long on and midwicket.

Sadaqat, whose previous top score in three T20Is had been 50, could have gone to triple figures off the last ball of the innings, but holed out to deep cover instead, unable to quite find the power to lift a Malinga slower ball over the ropes. He had utterly dominated the middle and late overs, however.

Farhan sets the tone

On another flat Rawalpindi deck, Farhan made the first big charge, although he waited until spin came on to really get into high gear. Theekshana was one of his main victims as well. Farhan’s first six came from a slog sweep off Theekshana in the seventh over, before he launched the same bowler over wide long on and cow corner off successive balls in the ninth over. Getting to his 12th T20I fifty off the 31st ball he faced, Farhan began to aim big blows off the seamers as well. He was caught at deep third off the bowling of Dasun Shanaka, in the 15th over.

Sri Lanka stumble in the powerplay

An excellent Salman Mirza bouncer took the glove of Lahiru Udara in the first over, ending the innings of one of Sri Lanka’s few form batters for a mere five runs. And although Sineth Jayawardena – playing his first international in a full-strength Sri Lanka side – hit three consecutive boundaries in the third over, Sri Lanka were unable to build up any momentum in the powerplay. By the end of the sixth over, they had laboured to 35 for 2.

Imran’s spell lights up the middle overs

A full house in Rawalpindi was treated to some excellent fast bowling by Imran, who finished with the game’s best figures of 3 for 11 from his four overs. Having got Jayawardena to top-edge a desperate pull shot at the end of his second over, Imran had Kusal Mendis caught behind off a slower delivery, before two balls later (a wide in between), he took Sahan Arachchige’s edge with a quick delivery angled across the left-hander. Wicketkeeper Khawaja Nafay made two diving grabs to convert these chances in the eighth over.

All through his unbroken spell, Sri Lanka’s batter struggled to so much as hit Imran off the square, despite the good batting conditions on offer. Imran mixed up his pace, frequently going to slower balls, but his line and length control were also excellent through the spell. When he finished his unbroken spell at the end of the 10th over, Sri Lanka’s required rate had climbed past 15.

Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Theekshana struck some late boundaries, but by the time they came to the crease, Sri Lanka did not have a realistic shot at levelling this series. They lost by 82 runs in the end.

Scores:
Pakistan 215 for 3 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 73, Fakhar Zaman 22, Maaz Sadaqat 96, Hasan Nawaz 19*; Maheesh Theekshana 1-55, Eshan Malinga 1-41,Dasun Shanaka 1-30)  beat Sri Lanka 133 for 7 (Sineth Jayawardena 22, Kamnbdu Mendis 23, Chamindu Wickremasinghe 29, Maheesh  Theekshana 32*; Salman Mirza 2=28, Mohammad  Imran 3-11, Saim Ayub 1-19, Shadab Khan 1-19) by 82 runs

[Cricinfo]

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At least 139 dead, 84 missing as migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti

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A member of the International Organization for Migration inspects the abandoned wreckage of a boat that capsized off the coast of Djibouti on April 12, 2026 [Aljazeera]

At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died and 84 are missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, according to the United Nations migration agency.

In a statement on Sunday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) quoted survivors as saying that the incident happened near Guhere off Djibouti’s eastern coast in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandeb strait from Thursday night to before dawn on Friday.

The boat was heading from Djibouti to Yemen with more than 300 people on board. More than 80 people – all Ethiopians – survived the shipwreck while Djiboutian search and rescue operations continued.

“Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance,” IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac said, lamenting the “devastating loss of life”.

That number only includes those buried by authorities in Djibouti. Others have been buried by the migrants themselves but they won’t be added to the official count until authorities can verify the bodies, Alexandre Coissac, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, told the Associated Press.

“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities,” Coissac added.

[Aljazeera]

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