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Siraj, Bumrah bowl India to victory in record time

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Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of Keshav Maharaj (Cricinfo)

Jasprit Bumrah’s 6 for 61 paved the way for India’s seven-wicket win on the second day of the second Test in Cape Town, helping them level the two-match series 1-1.

After South Africa were bowled out for 176 in their second innings, India chased down the required 79 runs an hour before tea. Lasting just 107 overs, this was the shortest Test ever to produce a result. It was also India’s first Test win at Newlands in seven attempts.

But before all that, Aiden Markram scored a stunning hundred – 106 off 103 balls. It was the first time in Test history that a batter scored a hundred where none of his team-mates reached 20 in either innings; Kyle Verreynne’s 15 in the first innings was the next best for South Africa. Unfortunately for Markram and stand-in captain Dean Elgar,  who retires after this Test, it ended in a losing cause.

South Africa didn’t have a great start to the day. Resuming on 62 for 3, they lost a wicket in the first over itself. David Bedingham was looking to be positive and went for an on-the-up drive against Bumrah only to edge it to the wicketkeeper.

Verreynne didn’t last long either. Trying to pull Bumrah, he skied one towards mid-on where Mohammed Siraj took the catch. Bumrah completed his five-for when he had Keshav Maharaj caught at gully, leaving South Africa 111 for 7.

Markram, though, seemed to be in a different zone altogether and played some stunning shots on this treacherous pitch. Of his 106 runs, 47 came in the arc between backward point and extra cover. Whenever the India seamers pitched the ball slightly full, he brought out the cover drive. When it was on the shorter side, he got on the top of the bounce and punched it through cover-point, forcing India to put a sweeper cover in place.

Markram reached his fifty off 68 balls, and took just 31 more to reach his seventh Test hundred. En route, he smashed Prasidh Krishna for two sixes and two fours in a 20-run over. He and Kagiso Rabada added 51 for the eighth wicket; Rabada’s contribution was 2.

He also enjoyed a slice of luck when KL Rahul dropped him off Bumrah on 73. Eventually, it was Siraj who sent Markram back when, going for yet another big hit, the batter holed out to long-off.

Rabada fell in the next over, and 14 runs later, the innings came to an end.

Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal knew they needed to attack straightaway to deny South Africa a sniff. Not many shots came from the middle of the bat, but they had added 44 in 5.4 overs when Nandre Burger removed Jaiswal. Trying to pull a short ball, Jaiswal slipped and his pad brushed the stumps. While the bails didn’t come off, he was caught at deep-backward square leg.

Shubman Gill became a victim of low bounce, and Virat Kohli was caught down the leg side, before Shreyas Iyer hit the winning four.

Brief scores:
India 153 (Virat Kohli 46, Rohit Sharma 39;  Lungi Ngidi 3-30, Kagasio Rabada 3-38, Nandre Burger 3-42) and 80 for 3 (Yashavi Jaiswal 28, Marco Jansen 1-15) beat South Africa 55 (Kyle Verreynne 15, Mohammed Siraj 6-15) and 176 (Aiden Markram 106, Jasprit Bumrah 6-61) by seven wickets

(Cricinfo)



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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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