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.

The basketball fraternity came together to witness a closely fought final of the Sri Lanka Basketball League as Colombo Bulls and Colombo Basketball Club locked horns at Royal College indoor basketball courts on Sunday.

Although Colombo BC looked to be the better team on paper, Bulls held their own and looked set to end their dominance. However, during the closing stages of the game, Bulls committed a few costly errors and Colombo were quick to make them pay holding onto a four point win. The final score was 73-69. One highlight during the game was the efficacy of both teams in shooting free throws, but during the final few seconds Bulls were off the target with the pressure getting to them.

Colombo were the deserved winners as they won all seven games in the competition.

Rukshan Atapattu, Dasun Mendis, Nimesh Fernando and Simron Yoganathan performed exceptionally well in the final.

In the women’s final, Track Masters secured a seven point win over Bulls. They were trailing by four points at the end of the first half but turned the tables in the second half winning 53-46.

Devduni Perera, Anjalee Ekanayake and Benika Thalagala came up with superb performances during the final.

Sri Lanka’s long-standing dominance in the men’s 400 metres received another major boost as talented young sprinters, led by Omel Shashintha, delivered outstanding performances at the Junior Selection Trial held at Diyagama earlier this week.

‎The trial was conducted to select the national team for the upcoming Asian Junior Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from May 28 to 31. The performances at the meet underlined that the 400 metres — widely regarded as Sri Lanka’s signature track event — continues to produce athletes capable of maintaining the country’s proud tradition.

‎Shashintha produced the highlight of the meet with a brilliant sub-46 second run to win the men’s 400 metres. The St. Sebastian’s College, Kandana athlete clocked an impressive 45.79 seconds, a time that would have been competitive even at senior national level. His performance currently stands as the fastest time in Asia in his age category this year and matches the 12th fastest time in the world so far in 2026, recorded by South Africa’s Kryn Romijn.

‎While Shashintha was the only athlete to dip under the 46-second barrier, two other promising runners also achieved the qualifying standards for the World Junior Athletics Championships which will be held later this year in Oregon, USA. Representing Kurunegala District, Sadew Rajakaruna finished second in 46.39 seconds, while Thisen Ranvidu of St. Peter’s College clocked 46.83 seconds to secure the required qualifying mark of 47.40 seconds.

‎Another promising athlete, I.M. Bogoda, narrowly missed the qualifying standard but came close with an encouraging performance.

‎The impressive depth displayed in the one-lap event also raises hopes of Sri Lanka fielding a strong 4×400 metres relay team at both the Asian Junior Championships and the World Junior Championships later this year.

‎Shashintha and Rajakaruna further strengthened their credentials by achieving qualifying standards in the 200 metres as well. Shashintha clocked 21.22 seconds, while Rajakaruna recorded 21.07 seconds, underlining their versatility across sprint events.

‎Both athletes already possess valuable international exposure, having competed alongside senior athletes on the global stage. Shashintha and Rajakaruna represented Sri Lanka at the World Athletics Indoor Championships last year, experience that is expected to benefit them greatly when they take on Asia’s best at the junior championship.

‎With such promising performances, the young sprinters appear ready to carry forward Sri Lanka’s rich 400-metre tradition established by legendary quarter-miler Sugath Thilakaratne and continued by current national stars Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Dharshana.

‎Their performances at Diyagama suggest that Sri Lanka’s next generation of quarter-milers is well on track to keep the nation firmly among Asia’s leading sprinting powers.

by Reemus Fernando