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Sri Lanka hope for spinners to step up to equalise in Colombo

Published

1 month ago

2026/08/22

Priyan

Sri Lanka will hope to level the series in Colombo

It has been 10 years since Sri Lanka won a series anywhere against India. England or Australia. This is the sixth straight home series against these teams that they have failed to win. Against India, they haven’t won anywhere since 2008. This general decline has coincided with the end of the career of Rangana Herath, who provided Sri Lanka competitiveness once Muttiah Muralitharan retired.

Since Herath’s retirement, Sri Lanka have struggled to find one spinner let alone two, which is the ideal number, who will consistently outperform the opposition spinners on spin-friendly tracks at home. The same was the case in the first Test of this series in Galle. Prabath Jayasuriya and the debutant Keshara Nuwantha were outbowled by the Indian trio of Manav Suthar, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. While the emergence of Sonal Dinusha’s batting is pleasant news for Sri Lanka, he remains strictly a batting allrounder.

Had there been any better spinners around, they would have been playing in Galle. That the changes made for the SSC Test are only in the batting department confirms that. So in Colombo, where the best Sri Lanka can manage is to draw the series, the same spinners will have to show considerable improvement for the hosts to stay competitive.

A big factor remains the toss. Look at the yields on each day of cricket in Galle: 288 for 2, 172 for 7, 286 for 11, 277 for 14 and 122 for 6. Now India’s adventurous batting on days two and four because of time lost to rain was no doubt a contributing factor to the wickets that India lost, but still day one had the best batting conditions of the last Test. Sri Lanka will be desperate to win that toss on Sunday.

India will be glad to have put together such a thorough performance after having lost two of their last three series in similar conditions at home. It has kept alive India’s chances in the World Test Championship. They can’t afford to not win this one either. A win will take them to 57.58% of the points contested, which, if Bangladesh lose in Mackay, leaves India just outside the top three.

Looking at how well Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna bowled in Galle, India will be quietly confident even if they lose the toss at SSC, which hasn’t quite been kind to fast bowlers, costing them 38 runs per wicket in the last 10 years. Having put in the performance they did in Galle, anything less than a win now will be unsatisfactory for India irrespective of the toss.

It is quite amazing how quickly India have accepted Mnay Suthar as their lead spinner. In both the innings he got the ball before Ravindra Jadeja, and struck in earnest. He announced himself in Sri Lanka with a first-ball wicket. He delivered everything expected of him: overspin, lots of work on the ball, long spells, and then when the ball was turning a lot he changed the seam orientation and increased his pace to give it every chance to extract natural variation from the surface. There is only anticipation of how he deals with newer challenges new Tests throw at him.

Sonal Dinusha looked most at home against India’s spinners. It does help that he batted No. 6 on what was a new-ball pitch but there was a calm and an assuredness to his method. He came close to scoring twin centuries in the Test, and Sri Lanka will want more. Might they promote him so that the replacement for Dinesh Chandimal can enjoy a bit of a cushion?

Sri Lanka’s list of injuries has only grown after the first Test. Neither of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis has recovered, and Chandimal is out with a concussion. They have also left out opening batter Nishan Madushka and spinner Ramesh Mendis. That means approval for Keshara Nuwantha with the ball, and a debut for Kamil Mishara. Pasindu Sooriyabandara made his Test debut last week under unfortunate circumstances, subbing in for the concussed Chandimal and lasting only one ball. A fantastic catch that he took came before Chandimal had been ruled out so even that didn’t go down against his name. In the interest of fairness he should get another go in Colombo.

Kuldeep Yadav continues to be under harsh spotlight after he managed only one wicket in his comeback Test. There were periods during which he looked threatening but also periods when he looked the least potent of the three India spinners. He still averages just over 23 in Test cricket, which speaks to his quality but also to the fact that 16 of his 19 Tests have come in India and Sri Lanka. A lot of Kuldeep’s future depends on how the team management reads his current form: is he playing so little because he doesn’t have the rhythm or does he have no rhythm because he plays such little cricket? The pragmatic way to find out is to give him one more game when the going is good.

Sri Lanka (probable) Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (capt.), Sonal Dinusha, Pasindu Sooriyabandara Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Keshara Nuwantha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara

India (probable) KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill (capt.), Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

[Cricinfo]

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura

Published

2 days ago

2026/10/4

Priyan

The Hational Building Research Institute (NBRI) has issued landslide early warnings to the Districts of Kandy, Kegalle, Matale and Ratnapura valid from 2200 hrs on 03rd October upto 2200 hrs on 04th October 2026.

Accordingly,

LEVEL II (AMBER) landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Udu Dumbara and Minipe 8n the Kandy district, Dehiowita in the Kegalle district, and Ambanganga Korale and Matale in the Matale district.

LEVEL I (YELLOW) landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Rambukkana in the Kegalle district, Rattota in the Matale district, and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district.

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Turkish court detains football refereeing chief pending corruption trial

Published

3 days ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

The refereeing scandal is the latest controversy to shake football in Turkiye [Aljazeera]

The head of Turkiye’s football refereeing body and four other officials have been placed in pretrial detention by a court as part of a corruption investigation, the state news agency Anadolu reports.

Ferhat Gundogdu, head of the Central Referees Committee, and six others appeared before a judge over allegations of manipulation of the referee administration process, Anadolu said on Saturday.

They appeared on Friday before a judge at Istanbul’s Caglayan courthouse on several charges, including forgery of official documents, breach of trust and illegal acquisition of personal data, the report said.

The judge remanded five people in custody and granted the other two conditional release, Anadolu said.

It was the latest scandal to shake football in Turkiye, coming exactly a year after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 149 referees on charges of illegal betting.

On Thursday night, police from the illegal betting and sports crime unit also detained Yasin Kol, a referee from Turkiye’s top-flight Super Lig, as well as an assistant referee, media reports said.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said prosecutors are examining claims about “interference in the processes of referee classification, assignments, scoring and appointments as well as the exams on rules”.

During raids on Tuesday, police searched the VAR room at TFF’s headquarters in Istanbul. Observers said the investigation was likely linked to last year’s betting scandal and would have implications for the federation.

“It does seem to be a continuation of 2025, and it looks like it will continue further,” sports journalist Ayhan Sensoy told the AFP news agency.

Sensoy, who wrote a 2024 book on the issue called The Gambling Pit, said it was unlikely that federation bosses “have any chance of staying in office”.

So far, the TFF has not directly addressed the arrests as its top officials are due to fly home on Saturday after attending Friday night’s Belgium-Turkiye UEFA Nations League clash in Liege, which Turkiye lost 3-0.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Ten injured after car crashes into rugby supporters in Australia

Published

3 days ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

A fire truck drives towards a crash site as a police vehicle blocks a road in Wallsend, News South Wales, on October 3, 2026, after a car drove into a crowd [Aljazeera]

A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.

New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.

Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.

The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.

“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.

“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”

“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.

[Aljazeera]