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Sri Lanka’s spinners, Pakistan’s ODI form, off-field cuteness among things to watch out for
So we have arrived at another bilateral ODI series. Believe it or not, these were all the rage back in the first half of the 2010s – used so frequently as schedule-filler, to bulk up tours. T20Is and T20 leagues serve that purpose now, and the ODI World Cup is not till 2027. Still, this is a chance for Pakistan and Sri Lanka to do some building towards the next big event. Here are five things to watch for the three-match series starting on today.
What is clear is that both Sri Lanka and Pakistan are middling ODI sides. The rankings are some reflection – Sri Lanka are currently fourth on the ODI charts, and Pakistan are fifth, and neither side has had a glut of ODIs this year. The difference, though, is that Sri Lanka appear to be an ODI outfit on the rise, having won seven of their 10 matches this year. Pakistan have lost 10 of their 14, and had also crashed out of their “home” Champions Trophy.
There is a little recent uptick for Pakistan, however. They sneaked a victory in the first ODI against South Africa earlier this month, then strode to a thumping win over them in the third ODI to seal a 2-1 series win. That was against a depleted South Africa, and Sri Lanka have sent a full-strength squad.
Still, for a team that was looking for inspiration, perhaps their first series under Shaheen Shah Afridi has provided a new beginning.
So fragile have their runs of form been in the last couple of years, you praise Pakistan batters at your peril. But so far, young left-hand batter Saim Ayub has been putting together the makings of a good ODI career. He has only played 15 innings in the format so far, so we are at the very early stages. But he averages 50.85, and crucially has a strike rate of exactly 100, having hit 712 runs so far.
Against South Africa, he made scores of 39, 53, and 77 off 70 in the third ODI. This is the kind of consistency that could prove helpful in concert with Fakhar Zaman’s more erratic returns from the other end. This will be Ayub’s first series against Sri Lanka.
While Sri Lanka have won three series this year , against Australia, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe, only the Zimbabwe win came away from home. Generally, over the course of the last two years, as they have rebuilt under captain Charith Asalanka and coach Sanath Jayasuriya, much of their limited-overs success has come at Sri Lankan venues still famed for the turn their tracks offer. The surfaces in Pakistan will likely be more batting-friendly, which will test Sri Lanka’s spinners in particular. This is the less-favoured of Wanindu Hasaranga’s formats, and Maheesh Theekshana has been far from his best in 2025. Sri Lanka will need them to assert themselves.
By his own increasingly-high standards, 2025 has been just a middling year for Pathum Nissanka in ODIs. In ten innings, he has hit one century and two fifties, and has an average of 32.40, and a strike rate of 84.81. He has been expanding his game in other formats, however. He has hit two Test hundreds in just three innings this year, and his most-recent T20I knock was an outstanding 107 off 58 balls against India. If the surfaces in Rawalpindi are on the flatter side, Nissanka may be a serious force.
Asia’s rivalries are packed with machismo and cheap political posturing these days, but one that continues to buck the trend is the Sri Lanka-Pakistan relationship. In their match in the Asia Cup, Abrar Ahmed mimicked Hasaranga’s wicket celebration (which Hasaranga had himself pinched from football player Neymar Jr.), and Hasaranga mimicked Abrar’s wicket celebration in return. Although this had the potential to turn tense, the players met after the match, and were seen animatedly bro-ing out together (this is the scientific term).
That clip of them shaking hands and half-embracing then became a little piece of viral “brotherhood” content, in an otherwise acrimonious and shameful Asia Cup. The general vibe of Pakistan vs Sri Lanka fixtures over the last 15 years has been that although there can be on-field altercations, the tension seems to almost invariably give way to off-field cuteness.
[Cricinfo]
Spanish police have seized what is thought to be a national record haul of cocaine from a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Between 30,000 to 45,000kg were found when the Civil Guard intercepted a freighter in international waters, the body’s main union, the AUGC, announced. It called the move a “historic blow to drug trafficking”.
The vessel was intercepted off Spain’s Canary Islands on Friday and around 20 people were arrested, the AUGC told the AFP news agency. It had travelled from Sierra Leona and was on its way to Libya.
The Civil Guard has declined to give details of the investigation for legal reasons.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Madrid that the seizure was “one of the biggest, not only nationally but internationally”.
The Civil Guard shared a photograph on X showing the drugs stuffed into the hold of the intercepted vessel.
“Today history is being written in the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard,” it wrote.
“Intercepted in international waters the largest known seizure: between 30,000 and 45,000 kg of cocaine on board a freighter.”
While the boat was headed to Libya, AFP reported that the pattern of previous operations suggests that it was due to offload the drugs onto smaller vessels for distribution in Europe.
In January, Spanish authorities made its biggest seizure of cocaine at sea from a ship that was carrying almost 10 tonnes.
[BBC]
Three people have died and a UK national is seriously ill in hospital after a suspected hantavirus outbreak on a small cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The operator of the MV Hondius ship, tour company Oceanwide Expeditions, said a Dutch husband and wife, as well as a German national, had died but the cause has not yet been established.
However, the Dutch company said hantavirus has been confirmed in the case of the 69-year-old UK national who is in intensive care in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Hantavirus is usually passed to humans from rodents via their faeces, saliva or urine. It can cause severe respiratory illness. Rarely, it can be transmitted between people.
The MV Hondius vessel is currently off the coast of Cape Verde and has 149 people onboard.
Oceanwide Expeditions said there were also two crew members on board “with acute respiratory symptoms, one mild and one severe”.
They were of British and Dutch nationality and both required urgent medical care, it said. It said it had not been established that hantavirus had been confirmed in the pair. And it added that no other persons with symptoms had been identified.
Negotiations are in progress with local authorities following what Oceanwide Expeditions described as “a serious medical situation”.
Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa’s minister of health, said of the British patient that he was critical and had been admitted to a private facility.
“He’s being taken care of. As you know, hantavirus, like all viruses, don’t have any specific treatment, so they are giving symptomatic treatment and support as much as they could.”
He said health workers and anyone who had contact with the patient would now be traced and tested.
Outlining a timeline, the company said a passenger had become unwell while onboard and died on 11 April.
His cause of death could not be determined, and his body was taken off the ship after it docked at St Helena on 24 April.
The passenger’s wife also disembarked on St Helena and the firm said it was told she had become unwell during the return journey and later died.
“At this time, it has not been confirmed that these two deaths are connected to the current medical situation on board,” it added.
On 27 April, the firm said, another passenger – the British national – became seriously ill and was “medically evacuated” to South Africa.
The 69-year-old remains in a critical but stable condition in Johannesburg after it was confirmed a variant of hantavirus had been identified.
The firm added that on Saturday, a third passenger onboard MV Hondius died.
The cause of death has not been established, Oceanwide Expeditions said. It confirmed the passenger was German.
Oceanwide Expeditions said the cause of the deaths were being investigated.
“The disembarkation of passengers, medical evacuation and medical screening require permission from, and co-ordination with, the local health authorities,” it said. “Local health authorities have visited the vessel and assessed the situation.
“The medical transfer of the two ill persons on board has not yet taken place.”
It added that the option of sailing on to Las Palmas or Tenerife was being considered “to be the gateway for disembarkation, where further medical screening and handling could take place”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was “acting with urgency” to support the MV Hondius, and thanked South African authorities for taking care of the British patient.
WHO’s regional director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P Kluge, said: “I am in close contact with our teams to ensure a co-ordinated, science-based response.
“Hantavirus infections are uncommon and usually linked to exposure to infected rodents.
“While severe in some cases, it is not easily transmitted between people. The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions.”
According to the South African government, MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia in southern Argentina about three weeks ago, before it completed its journey to Cape Verde, where it is anchored outside the capital, Praia.
It is described as a 107.6m (353ft) polar cruise ship, with space for 170 passengers in 80 cabins, along with 57 crew members, 13 guides and one doctor.
One passenger onboard the MV Hondius, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC: “The latest word is that a plane is on its way and once it gets here three people will be evacuated from the ship and flown straight to Europe.
“Then the rest of us will almost certainly sail to the Canary Islands.
“The Cape Verde authorities clearly want nothing to do with us. This is what we’re hearing from the captain and staff. From what I can see the mood (on the ship) is pretty good.
“Only one person has been tested (the one now in South Africa) and he tested positive for hantavirus. So, we don’t actually know yet if the other cases are that or something unrelated.
“If they are all hantavirus then the transmission is a bit mysterious. We’ve been informed that there are no rodents on board, and person-to-person transmission is difficult/rare.
“Hopefully the other patients on board will be tested soon and then we’ll know better what’s going on.”
President of the Cape Verdean Public Health Institute, Maria Da Luz, said passengers would not be disembarking in Cape Verde in order to protect the local population, Cape Verde’s media outlet A Nacao reports.
Oceanwide Expeditions said strict precautionary measures were in process on board, including isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.
“All passengers have been informed and are being supported,” it said.
“Oceanwide Expeditions is in close contact with those directly involved and their families, and is providing support where possible.”
Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles told the BBC the time between people being exposed to hantavirus and showing symptoms could be anywhere from one to eight weeks.
“With this incubation period are we going to see more people coming down with the disease in the next days and weeks?”
The UK Foreign Office told the BBC it was monitoring reports, and ready to support British nationals.
Hantavirus was in the headlines last year after the wife of Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman died from a respiratory illness linked to hantavirus in March 2025.
[BBC]
President Donald Trump says the US struck seven Iranian “fast boats” after vowing to help stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command (Centcom) says it has used helicopters to destroy Iranian small boats. “Earlier today, Sea Hawk and U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters were used to eliminate Iranian small boats threatening commercial shipping”, Centcom writes in a social media update.
Iran’s military said it fired warning shots at American warships. The US Central Command denies a claim in Iranian state media that Iranian missiles hit a US destroyer.
Meanwhile, the US says Navy destroyers and US-flagged merchant ships have sailed through the waterway, with Iran claiming this is “entirely false”.
Shipping company Maersk has told the BBC that one of its US-flagged commercial vessels has successfully exited the Strait of Hormuz under US military protection.
In a statement, Maersk says the transit was “completed without incident, and all crew members are safe and unharmed”.
The ‘Alliance Fairfax’, it says, had been unable to leave the Gulf since February 2026, when conflict between Iran and the US began. Maersk says it was contacted by the US military and offered support. After the “development of a comprehensive security plan”, the vessel was cleared to leave, according to the statement.
The shipping company says the ship then exited the Gulf “accompanied by US military assets” and thanks them for their “professionalism and effective coordination” in making the operation possible.
Elsewhere, the UAE says it is defending itself against “missile and drone attacks originating from Iran” – Tehran has yet to comment
[BBC]
Spain seizes record amount of cocaine in Atlantic Ocean, authorities say
Three dead in suspected virus outbreak on Atlantic cruise ship
US strikes seven Iranian boats, Trump says, as tensions spike in Strait of Hormuz
Rohit and Rickelton power Mumbai Indians to crucial win over rock-bottom Lucknow Super Giants
Heat Index at Caution Level in the Northern, North-central, North-western and Eastern provinces and in Hambantota and Monaragala districts during the day time
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‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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