Sports
Tanzid scores half-century on T20I debut to lead Bangladesh to victory
Bangladesh’s bowlers set up a comfortable eight-wicket victory in the first T20 against Zimbabwe by dismissing the visitors for 124 in Chattogram. Rain interrupted the chase twice, but debutant Tanzid Hasan remained unbeaten, steering his team to victory in just 15.2 overs with 67 off 47 balls.
Tanzid got into Bangladesh’s T20I side on the back of a strong BPL season and struck two sixes and eight fours in his innings. He was only the second Bangladesh batter – after Junaid Siddique in 2007 – to score a half-century on T20I debut.
Zimbabwe’s 124 was their lowest total against Bangladesh – the previous low was 131 in 2015 – but it could have been lower after they slipped to 41 for 7. Taskin Ahmed and the returning Mohammad Saifuddin took three wickets each while Mahedi Hasan bowled economically for his two scalps.
Zimbabwe’s innings had got off to a bright start. 20-year-old Brian Benett struck Shoriful Islam for three consecutive boundaries in the third over after senior batter Craig Ervine had fallen in the previous one. Bennett’s first boundary was a cover drive, the second a ramp past third man, and the third a well-timed punch off the back foot through cover. But that bright start was short-lived.
Taskin Ahmed’s first over, full of 140 kph-plus deliveries, was an omen for Zimbabwe’s next half hour. Bennett and debutant Joylord Gumbie struggled to connect with most of his deliveries, but the next dismissal was a soft one against Mohammad Saifuddin. Gumbie swivelled awkwardly at a poor delivery down the leg-side and gave Taskin a simple catch at short fine-leg.
Bennett was run out first ball of the sixth over, and then Mahedi Hasan dismissed Zimbabwe’s captain Sikandar Raza for a golden duck. Raza’s attempt at a lap sweep resulted in him gloving a catch to slip. Three wickets had fallen off three balls, and then Taskin dismissed Sean Williams and Ryan Burl with the first two deliveries of the seventh over. When Saifuddin got Juke Jongwe out for 2, Zimbabwe had gone from 36 for 1 to 41 for 7 in 17 balls.
Clive Madande was Zimbabwe’s last recognised batter and he found support in Wellington Masakadza. They rotated strike regularly as Bangladesh eased the pressure for a little while. The pair added 75 runs, Zimbabwe’s highest partnership for the eighth wicket in T20Is. It nearly broke the all time record of 80. Madande struck six fours in his 39-ball 43, while Masakadza made his highest T20I score, hitting 34 off 38 balls.
Blessing Muzarabani gave Zimbabwe the perfect start to the defence of 124 when he got his second ball to scissor through Litton Das’ forward press. Litton’s white-ball misery continued with scores of 0, 36, 7, 0, 0 and now 1 in 2024.
In his next over though, Muzarabani first collided with wicketkeeper Gumbie when Tanzid had skied a catch. The ball was high above the batter himself but Muzarabani wandered close to the advancing Gumbie, before the wicketkeeper dropped the catch as they collided.
Later in the over, Bennett dropped a sitter at cover off Tanzid, who was on 4 at the time. In Muzarabani’s next over, Tanzid smashed two sixes and a four through midwicket to exacerbate the bowler’s disappointment.
It took Tanzid 14 balls to score his first boundary on T20I debut, but once he laid into Muzarabani in the sixth over, the left-hander looked more at ease. After the second rain break, Tanzid struck a couple of fours off Luke Jongwe, and another pair got him close to his fifty.
Bangladesh lost Najmul Hossain Shanto in the tenth over for 21, but Tanzid enjoyed some more luck. He got a third life when Gumbie dropped him for a second time on 56. Towhid Hridoy struck Ainsley Ndlovu, who had come on as a concussion sub for Masakadza, for 15 runs in his first over. Hridoy remained not out on 33 off 18 balls, as Tanzid struck the winning runs with 28 balls to spare in the chase.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 126 for 2 (Tanzid Hasan 67*, Towhid Hridoy 33*; Blessing Muzarbani 1-31, Luke Jongwe 1-14) beat Zimbabwe 124 in 20 overs (Clive Madande 43, Wellington Masakadza 34; Mahedi Hasan 2-16, Taskin Ahmed 3-14, Mohammad Saifuddin 3-15) by eight wickets wickets
(Cricinfo)
The Sri Lanka Air Force [SLAF] Men’s Judo Team emerged overall champions in the Men’s Category at the 62nd National Judo Championship organized by the Sri Lanka Judo Association, reclaiming the prestigious title for the first time since 2014.
The championship was held from 30 January to 01 February 2026 at the Indoor Stadium of the Ministry of Sports, Sri Lanka, with the awards ceremony conducted at the same venue on 01 February 2026.
The awards ceremony was graced by Air Commodore Manoj Galappaththi, Chairman of SLAF Judo, Group Captain MADCI Gunasinghe, Secretary of SLAF Judo, and Wing Commander HDTNS Hettiarachchi, Assistant Secretary of SLAF Judo, along with several senior officers representing the tri-services.
The SLAF Men’s Judo Team secured the overall championship in the Men’s Category with a medal tally of six gold medals, three silver medals and six bronze medals.
Meanwhile, the SLAF Women’s Judo Team delivered a commendable performance to secure the Overall Runners-up position in the Women’s Category, winning four gold medals, four silver medals and six bronze medals.
Further highlighting the SLAF’s success, Sergeant Chamara Dharmawardana was adjudged the ‘Best Male Judo Player’ for the ninth consecutive year, continuing a notable record in Sri Lankan Judo. In recognition of emerging talent, Mr. Wipulaweera was awarded the ‘Emerging Player of the Year’ in the Men’s Category, while Leading Aircraftwoman Yapa YMMM received the ‘Emerging Player of the Year’ in the Women’s Category award. In addition, Leading Aircraftman Hansamal KST was recognized as the ‘Best Ippon Player’ of the championship.
Summary of results
Gold Medalists
Mr. Wipulaweera (66 Kg)
Sergeant Darmawardana RCN (73 Kg)
Leading Aircraftman Hansamal KST (81 kg)
Leading Aircraftman Osman MI (Over 70 kg)
Sergeant Darmawardana RCN (Open Event-Men )
Leading Aircraftwoman Yapa YMMM (57 Kg)
Leading Aircraftman Samaraweera HVPCSD (63 Kg)
Leading Aircraftman Wickramasinghe RMSP (Over 78 Kg)
Team Event (Mix)
Sergeant Darmawardana RCN
Leading Aircraftman Osman MI
Leading Aircraftman Hansamal KST
Leading Aircraftwoman Upamali IR
Leading Aircraftwoman Bandara BGNK
Sergeant Lakshani MGU
Silver Medalists
Leading Aircraftman Arachchi WAASW (73 Kg)
Corporal Mahesh TP (90 Kg)
Leading Aircraftman Hansamal KST (Open Event -Men)
Leading Aircraftman Premalal UKGAN (44 Kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Bandara BGNK (52 Kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Upamali IR (70 Kg)
Sergeant Lakshani MGU (Over 78 Kg)
Bronze Medalists
Leading Aircraftman Madushanka RMSL (50 kg)
Leading Aircraftman Weerasinghe RSN (55 Kg)
Mr. Wipulaweera (60 kg)
Corporal Kumara SD (81 kg)
Corporal Abesinghe KGCK (Under 100kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Priyanthi S (48 Kg)
Aircraftwoman Rupasinghe DGITS (48 Kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Senarathna JASS (52 Kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Chathurangani BAI (63 kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Deumini TML (78 Kg)
Leading Aircraftwoman Upamali IR (Open Event- Women)
Corporal Kumara SD (Open Event – Men)
A home series against England was meant to be the ideal dress rehearsal, a chance for Sri Lanka to oil the wheels and gather momentum ahead of the World Cup starting later this week. Instead, the campaign has gone awfully wrong. Plenty of promise, precious little substance. Bar the lone victory in the opening ODI, the hosts have spent the white-ball leg chasing shadows, the ODI series defeat a bitter pill and the T20I whitewash a full-blown reality check. Sri Lanka’s frailties against spin were already an open secret; this series merely put them under a brighter spotlight, throwing up more questions than answers.
Handing three wickets in an over to a part-timer like Jacob Bethell is the sort of generosity normally reserved for charity matches. Failing to hunt down 129 on surfaces the batting unit has been reared on, rank turners that should feel like home cooking, tells its own grim tale.
The malaise is rooted in mindset. Too many batters are reaching for the glory shot, swinging from the heels when the situation demands nudges into gaps, hard yards between the wickets and a willingness to play the waiting game.
Cricket, after all, is not always about clearing the ropes; sometimes it is about milking the bowling and letting the scoreboard tick over. Unless these rough edges are sanded down, Sri Lanka risk walking into the World Cup with the same old cracks papered over.
Recent T20 World Cups have been a sobering reminder of how far the side has drifted. A meek first-round exit last time and the indignity of qualifying rounds before that should have set alarm bells ringing. Yet, carrying largely the same cast into a fourth successive global event, the team continues to tread water, repeating errors like a stuck record rather than turning the page.
One positive has been the improved handling of injuries that once felled key players at the worst moments, but elsewhere the repair job remains half-finished.
The biggest question mark hovers over captain Dasun Shanaka. A skipper struggling to read the wrong’un, let alone steer a chase, can quickly become dead weight. His elevation came out of the blue and the warning signs were there from day one, but they were waved away. Cricket, like life, has a habit of punishing stubbornness, and Sri Lanka are discovering that harsh truth the hard way.
Rex Clementine at Pallekele
India’s explosive batting juggernaut rolled on to the doorstep of the men’s T20 World Cup 2026, helping them beat South Africa by 30 runs in the warm-up fixture at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The margin of defeat only reduced because of two overs of 22 and 20 against Shivam Dube at the death.
Opting to bat at a ground which saw teams preferring to chase in the first leg of WPL 2026, Ishan Kishan got India off to an explosive start. He rollicked to a 20-ball 53, which included a sequence of 6, 6, 4, 6 in the fifth over from Anrich Nortje, before retiring out as India finished the powerplay on 83 for 1. Tilak Varma, who played the warm-up for India A a couple of nights ago at the same venue and linked up with the Indian squad just before this warm-up game, looked fluent from get-go in his 19-ball 45.
Suryakumar Yadav as well as Hardik Pandya later freed their arm without inhibition as India posted a mammoth 240 for 5. Nortje, who has played just one international since the last T20 World Cup, conceded 57 in his three overs on the night, after his comeback game against West Indies last week also gave him figures of 3-0-59-0. Kagiso Rabada, too, was expensive, going for 44 off his three overs.
For South Africa, Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton added 65 in just five overs in the powerplay. Markram hit four sixes in his 19-ball 38 while Rickelton, batting at No. 3, made 44 off 21. But they kept losing wickets regularly and had lost half their side by the 11th over.
Jason Smith, Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen kept peppering the boundaries to punish Abhishek Sharma and then Dube but the challenge was too steep by then.
Brief scores:
India 240 for 5 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 53, Tilak Varma 45, Axar Patel 35*; Marco Jansen 1-18) beat South Africa 210 for 7 in 20 overs (Tristan Stubbs 45*, Ryan Rickelton 44, Aiden Markram 38, Jason Smith 35; Abhishek Sharma 2-32) by 30 runs
[Cricinfo]
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