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Wellalage, Asalanka headline Sri Lanka’s spin ambush
On a sluggish surface with sharp turn and variable bounce, Sri Lanka’s spinners led by young Dunith Wellalage made merry to bundle out India for an underwhelming total of 213. The left-arm spinner snared the first five wickets to fall and the part-time spin of Charith Asalanka accounted for four scalps as India’s innings was derailed by the spin choke.
The start was contrastingly different as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had gotten India off to another strong start in the first PowerPlay. In hindsight, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka possibly erred by bowling just two overs of spin in the first ten overs. The overs from the seamers were wayward and it allowed Rohit in particular to get off to a flier. The Indian captain looked in ominous touch and stroked a typically effortlessly six to bring up 10000 ODI runs, thereby becoming the second fastest to achieve the feat in the format.
At 80/0, it seemed like India were cruising towards posting yet another big score in the tournament. Things changed dramatically on the introduction of Wellalage who exploited the surface from the get-go with his disciplined approach. He stuck to the basics and bowled wicket-to-wicket, leaving the rest to the pitch. And the track did respond as he cleaned up Gill with a ripper in his very first over. Virat Kohli fell shortly, chipping a dolly to short mid-wicket while Rohit was undone by a slider that kept very low. From 80/0, they had fallen to 91/3. It was just the beginning.
KL Rahul looked confident after his comeback century in the previous game and started positively. He was probably the only batter who looked comfortable against Wellalage but the latter had the last laugh, forcing Rahul to gift the simplest of return catches. Ishan Kishan never looked in and had a very scratchy innings in the middle. Seeing the amount of turn on a slowing surface, Shanaka brought on more spin. Dhananjaya de Silva got some overs and Asalanka also was given a chance to roll his arm over.
Wellalage duly completed his fifer by producing a peach to sign off his spell, Hardik Pandya the victim. Asalanka followed up the good work with more disciplined bowling as India kept losing wickets. If not for Axar Patel’s cameo at the end and his 27-run last-wicket stand with Mohammed Siraj, India would have fallen well below the 200-run mark. Asalanka had a chance of picking up the second fifer of the game but he wasn’t given a tenth over. Maheesh Theekshana duly picked up the final wicket to close out the innings. There was a slight rain delay after 47 overs but no overs were lost on resumption.
This is the first instance of India losing all their ten wickets in an ODI to spinners.
Brief scores:
India 213 in 49.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 53; Dunith Wellalage 5-40, Charith Asalanka 4-18) vs Sri Lanka
(Cricbuzz)
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Showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva and Southern provinces and in Anuradhapura district
WEATHER FORECAST FOR 08 OCTOBER 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 08 October 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
Misty conditions can be expected at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces and in Galle and Matara districts during the early hours of the morning.
Showers or thundershowers will occur in the most part of the island after 1.00 p.m. Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva and Southern provinces and in Anuradhapura district.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Former first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, wife of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was produced before the Hulftsdorp court, after being arrested by officers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and produce
Smriti Mandhana has been named India’s all-format women’s captain on the same day Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down from the role after nearly a decade since she first took over.
Mandhana – vice-captain to Harmanpreet for much of this period – has previously led India in four ODIs and 18 T20Is, apart from captaining Maharashtra in domestic cricket and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women’s Premier League.
Mandhana’s first assignment will be the limited-overs series against Zimbabwe beginning with the three T20Is in Raipur from October 16. On Tuesday, Mandhana was part of the selection meeting chaired by Amita Sharma to pick the squad for the tour.
Terming the appointment a “special honour”, Mandhana also acknowledged the contributions of her predecessor in her welcome note.
“I would also like to acknowledge Harmanpreet and the contribution she has made as captain over the years,” she was quoted as saying by the BCCI. “She has led the team with great commitment and has been an important part of our journey.
“I understand the responsibility that comes with this role and look forward to working with the team, learning along the way and giving my best to take Indian cricket forward.”
Mandhana’s appointment comes on the back of a review meeting held on Monday in Guwahati. Chaired by secretary Devajit Saikia, the meeting was also attended by Mandhana, Harmanpreet and head coach Amol Muzumdar to chart a roadmap forward, with an eye on next year’s inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy in February as well as the T20 World Cup and Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Mandhana, India’s best all-format batter, has been knocking on the doors for a while. Earlier this year, she led RCB to their second WPL title, in which she also top-scored in the final.
In September, she overtook Mithali Raj to become the leading run-scorer in women’s international across formats. Her 18 international hundreds are also the most in women’s cricket. She is also the first Indian woman to score centuries in all formats.
[Cricinfo]
Showers or thundershowers will occur in most part of the island after 1.00 p.m.
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