Sports

Horse had bolted by the time we figured Sri Lanka out in 1996 – Azhar

Published

2 years ago

2023/08/6

Thilina Walpola

Former Indian Test captain Mohammad Azharuddin with a young fan in Colombo.

by Rex Clementine

Has there ever been a more memorable debut in cricket than that of Mohammad Azharuddin’s? Debuting against England in 1984 as a 21-year-old youngster Azhar completed three Test hundreds in his first three Test matches. They were not just hundreds but elegance all over. As Matthew Engel, the Editor of Wisden wondered, Azhar is the ‘Michelangelo in the midst of housepainters.’

Three hundreds in the first three Tests has been a feat that has never been matched before or after.

A couple of months after that memorable debut, India toured Sri Lanka. But Azhar failed to convert his early success during his first tour overseas – managing just 109 runs in six innings without a fifty. It was also the series where Sri Lanka recorded their maiden Test win.

“I don’t think we played well in that 1985 Test series. It was my fourth Test match and expectations were high for me, but I failed. It was a good learning experience. The wickets were different at that time. You had some very good fast bowlers – De Mel, Ahangama and the two Ratnayakes. They were very good exponents of swing bowling. For me it was a very new experience as I had not played on that kind of seaming wickets,” remembered Azhar.

Azhar remains immensely popular in Sri Lanka. You can safely say that more than Sachin, Kapil, Gavaskar or Dhoni, Azhar is Sri Lanka’s most loved cricketer. There are reasons for that.

Azhar’s career-best score was 199. He never made a double hundred. That 199 came against us. So how did he miss out on the double hundred? Well, he was given out leg before wicket to Ravi Ratnayake. Incidentally, the umpire was Azhar’s close friend from his hometown of Hyderabad – V.K. Ramaswamy.

There’s another reason to love Azhar. Mere days after the LTTE had bombed the Central Bank in 1996, Sri Lanka’s World Cup games were in jeopardy. Australia and West Indies pulled out. They either wanted the games played in India or points be given to them as Colombo was unsafe to host the matches, so they claimed.

Indian cricket supremo and master tactician Jagmohan Dalmiya was hard at work. He assembled a joint India – Pakistan team to play in Colombo to show their security concerns were a false alarm. Azhar had to lead the team. He did it without any hesitation and the nation of Sri Lanka embraced the Indian captain.

“We wanted to showcase that our Asian solidarity was strong. That sent a strong message across the cricketing world. I guess that made the nation of Sri Lanka to admire me more than my cricket. I had no problem doing it for Sri Lanka had been a place that I loved. The warmth of the people, the hospitality that everyone shows you and I just love being here. I must thank the players, especially the Pakistan captain at that time. Wasim Akram to play under the Indian captain must not have been easy,” Azhar recalled.

“Since that tour, I have realized how popular I am in Sri Lanka. There’s so much love and admiration by the Sri Lankans not only when I come here but when I visit other parts of the world as well.

For some reason, the Indian city of Hyderabad has produced some of that nation’s finest Test captains. There was M.L. Jaisimha in the 1960s followed by Tiger Pataudi in the 1970s. Then came Azhar in the 1990s.

“In Hyderabad what happens is when you are young and when you make an impact even at school level, they give you that responsibility of leading the side early in your career. So, you get opportunities early. Maybe that’s one reason why we have that trait. Personally, I was very shy of leading the side and more than happy to concentrate on my batting. As luck would have it, everything fell in a different way and I guess it was my destiny.”

As captain of India, could he have done things differently when his bowlers got a hiding during the 1996 World Cup. It was rare for Sri Lanka to beat India twice in their own backyard in the space of two weeks.

“They played differently to other teams. New Zealand had something similar in 1992, but they couldn’t go on. What happened in that 1996 World Cup was that by the time we drew up plans to stop Sri Lanka’s attacking style, most teams had been badly exposed,” Azhar explained.

“It was bold of them to adopt such an approach. But I guess when it didn’t work, they had the substance to do damage control and that proved to be the key to their success. Aravinda was unstoppable in that tournament. He put the bowling to the sword no matter how tricky the situation was. Mentally he was very strong and when he fiercely focused on something it was bad news for the opposition. Not to forget Sanath, who did so much damage and Sri Lanka were deserving winners.”

“Of course they were so well lead by Arjuna. It amazes me how even to date Arjuna has the love and affection of all his players. It’s similar to what Clive Lloyd gets from West Indies of the 1980s and what Ian Chappell receives from Australians of 1970s. You can’t be taught to inspire people. You have to be born a leader.’

Azhar was one player who was rarely troubled by Muttiah Muralitharan. His game plan was aggression. Blessed with supple wrists and superb footwork, he always dominated Murali.

“When you are playing bowlers of great repute and so much skill you have to be positive and creative. What Murali has done with 800 Test wickets and 500 ODI wickets is unbelievable. I admire him a lot. I had got out to him too but by and large I tried to attack him all the time. He was an attacking bowler. If you are playing bowlers who are defensive, you have the time at your hand. But against an attacking bowler, if you try to be defensive you are playing into his hands.

These have been troubled times for the national cricket team, but Azhar urges fans to be patient. “It hurts me to see the status of Sri Lankan cricket. But they have a young side. These guys will develop over time. Just be patient and keep backing them. They won the Asia Cup last year and they can only move forward. I hope they become consistent. I have no doubt about the talent in Sri Lanka, it’s the consistency that I would like to see.”

Azhar’s batting was magical, his captaincy was inspirational while he was India’s best fielder by some distance. He was stranded on 99 Test matches, unable to complete the milestone of 100 Tests as the match-fixing controversy broke out in 2000.

However, it didn’t take him much time to find his way back into cricket. He was elected as the President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association and he could go on to lead the powerful BCCI one day. He was also a Member of Parliament. For a man who has a fan base all over India, he didn’t contest from his hometown but went to the far-off Uttar Pradesh. He won the elections hands down from a constituency which the Congress Party hadn’t won in 25 years.

“The cricket elections is coming again on the 15th of this month and I am running. As for politics, I am the working President of Congress in Telangana state. Politics is a field where you have to dedicate a lot of time and I look forward to serving the party and my country again.”

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BCB’s integrity unit finds ‘credible suspicion’ during BPL

Published

12 hours ago

2026/01/12

Priyan

"Such measures are part of BCB's zero-tolerance policy and drive against corrupt cricketing activities" - BCB [Cricinfo]

The BCB’s integrity unit found “credible suspicion” during the ongoing BPL, which made them undertake “routine” operations, including questioning players and seizing mobile phones of franchise officials. According to a BCB press release on Sunday, the unit hasn’t put any player under investigation nor have they found anyone guilty thus far.

“As part of standard integrity procedures, several foreign players have been spoken to privately as witnesses in order to verify recruitment processes, contractual arrangements, and payment structures,” the BCB statement read. “Such meetings are confidential and preventive in nature, and do not imply that any player is under investigation or has already been found guilty.”

The statement follows Dhaka Capitals’ chief executive Atik Fahad accusing the integrity unit officers of barging into their batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz’z hotel room in Sylhet over the weekend. Fahad also suggested the mental toll on his players could force the franchise to rethink its participation in the future editions.

“The anti-corruption unit should have at least considered this before going to such a player, but this type of behaviour with a big player is something neither he can accept nor can we accept,” Fahad said during a press briefing. “Going into the room of a big foreign player – someone who is playing in the ILT20 and elsewhere – and creating trouble like that.

“If the management is not content mentally, if my players are not content, what better result can we expect? We are running the BPL while losing BDT 2-3 crore every year. On top of that, if we are mentally tortured like this, I don’t know how we can stay competitive or continue to operate a franchise. If this situation continues, we won’t have the courage to continue at all. I invest money, absorb losses, bring CSR funds from different companies, and then leave with humiliation. That is simply not possible.”

Players and officials of Noakhali Express were also reportedly questioned, though the franchise has said they have protested against the integrity unit officials’ behaviour.

The BCB, however, declared they have full confidence in the integrity unit’s process, as it has helped them reduce suspicious activities in the past.

“Such measures by the BCB IU [integrity unit] are part of BCB’s zero-tolerance policy and drive against corrupt cricketing activities,” a BCB statement said. “The BCB IU operates in accordance with the general processes under the prevailing anti-corruption code of the ICC. Therefore, there has been no violation of the rights of any player or franchisee personnel by the BCB IU team in any way.

“These preventive measures by the BCB IU have resulted in an approximately 80% reduction in alerts relating to suspicious activities. The BCB reiterates its zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, and remains firmly committed to protecting the credibility, transparency and reputation of the Bangladesh Premier League.”

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Devine’s 95 trumps Lee, Wolvaardt fifties in see-saw thriller

Published

12 hours ago

2026/01/12

Priyan

Sophie Devine missed out on a WPL hundred for the second time [BCCI]

Gujarat Giants (GG) put on a commanding 209 and would have thought they were well ahead when Delhi Capitals’ (DC) equation read 48 off 18. But Laura Wolvaardt turned things around – almost – for DC with a 19-run over to make it 29 off 12 and then seven from six. But GG turned the tables again when Sophie Devine , who had smashed a belligerent 95 off 42, removed the two set batters in the last over and conceded just two runs to snatch a four-run victory to help GG top the table.

GG’s second win in a row became DC’s second loss on the bounce and placed them at the bottom even though their batters buried the ghosts of being bundled for 145, under 24 hours before this game. The run-fest that swung wildly throughout at the DY Patil Stadium saw a total tally of 414 – the second highest in WPL – and was the second day in a row that GG posted a 200-plus total.

Their total could have been a lot more had DC not pulled things back through Nandani Sharma’s hat-trick after Devine’s demolition of the bowlers. DC, however, came agonisingly close, within seven runs of sealing the highest WPL chase. But Devine took the pace off the ball and the steam out of DC’s chase.

Devine came out all guns blazing and muscled the ball to all sides of the park as the DC bowlers failed to keep it outside her hitting arc. After a thick edge off her bat fell short of the keeper in the first over, Devine got going with a couple of fours in the next, off Chinelle Henry, and took off properly in the fourth by smashing Nandani for a 16-run over. The real damage came in the sixth over with the introduction of spin, when Devine smoked Sneh Rana for 32 in an over, which became the most expensive in WPL history.

After starting the over with two consecutive fours – the second nearly taken by a one-handed Marizanne Kapp at cover point – Devine bludgeoned Rana for four sixes, all on the leg side as the ball was aimed for the stumps again and again. By the time the over ended, Rana had lost her length so horribly that she bowled a full toss and Devine lapped it up for her fifth six, soon after her 25-ball fifty.

N Shree Charani and Henry managed to pull things back briefly by conceding just 15 off the next 14 balls and also sent back Beth Mooney, but there was no stopping Devine. She hammered another three sixes in four balls even as Charani took the pace off the ball and Devine raced into the 90s, looking set to become the first centurion of the tournament.

But Devine’s wait for a century continued; she had also scored 99 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru a couple of seasons ago. Nandani, who made her WPL debut on Saturday, sent down a back-of-the-hand variation which Devine top-edged behind the wicket and Charani, running back from short fine leg, hung on to a catch that nearly touched the sky before coming down. Charani got her second wicket when Rodrigues flung to her right at cover in the next over to send back Georgia Wareham and the promising Anushka Sharma soon holed out for 13.

Gardner then took charge after getting a life on 22, even as DC exposed GG’s inexperienced lower order, and peppered the boundary regularly. She went after both pace and spin alike before finding long-on to finish on a quick 49 off 26 before DC conceded just eight runs in the last two overs. GG suffered a collapse of 4 for 8 in the end with Nandani striking thrice in a row in the last over to take the fourth hat-trick and the first by an uncapped player in the WPL

Renuka Singh put down Lizelle Lee’s tough return catch on the second ball of the chase, and the DC opener showed how costly the drop was. She crashed the next ball through the covers and finished the over with a no-look six straight down the ground. She continued to pepper the boundary even as Shafali Verma struggled for rhythm. Though DC’s powerplay score read 47 for 1 compared to GG’s 80 for 0, Lee ensured they weren’t too far behind.

If Devine’s innings was about brute force, Lee combined her well-timed drives with the odd aerial shot to keep the run rate close to nine an over. She went 4, 4 and 6 against Wareham for her 33-ball fifty as Wolvaardt played second-fiddle with GG still needing 120 from the last 10. The equation became a lot stiffer when GG’s spinners conceded just 23 in the three overs after the halfway mark before Lee tore into Wareham again.

Wolvaardt was on 28 off 20 when Lee eventually found Devine at long-on for 86, which left DC to get 79 of 34. DC promoted the big-hitting Henry ahead of Jemimah Rodrigues and Kapp, but she also holed out after just one six. Rodrigues eventually walked out at No. 5 and crashed her first ball wide of long-on for a 17-run 16th over.

GG were still well ahead with the equation reading 60 off 24. Wolvaardt then used her long limbs to attack the spinners, especially going after Gardner in the 18th over when they needed 48 from 18. She often went straight down the ground when she had the length and otherwise found the gap square or through the covers to find the boundary regularly. After three fours and a six off Gardner, she dispatched Kashvee Gautam, who started the 19th over with two no-balls, for a six over midwicket which swung the game further for DC.

When Rodrigues ended the penultimate over by lofting Gautam over the covers, DC would have thought they had it in the bag with just seven to get from six. But Devine, who had earlier leaked 19 in two wicketless overs, first had Rodrigues glove one behind off a slower ball, kept Kapp to just one run off two balls, and then had Wolvaardt caught at deep midwicket with five to get off two. Rana walked out for the last ball and could’t even connect, and GG scraped through

Brief scores:
Gujarat Giants Women 209 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 19, Sophie Devine 95, Ashleigh Gardner 49, Anushka Sharma 13, Kashvee Gautam 14; Chinelle Henry 2-43, Nandani Sharma 5-33, Shree Charani 2-42, Shafali Verma 1-21) beat Delhi Capitals Women 205 for 5 in 20 overs (Lizelle Lee 86, Shafali Verma 14, Laura Wolvaardt 77, Jemimah Rodrigues 15; Kashvee Gautam 1-48, Sophie Devine 2-21, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2-34) by four runs

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Amaraweera cracks quickfire century

Published

14 hours ago

2026/01/12

Thilina Walpola

Jaden Amaraweera

Under 19 Cricket

During a weekend where no team went allout for an outright victory, Jaden Amaraweera’s unbeaten century and Abheeth Paranawidana’s six wicket haul were the individual highlights in the traditional Under 19 cricket matches worked off.

‎The Thomian players’ individual efforts came in their match aganst Wesley. With the match heading for a no decision, Amaraweera hammered an unbeaten 102 runs in just 78 balls. His knock included ten fours and seven sixes as the home team posted 144 for one at close. In the first innings, Paranawidana’s six wicket haul helped Thomians take a healthy first innings lead.

‎At Reid Avenue, Aveesha Samash missed a century by two runs as he became one of the five victims of Ramiru Perera in the first innings. Incidentally, the Joes stopped their first innings three runs behind the Royal total with three wickets remaining. But a result remained a distant reality.

‎There was no result at Ananda Mawatha as well despite thirtyone wickets falling.

‎Kithma Widanapathirana with ball and bat was the standout player for Ananda, while Dinul Wijesinghe and Ryan Gregory excelled for St. Anthony’s.

‎‎Match Results

‎‎Amaraweera scores century at Mount Lavinia

‎Scores

‎S. Thomas’ 292 in 79.6 overs (Jaden Amaraweera 39, Ludeesha Matarage 73, Aaron Kodituwakku 28, Reshon Soloman 56, Shanil Perera 33; Rashmika Amararatne 4/58, Rasheed Nahyan 2/54, Methnula Mayadunna 2/46) and 144 for 1 in 23.1 overs (Jaden Amaraweera 102n.o., Avinash Fernando 39)

‎Wesley 205 all out in 77.2 overs (Sehandu Athauda 55, Charana Malinbada 21, Lithum Senuja 31, Shamma Fernando 29, Kavindu Hettiarachachi 34; Abheeth Paranawidana 6/56, Reshon Soloman 2/20)

‎‎Royal 265, Joes 262/7 at Reid Avenue

‎‎Scores

‎Royal 265 all out in 78 overs (Hirun Liyanarachchi 28, Rehan Peiris 82, Yasindu Dissanayake 24, Manuth Dasanayaka 25, Shehandu Sooriyaarachchi 20n.o.; Nushan Perera 3/100, Vishwa Peiris 5/60) and 163 for 3 in 32 overs (Hirun Liyanarachchi 28, Udantha Gangewatta 36, Ramiru Perera 53n.o., Yasindu Dissanayake 37n.o.)

‎St. Joseph’s

262 for 7 decl. in 80 overs

‎ overs (Yenula Dantanarayana 30, Aveesha Samash 98, Dilpa Ruwanaka 55, Chamath Perera 21, Nushan Perera 29n.o.; Ramiru Perera 5/72)

‎‎St. Anthony’s 163, Ananda 151 at Ananda Mawatha

‎Scores

‎St. Anthony’s 163 all out in 68.2 overs (Praveen Gamage 21, Dinul Wijesinghe 65n.o., Ryan Gregory 21; Pasan Batugahage 2/22, Kithma Widanapathirana 3/58, Sharada Jayarathna 3/29) and 161 all out in 59 overs (Sanuka Kalpana 24, Sisal Hemaka 20, Sadew Amarakoon 28, Chamalka Gunathilake 28n.o.; Himira Kudagama 4/53, Kithma Widanapathirana 2/36, Sharada Jayarathna 2/35)

‎Ananda 151 all out in 40.2 overs (Kithma Widanapathirana 74; Ryan Gregory 4/52) and 14 for 1 in 3.3 overs‎