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India, New Zealand battle for Group A supremacy

Published

1 year ago

2025/03/1

Priyan

Shreyas Iyer will be key to India's chances against spin in the middle overs. [Cricbuzz]

In a telling remark about Indian cricket last year, Stephen Fleming had said: “Looking at the amount of talent that is on the show… I am very jealous.” The former New Zealand skipper was comparing the talent in India with the resources in New Zealand. He was reminded that New Zealand still constantly manage to beat India in global events. He just shrugged it off with a laugh.

It is no laughing matter, of course. The numbers speak for themselves. A 5-10 record in global tournaments, including a win in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, skews the balance heavily in the favour of the Black Caps. New Zealand also triumphed in the only face-off in this competition, back in the final of the ICC Knockout 2000. Sunday’s clash in the 2025 Champions Trophy will not affect qualification – both teams are already through – but it’ll decide which of these teams finish top of Group A and carry momentum with them into the knockouts.

There may be an underlying reason for New Zealand’s dominance despite the lack of resources. Without the pressure of constant competition, the Kiwis play with a sense of security – they don’t have to prove themselves every day to retain their spots, something KL Rahul touched upon ahead of the game. “There is – I won’t lie,” Rahul admitted, acknowledging the constant competition with Rishabh Pant, on Friday.

Mike Hesson, former coach of New Zealand, gave his take to Cricbuzz on the Black Caps hegemony. “Look, New Zealand players are really well-drilled, very well-coached. They all know their roles very clearly because there’s not a huge amount of competition. They all know that they’re not playing for their place every day. So they understand what’s required to win the game, and they play as a team. And I think that’s a huge advantage in tournament play.

“You don’t get overawed. And in terms of, you know, India’s superiority, obviously they’ve got a lot of talented players, but so do New Zealand… so I wouldn’t underestimate them. And as I said, the key part of the Black Caps’ success is understanding the role definitions and playing as a team on the field, obviously, throwing their body on the line in the field. So they’ve pretty much outfielded everybody, and I would imagine they’ll do the same in the semifinal.”

India, though, can count a victory in their last meeting on the world stage as a positive. They registered a convincing, comprehensive and clinical win in the semifinals of the 2023 World Cup in Mumbai where all in the current top order – Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul – fired. India will aim to repeat that imperious display on Sunday.

India may try to give some game time to those who haven’t played yet. Rohit batted for a long time on Friday night alleviating concerns of a hamstring niggle, yet it may not be a surprise if he decides to rest himself. Mohammed Shami, coming from a knee surgery, and Kuldeep Yadav could be given a break for Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy.

“I am sure there will be some temptation and we have been in these positions before where if there is an opportunity where you can try out the players who haven’t gotten games. They do get a game, but I don’t know if that will happen in a Champions Trophy,” Rahul said on Friday. He then added: “This is my version. I don’t know, it might be very different tomorrow.”

It is unlikely that it’ll be very different from what Rahul thinks.

India may opt to make a couple of changes, though it remains unclear whether they will rest skipper Rohit Sharma. The captain is nursing a hamstring injury, but he appeared to be fine on Friday night after batting for an extended period. Mohammed Shami could make way for Arshdeep Singh, with Varun Chakravarthy potentially coming in for Kuldeep Yadav.

The already-qualified Black Caps too will be tempted to give players carrying niggles a breather before the knockouts. That said, Daryl Mitchell, is fit again after missing the Bangladesh game with illness. Who he replaces in the XI will be a dilemma for Santner and Stead given the player who replaced Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, hit a fine hundred. Incidentally, Ravindra, who was injured before his return against Bangladesh, was replaced by Will Young, who also has a century in this tournament

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy

New Zealand Playing XI: Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, William O’Rourke.

[Cricbuzz]

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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and Galle and Matara districts

Published

22 mins ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 12.30 noon 12 March 2026 valid for the period until 11.00 p.m. 12 March 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts after 2.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav among ESPNcricinfo award winners for 2025

Published

32 mins ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

We're all winners here: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues won big in 2025 [Cricinfo]

India’s players swept all the women’s categories in ESPNcricinfo’s annual awards for individual performances in 2025, reflecting a year in which the team won their first World Cup title.

While Jemimah Rodrigues won the women’s ODI batting honours for her awe-inspiring, cramp-battling century that knocked Australia out of the World Cup. Deepti Sharma grabbed the ODI bowling award for her match turning five for in the final against South Africa. And Harmanpreet Kaur took the captain’s award for winning the world title and for sealing white-ball series (ODIs and T20Is) in England and winning her second WPL title with Mumbai Indians. Her title clinching 66in the WPL final against Delhi Capitals took the women’s T20 leagues batting award.

South Africa Women had to deal with the bitter heartbreak of losing yet another World Cup final, but the men, who for long fell agonizingly short of the big prizes, took home the World Test Championship, eating Australia by five wickets in the final at Lord’s. They were rewarded by our jurors too:Aiden Markram won the Test batting award for his epic fourth-innings hundred in that final, while Temba Bavuma, who made a vital 66 while nursing a hamstring injury during that chase, was picked as the men’s captain of the year for leading his side to the WTC mace, to a sweep of India in Tests in India, and for ODI series wins in Australia and England.

Fast bowler Marco Jansen, one of the bowling architects of South Africa’s 2-0 win in India, narrowly lost the Test bowling award to the incandescent Mitchell Starc, who decimated England with 7 for 58 in Perth on the opening day of the Ashes.

Another seven-for took the men’s T20 leagues bowling award: Taskin Ahmed’s 7 for 19 fro Durbar Rajshahi against Dhakar Capital in the BPL. The batting prize in that category went to Hobart Hurricanes opener Mitchell Owen, whose 39 ball century against Sydney Thunder – which equalled the tournament record for the fastest hundred – took his side to their maiden BBL title.

The women’s T20 leagues bowling award, like the one for batting, also came against Delhi Capitals in the WPL: 21-year-old UP Warriorz fast bowler Kranti Gaud, in her first season, took 4 for 25, including the wickets of Rodrigues, Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma.

The Champions Trophy was the headline event in men’s cricket in 2025 and the winning ODI performances came from that tournament: in Lahore, Ibrahim Zadran broke records for the highest individual score for Afghanistan in ODIs and for the highest score in the Champions Trophy overall with his majestic 177, which knocked England out of the tournament. The ODI bowling award was picked up by India legspinner Varun Chakravarthy who took 5 for 42 against New Zealand in Dubai, where a week later India won the Champions Trophy.

Six months later, at the same ground, India also won the T20 Asia Cup. In the final against Pakistan, the dismantler-in-chief was our men’s T20I bowling award winner, another legspinner, Kuldeep Yadav, who took 4 for 30, including three wickets in his final over.

The men’s T20I batting award went to England’s Phil Salt, whose 141 not out off 60 balls against South Africa at Old Trafford was not only England’s fastest T20I hundred, but also their highest individual score in the format; and it took them to their highest team total – 304.

Australian allrounder Beau Webster, who scored four half-centuries, including a series-sealing one in his first Test, in Sydney against India, and took eight wickets in seven Tests, was named the men’s debutant of the year. The women’s debutant award went to India fast bowler N Shree Charani who showed remarkable temperament at the age of 20 to pick up a four for on T20I debut in England. She went on to take 14 wickets in the ODI World Cup, second highest for India after Deepti.

Charani, like Harmanpreet, won two awards. Her other one, for women’s T20I bowling, came for her four wickets against England at Trent Bridge, in a match where opener Smriti Mandhana’s maiden T20I hundred played a vital role in setting up India’s win. Mandhana won the women’s T20I batting award for that performance.

The men’s Associate batting award went to Max O’Dowd for masterminding Netherlands’ 370-run chase – the third-highest successful one in all ODIs -against Scotland in Dundee. His 158 not out came off only 130 balls and trumped George Munsey’s 191 in the same match. The men’s Associate bowling award was picked up by seamer Harry Manenti, whose 5 for 31 against Scotland in the qualifier in The Hague, played a big role in Italy qualifying for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

THE JURY : Ian Bishop, Sambit Bal, Shane Bond, Aakash Chopra, Andrew Fernando, Andy Flower, Nagraj Gollapudi, Mohammad Isam, Isobel Joyce, Raunak Kapoor, Nick Knight, Farveez Maharoof, Andrew McGlashan, Andrew Miller, Sidharth Monga, Tom Moody, Firdose Moonda, Urooj Mumtaz, Vernon Philander, Matt Roller, Osman Samiuddin, Dale Steyn

[Cricinfo]

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Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere

Published

1 hour ago

2026/03/12

Priyan

The two Van Allen Probes were launched in 2012 [BBC]

A Van Allen Probe spacecraft weighing more than 1,300lb (600kg) is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere almost 14 years after its launch, Nasa says.

The spacecraft is projected to re-enter around 19:45 EDT (23:45 GMT) on Tuesday the US Space Force predicted, according to Nasa, though there is a 24-hour margin of “uncertainty” in the timing.

The Van Allen Probe A, which launched in 2012, is expected mostly to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, though some components may survive.

The space agency said there is a one in 4,200 chance of being harmed by a piece of the probe, which it characterised as “low” risk.

The spacecraft and its twin, Van Allen Probe B, were on a mission to gather unprecedented data on Earth’s two permanent radiation belts.

It was not immediately clear where in Earth’s atmosphere the satellite is projected to re-enter. The BBC has contacted Nasa for further detail.

Nasa and the US Space Force have said they will monitor the re-entry and update any predictions.

The mission, which was originally designed to last two years, went on for almost seven. It ended after the spacecrafts ran out of fuel and were no longer able to orient themselves toward the Sun.

The probes flew through rings of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field from 2012 to 2019, in order to study how particles were gained and lost, per Nasa.

Those rings, called the Van Allen belts, shield Earth from cosmic radiation, solar storms and streaming solar wind, which are harmful to humans and can damage technology.

The mission made significant discoveries, including the first data that show the existence of a transient third radiation belt, which can form during times of intense solar activity, Nasa said.

Van Allen Probe B is not expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere before 2030.

[BBC]