Sports

India series chance for Sri Lanka to solve some puzzles

Published

3 years ago

2023/01/2

Rex Clementine in Bombay

Under Chris Silverwood, the Sri Lankan team made many improvements in 2021 and while many applaud the victory in Asia Cup, a lot of people have ignored how well the team played against Australia.Not only did they win the ODI series but drew the Tests too. Given the hiding the Aussies are giving South Africa currently, it gives us a reminder how special that win in Galle was. A bit more ruthlessness would have given Sri Lanka a 2-0 series win.

Silverwood is a methodical coach and the biggest improvement the team has made under his charge is that fast bowlers are coming up with match winning performances.Winning the T-20 series against India that gets underway on Tuesday in Bombay obviously will be the priority of the team, but the bigger picture is next year’s T-20 World Cup in USA and Caribbean.

The national cricket team’s poor standing in T-20 cricket saw them playing back-to-back qualifying tournaments ahead of the last two T-20 World Cups but recent improvements in performance saw them qualifying automatically for the 2024 event.In leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga the team has a world class player and his performance will be key for Sri Lanka’s success. Maheesh Theekshana is an important member of the attack while it remains to be seen how the selectors will handle young Dunith Wellalage having surprised many by leaving him out of the World Cup squad.

Apart from his tidy left-arm spin, Wellalage is handy with the bat as he proved against Afghanistan with a cameo during the record run chase at Pallekele. He will turn 20 next week.Kasun Rajitha emerged as the leader of the attack in the absence of Dushmantha Chameera. Left-arm quick Dilshan Madushanka will be the player to watch during the series.

Sri Lanka have a settled top order in Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka, who have given the team some good starts last year. With Avishka Fernando returning to the side having missed the entire 2022 due to knee surgery, there’s even more stability in the top three. The middle order though remains a concern and the onus is on Dasun Shanaka, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dhananjahya de Silva to turn things around.

The second and third T-20s will be played in Pune and Rajkot. The team will move to eastern part of India with Guwahati and Calcutta hosting the first two ODIs and the southern city of Trivandrum hosting the final game.

All News Advertisement

Latest News

Sangakkara confirmed as Royals head coach and director of cricket

Published

6 hours ago

2025/11/17

Priyan

Kumar Sangakkara will perform the dual role of head coach and director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2026 with Vikram Rathour, batting coach last season, elevated to assistant coach.

As reported by Cricinfo in September, in Sangakkara’s case, the change in designation is a formality, since he had performed the two roles even in IPL 2025 after head coach Rahul Dravid and RR parted ways.

Sangakkara had previously served as the team’s head coach from 2021 to 2024, “a period that marked a clear rise in the team’s performance and consistency,” an RR statement said. While Sangakkara was in charge, RR reached the IPL final in 2022 and made the playoffs in IPL 2024.

“We are delighted to have Kumar return as head coach,” Manoj Badale, the franchise’s lead owner, said. “As we looked at what the team needed at this stage, we felt that his familiarity within the squad, his leadership and his deep understanding of the Royals culture would bring the right balance of continuity and stability.

“Kumar has always had our complete trust as a leader. His clarity, calmness and cricketing intelligence will play an important role in guiding the squad into this next phase.”

Along with Rathour’s promotion, the franchise also announced that Shane Bond would continue as the bowling coach, while Trevor Penney and Sid Lahiri will remain assistant coach and performance coach respectively.

“I’m honoured to return as head coach and continue working with this talented group,” Sangakkara said. “I’m also pleased to have a strong coaching team alongside me. Vikram, Trevor, Shane and Sid each bring valuable experience in their areas, and together we are focused on preparing the players in the best possible way.

“We have a clear understanding of where we want to go as a group, and our aim is to build a team that plays with clarity, resilience, and purpose.”

The team management group will, however, have a new captain to work with after RR released Sanju Samson in a trade deal with Chennai Super Kings, where they acquired Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, ahead of the next auction.

They have also released or traded out Nitish Rana, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Kunal Singh Rathore, Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga. And, along with Jadeja and Curran, have also traded in Donovan Ferreira from Delhi Capitals.

At the upcoming auction, they will have a purse of INR 16.05 crore and have nine slots, including one overseas, to fill.

[Cricinfo]

Latest News

Sri Lanka will play strong and smart from the start -Abdullah Al Mutairi

Published

9 hours ago

2025/11/17

Priyan

Sri Lanka National Football coach Abdullah Al Mutairi at the press briefing held today (17)

Sri Lanka’s national football coach Abdullah Al Mutairi addressing the media on the eve of the AFC Asia Cup qualifier against Thailand said that his team will play strong and smart from the very start .

The AFC CUP qualifier between Sri Lanka and Thailand will kick off at the Race Course Grounds in Colombo at 3.45p.m.on Tuesday (18)

Latest News

KKR release Andre Russell as big-name cuts set the tone for IPL mini auction

Published

18 hours ago

2025/11/17

Priyan

Russell headlines big-name cuts ahead of mini auction [Cricbuzz]

Kolkata Knight Riders made the most striking calls ahead of the IPL mini-auction, headlined by the release of Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer from their IPL 2025 roster. Russell’s exit brings an end to a long and influential stint for the West Indian all-rounder, while Iyer was their most expensive (INR 23.75 Cr) pick at last year’s Jeddah mega auction.

KKR freed up both purse and overseas slots by also parting ways with Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Moeen Ali and Spencer Johnson. With Mayank Markande traded to Mumbai Indians and Chetan Sakariya and Luvnith Sisodia also released, the three-time champions now enter the auction with a commanding purse of INR 64.3 crore and 13 slots (including six overseas) to fill.

Chennai Super Kings, who had a busy time in the trading window, also made quite a few releases and now have the second biggest purse (INR 43.4 Crore). They followed up the high-profile Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran trade by releasing Matheesha Pathirana and the New Zealand pair of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, while Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi and Vijay Shankar were also among their major releases. CSK can now fill up to nine slots, including four overseas.

With INR 25.5 Crore, Sunrisers Hyderabad have the third largest purse as they released eight players from their squad. Mohammed Shami, traded to Lucknow Super Giants, was their biggest move, while they also parted ways with Adam Zampa, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Chahar and Wiaan Mulder among others.

LSG and Delhi Capitals ended up with purses of INR 22.9 Crore and 21.8 Crore respectively after their releases. LSG released eight players – apart from trading out Shardul Thakur, they let go David Miller, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi and Shamar Joseph among others. Faf du Plessis and Mohit Sharma headlined DC’s seven releases, along with Jake Fraser-McGurk and Donovan Ferreria (traded to RR). Meanwhile, DC kept faith in their INR 10.75 Crore buy – T Natarajan – despite the left-arm seamer featuring in only two matches for them last season.

First-time IPL champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended up with a purse of INR 16.4 Crore at the end of the retention deadline, having released eight players, including Liam Livingstone, Tim Seifert, Lungi Ngidi and Mayank Agarwal. The IPL 2025 winners now have eight slots free, including two overseas.

Rajasthan Royals, who traded out Sanju Samson to CSK and Nitish Rana to DC, also released the Sri Lankan spin duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana. Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Kumar Kartikeya were the other players released by RR, who now have a purse of INR 16.05 Cr with nine slots available (one overseas).

Former champions Gujarat Titans, apart from trading out Sherfane Rutherford to MI, released Gerald Coetzee, Dasun Shanaka, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat and Kulwant Khejroliya. This has left them with a purse of INR 12.9 Crore and five slots, including four overseas. Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell were the biggest releases from IPL 2025 runners-up Punjab Kings, who also let go Aaron Hardie, Kuldeep Sen and Praveen Dubey to secure a purse of INR 11.5 Crore, with four slots (two overseas) available for them.

Mumbai Indians, who roped in Rutherford, Thakur and Markande during the trading window, let go of nine players in total. Satyanaryana Raju and Vignesh Puthur, who had a couple of impressive outings in the 2025 season, were among the releases along with Reece Topley, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Karn Sharma, KL Shrijith and Arjun Tendulkar (traded to LSG). They ended up with a purse of INR 2.75 Crore, least among all teams.

CSK have bolstered their purse by releasing Pathirana. [BCCI]

RETENTION, RELEASE, TRADE and PURSE

Kolkata Knight Riders

Released: 10

Retained: 12

Purse available: INR 64.3 CR

Slots available: 13 (6 overseas)

Players released: Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Andre Nortje, Spencer Johnson, Chetan Sakariya, Luvnith Sisodiya, Mayank Markande (traded to MI)

Current squad: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy

Chennai Super Kings

Released: 12

Retained: 15

Purse available: INR 43.4 CR

Slots available: 9 (4 overseas)

Players released: Matheesha Pathirana, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth, Shaikh Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ravindra Jadeja (traded to RR), Sam Curran (traded to RR)

Current squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Sanju Samson (traded in from RR)

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Released: 8

Retained: 15

Purse available: INR 25.5 CR

Slots available: 10 (2 overseas)

Players released: Abhinav Manohar, Atharva Taide, Sachin Baby, Wiaan Mulder, Simarjeet Singh, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Shami (traded to LSG)

Current squad: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniket Verma, Kamindu Mendis, Eshan Malinga, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Smaran Ravichandran, Zeeshan Ansari

Lucknow Super Giants

Released: 8

Retained: 17

Purse available: INR 22.95 CR

Slots available: 6 (4 overseas)

Players released: Aryan Juyal, David Miller, Shamar Joseph, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Akash Deep, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur (traded to MI)

Current squad: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Akash Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Avesh Khan, Ayush Badoni, Digvesh Rathi, Himmat Singh, Manimaran Siddharth, Matthew Breetzke, Mayank Yadav, Mitchell Marsh, Mohsin Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Prince Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arjun Tendulkar (traded in from MI) Mohammed Shami (traded in from SRH)

Delhi Capitals

Released: 7

Retained: 16

Purse available: INR 21.8 CR

Slots available: 8 (5 overseas)

Players released: Faf du Plessis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sediqullah Atal, Manvanth Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreria (traded to RR)

Current squad: Abishek Porel, Ajay Mandal, Ashutosh Sharma, Axar Patel, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, Sameer Rizvi, T Natarajan, Tripurana Vijay, Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Nitish Rana (traded in from RR)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Released: 8

Retained: 17

Purse available: INR 16.4 CR

Slots available: 8 (2 overseas)

Players released: Liam Livingstone, Swastik Chikara, Tim Seifert, Manoj Bhandage, Lungi Ngidi, Blessing Muzarabani, Mohit Rathee, Mayank Agarwal

Current squad: Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, Nuwan Thushara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Bethell, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Yash Dayal, Abhinandan Singh, Rasikh Dar

Rajasthan Royals

Released: 9

Retained: 13

Purse available: INR 16.05 CR

Slots available: 9 (1 overseas)

Players released: Kunal Singh Rathore, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Akash Madhwal, Ashok Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya, Sanju Samson (traded to CSK), Nitish Rana (traded to DC)

Current squad: Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Singh, Ravindra Jadeja (traded in from CSK), Sam Curran (traded in from CSK)

Gujarat Titans

Released: 8

Retained: 20

Purse available: INR 12.90 CR

Slots available: 5 (4 overseas)

Players released: Dasun Shanaka, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Gerald Coetzee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Sherfane Rutherford (traded to MI)

Current squad: Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Gurnoor Brar, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Arshad Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, B Sai Sudharsan, M Shahrukh Khan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar

Punjab Kings

Released: 5

Retained: 21

Purse available: INR 11.5 CR

Slots available: 4 (2 overseas)

Players released: Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Glenn Maxwell, Kuldeep Sen, Praveen Dubey

Current squad: Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal

Mumbai Indians

Released: 9

Retained: 17

Purse available: INR 2.75 CR

Slots available: 5 (1 overseas)

Players released: Satyanaryana Raju, Vignesh Puthur, Reece Topley, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams, Karn Sharma, KL Shrijith, Arjun Tendulkar (traded to LSG)

Current squad: AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Will Jacks, Shardul Thakur (traded in from LSG), Mayank Markande (traded in from KKR), Sherfane Rutherford (traded in from GT)

[Cricbuzz]