Sports
Jayasuriya and Chandimal hoping to turn Test form into BBL deals

Two Sri Lankan stars who dominated Australia in the recent Test in Galle have nominated to play in the BBL this upcoming season with Prabath Jayasuriya and Dinesh Chandimal among the latest names to headline a host of new nominations for the upcoming overseas draft.
Jayasuriya, Chandimal, Maheesh Theekshana and Bhanuka Rajapaksa have all nominated while England’s Overton brothers, Jamie and Craig, have also put their names forward. None of those players have played in BBL before and Jayasuriya, having taken 29 wickets in his first three Tests, has never even played a T20I for Sri Lanka.
But there are still no Pakistan players amongst the 169 players currently nominated after it was revealed that the PCB is refusing to provide no-objection certificates (NOCs) to Pakistani players – contracted or not contracted – who want to participate in the upcoming BBL season.
There are some familiar names that have nominated to return to the BBL including a host of Afghanistan stars. Mohammad Nabi (Melbourne Renegades), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Brisbane Heat) and Zahir Khan (Melbourne Renegades) have all nominated and are eligible to be retention picks having played in the BBL last season. Noor Ahmad has also nominated having played for Renegades two seasons ago but is not eligible to be a retention pick.
Sandeep Lamichhane, Tom Lammonby and Unmukt Chand have all joined the draft and could be retention picks having played last season.
South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir has nominated having signed to play for Melbourne Renegades in 2020-21 before he withdrew for personal reasons.
Englishmen Joe Denly and Dan Lawrence and West Indian Fidel Edwards are also included. Overall, players from 13 countries were added to the draft.
Nominations close on August 21 with the event to be held on August 28. Players who have already nominated can change their availability status right up until the cut off. That leaves clubs with just seven days to finalise their draft strategy.
Nominated players (as of August 3, 2022):
(* – eligible for retention)
Afghanistan
Noor Ahmad, Qais Ahmad*, Ijaz Ahmadzai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hamid Hassan, Waqarullah Ishaq, Rashid Khan*, Zahir Khan*, Mohamad Nabi*, Izharulhaq Naveed, Azmatullah Omarzai, Waqar Salamkheil, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Shahzad, Naveen Ul Haq Murid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman*, Hazratullah Zazai
Bangladesh
Al-amin Hossain, Shaiful Islam, Ripon Mondol
England
Rehan Ahmed, Kashif Ali, Tom Alsop, Martin Andersson, Gus Atkinson, Josh Baker, Sonny Baker, Jake Ball, Jacob Bethel, James Bracey, Danny Briggs, Henry Brookes, Patrick Brown, Brydon Carse, Matthew Carter, Jordan Clark, Joe Clarke*, Josh Cobb, Ian Cockbain*, Jordan Cox*, Mason Crane, Matt Critchley, Steven Croft, Liam Dawson, Alex Davies, Joe Denly, Brett D’Oliveira, Jacobus Leus Du Plooy, Stephen Eskinazi, Laurie Evans*, Matt Fisher, James Fuller, George Garton*, Richard Gleeson, Lewis Gregory, Sam Hain, Alex Hales*, Miles Hammond, Tom Hartley, Jack Haynes, Freddie Heldreich, Tom Helm, Ryan Higgins, Max Holden, Adam Hose, Benny Howell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Danny Lamb, Tom Lammonby*, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leaning, Jake Lintott, Liam Livingstone, Lewis McManus, Ben Mike, Tymal Mills*, Daniel Mousley, Steven Mullaney, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Callum Parkinson, Matt Parkinson, David Payne, Michael Pepper, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Adam Rossington, George Scrimshaw, John Simpson, Prem Sisodiya, Nathan Sowter, Mitchell Stanley, Cameron Steel, Olly Stone, Callum Taylor, Jack Taylor, Tommy Taylor, Reece Topley*, Liam Trevaskis, James Vince*, Paul Walter, Joe Weatherley, Ross Whiteley, Chris Wood, Luke Wood, Saif Zaib
Ireland
Mark Adair, Andy Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delaney, Josh Little, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector
Namibia
David Wiese
Nepal
Sandeep Lamichhane*
Netherlands
Colin Ackermann, Brandon Glover, Fred Klassen, Roelof Van Der Merwe, Pal Van Meekeren
New Zealand
Todd Astle, Colin Munro*
Scotland
Michael Jones, Mark Watt
South Africa
Chris Benjamin, Shane Dadswell, Marchant de Lange, Faf du Plessis, Pieter Malan, Migael Pretorius, Rilee Rossouw, Imran Tahir, Dane Vilas
Sri Lanka
Dinesh Chandimal, Prabath Jayasuriya, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Lakshan Sandakan, Maheesh Theekshana
UAE
Vriitya Aravind
USA
Harmeet Singh Baddhan, Unmukt Chand*, Ali Khan
West Indies
Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Mark Deyal, Fidel Edwards, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Chemar Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Anderson Phillip, Kieron Pollard, Khary Pierre, Ravi Rampaul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair, Tion Webster, Kesrick Williams, Nyeem Young
Zimbabwe
Eddie Byrom, Tawanda Muyeye, Blessing Muzarabani, Sikander Raza
Latest News
IPL 2025: Spinners set it up, Rahul seals it as Delhi Capitals stay perfect

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 163/7 in 20 overs (Tim David 37*, Phil Salt 37; Kuldeep Yadav 2-17, Vipraj Nigam 2-18) lost to Delhi Capitals 169/4 in 17.5 overs (KL Rahul 93*, Tristan Stubbs 38*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-26) by 6 wickets.
( Cricbuzz)
Latest News
Sai Sudharsan and Prasidh lead Gujarat Titans to top of IPL table

B Sai Sudarshan and Prasidh Krishna once again stood up for Gujarat Titans (GT) as they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Ahmedabad. This was GT’s fourth successive win in IPL 2025 and it took them to the top of the points table.
After RR opted to bowl on a red-soil pitch, Sai Sudharsan’s 82 off 53 balls, his third half-century of the season, steered GT to 217 for 6. With no dew in the second innings, it proved way too steep for RR to chase down. Mohammed Siraj and Arshad Khan struck in the powerplay before Prasidh picked up 3 for 24 in the middle overs to keep RR on the back foot. Despite Shimron Hetmyer’s fighting fifty, RR were all out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Joffra Archer didn’t have a great start to IPL 2025. In his first two games, he conceded 109 from 6.3 wicketless overs. But he boucned back in his next two with a combined 4 for 38 from seven overs. He breathed fire tonight as well. In his first over, he rushed Sai Sudharsan with a 152.3kph bouncer. In his second, he got one to move in at 147.7kph and pegged back Shubman Gill’s off stump. His match-up against Gill in T20 cricket now reads: 15 balls, ten runs, three dismissals.
For his former captain Jos Buttler, Archer had two slips, a short leg and a catching square leg, and welcomed him with a menacing bouncer that Buttler did well to evade. Buttler inside-edged the next ball just wide of short leg, and then pushed Archer through the covers for four.
Sai Sudharsan generally takes time to get going. Here, he attacked right from the start. He ramped, scooped, drove and cut, and took his side to 50 in 5.1 overs. By the end of the powerplay, he had 39 against his name, off 22 balls. Only Wriddhiman Saha (54 vs Lucknow Super Giants in 2023) has scored more runs in an innings for GT in that phase.
Buttler was on 12 off 13 at one point but hit four fours in his next six balls to move to 31 off 19. He and Sai Sudharsan added 80 off 46 balls before Maheesh Theekshana trapped Buttler lbw. After a brief dip in the scoring rate, M Shahrukh Khan opened up and smashed 36 off 20 to re-inject momentum.
Sudharsan was dropped on 81 by Shubham Dubey off Archer in the 18th over, but he only added one more to his tally. Then Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ransacked 30 in the last two overs to take GT past 200.
RR did not have a great start. Yashasvi Jaiswal slashed Arshad to deep third in the second over of the chase and Nitish Rana did the same against Siraj in the next. Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag counterattacked and added 48 off 26 balls for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya had Parag caught behind in the seventh over. Parag immediately reviewed the decision, confident that his bat had only hit the ground, but the third umpire thought otherwise, with Ultra Edge also bringing up a second spike when the ball passed the bat.
Coming into this game, Rashid had picked up just one wicket in four outings. Tonight, he struck in his first over. It was a shortish ball that didn’t bounce as much as Dhruv Jurel expected, and Sai Sudharsan at deep midwicket gobbled up the mistimed pull.
Rashid enjoys a favourable match-up against Hetmyer, having dismissed him six times in 63 balls for 79 runs before this game. He almost had Hetmyer lbw for a first-ball duck but the ball had pitched fractionally outside leg stump. From there on, Hetmyer dominated Rashid and hit him for 26 runs off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes. However, Rashid was too good for RR’s Impact Sub Shubham Dubey and had him lbw for 1.
In his final over, the 16th over of the innings, Prasidh had Archer caught at mid-off and Hetmyer at deep-backward square leg, both off short balls. With RR 145 for 8 after 16 overs, the result was sealed. They dragged their innings into the final over but that did little to reduce the margin of their defeat.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 217 for 6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Jos Buttler 36, M Shahrukh Khan 36, Rahul Tewatia 24*, Rashid Khan 12; Joffra Archer 1-30, Tushar Deshpande 2-53, Sandeep Sharma 1-41, Maheesh Theekshana 2-54) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 (Shimron Hetmyer 52, Sanju Samson 41, Riyan Parag 26; Mohammed Siraj 1-30, Arshad Khan 1-19, Prasidh Krishna 3-24, Kulwant Khejroliya 1-29, Sai Kishore 2-20, Rashid Khan 2-37) by 58 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sports
Birthday boy Manasa shines as Joes savour title

Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs Tournament
Speedster Manasa Madubashana celebrated his 19th birthday sharing four wickets each with spinner Yenula Dewthusa as St.Joseph’s sealed a comfortable 71 runs victory over Trinity in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ Limited Overs tournament final at Surrey Village ground on Wednesday.
Chasing 205 runs to win Trinity’s top order batsmen were rattled by Madubashana who took four wickets in a decisive seven over spell. He took wickets in consecutive balls in his second over to trigger a collapse from which Trinity never recovered.
The four wicket hauls by Madubashana and Dewthusa restricted Trinity to 133 runs. In their chase, Trinity lost wickets at reguler intervals and a laboured 48 runs from Sweath Anurajeewa only managed to delay the outcome till the 48th over. His innings came to an end when Madubashana held on to a regulation catch off the bowling of Aveesha Samash.
Earlier put to bat, St. Joseph’s too lost wickets at reguler intervals, but mini partnerships between Abishek Jayaweera and Senuja Wakunegoda (52 for the second wicket), and Jayaweera and Nimthaka Gunewardena (45 for the 3rd wicket) enabled them to stay aloft.
Gunawardena top scored with 47 runs, while skipper Kenath Liyanage played a vital role anchoring the tail with an unbeaten 29 runs.
The title victory capped a remarkable end to the Joes limited overs tournament campaign after having reached the knockout stage with only two victories under their belt.
by Reemus Fernando
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