Sports
Selectors under fire after Rajapaksa blitz
The members of the national selection panel have come under heavy criticism after Bhanuka Rajapaksa made them eat humble pie with a blistering counterattack, this time with the bat. In Sunday’s IPL clash between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bombay, Rajapaksa threw caution to wind smashing 43 off 22 deliveries with two fours and four sixes.
The hard-hitting 30-year-old batsman was in great nick and chasing a target of 206, he helped his team get home with an over to spare in their first game of the campaign. Rajapaksa maintained a strike rate of 195 and RCB had little answers for his onslaught.
The former Royal College batsman walked into bat after Wanindu Hasaranga had claimed a wicket off the first ball dismissing Mayank Agarwal. Hasaranga is one of the most expensive buys in the IPL and Rajapaksa treated him with disdain smashing two sixes and a four.
“I knew how Hasaranga bowls. It was about knowing him and playing him for the last four to five years now. I bought my local knowledge and it worked,” Rajapaksa said at the post match presentation.
“What we thought was that we’d just have a free hit. Shikhar (Dhawan) wanted me to be aggressive although I had just come out to the middle. This win is a huge confidence booster. We watched this movie called ’14 Peaks’ and we have 14 games. Every game is a batter’s game. The credit should go to the bowlers to restrict them to 200,” Rajapaksa added.
Bought by Punjab Kings for a base price of US$ 65,000, Rajapaksa had been at loggerheads with the members of the national selection panel. He was overlooked for Sri Lanka’s recent T-20 series in Australia and India on the pretext that he had failed fitness tests having maintained high skinfold levels. He has not represented Sri Lanka in any form of international cricket since last year’s World Cup in UAE where he had a decent outing.
Rajapaksa at one point wanted to retire from international cricket as he had been cold shouldered by Sri Lanka’s selectors. Although he is available to represent the national team, the selectors are insisting that he needs to meet minimum fitness standards.
The selectors’ policies are hard to comprehend. The same panel at one point wanted him to play ODIs as well although his game is ideally suited for the T-20 format. Now they don’t want him for either of white ball formats.
Punjab Kings seem to have realized Rajapaksa’s value and apart from being given the prime slot of number three, they also got him to keep wickets, a thought that had not occurred to Sri Lanka’s selectors.
Shunning Rajapaksa from national duty has surprised many especially as the Sri Lankan team is not covering themselves in glory having lost all eight T-20 Internationals they have taken part this year.
The current selectors’ tenure ends this month and the need for fresh thinking has been very much felt in cricket circles.
An ODI between Canada and Netherlamds in King City Toronto on Tuesday was abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. The fixture was part of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 competition, which is part of the qualification pathway for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
The match was abandoned just 4.1 overs into the Netherlands innings after they had chosen to bat. They were 15 for 1, with Max O’Dowd the batter dismissed for a duck in the second over. The pitch had uneven bounce and the batters were struck several times during the short passage of play.
On June 12, four days before the abandoned match, the ICC had issued a statement saying the pitch at King City that was used for an ODI between USA and the Netherlands on June 8 had been given an “unsatisfactory” rating and one demerit point.
“This was a pitch that fell below the standard expected for this level of cricket,” match referee Phil Thompson had said about the surface for the USA-Netherlands match. “Both captains expressed disappointment with how it turned out, and the match officials assessed it as ‘very poor’. The inconsistent bounce created challenging and potentially unsafe playing conditions. Taking all factors into consideration, I believe the pitch merits an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating.”
According to the ICC’s pitch and outfield monitoring process, pitches that get an “unsatisfactory” rating will be given one demerit point, while an “unfit” pitch rating will result in three demerit points for the venue. Demerit points remain active for a rolling five-year period, and an accumulation of six demerit points will result in the venue being suspended from hosting international matches for 12 months (12 demerit points will lead to a 24-month ban).
(Cricinfo)
Joshua Da Silva and Amir Jangoo have earned recalls to West Indies’ squad for the two-match World Test Championship series at home against Sri Lanka starting later this month, while the two Josephs, Alzarri and Shamar, are back after missing the tours of India and New Zealand late last year because of injuries.
Trevin Imalch had kept wicket when West Indies last played Test cricket, in New Zealand last December, but Da Silva, 33 Test matches old, has returned after scoring 996 runs across the last two seasons of the West Indies Championship. Imlach, who failed with the bat in New Zealand with a total of 81 runs across six innings – after scoring 33 runs in his only Test in India – has been named captain of a West Indies Select XI to play the Sri Lankans in a tour match in Coolidge from June 18 to 21. Roston Chase will continue to captain the Test side.
West Indies vs Sri Lanka Tests
Jangoo, dropped after only one Test appearance, in Multan in January 2025, where he scored 0 and 30, has returned to the side following a fruitful WI Championship in which he scored 411 runs in seven innings. He finished second on the scorers’ table there, only behind Da Silva, who scored 413 in seven outing. The highlight of Jangoo’s season was the 203 not out he scored for Trinidad & Tobago against Leeward Islands
The pair of Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph, meanwhile, last played Test cricket during the home series against Australia in mid-2025.”Every Test series is an opportunity for us to grow as a team and strengthen our identity,” Darren Sammy, the head coach, said in a Cricket West Indies statement. “Sri Lanka are a quality side, so we know we’ll have to be at our best, but we’re excited about the challenge ahead.”For us, it’s about playing with discipline, showing character when the game gets tough, and representing the West Indies with pride. The players have been putting in the work, and we’re looking forward to putting on a strong display for our fans across the Caribbean.”
Some of the squad members are currently participating in a high-performance training camp in Antigua, which began on June 12 and will run till June 22. The members of the Test squad who were also part of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka – West Indies lost the ODIs and won the T20Is – will join the camp on June 15. The Tests will be played in North Sound from June 25 to 29 and July 3 to 7.
“This is a key component of our preparations heading into the series, providing players and coaches with valuable time to enhance and improve the skills we want to see sharpened, based on the areas we need to focus our attention on when facing this opponent,” Sammy said about the camp. “It also gives us the opportunity to put clear objectives and plans in place for the conclusion of the summer against Pakistan.
“Additionally, the four-day warm-up game prior to the series provides the chance for some of our Test hopefuls to play in high-intensity action and create the avenue for more competition within the squad ahead of the upcoming and future series.”
West Indies are currently bottom of the nine-team WTC table, having lost seven of their eight games in the ongoing cycle.
West Indies squad for Test series against Sri Lanka
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