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UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific, meets Sri Lanka’s PM

Published

1 year ago

2025/01/28

Priyan

.Catherine West, Member of the UK Parliament and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Minister for the Indo-Pacific, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, on Monday [January 27, 2025], at the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the meeting, Ms.Catherine West and Dr. Amarasuriya engaged in discussions on key government priorities, including poverty eradication, regional development, and economic equity.

The dialogue also addressed Sri Lanka’s digital transformation initiatives and the “Clean Sri Lanka” program, with Dr. Amarasuriya highlighting the importance of social responsibility and inclusive governance in driving national progress.

The meeting was attended by Andrew Patrick, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan delegation included Pradeep Saputhanthri, Secretary to the Prime Minister, Ms. Sagarika Bogahawatta, Additional Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Ms. Damithri Samangika, Assistant Director of the Europe & North America Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division].

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Advisory for low pressure area in the Southwest Bay of Bengal to the south-east of Sri Lanka

Published

11 mins ago

2026/02/19

Priyan

Location of the low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal Sea area

Advisory for low pressure area in the Southwest Bay of Bengal to the south-east of Sri Lanka.
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology at 03.00 pm on 18 February 2026

Multiday boats fishermen and naval community are warned that the low-pressure area still persists over the Southwest Bay of Bengal to the south-east of Sri Lanka. Under the influence of this system, heavy showers or thundershowers, Strong winds about (50-60) kmph, and rough or very rough seas can be expected in these sea areas.

The Meteorological Department is constantly monitoring the behavior of the system.

The naval and fishing communities are requested to be attentive to the future forecasts and bulletins issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.

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Dube’s death-overs batting fuels India’s fourth win on the bounce

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/19

Priyan

Shivam Dube was the chief catalyst who propelled India to a match-winning total [Cricbuzz]

For some time on Wednesday evening in the biggest cricket ground in the world, Netherlands dared to dream of causing the biggest upset of the World Cup. They had India on the ropes until Shivam Dube began to dispatch balls in his arc, and outside of it, to the boundary en route to a 30-ball 66 that led India to 193/6.

That score was initially beyond India’s imagination against Netherlands’ multiple sleights of hand – slower ones, cutters and knuckle balls, that tied down an otherwise explosive batting order. It worked for long, until Dube took advantage of some of the predictability that came with change of pace, and the skewed square boundary dimensions (60m and 68m).

India’s innings didn’t take off until the 12th over, and even then it looked like a flash in a pan. Life leading up to that point was a constant struggle for India’s top-order as Netherlands’ bowlers nailed their lengths while bowling to their fields. Abhishek Sharma fell for a third successive duck and Ishan Kishan suffered a slice of misfortune – both bowled by off-spinner Aryan Dutt who bowled three exceptional PowerPlay overs for just 17 runs.

Netherlands’ medium-pacers then frustrated Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav for long stretches of play. The middle-overs were a toil against slower ones bowled into the pitch outside the off-stump. A stunning blinder-of-a-catch from Roelof van der Merwe then broke this partnership that was going nowhere as Tilak trudged back for a 27-ball 31. Suryakumar was looking for an outlet to flip the complexion of his and India’s innings like he did against USA, but that didn’t quite come.

On the last ball of the 12th over, Suryakumar ended a 19-ball boundary drought by hitting a six over his favourite fine leg region, and Dube then got in on the act against Colin Ackermann in the 13th over after a scratchy start. He took the medium pacer for two sixes and a four in the over, but Kyle Klein hit back in the 14th. He had Suryakumar caught at long leg for a 28-ball 34, bringing Hardik Pandya to the middle just before the death overs.

Even he, however, couldn’t middle as well as he would’ve liked. But Dube batted like he was playing in a different postcode. He rose from 6 off 11 and raced to a 25-ball half-century. Netherlands’ bowlers offered him a buffet of bad balls at the death – full tosses and slot hit-me deliveries that he gleefully sent to the stands over mid-wicket and long-on.

He went after Logan van Beek in the 20-run 17th over, hit Klein for a four in the 18th and got another six against van Beek in the 20th before being caught on the fine leg boundary by substitute fielder Timm van der Gugten for a 31-ball 66 in the same over. Hardik whose timing was topsy-turvy, managed to connect on three sixes for his 21-ball 30. India added 75 off the last five overs to push the game beyond Netherlands’ reach.

Netherlands opener Max O’Dowd did just about enough to avoid giving his wicket to Jasprit Bumrah in the PowerPlay, but was undone by Varun CV, who cleaned him up in the sixth over. Hardik then struck to remove Michael Levitt as Netherlands’ chase meandered in the middle. Colin Ackermann tonked a couple of sixes to add a spark to the chase, but Varun sent him and Dutt packing off successive deliveries. Dube, who went for a few runs, broke through next, dismissing Bas de Leede for a 23-ball 33.

At the start of the death overs, Netherlands lost Scott Edwards to Bumrah, but threw their bats around to narrow India’s victory margin. Noah Croes and Zach Lion-Cachet took 11 runs off Washington Sundar, 12 off Arshdeep Singh and 18 off Hardik before Dube broke the stand in the final over. In the end, Netherlands fell short by only 17 runs.

Brief Scores:
India 193/6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 18, Tilak Varma 31, Suryakumar Yadav 34, Shivam Dube 66; Hardik Pandya 30; Aryan Dutt 2-19, Logan van Beek 3-56, Kyle Klein 1-38) beat Netherlands 176/7 in 20 overs (Michael Levitt 24, Max O’Dowd 20, Bas de Leed 33, Collin Ackerman 23, Scott Edwards 15, Zach Lion-Cachet 26, Noah Croes 25*; Jasprit Bumrah 1-17, Varun Chakravarthy 3-14, Hardik Pandya 1-40, Shivan Dube 2-35) by 17 runs

[Cricbuzz]

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Afghanistan eye morale-boosting win to end campaign

Published

5 hours ago

2026/02/19

Priyan

Afghanistan will look to bow out with a win at Chepauk [Cricbuzz]

Following up on their highs of 2024 was always going to be difficult for Afghanistan. Paired with South Africa and New Zealand, Afghanistan always knew that they had to win at least one of those games to stay in the reckoning for a place in the Super Eights. Unfortunately, they were up against it right from the start as those two were also their initial opponents in the tournament.

Losing both those matches hurt their chances big time and they had to rely on an upset from Canada to keep them in contention. While Canada briefly threatened, that pressure with their lack of experience was never going to sustain against New Zealand who sealed their spot, leaving this final clash of Group D inconsequential.

The inability of the Afghanistan spin attack to pose more questions to the opposition batting lineup was something that stood out in the two defeats, especially given that Afghanistan have only played day games so far. Mujeeb Ur Rahman had a good outing against New Zealand and Rashid Khan was excellent against South Africa. But Noor Ahmad has had a poor tournament and Mohammad Nabi has been relegated to a very restricted role with both bat and ball – throwing doubts over his future in the national side given his age. At certain moments, Afghanistan looked like they might fall short against UAE as well before Azmatullah Omarzai bailed them out.

On Thursday (February 19), they will be up against a team that finally fared well with the bat against New Zealand, although that was largely thanks to a one-man show from Yuvraj Samra. Canada will have their task cut out yet again against a side that will be desperate to finish their campaign on a high note.

Canada’s bowling attack will once again be under the scanner after they put up an erratic display against New Zealand, squandering the early advantage. While there are question marks over Nabi’s future, Canada’s Navneet Dhaliwal has already confirmed that this would be his final fixture in international cricket.

The pitches have been pretty good to bat on at Chepauk this time. While teams generally prefer to chase in evening games, it’s worth remembering that dew didn’t have an effect in the USA-Netherlands fixture last week.

Ziaur Rahman Sharifi was handed an opportunity in the last game but failed to impress. Afghanistan could contemplate giving Abdullah Ahmadzai a game in this dead rubber.

With nothing to play for, Canada might opt to give some fringe players a go, especially in the bowling department.

Afghanistan Probable XI – Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (c), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdullah Ahmadzai

Canada Probable XI –Yuvraj Samra, Dilpreet Bajwa (c), Navneet Dhaliwal, Harsh Thaker, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Saad Bin Zafar, Shivam Sharma, Dilon Heyliger, Jaskaran Singh, Ansh Patel[Cricbuzz]