A reinvigorated India will look to pocket their second series win in as many weeks and build on the gains made from a drastic change in their batting approach in the second T20 International against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala on Saturday.
The absence of the team's established players, such as Virat Kohli and Rishbah Pant as well as KL Rahul, in the upcoming three T20 Internationals will definitely translate into more opportunities for the likes of Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene combined luck and pluck to hit his 30th Test century and steer the hosts to a respectable 289 for eight wickets on day one of the first Test against England on Monday.
Thilan Samaraweera with his unbeaten 86 led Sri Lanka to fight back from a shaky start to reach 289-7 on the first day of the second Test against South Africa in Durban, on Monday.
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the first day-night One-day-international at Dubai stadium on Friday.
After resuming on 384-4, the hosts declared their first innings closed after lunch. Kurtis Patterson, in just his second Test innings, was unbeaten on 114 after posting his maiden century and captain Tim Paine was 45 not out.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, on Wednesday.
After electing to bat first, South Africa were bowled out for 98 in the 17th over, with spin trio Lakshan Sandakan, Dhananjaya de Silva and Akila Dananjaya combining to take seven wickets.
The Sri Lankan selectors, on Sunday, dropped batsman Kusal Mendis from their 15-member squad while Angelo Mathews returned to lead the side in the upcoming tour of India.
Dinesh Chandimal stroked an unbeaten 105 to help Sri Lanka to a convincing six-wicket win over England at Lord's on Sunday as the tourists took a 2-1 lead in the one-day series.
Dhananjaya de Silva's heroic hundred and Roshen Silva's gallant, unbeaten 74 helped secure Sri Lanka's morale-boosting draw in final Test against India, who won the three-match series 1-0 on Wednesday.
England edged past Sri Lanka by 10 runs to reach the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Senior Sri Lankan batsman Dinesh Chandimal admitted that his side cannot always use 'transition phase' as an excuse for the team not doing well in recent times. Ahead of their World T20 cricket match against England on Saturday, Chandimal blamed on "inexperience of middle-order" for their inconsistent performances of late but he added that players need to "put their hands up and perform". "You cannot always say transition. We need to put our hands up. We will give our best shot in the next game," Chandimal said when asked whether a team comprising of Tillakaratne Dilshan, him, Chamara Kapugedara, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera can be termed as inexperienced.
Sri Lanka opener Upul Tharanga struck his third Test century to help his team set Bangladesh a mammoth 457-run victory target on the penultimate day of the first Test on Friday.
Three Sri Lankan cricketers, including former captain Mahela Jayawardene, were flown in on Wednesday to prop a side struggling to field 11 fit men in the ongoing cricket tri-series in Bangladesh. Sri Lanka team manager Brendon Kuruppu said besides Jayawardene, who was part of the Sri Lankan team that played the ODI series in India last month, the other two players are uncapped wicketkeeper batsman Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal and left-handed batsman Mahela Udawatte.
Rain forced the abandonment of the third one-day international between England and Sri Lanka on Sunday with the hosts' hopes of taking a 2-0 lead thwarted just four overs into their run chase at Bristol.
Rain forced the abandonment of the third one-day international between England and Sri Lanka on Sunday with the hosts' hopes of taking a 2-0 lead thwarted just four overs into their run chase at Bristol.
Sri Lanka have called up uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal in their 15-man squad for next month's Twenty20 World Cup. The highly-rated 20-year-old was included in the squad named by selectors on Wednesday after scoring 320 runs at an average of 53.33 in Sri Lanka's domestic T20 league.
Mathews has taken 253 balls on his way to what he hopes will be a 10th Test century and first in over a year
Dhananjaya de Silva hit a maiden century and combined with Dinesh Chandimal to resurrect Sri Lanka's innings after a poor start against Australia on the opening day of the third and final Test on Saturday.
Root said that spinning tracks will throw challenges to the visiting team but they are adapting to the conditions quickly.
A blunt Indian bowling attack stood exposed as Sri Lanka Board President's XI put up a mammoth 432 for five on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game in Colombo on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan top order treated the Indian attack disdainfully and opener Upul Tharanga (116), Thilina Kandambi (101) and Thilan Samaraweera (102) smashed quick-fire centuries to have the number one Test side on the mat.
Kohli's double ton was followed by a 50 in the second innings as he finished with 610 runs in the series, which India won 1-0 after the first and third Test ended in draws in Kolkata and New Delhi.
Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal is hoping that senior spinner Rangana Herath will be more effective in the second Test against India as the track, in Nagpur, has less grass as compared to Eden Gardens.
The International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Unit has launched an investigation in Sri Lanka, world cricket's governing body said. The ICC did not give any details as to what the nature of their investigation entailed, only that ACU officers had recently visited the country.
Images from the first Twenty20 International between India and Sri Lanka, in Dharamsala, on Saturday.
This is Tharanga's second ban in recent times after he suffered a similar two-match ban for slow over-rate in the Champions Trophy when he had led the side against South Africa in the absence of then-skipper Angelo Mathews.
Virat Kohli would hope for a turnaround when India take on an under-prepared Sri Lanka in the second Test in Bengaluru
Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva has been discharged from hospital and declared fully fit to play, two days after being hit on the head by a cricket ball.
England all-rounder Chirs Jordan is set to replace the injured Mitchell Starc at Royal Challengers Bangalore for the rest of the IPL season, according to reports. Jordan, who featured in England's World T20 final loss earlier this month, will leave county club Sussex immediately to link up with RCB. The right-arm quick played in all six of England's World T20 matches, taking five wickets and was impressive with his yorkers in the death overs. Jordan's inclusion in the IPL was welcomed by England's director of cricket, Andrew Strauss.
Sri Lanka's Test opener Kaushal Silva was taken to hospital on Sunday after being hit on the head by a cricket ball while fielding in a domestic match. Sri Lanka Cricket said Silva was struck during a match in Pallekele. His scans were clear, but he was flown to a hospital in the capital Colombo for further tests and observation, the Lankan cricket body added. Silva has played 24 Test matches for Sri Lanka and scored 1,404 runs at an average of 31. "Kaushal was fielding at short leg when he got hit," espncricinfo.com quoted national team manager Charith Senanayake as saying.
SLC said in a statement that it had received the warning from the Prime Minister's Office.
Sri Lanka named a 16-member team for the upcoming Test series against India with uncapped 23-year-old fast bowler Vishwa Fernando the only fresh face picked by the national selectors.
India were set a tricky target of 176 runs to win the first Test against Sri Lanka after Dinesh Chandimal produced a counter-attacking unbeaten 162 to lead a spirited fightback for the hosts in Galle.
Pakistan bowling came to the fore after Mohammad Hafeez's unbeaten fifty as they defeated World T20 defending champions Sri Lanka by 15 runs in their warmup match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday. Hafeez struck an unbeaten 70 from 49 balls to help Pakistan post 157/5 before they restricted Sri Lanka for 142/9 in front of a cheering crowd of more than 10,000. Sri Lanka were wayward with their bowling especially in the death overs and bowled eight wide balls, including five from Dushmantha Chamara, further helping Pakistan's cause.
Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Perera and all-rounder Asela Gunaratne have returned to the one-day international squad for the three-match series against India, the country's cricket board said on Tuesday.
India captain Virat Kohli held on to his second position while stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane broke into the top 10 after gaining five places in the latest ICC men's Test batting ranking released on Thursday.
Jason Roy made a brilliant 162 to lead England to a crushing six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourth one-day international at The Oval on Wednesday.
Sarfraz Ahmed will continue as Pakistan captain at the World Cup in May despite serving a suspension for breaching the anti-racism code, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani said on Tuesday.
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