Sri Lanka seized control of the second Test against New Zealand on Friday as they reached 157 for two, a lead of 339 runs, at stumps on Day 3.
Sri Lanka clinched a resounding 202-run victory on the final day to take a 1-0 lead in their two-match Test series against New Zealand on Saturday.
Tamil Tigers and their supremo V Prabhakaran are facing imminent defeat at Kilinochchi as the Sri Lankan army is on the verge of overrunning Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's defacto capital, former top LTTE commander Karuna Amman has said.In an interview to state owned Independent Television Network, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, once the second in command in the LTTE, said the rebel leader was about to be "punished for his insensate crimes".
Bowler Chaminda Vaas could play his final Test after being recalled to the Sri Lankan side to face Pakistan starting on Monday. Vaas, 35, is expected to announce his retirement from Test cricket before the start of the third Test, which would be his 111th game in a 15-year career that has bagged 354 wickets.
'I felt Test cricket is just beyond my reach.' 'And slowly, slowly, I started doing well.' 'In the second Test against Pakistan, I scored a fifty and when we went to Sialkot I played a series-saving innings, which was a game changer for me.' 'At that stage that was the most important innings of my life.'
Sri Lanka recalled 35-year-old bowler Chaminda Vaas for the third and final Test against Pakistan, starting on Monday. The left-armer, who has taken 354 wickets in 110 test matches, was not selected for the first two Tests won by Sri Lanka.
Mahela Jayawardene (240) and Thilan Samaraweera (231) set a fourth-wicket Test record stand of 437 runs as Sri Lanka piled up 644 for seven declared on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi on Sunday. Pakistan were 44 for one in reply, opener Salman Butt (23) edging Muttiah Muralitharan to Jayawardene at first slip after Sri Lanka had declared in the final session.
'We need to respect our players. Our players are as good as anybody.'
Sri Lanka clinched a consolation 68-run victory against India in the fifth and final one-day international in Colombo on Sunday to avoid a series whitewash. Sri Lanka piled up 320 for eight with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan top-scoring with 97, then bowled out India for 252. India won the series 4-1.
India created history on Thursday, recording their ninth one-day victory on the trot after thrashing Sri Lanka by 67 runs in an inconsequential fourth One-Day International in Colombo. A career-best 150 by Gautam Gambhir paved the way as the tourists posted an imposing 332 for 5, after winning their fourth successive toss, and then dismissed Sri Lanka for 265 in 48 overs.
Indian off-spinner and Test prospect Mohnish Parmar, who has a similar bowling style to Sri Lankan spinning great Muttiah Muralitharan, must rectify his action to correct flaws, India's cricket board said. Parmar, 20, emerged as the most successful in Indian first-class cricket this season with a tally of 52 wickets from just 11 matches.
Anderson was close to tears after finishing the series as the leading wicket-taker with 24 in five Tests.
The rebel military commander has long been linked to the summary execution and torture of civilians and the use of children as soldiers. Till the time he left the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in March 2004, Karuna was the Tigers' top commander in eastern Sri Lanka, and the reputed number two in the LTTE hierarchy.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and elected to bat in the fifth and final one-day international against India in Colombo on Friday. Having already won the series, India left out Subramaniam Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar and drafted in Pragyan Ojha, R P Singh and Irfan Pathan.
Instead of celebrating the narrow win against Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was fuming after poor catching threatened to cost them the high-scoring IPL thriller on Thursday.
Yuvraj Singh will forever remain an enigma in Indian cricket -- one of the country's greatest white ball players who could never really crack the Test code.
As India and Sri Lanka clash in a three-Test series, here's a look at the Test career figures of the Lankans.
309 - Number of Test wickets taken by Harbhajan Singh, same as that of West Indian Lance Gibbs. Among the off-spinners only Muttiah Muralitharan (756) has taken more.
Former Australia captain Steve Waugh has overlooked legends Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne to select Adam Gilchrist as the greatest player of the 21st century. Waugh said Gilchrist's game-changing career, in which he effectively evolved the wicketkeeping position to wicketkeeper-batsman, was what made him his No.1 choice. "I think the guy who's changed the game the most you would have to say is Adam Gilchrist," Waugh told Cricket Australia.
Wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara on Sunday sympathised with Indian batsmen for the humiliation they received at the hands of Sri Lanka's dreadful spin combination -- Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis -- in their first Test at the SSC.
Harbhajan Singh does not doubt mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis' potentials but the star off-spinner believes it is old trickster Muttiah Muralitharan who would pose bigger threat for the Indian batsmen in the forthcoming Test series. Harbhajan heaps praise on Mendis, who ran through India's batting order in the Asia Cup final in Karachi, and said it was an extraordinary display of quality spin bowling.
A prominent human rights watchdog has criticised the British government for allowing Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Colonel Karuna Amman, a former Tamil Tigers leader, to return to Sri Lanka as a free man. 45-year-old Karuna was released from a jail in London last month after serving three months for entering Britain on a forged visa and diplomatic passport.
Habibul Bashar won the toss and elected to field against Sri Lanka in the first qualifying match of the ICC Champions Trophy.
Younis Khan scored a triple century to help Pakistan to 574 for five at close on the fourth day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Karachi on Tuesday. The hosts are now just 70 runs adrift of the visitor's first innings score.
Karuna Amman, a rebel Tamil Tigers leader, jailed in London for entering Britain on a forged visa and diplomatic passport, will not face further charges and be deported to Sri Lanka soon, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. The 45-year-old Karuna whose real name is Vinayagmoorthy Muralitharan, has been accused by human rights groups of forcing teenagers to serve as child soldiers, torturing prisoners and killing hundreds of civilians.
After becoming only the second bowler in international cricket to take 500 one-day wickets and help his team thrash Pakistan in the third ODI, Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan on Saturday warned Indian batsmen of a tough challenge when they visit Sri Lanka next week.
Tillakaratne Dilshan blasted a career-best unbeaten 137 while Muttiah Muralitharan grabbed his 500th ODI wicket as Sri Lanka bulldozed Pakistan by 235 runs to win the three-match cricket series 2-1 in Lahore on Saturday.
Dammika Prasad struck two decisive blows before Muttiah Muralitharan completed a 10-wicket haul to kill off Bangladesh's hopes of an unlikely record run chase as Sri Lanka won the first test by 107 runs on Wednesday.
Skipper Mohammad Ashraful hit an unbeaten half-century as Bangladesh batted defiantly in pursuit of a massive victory target in the first test against Sri Lanka at Mirpur on Tuesday.
India's total of 329 is the lowest total to include a double century -- Virender Sehwag (201 not out). Gordon Greenidge had made 214 not out in West Indies' 344 for one against England at Lord's in 1984 and Len Hutton had recorded 202 not out in England's 344 against West Indies at The Oval in 1950.
India, replying to Sri Lanka's 600-6 declared, were in trouble at 159-6 at close on Day 3 of the first Test.
Foolish to focus only on Mendis: Dravid The Sri Lankan attack is not all about Ajantha Mendis. It will be foolish to focus only on the mystery spinner and ignore others, like Muralitharan and Vaas, warned former India captain Rahul Dravid.
Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya believes Sri Lanka's new mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis could be a bigger threat than veteran Muttiah Muralitharan in their five-match one-day series starting on Thursday. Zimbabwe, struggling to stay afloat against a background of political turmoil, have not hosted an international side since West Indies won a five-match series 3-1 last December.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is optimistic of the team's chances at the upcoming Asia Cup.
India captain Anil Kumble retired from international cricket after the third Test against Australia at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Sunday. The 38-year-old is Test cricket's third highest wicket-taker with 619 wickets in 132 Tests, trailing only Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Australia's retired Shane Warne.
Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga on Monday said he believes that ace off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan can end up with more than 1000 Test wickets if he plays for another few years. The 47-year-old was effusive in his praise of India ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and said India are on the right track in their preparation for the 2011 World Cup.
Sachin Tendulkar, who dropped a rung to 14th in the batsmen's rankings, leads a pack of five Indians in the top-20.
Test skipper Anil Kumble has come out strongly in defence of the starry Indian middle-order batsmen who came a cropper against the Sri Lankan spin duo of Ajantha Mendis and Muthiah Muralitharan in the recently concluded three-match series in the Emerald Isle which the visitors lost 2-1.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the fastest bowler to reach the milestone of 300 Test wickets in his 54th match, breaking Dennis Lillee's record during India's win over Sri Lanka in the second Test, in Nagpur on Monday.
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