Rangana Herath picked up four wickets while spin partner Milinda Siriwardana took three as Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 72 runs on the fifth day of the second and final Test on Monday to win the series 2-0.
Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils will look to salvage pride when they clash in the Indian Premier League in Kanpur on Wednesday.
Ajinkya Rahane continued his sparkling form as he struck a 54-ball unbeaten 91 to help Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils by 14 runs and bounce back from a five-match winless streak in the IPL.
On the ICC ODI Team Rankings, No.1 ranked Australia has moved up from 118 points to 120 points, while New Zealand has dropped behind India in fourth position. New Zealand had started the series on 112 points, but the 3-0 defeat has meant it has dropped to 109 points.
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.
Openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro hit unbeaten half-centuries as New Zealand thrashed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in their World Cup opener in Cardiff on Saturday.
After being bowled out for a paltry 183 in the first innings losing as many as eight wickets in a single session, No 3 Mendis (110 off 135 balls) and opener Karunaratne (92 batting, 200 balls) added 191 as the visitors could get only two wickets in the next two sessions.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, on Wednesday.
The New Zealand captain belted 18 fours and 11 sixes in his innings as he became the first New Zealand batsman to surpass 1000 Test runs in a calendar year and broke his own New Zealand record for the fastest century, which came off 74 balls.
Fast bowler Dhammika Prasad picked up four wickets as hosts Sri Lanka bundled out West Indies for 163 to take a first-innings lead on the second day of the second and final Test at the P Sara Oval on Friday.
Stuart Broad became the first England player to bag two Test hat-tricks and Liam Plunkett claimed his maiden five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 257 on the opening day of the second Test.
Roshen Silva struck a combative fifty and expertly guided Sri Lanka's lower order to help the hosts gain a first-innings lead of 46 against England on the second day of the second Test on Thursday.
Out of favour because of poor form and injury, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh are hoping for a good showing with Delhi Daredevils this IPL season to return to the Indian team.
India retained the No 1 spot in the latest Reliance ODI team rankings while Virat Kohli maintained the number two position with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni static at the seventh place in the batting chart released in Dubai.
Images from the World Cup Group A match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Melbourne.
Maiden centuries by Shamsur Rahman and Imrul Kayes took Bangladesh past the follow-on mark but late strikes from the spinners put Sri Lanka in the driving seat in the second and final Test in Chittagong on Thursday.
Martin Guptill flirted with a world record then had to settle for a New Zealand one as he demolished Sri Lanka's bowling to guide his side to a comprehensive 10-wicket victory in the second One-Day International in Christchurch on Monday.
Images from the opening day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Potent England pace bowling after an unbeaten 155 from Moeen Ali put Alastair Cook's side in complete control on a one-sided second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham on Saturday.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes became the most expensive overseas purchase -- bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for a whopping Rs 14.50 crore even as some unheralded Indian domestic players trumped seasoned names to land lucrative deals at the Indian Premier League players' auction.
Mithali Raj will come out with her autobiography next year which will provide a candid and revealing look into her personal and sporting life.
Images from Day 2 of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo on Sunday.
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.
India will begin the journey to identify the core of their 2019 World Cup squad when they square off against a low-on-confidence Sri Lanka in a five-match ODI series, starting in Dambulla, on Sunday.
'Even though the immediate past has not been good we are looking for a new leaf to start with'
Lack of intent in Daredevils players has been very surprising.
Ajinkya Rahane has become India's highest-ranked Test batsman in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings after scoring two centuries in the 337 runs victory over South Africa in the fourth and final Test, at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, which gave the home side a 3-0 series triumph.
The obituaries had been written only three days earlier, Shane Watson's 13-year international cricket career declared dead and buried.
India Test regulars like Cheteswar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have also thrown their hat into the ring with base prices of Rs 50 and Rs 75 lakh respectively.
Hashim Amla's 13th One-day International century and a clinical performance in the field carried South Africa to a comfortable 75 run victory in the opener of their three-match series against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
England pacer James Anderson reclaimed the number-one ranking from India's Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers released on Monday after the end of the Edgbaston Test.
All-rounder JP Duminy claimed a hat-trick as South Africa stormed into the World Cup semi-finals with a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Tillakaratne Dilshan scored his third consecutive half-century as Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 36 runs under Duckworth/Lewis in the third and final one-day international to clinch a 1-1 series draw on Saturday.
Their confidence restored after a bumpy start, a transformed Delhi Daredevils will look to stretch Kings XI Punjab to the limit when they face off in the Indian Premier League (IPL), in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Reigning champion India will be bidding to gain further momentum and become only the third side in World Cup history to successfully defend its title after West Indies in 1975 and 1979 and Australia, who won the coveted prize three times in succession between 1999 and 2007.
The wily left-arm spinner picked up four wickets on the third day to complete his 23rd five-wicket haul in Tests.
South Africa have slipped to number six in the world, behind fifth-placed Sri Lanka, and have a host of questions to answer, not least around a brittle top six and the balance of the side.
Ajinkya Rahane will be aiming to get his mojo back as India, formidable even without regular skipper Virat Kohli, eye another 'Whitewash' against Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI series, starting on Sunday.
Sri Lanka look incapable of stopping India from winning a ninth to tie England and Australia for the record for most consecutive Test series wins
Images from the World Cup Pool A match between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
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