Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews weathered a fiery spell of reverse swing bowling from Dayle Steyn to take his team past the follow-on mark on the third day of the first Test against South Africa on Friday.
The India right-hander has 862 points in his kitty, still 25 points behind AB de Villiers of South Africa, who is heading the list.
Gary Ballance scored an unbeaten 104 as England fought back in the evening session to finish the fourth day on 267-8 and lead Sri Lanka by 389 runs going into the final day of the first Test at Lord's.
If Ravichandran Ashwin is being hailed as the best spinner in contemporary cricket, the 29-year-old lanky Indian owes it as much to those long fingers as to an ever-ticking brain.
Sri Lanka lost early wickets in their second innings but extended their lead to 220 runs over Pakistan in the third and final Test in Sharjah to boost their chances of a series victory.
Statistical highlights on Day 3 of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Monday
"The whole idea of Cricket All Stars is that, to try to get as many nations together to celebrate this'
South Africa skipper AB de Villiers led from the front with an all-round show to help South Africa thrash minnows UAE.
Chris Rogers fell for 95, failing to turn a half-century into a hundred for the seventh Test innings in a row as Australia ended the second day of the first Test on 264 for five, 166 behind England on Thursday.
England's predicted line-up for the first Test in Brisbane includes Mark Stoneman, James Vince and Dawid Malan, who will walk out without a Test century to their names.
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Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis combined for a 58-run partnership to give Sri Lanka a nervous four-wicket victory over Afghanistan in their World Cup Pool A match at University Oval in Dunedin on Sunday.
Australia will play their first Test series in Sri Lanka in more than five years, with a three-match series beginning on July 26 in Kandy. The Australians will embark on a two-month tour of the island nation from July 11, playing three Tests, five ODIs and two T20 Internationals. Steve Smith's side leapfrogged India in February to finish the latest 12-month period in first spot on the ICC Test Championship table, while Sri Lanka have dropped to seventh place after a disappointing year following the retirements of legendary batting duo Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena. Only three members of the Australian side that beat the Black Caps in their most recent Test series - Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle and Usman Khawaja - have experienced Test cricket in Sri Lanka.
India captain Virat Kohli struck his 15th Test century while opener Murali Vijay hit form and compiled a ton of his own to help India wrest control on Day 3 of the 4th Test in Mumbai on Saturday. Here are the statistical highlights from the third day's play of the fourth cricket Test played between India and England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Statistical highlights of the second ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Motera.
The loss to Sri Lanka has left England's quarter-final chances hanging in the balance and reliant on them beating Bangladesh in Adelaide on March 9. A wash-out would end their hopes.
Australia's Steven Smith has become the second youngest batsman after India's Sachin Tendulkar to achieve the number-one ranking in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen following stellar batting in the Kingston Test, which Australia won by 277 runs to win the series 2-0.
Board of Control for Cricket in India's secretary Anurag Thakur on Wednesday left for Colombo where he will be meeting Indian cricket team's director Ravi Shastri on the sidelines of the second Test against Sri Lanka, starting on Thursday.
Sri Lanka needed a little over 26 overs to chase down a 153-run victory target for a series-levelling seven-wicket victory in the second Test against Pakistan on Monday.
Opener Kusal Perera stroked a fluent half-century before Sri Lanka's bowlers produced a brilliant display in the death overs to help their team pull off a thrilling five-run victory against South Africa.
Images from Day 1 of the fourth Test between England and India, at The Oval, on Thursday.
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.
Statistical highlights of the fourth day's play of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Tuesday
Injuries have forced India to make changes to their winning combination. With Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha returning home, the visitors are likely to field a new combination.
India captain Virat Kohli's stoic batting helped India eke out a draw on the fifth and final day in the opening Test against England in Rajkot on Sunday. But it was his English counterpart Alastair Cook, who stole the show and the records on the day!
Sangakkara, Dhoni, McCullum, de Villiers... Cricket has never had so many amazing wicketkeeper-batsmen in the same era...
India goes into the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Friday hoping to register their first series victory in the island nation in 22 years.
Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com lists five matches you can't afford to miss out at the ICC's marquee event.
India face an embarrassing defeat after Alastair Cook's fairytale farewell knock and Joe Root's classy hundred enabled England to pile more misery on the visitors on Monday, the penultimate day of the fifth Test.
Statistical highlights on Day 2 of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka
Joe Root hit an unbeaten century as England beat India by 86 runs to level the three-match series at 1-1, in Lord's in London, on Saturday.
Lost in transition, defending champions Sri Lanka will look to come out of the rut and start well against a spirited Afghanistan in their World Twenty20 Super 10 opener at Eden Gardens on Thursday. The defending champions, who were also runners-up in 2009 and 2012, have managed to win only four of their 14 matches since they beat India to win the 2014 edition in Mirpur. They are in the middle of a transition phase after Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene's exit. The build-up to the tournament was also forgettable with series defeats in New Zealand and India followed by an early ouster in Asia Cup. To add to the misery, their 2014 WT20 winning skipper Lasith Malinga has stepped down as leader of the team, following concern over his slow recovery from a knee injury. Now Test and ODI skipper Angelo Mathews' task is cutout. Having joined the squad on Tuesday, Malinga is a doubtful starter for the match. His presence in the team would impact the team a lot.
India registered just three victories in 11 Tests, worse than even Zimbabwe and the West Indies...
There was no shortage of quotable quotes. Here's some of the more memorable ones.
Even as Sri Lanka sweats over pacer Lasith Malinga's injury, skipper Angelo Mathews hopes to inspire his young team to defend its WT20 title.
A superb all-round show by J P Duminy earned South Africa a 12-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international in Colombo on Friday. The tourists, after putting up a modest 115-6 after electing to bat, restricted Sri Lanka at 103-9 at the Premadasa stadium.
Images from Day 4 in the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and India, in Colombo, on Monday
Umesh Yadav is not taking his Australia berth for granted and is keeping his fingers crossed for the future.
All that's transpired on and off the cricket pitch on Wednesday.
Unchallenged by Sri Lanka so far, India would look to keep the foot on the pedal in their pursuit for a series whitewash when the two teams face off in the fourth and penultimate cricket One-dayer at Eden Gardens on Thursday.
India lost the World Cup semi-final to Australia by 95 runs but that did not stop cricketers and other athletes the world over from acknowledging their good work in the mega event.
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