Chamara Kapugedera hails Sri Lanka hosting the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup clash in Colombo, backs India to have slight edge and calls Abhishek Sharma a potential game-changer.
Sri Lanka batsman Chamara Kapugedera has been ruled out of the ongoing Champions Trophy with a knee injury sustained during practice and will be replaced by Danushka Gunathilaka, the cricket board has said.
Lasith Malinga is set to make a comeback to the Sri Lanka T20 and ODI team.
Sri Lanka outclassed by India six wickets in a thrilling finish to knock them out of the ICC World Twenty20 in St Lucia, on Tuesday. Chamara Kapugedera hit the final ball of the match, from Ashish Nehra, for a six to take Sri Lanka to 167 for five in their 20 overs in reply to India's 163 for five in the Super Eights match.
Images from the second match of the tri-series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Dambulla.
Several senior players, including Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera and Ajantha Mendis, were left out for next month's tri-series with Bangladesh and India. Former captain Mahela Jayawardene, spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, all-rounder Angelo Mathews and fast bowler Dilhara Fernando were not available due to injury.
Sri Lanka's young team are good enough to be competitive in the One-day tri-series in Bangladesh this month, coach Trevor Bayliss said on Sunday.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene and vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara were left out of Sri Lanka's 15-man squad on Tuesday for the Twenty20 match against India next week. Tillakaratne Dilshan will lead the side, with Chamara Kapugedera serving as his deputy.
Images from the ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights match between India and Sri Lanka, in St Lucia, on Tuesday.
Left-arm pacer Isuru Udana, who is is yet a make his debut in one-dayers, has been included in Sri Lanka's 15-member squad for the five ODIs against India, which gets underway on Saturday. The 24-year-old Udana, who has played six Twenty20 internationals for Sri Lanka, will join Chamara Kapugedera, Rangana Herath, who are also making a comeback in the team.
They named middle order batsman Russel Arnold and fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara in their final 15-man World Cup squad on Monday.
Sri Lanka produced a clinical display to crush Pakistan by 129 runs in the second one-dayer and level the three-match cricket series 1-1, in Karachi on Wednesday. Put in to bat, the islanders first amassed 290 runs for eight wickets. The Sri Lankan bowlers then complemented the effort of their batting colleagues by skittling out Pakistan for 161 in 34.5 overs for a series-equalling victory.
Is excessive cricket, as a result of the just-concluded IPL, to blame for the dismal showing? Was the team under-prepared for such a high-profile event? Have your say...
Sri Lanka Board President's XI took their first innings total to 500 for five declared on the second day of their three-day match.
Tillakaratne Dilshan slammed an aggressive century to lead Sri Lanka to a commanding 371 for six on the opening day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh on Saturday.
Sri Lanka beat Australia off last ball to win first T20
The 36-year-old Fernando, who last played for Sri Lanka way back in 2012, was included in place of T20 captain Lasith Malinga, who is recuperating from an injury.
Former India cricketers Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha and R Vinay Kumar, all of whom recently announced their retirements, will feature in the India Legends team in the Road Safety World Series starting in Raipur on March 5.
The 31-year-old Mathews was renamed as Sri Lanka's limited-overs skipper in January, six months after he relinquished the captaincy for both red and white-ball formats following a home series defeat to Zimbabwe.
Also returning to the 15-man squad, which will also take part in the upcoming Asia Cup tournament before the March 8-April 3 World Twenty20, was all-rounder Angelo Mathews.
Pakistan ended their tour of Sri Lanka with a dramatic one-wicket victory in the second Twenty20 on Saturday to complete a 2-0 series win, having also triumphed in the Test and ODI encounters.
Mathews missed the one-day series in South Africa, the tour of Australia and the home series against Bangladesh with a hamstring injury but is back in action for his Delhi franchise in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
India are likely to give players like Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur a look-in in the last two matches.
Kapugedera denied that the team was low on confidence. Instead, he said Sri Lanka finally have found some momentum for the first time in the ongoing series, what if they are yet to taste a victory against the Indians.
The visitors have a 2-0 lead in the series and can wrap up the contest with another win here before leaving for the last leg of the tour in Colombo.
Pakistan continued their impressive tour of Sri Lanka by comprehensively beating the hosts by 29 runs in the first Twenty20 International of the two-match series on Thursday.
A patient half-century by opening batsman Hashim Amla guided South Africa to a consolation 8-wicket victory over struggling Sri Lanka in the Group A encounter at New Delhi on Monday. Chasing a modest target of 121 runs, Amla scored 56 runs off 52 balls to help his team chase down the target with 14 balls remaining. Skipper Faf du Plessis also scored 32 runs off 36 balls, while AB de Villiers hit a brisk 20 off 12 balls.
Akila Dananjaya's career-best 6-54 was in vain as India beat Sri Lanka by three wickets in their second one-day international to go 2-0 up in the five-match series in Pallekele on Thursday.
Colin Munro and Corey Anderson blasted quickfire half-centuries to power New Zealand to a convincing victory against Sri Lanka in the warm-up match of the ICC World Twenty20, at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Thursday.
India bulldozed Sri Lanka by 168 runs in the fourth one-day international on Thursday after skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma smashed blistering hundreds to put the tourists 4-0 up in the five-match series.
Opener Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten 124 to help India overcome a top-order wobble and register a series-clinching six-wicket victory in the third one-day international against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Sunday.
Teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold curled in a magnificent free kick on his European debut to set Liverpool on the way to a 2-1 win at Hoffenheim which put them on the brink of UEFA Champions League group stage place.
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.
All-rounder Asela Gunaratne struck a superb 84 off 46 balls to inspire Sri Lanka to a dramatic two-wicket victory over Australia in the second Twenty20 International in South Geelong, Victoria on Sunday.
Andre Fletcher produced a blinder of an innings, smashing 84 runs off only 64 balls, to power the West Indies to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Sri Lanka will look towards veteran Lasith Malinga to deliver with the ball and get them back on the winning path after their horror showing in the three-Test series.
Trent Boult produced an economical spell of bowling to take three wickets and help New Zealand to a tense three-run win over Sri Lanka in their first Twenty20 international on Thursday.
Indian bowlers once again put up an impressive performance by restricting Sri Lanka to a modest 138 for nine in the third round robin encounter of the Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament in Dhaka on Tuesday. Opting to bowl, young guns Hardik Pandya (2/27 in 4 overs) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/26) continued their stellar show as the island nation never really got going during their innings. Senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2/26 in 4 overs) also showed brilliant control during the back-10 while veteran Ashish Nehra (1/23) once again showed why he is a class apart. Such was India's dominance that their bowlers bowled 50 dot balls out of a possible 120 deliveries, which effectively meant 8.2 overs went without any runs being scored. India's potent new ball pair of Nehra and Bumrah were on target in the Powerplay overs once again.
Trent Boult produced an economical spell of bowling to take three wickets and help New Zealand to a tense three-run win over Sri Lanka in their first Twenty20 international on Thursday.
Images from the second T20 International between India and Sri Lanka in Ranchi.
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