Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath continued his love affair with the Galle International Cricket Stadium as he took five for 65 to help dismiss New Zealand for 221 on the opening day of the first Test.
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.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from the second day's proceedings.
'We are an experienced team now, we played good cricket. All bases were covered and I'm really happy with the way things went in this Test'
The biggest challenge for the New Zealand batters on their upcoming Test tour of India will be picking the turning ball and more so the odd one that skids through, reckons former Black Caps opener Martin Guptill.
Ashwin moves into top-10, Dhawan in career-high 32nd spot in the latest ICC Test rankings
India amassed 600 in their first innings and returned to blow away the top half of the Sri Lankan batting order to tighten their grip on the first Test at the Galle International Stadium on Thursday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from Day 4 of the first Test.
It is recommended to get rid of gallstones as they are always a nuisance with an attack of gallbladder inflammation waiting to happen, says rediffGURU Dr Hemalata Arora.
Bad light stopped play on day three with Karunaratne on 27 and Dhananjaya de Silva on 30.
'Your passion for the game, your sportsmanship and your trademark smile will be missed.'
Wickets fell at a steady rate thereafter, with Jayasuriya striking three times, claiming the wickets of Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed to leave Pakistan struggling at 101 for five.
Galle has built a reputation as a spinners' paradise but Australia captain Steve Smith hopes there will be substantial reverse swing at the venue as his top-ranked team bid for a series-levelling win against Sri Lanka in the second test. Sri Lanka inflicted a 106-run defeat on the touring side at Pallekele last week in the opening match of the three-test series with the spinners taking 18 out of 20 Australian wickets to fall.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 1 in the first Test between India and Sri Lanka.
'Every report I filed for Rediff.com on the professor's incarceration, would leave me wondering for days, at the depth of the State's malevolence towards this disabled professor, and his equally deep capacity to tolerate it,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.' 'No country in the world would do what our country was doing to someone so helpless.'
India took a firm grip on the first Test against Sri Lanka by taking a first innings lead of 192 and snaring the hosts' openers in the second innings by the end of Day 2 in Galle on Thursday.
The dates for India's tour to Sri Lanka next month are out.
From working in a garment factory, selling bread, and driving an autorickshaw, the 24-year-old fast bowler's path to representing domestic giants Mumbai was anything but easy.
When Stuart Broad dismissed South Africa's Kyle Verreynne with an edge behind to Ben Foakes, he become only the second bowler to take 100 Test wickets at Lord's, joining fellow great and bowling partner James Anderson.
Jaiswal's knock was a perfect blend of attack and defence.
Ahmed Shah Massoud's assassination, 9/11 and the defeat and ejection of the Taliban suggested a break in Afghanistan's history, but the events of August 2021 and the Taliban's return shows how deeper continuities remained in place, points out T C A Raghavan, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan.
Uganda produced wonders in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier last November
India 'A' coach Rahul Dravid advised Virat Kohli to make Virender Sehwag's unbeaten 201 at Galle (in 2008) as a reference frame for facing the Sri Lankan tweakers.
Pakistan are 1-0 up in the two-Test series having won the opening match in Galle by four wickets.
The Asian Cricket Council could accept PCB chairman Najam Sethi's proposed Hybrid Model for conducting four non-India Asia Cup games in Pakistan.
Jayasuriya bowls Sri Lanka to innings victory
Pakistan consolidated its top spot in the 2023-24 ICC World Test Championship table after a a 2-0 series sweep against Sri Lanka.
'We have got a guy like Hardik Pandya, who is a wicket-taking bowler. Every game that he plays, on any surface, he has a knack of picking wickets. He has a great chance of playing as well'
'He never had a negative thought in his mind, he was supremely confident.' 'He always stuck to his natural game, he never moved away from that.'
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web around Sri Lankan batsmen with a six-wicket haul as India dismissed the hosts for a paltry 183 in the first innings to gain the upperhand on the opening day of the first Test in Galle on Wednesday.
The hosts, chasing a mammoth 550 for a win, only managed 245 runs before their second innings folded in the final session of the penultimate day after Dimuth Karunaratne had been dismissed for 97.
Dinesh Chandimal smashed his second half-century of the match to put Sri Lanka in the box seat in the opening Test against Pakistan in Galle on Monday.
Pakistan, co-hosts of the Asia Cup, will take on Nepal in the tournament opener in Multan on Wednesday and will be in high spirits after their whitewash of Afghanistan.
Writer David Josef Volodzko said he has advised his female friends to not travel to India alone. His X post followed the alleged gang-rape of the Spanish tourist in Jharkhand's Dumka district.
Babar Azam's side had been in charge after claiming a handy first-innings lead of 149 in the first match of the two-Test series.
Saud Shakeel's career-best 208 not out fetched Pakistan a significant first-innings lead of 149
Ollie Pope embodied England's 'Bazball' making a 196 filled with sweeps, reverse sweeps and reverse scoops during the first Test, and India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted they will have to counter the unorthodox approach to make a comeback into the series.
Shafique and Salman pummel Sri Lanka, Pakistan eye series sweep
The Congress has been in the crosshairs after demeaning remarks on Ranaut and Mandi were posted on the social media handles of its leaders Supriya Shrinate and H S Ahir.
