India made amends for the Colombo debacle by trouncing Sri Lanka by 170 runs within four days to level the three-match Test series 1-1 in Galle on Sunday. After setting Sri Lanka a target of 307, Harbhajan Singh (4 for 51) and Ishant Sharma (3 for 20) bundled out the home team for a paltry 136 on a dramatic fourth day's play which saw as many as 16 wickets fall.
Lanka's sports minister said some 10 million rupees (around $70,000) had been offered to the players to lose the match. Police had mounted a search for the suspect who was said to have approached the two players
Police said most of the victims were burnt to death as they were unable to get out of the bus, which caught fire at Induruwa along the Galle Road this morning.
Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury died at a city nursing home today of multi-organ failure following acute pancreatitis
Suryakumar Yadav hinted on Friday that Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga will soon be back to play for Mumbai Indians after he flew back home to feature in a domestic one-day tournament.
India cannot aspire for great power status unless our leaders truly understand the meaning of national security. Cricket can wait and so can people to people contacts, book launches and Bollywood camaraderie. Let us get down to brass tacks on our counter-terror mission, says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Sri Lanka's Galle Cricket Club could sue Shane Warne for not honouring a pledge to reconstruct the tsunami-hit ground.
Australia has conceded its number-one ranking to India after Sri Lanka made a clean sweep of the three-Test series in Colombo on Wednesday. Australia had arrived in Colombo in number-one position on 118 points. But following loses by 106 runs in Pallekele, 229 runs in Galle and 163 runs in Colombo, Australia has joined England on 108 points but is ranked above Alastair Cook's side, while Sri Lanka has jumped to 95 points. Australia's drop means India has become the number-one ranked side on the MR ICC Test Team Rankings, while Pakistan has moved into second position - just one point behind.
The 31-year-old has been ruled out of the opening test due to a mild hamstring strain, the Team India Director Ravi Shastri said in Colombo, on Monday.
'Modi cannot drag India back into a primitive epoch resembling the religious wars in medieval Europe and at the same time claim to represent the aspirations of modernity among Indians,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
It has taken India 10 years to finish a Test in 3 days.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from the Kandy Test, Day 2.
What does Gideon Haigh, widely considered the finest cricket writer of our time, think of the man currently acclaimed as the finest cricketer on the planet?
The decision not to impose a blanket ban was not uniformly welcomed with Travis Tygart, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, describing it as "yet another devastating blow to clean athletes."
India may have slipped to fourth in the Test rankings following the drawn Test in Fatullah, but its openers, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, achieved career-best rankings for batsmen.
Ghai talks about his pick of the all-time best Indian films.
Brought into the squad only after first-choice opener Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, Dhawan made full use of the opportunity and played an entertaining 168-ball innings that was studded with 31 fours. This was his fifth Test hundred.
Ashwin termed Sri Lanka's tour of 2015 as a landmark for Indian team for their come-from-behind 2-1 series win. "In 2015, we were sandwiched into the middle of a leadership takeover. Virat had just taken over in Australia and we came here having played one Test in Bangladesh. We had set ourselves a lot of goals for each other and I would say we have achieved them and come out with flying colours over the last couple of years as a group"
Sri Lanka also called up Nuwan Zoysa for the first time since June 2002 for the first Test against Australia.
Steve Bucknor, David Shepherd and Jeremy Lloyds will rotate as umpires for the series in Amsterdam, involving Australia, India and Pakistan.
'Rajapaksa's victory poses a serious foreign policy challenge for the Modi government,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Five naval warships from Mumbai, Kochi and Vishakhapatnam have set sail for Trincomalee and Galle ports in Sri Lanka in response to an SOS from the Sri Lankan government.
Captain Virat Kohli loathed the way Indian batsmen negotiated a rank turner, saying they showed how not to bat on such tracks and termed the massive defeat against Australia as their 'worst' batting performance in recent times.
Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid led the Test batting honours for the second straight week.
Saha, 32, possesses none of his predecessor's flamboyance or big-hitting ability with the bat but his dexterity behind the stumps, to go with his determination in front of them, has meant that Dhoni, who now plays only limited-overs cricket, has not really been missed.
A 22 year old took the honours on Day 3.
Sri Lanka posted 303 for three on the first day of the second Test against South Africa on Wednesday.
The Sri Lankan off spinner was forced out of the second and final Test against South Africa after complaining of intense pain.
In a big blow to India, opening batsman Murali Vijay and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha were ruled out for the remainder of the Test series against Sri Lanka due to injuries.
Gibbs sprained his ankle during a training session in Pretoria before the team's departure for Sri Lanka.
The left-arm spinner has been prescribed medication for a throat infection and is isolated from the rest of the squad.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar has described Test skipper Virat Kohli as someone born to assume leadership role and hoped he will live up to the expectations of the people.
"It was an outstanding Test match and the character we showed after losing the toss was tremendous," said Vaughan.
India Test skipper Virat Kohli has said captaincy won't be an added pressure for him in the tough assignment in Sri Lanka and he will look to play good cricket in the three-Test series starting next week.
Muttiah Muralitharan became the third bowler in history to claim 500 wickets as Sri Lanka bundled out Australia for 120 on the opening day of the second Test.
