Sri Lankan cricket team which returned home from winning the Asia Cup in Bangladesh were given a rousing welcome home on Sunday.
Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes scripted a spectacular turnaround to earn England a handy first-innings lead after skittling out Sri Lanka for 240 on day two of the third and final Test on Saturday.
Kumar Sangakkara became the first batsman to hit four successive centuries in a World Cup and Tillakaratne Dilshan stroked a fluent hundred in Sri Lanka's 363-9 against Scotland in a Pool A match at Bellerive Oval on Wednesday.
Australia stormed into the World Cup quarter-finals with a 64-run victory over Sri Lanka, fired by a spectacular maiden one-day international century from Glenn Maxwell at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday.
The toe-crusher is hitting the target, the bouncer is coming out well and, most importantly, the wicket column is swelling again.
Veteran Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan bid farewell to ODI cricket by scoring a 65-ball 42 in his final game against Australia in the third ODI in Dambulla. Earlier this week, Dilshan announced that Sunday's third ODI would be his last in the 50-over format, before departing from Twenty20 internationals in Colombo on 9 September. The 39-year old will not be playing in the final two ODIs of the five-match series against Australia.
England beat Sri Lanka by 211 runs inside four days in the first Test to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at the Galle International Stadium on Friday.
As India take on Sri Lanka in a three Test series, Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers.
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.
Following his impressive batting show in India's 5-0 series win over Sri Lanka, where he was named the man of the series, Virat Kohli has moved to second place in the ICC ODI Rankings for batsmen.
Fringe players have a chance to prove their worth when India 'A' takes on Sri Lanka in the tourists' only warm-up match ahead of the hastily scheduled One-Day International series, in Mumbai on Thursday. The tour game, at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium, also provides Rohit Sharma, who is recovering from a fractured finger and shoulder injury, an opportunity prove his fitness and return to the side for the last two games in the best-of-five ODI series.
Bangladesh made a perfect start to their World Cup campaign, posting their highest one-day international score of 330-6 during the 21-run win over South Africa.
India may be weakened by the absence of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but the World champions cannot be taken lightly, especially with a strong batting line-up at their disposal, says Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has warned that his team cannot lower their guard against the Indians despite captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni being rested for the first three ODIs.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from Day 3 of the first Test.
Muttiah Muralitharan on Thursday blamed non-performing youngsters and an unsettled combination for Sri Lankan cricket team's woes in recent times.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from Day 2 of the Galle Test.
South Africa's top-order batsman Hashim Amla is struggling to be fit for the next two one-day internationals in Sri Lanka after suffering a groin strain in Tuesday's defeat by the home side.
Trent Boult took two wickets in one over and broke a partnership that had threatened to take the game out of New Zealand's reach as Sri Lanka reached 264 for seven by the end of a rain-shortened first day of the second Test on Friday.
Sri Lanka Cricket's selection committee chairman Aravinda de Silva stood by his panel and took full responsibility for making last-minute changes to the team for the ICC World Twenty20. "All decisions were taken in the best interest of the team and we take responsibility," de Silva, the hero of Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup win, said. He replaced the committee headed by Kapila Wijegoonawardana. Wijegoonawardana's committee was sacked by the Sports Ministry just a few days before the team departed. De Silva's committee, which also included Kumar Sangakkara, made changes to the squad picked by the previous committee. Sri Lanka fared poorly and failed to make it to the semifinals in a woeful defence of their title won in 2014.
There is no clarity on the number of players in the auction pool because the deadline for franchises to prune the original list has been deferred to February 4.
Rajneesh Gupta highlights important numbers featuring the Sri Lankan team from World Cups.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar wreaked havoc with a brilliant opening spell as he powered India into the final of the tri-series following a convincing 81-run victory over Sri Lanka via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-affected match in Trinidad, on Tuesday.
A dominant India on Saturday outclassed an injury-ravaged and out-of-sorts Sri Lanka by 304 runs in the opening Test to bury the ghosts of a humilating loss at the same venue, exactly two years ago.
South Africa opener Quinton de Kock's attacking 87 set up a four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second one-day international in Dambulla on Wednesday, handing the tourists a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
India captain Virat Kohli said he expected his bowlers to defend 321 but Sri Lanka batted exceptionally well to take the game away from the defending champions in the ICC Champions Trophy in London, on Thursday.
The Sri Lankan opener struck 61 off 40 balls, including six fours and three sixes, to help Sri Lanka outclass South Africa by five runs in the ICC World T20.
Keshav Maharaj claimed a career-best eight for 116 to prevent Sri Lanka from making the most of a strong start and limiting them to 277 for nine on the opening day of the second and final Test on Friday.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews conceded that it will be 'very hard to beat India' in the ICC Champions Trophy Group B match in London, on Thursday.
Fast bowler Suranga Lakmal took four for 27 to set up Sri Lanka's 10-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the first Test in Harare on Thursday.
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.
Here is a factbox on the third and final Test between India and Sri Lanka beginning at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday:
"In today's context, we have not done well. I would like to still encourage the bowlers saying that they have slowed the process a little bit. We need to take 20 wickets and that's for sure," he added.
Saurashtra left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat has been recalled, while India also have three first-timers in Washington Sundar, Basil Thampi and Deepak Hooda for the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka.
It will be another test for the Indian batsmen if the hosts have to bat first in a must-win contest, in Wednesday's second ODI in Mohali.
Kohli was at his aggressive best in the just-concluded second Test against Sri Lanka as he smashed a strokeful 213 off 267 balls to help India amass a huge first innings total.
Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who has not yet recovered fully from his left knee injury, is in doubt to play his side's opening World T20 match against Afghanistan on Thursday.
Shikhar Dhawan continued his love affair with the ICC Champions Trophy with yet another elegant hundred, guiding India to an imposing 321 for six.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was handed a two-match suspension for maintaining a slow over-rate during his team's one-wicket defeat against India in the final of the Tri-series in Trinidad.
Australia finally have the chance to bring some cheers to their fans after an egregious 2018 when Tim Paine's men take on Sri Lanka at the Manuka Oval from Friday with a series victory beckoning the beleaguered hosts.
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