India nearly scripted an epic win but the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka ended in a draw after a tantalising final day's cricket.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said on Wednesday that he has gone down on his knees to beg record-breaking batsman Kumar Sangakkara not to quit after the World Cup. Sangakkara, 37, will call time on his ODI career at the end of the tournament but he is still in a rich vein of form.
'We are more than capable of playing in this kind of conditions. We need to get a good start, especially the top four and then we can continue'
Sri Lanka look incapable of stopping India from winning a ninth to tie England and Australia for the record for most consecutive Test series wins
'Even though the immediate past has not been good we are looking for a new leaf to start with'
'I wanted to finish the game and my focus was to see us through to the end'
Herath added three wickets to his previous day's removal of opener Kraigg Brathwaite (34) after taking six wickets in the first innings. He finished with match figures of 10-147.
Featuring Santer, Jordan, Faulkner, Morris, Zampa.
India were eyeing a series-leveling win in the second Test by reducing Sri Lanka to 72 for two after setting the hosts a daunting victory target of 413, riding on Ajinkya Rahane's sparkling century.
Amit Mishra was praised by Virat Kohli as one of the two or three batsmen who showed resistance in India's second innings of the first Test and the bowler has said that his captain's support gave him a lot of confidence.
Reigning champion India will be bidding to gain further momentum and become only the third side in World Cup history to successfully defend its title after West Indies in 1975 and 1979 and Australia, who won the coveted prize three times in succession between 1999 and 2007.
Sri Lanka compensated for their batting failure with a disciplined bowling performance to beat United Arab Emirates by 14 runs in a round robin league encounter of the Asia Cup Twenty20, in Mirpur on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's seamers shared eight wickets to vindicate captain Angelo Mathews's decision to bowl after winning the toss as Bangladesh were shot out for 232 on the opening day of the first Test in Dhaka on Monday. In reply, the tourists were 60 for no loss when stumps were drawn, with Dimuth Karunaratne unbeaten on 28 and Kaushal Silva on 30.
Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal picked up two wickets in the last session to restrict Sri Lanka to 220 for 5 at stumps on the first day of the third and final Test in Sharjah on Thursday.
Mahela Jayawardene, batting with three stitches in his left hand, ignored the pain to complete his 32nd Test hundred and put Sri Lanka firmly in the driving seat in the second Test against Pakistan in Dubai on Thursday.
An elated Ambati Rayudu on Thursday said his maiden hundred in international cricket, which helped India crush Sri Lanka in the second One-Day International, will certainly be a "special one" as it took a long time to come.
Pakistan batsmen Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad scored fluent half centuries as the first Test against Sri Lanka ended in a tame draw on the fifth day in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
It remains to be seen if reserve opener Ajinkya Rahane, the only player not to get a game in this series, would be included in place of Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan.
Veteran Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga says he will assess his future in international cricket after the current limited overs series against India, saying he will call it quits the moment his performance drops.
Players with the maximum work load in 2015.
Trent Boult took two quick wickets after lunch to help New Zealand complete a 122-run victory over Sri Lanka on the fifth day of the first Test at University Oval in Dunedin on Monday.
At stumps on day four, with an hour's play lost because of the weather, Sri Lanka were 109 for three, requiring a further 296 runs to pull off an epic victory.
Mahela Jayawardene scored four streaky runs in his last Test, as Pakistan's bowlers dismantled Sri Lanka's first innings on the opening day of the second and final match, in Colombo, on Thursday.
Marlon Samuels' unbeaten century proved in vain as Sri Lanka beat West Indies by 19 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method to complete a 3-0 one-day series whitewash on Saturday.
Rangana Herath picked up four wickets while spin partner Milinda Siriwardana took three as Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by 72 runs on the fifth day of the second and final Test on Monday to win the series 2-0.
The obituaries had been written only three days earlier, Shane Watson's 13-year international cricket career declared dead and buried.
There was no shortage of quotable quotes. Here's some of the more memorable ones.
The susceptible technique of Indian batsmen in seamer-friendly conditions was thoroughly exposed as Sri Lanka comfortably beat India by seven wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series.
Sri Lanka batted the 16 overs during the final 85 minutes of play on the fourth day with an aim to survive rather than play positive cricket.
Ravichandran Ashwin (3/90 in 35 overs) got quick breakthroughs in the final session as the tourists ended the third day's play of the third Test 180 runs behind.
'If 20,000 people in the stands did not have problem and the Indian team did not face any issue, I wonder why Sri Lankan team made a big fuss. I will need to talk to the secretary and ask him to write to the Sri Lanka Cricket'
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar said that India should field five specialist bowlers by leaving out Stuart Binny from the playing XI if they want to win the third and final Test against Sri Lanka beginning Friday in Colombo.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed five second innings wickets as India beat Sri Lanka by 278 runs in the second Test for a series-levelling victory at the P Sara Oval, in Colombo, on Monday.
Images from the opening day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Ashwin moves into top-10, Dhawan in career-high 32nd spot in the latest ICC Test rankings
Indian Test captain Virat Kohli made it clear that the issue regarding the use of the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) needs to be deliberated after the end of the ongoing three-Test series against Sri Lanka.
Rangana Herath picked up seven wickets in a sublime display of left-arm spin bowling to power Sri Lanka to a spectacular comeback win by 63 runs against India on the fourth day of the opening test at Galle on Saturday.
The visitors never got going as spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (4/67) and Ravindra Jadeja (3/56) along with comeback-man Ishant Sharma (3/37) shared the spoils.
Dinesh Chandimal lauded India's bowlers on their brilliant showing on Day 1 of the first Test, in Galle on Wednesday, saying the spinners exploited the conditions well.
On a roll after five wins on the trot, table toppers Mumbai Indians will look to continue their domination when they clash with struggling Delhi Daredevils in an Indian Premier League game, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
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