Off-spinner Moeen Ali struck twice in three deliveries as England completed a 57-run victory in the second test against Sri Lanka on the final day on Sunday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
The 50-year-old Lara also gave his opinion as to what the team is required to do to become successful in the longest format of the game.
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.
Soft-spoken Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal on Wednesday said youngsters with 'good attitude' are always able to produce results after his team eked out a hard-earned draw against India in the third cricket Test.
Sri Lankan batting once again promised a lot but delivered too little losing as many as seven wickets for 53 runs after they were cruising along at 185 for 3.
A country which produced champion players of spin bowling such as Roy Dias, Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, it has been sharp downward slide for Dinesh Chandimal's men, who have consistently failed against Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
The visible discomfort of their own batsmen on a seaming track made them over-excited which is the reason for leaking way too many runs on the third day, feels seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Eight teams have formed some of the best combinations from a pool of 64 top cricketers in the players' draft for T10League -- the limited ten-over format cricket -- that will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
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.
South Africa's Faf du Plessis smashed a career-best 185 off 141 balls as the hosts beat Sri Lanka by 40 runs after surviving a fierce onslaught in a high-scoring fourth one-day international to take a 4-0 series lead on Tuesday.
Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, on Sunday, said he felt disillusioned with the state of cricket in the country and thus declined an offer to play a role in the team's World Cup campaign.
Experienced Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara has been rendered a doubtful starter for the five-match ODI series against India due to a back injury.
Sri Lanka cricket coach Nic Pothas says 'too many cooks' are spoiling his efforts to revive the national team and has called for greater autonomy in the wake of yet another confidence-sapping loss against India on Sunday.
India beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 239 runs in the second Test in Nagpur after the touring side were bundled out for 166 shortly after lunch on the fourth day.
K L Rahul broke into the top-10 at 9th, while Shikhar Dhawan also attained a career-high position of 28th in the latest ICC Test rankings after India's clean-sweep of Sri Lanka in a three-match series.
Sarfraz Ahmed will continue as Pakistan captain at the World Cup in May despite serving a suspension for breaching the anti-racism code, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani said on Tuesday.
A dominant Indian team is expected to maintain its stranglehold on a miserable Sri Lanka and wrap up the three-match series when the two mismatched teams face off in the second Twenty20 International in Indore on Friday.
India's captain Virat Kohli staved off the threat of defeat before their fast bowlers ensured the hosts finished on a high in the drawn opening Test against Sri Lanka in an enthralling final day at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Monday.
Paceman Mohammed Shami struck twice as India closed in on a massive win on day three of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka on Monday.
Four batsmen scored half-centuries to take Sri Lanka to 411 for six on Day 1 of their two-day warm-up against Board President's XI in Kolkata.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the numbers from Day 4 of the first Test.
Opener Dhananjaya de Silva struck an unbeaten 78 to help Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets on Monday in the opening match of the triangular one-day tournament that also features West Indies.
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.
Images from Day 1 of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo on Saturday.
Images from Day 2 of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Friday.
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.
In reply to Sri Lanka's 411/9 declared, the Board President's XI were struggling at 31/2 after lunch on the second day, but Samson patiently built his innings and helped his side reach 287/5 when both captains agreed on a stalemate after 75 overs.
Rohit Sharma-led India's main aim would be to settle their middle-order combination and also find a perfect batting position for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Former captain Mahela Jayawardene hit a classy unbeaten century to help Sri Lanka close on 305 for five on the first day of the second Test against South Africa in Colombo on Thursday. In a chanceless six hours at the crease, Jayawardene finished on 140 not out off 225 balls, including one six and 16 fours, to give Sri Lanka a solid start in their bid to level the two-match series.
Sri Lanka beat Australia off last ball to win first T20
Rohit scored his third ODI double century, settled down most comfortably as India's stop-gap captain, and was India's most valuable player by a long mile. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the most valuable players in the Sri Lanka ODI series.
Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir took three wickets each as South Africa cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first one-day international in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Ajinkya Rahane will be aiming to get his mojo back as India, formidable even without regular skipper Virat Kohli, eye another 'Whitewash' against Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI series, starting on Sunday.
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.
The visitors bowled India out to be in an advantageous position, resisted the Indian attack nicely and successfully called two DRS reviews
Both the teams lost their opening matches but bounced back into reckoning after producing two of the tournament's biggest upsets so far.
Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya has said that the hastily-arranged five-match ODI series in India, to be held in early next month, will help the fringe players prove their worth before next year's World Cup.
Boosted by their 3-0 clean sweep of Australia Down Under, a confident India would seek to continue their winning momentum when they take on a depleted and new-look Sri Lanka in the first of three T20 Internationals, in Pune, on Tuesday.
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.
With the series already in their pocket, India will look to give some of the bench players a chance but there will be no let-up in the intensity as they eye a complete whitewash against Sri Lanka in the third and final T20I in Mumbai on Sunday.
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