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Pink ball Test, Day 1: Sri Lanka bowl out India for 252 despite Shreyas Iyer’s brilliant 92

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India were bowled out for 252 in their first inning by Sri Lanka at dinner break despite a brilliant innings by Shreyas Iyer (92 off 98) on the opening day of the second and final Test (pink ball game) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Saturday.

Resuming the second session at 93/4, runs came quickly for India as Rishabh Pant played some attacking shots. With seven boundaries, Pant raced to 39 off 26 balls before being cleaned up by Embuldeniya.

Ravindra Jadeja (4), who came to bat next didn’t last long as Embuldeniya scalped another wicket. R Ashwin then joined Shreyas Iyer at the crease and helped the hosts regain stability by forging a handy 35-run stand for the seventh wicket.

Just as it was looking like the Iyer-Ashwin partnership was taking India to a strong position, De Silva gave Sri Lanka the breakthrough, removing Ashwin for 13. However, Iyer continued to hammer boundaries at the other end and got to his fifty despite not getting much support from the next batters — Axar Patel (9), Mohammed Shami (5).

With India at 229-9, Iyer decided to go all-out and smashed a few towering sixes and moved closer to his century. He was dismissed for 92 eventually, missing his century by just eight runs.

Praveen Jayawickrama (3/81), Lasith Embuldeniya (3/94), Dhananjaya de Silva (2/32) and Suranga Lakmal (1/12) were the wicket-takers for Sri Lanka.

Earlier in the day, India won the toss and opted to bat first but the hosts got off to a poor start as Mayank Agarwal was run-out on 4. In the second over of the innings, there was an appeal for a leg-before against Agarwal that was turned down. The Indian batters thought they could sneak in a run and Mayank ran down the pitch.

However, there was some confusion from Rohit at the other end and the Sri Lankans took full advantage and ran Agarwal out. Hanuma Vihari then joined Rohit Sharma at the crease. The duo added 19 runs for the second wicket before Lasith Embuldeniya dismissed Rohit for 15.

On a flighted delivery, Rohit lunged into the forward defence and got an outside edge as Dhananjaya de Silva stayed low to take a good catch, leaving India in trouble at 29-2 after 9.3 overs.

However, Virat Kohli, who got loud cheers at his IPL home ground, and Vihari steadied the India innings. Vihari punished the short balls bowled by and stitched a handy 47 runs stand for the third wicket before Vihari fell to Jayawickrama on 31. Soon, Kohli was also trapped in front of the wicket on 23 by Dhananjaya de Silva before the Tea break.

Brief scores: India 252 all out in 59.1 overs (Shreyas Iyer 92, Rishabh Pant 39; Praveen Jayawickrama 3/81) vs Sri Lanka

International

CT 2025: India to take on Pakistan on Feb 23, likely to play in Colombo or Dubai: Sources

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New Delhi, Dec 19: The much-awaited clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 will be played on February 23 with Colombo and Dubai front-runners to play host for India’s matches in the tournament being played in hybrid format. The development comes after the ICC Board said that “India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue.”

“India will take on Pakistan at a neutral venue on February 23, 2025. ICC looking at Colombo and Dubai to host their matches.”

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be played in February and March 2025. Meanwhile, ICC said the schedule for the marquee tournament will be confirmed in the coming days.

Pakistan are the defending champions of the tournament, having defeated India by 180 runs in the final at The Oval in 2017. Both teams last played against each other in the T20 World Cup in New York earlier this year which India won by six runs and went on to claim their second silverware in the format.

Due to the strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan only play each other in international events including World Cups and Asia Cup. The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was held in 2012-13 when the latter toured India for the five-match white-ball series.

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It’s OFFICIAL! All India vs Pakistan Matches At ICC Events To Be Played At Neutral Venue Till 2027

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India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue, the ICC Board confirmed on Thursday, 19 December. The schedule for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be confirmed soon, with Pakistan aiming to defend the title they won in 2017.

The eight-team event will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, alongside hosts Pakistan.

This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), set to be played in February and March 2025, as well as the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (hosted by India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka).

It was also announced that the PCB has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply. Cricket Australia is set to host one of the senior ICC women’s events during the period 2029 to 2031.

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‘Our dream is getting fulfilled’: Coach Sumit Bhatia elated to see Kho Kho going global

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New Delhi, Dec 16: Coach Sumit Bhatia is all pumped up for the first edition of the Kho Kho World Cup scheduled to take place from January 13-19, 2025. Bhatia, who holds a distinct record of being the only head coach to have won the Asian Championship twice, believes that this historical step is an indication of the realisation of the dream to take the sport to the international level and help it gain global recognition.

Having been honoured with the best coach award by the Delhi government, Bhatia has been a part of various Indian teams’ success, including the 2016 and 2023 Asian Kho Kho Championship victories, and has trained players like Nasreen Shaikh and Sarika Sudhakar Kale. Both of them have been Arjuna Awardees.

Nasreen, who is also a part of the World Cup camp, is the only player who has played in two Asian Championships and won the gold. The coach-student duo is now gearing up for the global event.

Sharing how the journey of Kho Kho World Cup’s inception, the coach said, “We organised an international camp here before COVID happened, in 2020. Coaches and players from 16 countries came here and we gave them training. Now they will be coming here for the World Cup but this campaign started in that camp”.

He further said, “Around 30-35 countries were willing to play the tournament but we picked the best 20 teams for both men and women. Some countries have single teams while some have double teams but a total of 24 countries will be participating in the tournament. It was our dream to take Kho Kho to the international level and now we can see that our dream is getting fulfilled.”

He also lauded the launch of the Ultimate Kho Kho League and shared how the franchise-based model has helped the players and coaches gain recognition, while also bringing forward grassroot talent.

“When the Ultimate Kho Kho league started, I also joined Telegu Yodhas as their head coach and we also played the final. Players have gotten exposure through the league and it’s not just financial. Earlier we used to hesitate while admitting being a Kho Kho coach but today our players introduce us as their coach,” said Bhatia.

He added, “The league got so much coverage that wherever we go, the players are approached for autographs. So the platform of the league started a new world for both coaches and players and now not just India but the entire world knows us. Earlier we used to tell people about our game but now they know what is Kho Kho and Ultimate Kho Kho league and are also waiting for the third season.”

Bhatia also discussed the impact of sports science on Kho Kho and lauded the newly introduced technology and said, “We have benefitted a lot from it. Sometimes we don’t understand why a player is not performing well. But with the introduction of sports science, we now know about the details of the problem.

“For example, a player might be facing issues with his left leg while sitting and so, it gives us an opportunity to work on that weakness… Sports science has helped us in identifying the accuracy and weakness of a player. So it’s very beneficial for us.”

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