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After humilating test defeat Stuart Binny called up to Indian side

Kolkata: Good news for 31-year-old Stuart Binny, but the sudden decision to summon him as an additional player, the 16th, for the ongoing three-match Test series appears to have 'panic' written all over.

The announcement came around 7.45 pm on Sunday, some 30 hours after India snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, in Galle.

Stuart, son of national selector (South) Roger Binny, one of the heroes of India's 1983 World Cup win, played three Tests in England last summer.


While Stuart didn't pick up a single wicket, he did manage a 78 in the second innings of his debut Test, at Trent Bridge.

On the face of it, then, it's debatable just how much of an option Stuart will provide to captain Virat Kohli.

The thinking, it appears, is to drop one of the two pacers (Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron) who played in Galle and get Stuart in, hoping that he'd deliver as an all-rounder.

To get back to the panic bit, the SOS to Stuart neither reflects well on the team management, which includes director Ravi Shastri, nor the selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil.

Worse, it signals a lack of confidence where some in the original squad, of 15, are concerned.

Clearly, neither the team management nor the selectors anticipated every scenario. The Shastris and the Patils are professionals and one certainly expects better from both the team management and the selectors.

Incidentally, till late at night, it couldn't be ascertained whether Stuart was specifically asked for by the team management or the selectors reviewed matters on their own.

When The Telegraph contacted one of the five selectors (Patil, Binny, Vikram Rathour, Syed Saba Karim and Rajinder Singh Hans), he said: "Off record or on record, I can't comment on this."

That would please Narayanswami Srinivasan, who appointed this selection committee, probably after making it clear that nothing must ever be revealed to the media.

Till midnight, even the Board's media manager didn't respond to two text messages on the same subject.

Rathour and Saba Karim are currently in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Murali Vijay, who wasn't fit for the Galle Test, is "improving" every day. There's no update on the state of Shikhar Dhawan's right hand, though.

A right hamstring strain had kept Vijay out of the XI.

The second Test, which will be Kumar Sangakkara's last, begins at the historic P.Sara Oval (Colombo) on Thursday.
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Shocker! Sri Lankan spinners register 63 run victory against India

Galle: In an extraordinary twist to the game, India today capitulated to an embarassing 63-run defeat in the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka, who scripted one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent Test history.

Set a tricky victory target of 176, the listless Indians surrendered tamely to be skittled out for their lowest score of 112 in just 49.5 over to give the islanders a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Left arm spinner Rangana Herath scalped 7/48 and Tharindu Kaushal took 3/47 as the lankans bamboozled the Indians to bundle them out in just 41.5 overs today and wrap up the Test match in three half days on a track which gave some assistance to the slow bowlers.
It was a dramatic performance from the hosts who came back from the dead after conceding a massive 192-run first innings lead to turn the table on the Indians who had themselves to blame for the debacle.

The Indians allowed the hosts to wriggle out of a precarious 95-5 in their second innings just at the stroke of lunch yesterday with Dinesh Chandimal changing the complexion of the game with a brilliant counter-attacking 162 not out. From then on, the Lankans clawed back into the game.

India's ploy of going into the game with five specialist bowlers at the cost of sacrifing a batsman also backfired badly as they did not have the batting firepower to chase even a modest target.

The Indian batsmen, for some strange reason, went into the fourth day's play with a defensive frame of mind and Shikar Dhawan took as many as 36 balls to score his first run in the morning. The knuckle injury he suffered in the first innings did not help his cause.

Though the Indians are regarded as good players of spin bowling, they showed a shocking lack of technique and foot work on a pitch that had no real demons.
Ajinkya Rahane (36) and Shikhar Dhawan (28) were the only two batsmen who could hang around for some time as wickets kept tumbling with exasperating regularity with six wickets falling for 55 runs in the pre-lunch session.

Kaushal claimed the last wicket of Amit Mishra to trigger scenes of celebrations in the Sri Lankan camp as the players hugged each other to celebrate a memorable victory.
The humiliating defeat also served as a huge mood dampener for Indian fans who were keen to celebrate the Independence day with a win. The two teams will now travel to Colombo for the second Test to be held at the P Sara Oval from August 20.
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Excited about leading team in first full series: Virat Kohli

Galle: India skipper Virat Kohli said he is excited at the prospect of leading the team in his first full series as captain and would like to create the right momentum when they clash against Sri Lanka in the first Test here on Wednesday.

"It is my first full series. It's a great opportunity to create some momentum knowing it's a three-Test series, having some plan in mind, having the opportunity and time to execute them," said Kohli at the pre-match press conference.

"Even if it's an off day, you still have time to re-group and think about what went wrong. If it's a good day you can learn from it, the positives and the areas that need improvement. As a captain you always need more time with the team, more games to play and better chances of creating an environment that you require the team to be in. So I am very excited. It's an opportunity not only for me but all of us for a new Indian team. We are all pretty early in our careers and it's exciting," he added.

India haven't won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993 when they won the three-match rubber 1-0. But the visiting team's record hasn't been too impressive.

"I have been reminded of that quite a few times and I know that now," he said, about India's poor record.

India's preparations, however, suffered a blow as their pre-match practice session was washed out owing to heavy rains, and even on Monday, their session had been disturbed by the rain, leaving the three-day tour match in Colombo as the only proper workout before this first Test.

But Kohli doesn't seem to be too worried about it.

"It's probably a good thing," said Kohli. "We have had five-six days of really good practice. Even yesterday, with whatever time we had at the nets, the intensity was up there and the guys prepared really well. The day before the game is always a light session. If someone wants to bowl or have a hit, they can. But unfortunately it rained. But I think we have got decent enough practice going into the Test. The guys are looking in good shape and everyone is mentally fresh.

"So it's not going to make much difference. I see it as a positive where people will have the time to visualise, relax and prepare for the game with the mental aspect than putting those extra hours in practice."

India are expected to go in with five bowlers and five specialist batsmen, along with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha at number six and skipper once again stressed on the importance of taking 20 wickets.

"The basic idea is to take 20 wickets," said Kohli, talking about the six-five strategy. "That's the only way you can win a game. The idea of playing five bowlers is pretty clear. Someone like Saha who is looking to cement his place in the side or R Ashwin who we are looking at as an all-rounder rather than a bowler who can bat, because he has the ability.

"But the responsibility is on the top five batsmen to score the bulk of the runs so that they can take the pressure of these two till the time they feel comfortable and get going in this format," he explained.

"The responsibility is spread equally among all five specialist batsmen. It's not more or less on any one player,"

Kohli said both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are hungry to do well.

"KL Rahul is batting brilliantly. He is hitting the ball really well and he got a hundred in Australia. It was sad for him to miss out in Bangladesh. He is hungry to go, someone who really wants to do well and has great attitude.

"Rohit as well wants to do really well in this format. I think the most important for any cricketer is the hunger and after that it's all about the execution which is basically how you apply yourselves," he said.

The Sri Lankan team might be going through a rebuilding phase with many new faces in the side under captain Angelo Mathews, but Kohli felt they were a very competitive unit.

"They are a very competitive team. They might not be as expressive as some of the other teams in the world but the kind of aggression they have in their body language is pretty evident. That's what I have seen over the years that I have played one-day cricket against them. That is one team that has really done well as far as playing well against big opponents or playing in big tournaments in the past few years.

"Sri Lanka are always right up there. You might not count them as favourites when the tournament starts but they are always in the semis or the finals. That's a credit to their attitude and the kind of intensity they bring onto the field," said the captain.

Asked if the Indian team has any specific plans for Kumar Sangakkara, who will retire after the second Test, Kohli said: "The plan has always been pretty basic. Against good quality players around the world you don't need to try something out of the box. It's about creating pressure.

"In the last one-day series we played in India we had one or two plans against him that worked for us. The guys are quite confident about executing those plans. He is someone who score consistently and can get big runs. It's his last two games and he would like to leave a very significant mark before he goes. So it will be good to get him out early. But it's not going to be easy," Kohli signed off.
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Pakistan end tour of Sri Lanka with thrilling T20 win

Colombo: Shahid Afridi and Anwar Ali played key roles as Pakistan ended a successful tour of Sri Lanka with a thrilling one-wicket victory in the second Twenty20 international in Colombo on Saturday.

Pakistan recovered from 40-5 in the eighth over to surpass Sri Lanka's challenging 172-7 with four balls to spare with Imad Wasim striking the winning six off left-arm seamer Binura Fernando.

Skipper Afridi led the way with a 22-ball 45 that included four sixes and a boundary, before Anwar smashed 46 off 17 balls in a match-winning knock that contained four sixes and three fours.

Imad, who remained unbeaten on 24, helped Anwar add 58 for the eighth wicket as the tourists recorded a heart-stopping win in front of a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa stadium that briefly included Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.

Pakistan, who won the first T20 match by 29 runs on Thursday, completed a remarkable treble on the six-week tour, having earlier won the Test series 2-1 and the one-dayers 3-2.

Afridi played down his own contribution, focusing instead on the contributions of the younger players. "I think 170 was chaseable, but we panicked early on, then came these awesome innings from Imad and Anwar. Hopefully they will continue to do well in the future also. I have an excellent bunch of guys, who have given me hope for the future," he said.

Fernando, a lean 20-year-old playing only his second international match, gave Sri Lanka a flying start with a double strike in his second over. He bowled Ahmed Shehzad with a slower delivery and then forced Mukhtar Ahmed to top-edge a bouncer to Chamara Kapugedera at mid-wicket.

Pakistan's top order caved in as Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Akmal were run out and senior batsman Shoaib Malik was stumped. Afridi began the amazing turnaround with a sixth-wicket stand of 61 with Mohammad Rizwan (17) as the inexperienced Sri Lankan attack wilted under pressure.

Earlier, aggressive batting by debutant Shehan Jayasuriya and the recalled Kapugedera lifted Sri Lanka to 172-7 after skipper Lasith Malinga won the toss and elected to bat in the day-night match.

Jayasuriya, a 23-year-old left-hander unrelated to Sri Lanka's former captain Sanath Jayasuriya, smashed three fours and two sixes in his 32-ball 40 before he was fifth out.

But it was Kapugedera who boosted the total with an unbeaten 48 off 25 balls that contained four sixes and two boundaries.

Kapugedera put on 55 for the sixth wicket with Milinda Siriwardana (23) as the hosts plundered 59 runs in the final five overs.

Malinga, who conceded 40 runs in his four overs, rued his poor form with the ball. "I should have bowled better. But I am happy the way some of the younger players have performed. Sri Lanka has a good talent pool to pick from," the sling-arm fast bowling spearhead said.
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Sri Lankan girl missing from Moodabidri traced in Chennai

Moodabidri: Police have traced a girl who went missing from her hostel room here on July 25. The girl was traced in a hotel in Chennai.

Tarushi Sebastian, hailing from Sri Lanka was a studying in a college in Moodabidri. She went missing on July 25.

It is reported that Tarushi had a quarrel with the warden of the hostel on July 17. She raised objection about the condition of the hostel.

police initailly thought that the girl might be staying in some nearby hotel room or she might fly back to her native place. But sources from Chennai informed Moodabidri police about the missing girl who was later brought back to Moodabidri.

  • Published in Moodabidri

Sri Lankan girl goes missing fro hostel

Moodabidre: A girl student went missing from her hostel saying that the hostel room is not fit for living. Then missing girl has been identified as Tarushi Sebastian, a resident of Sri Lanka.

She was a hotel manahement student in a college in Moodabidre. She had raised her objection over the condition of hostel room on July 17. On July 25 CCTV footage showed her walking on the street of Moodabidre instead of going to the college.

Police said that there are chances of the girl staying in some hotel or asking for air ticket or Visa. The fair colored girl speaks English and Simhali language. The Moodabidre police have asked the public to contact them if they know any information about the girl.


  • Published in Moodabidri

Sri Lanka v India: Virat to lead, Amit Mishra makes comeback after four years

New Delhi: Amit Mishra made a comeback to India's Test squad as the selectors announced a 15-man squad to tour Sri Lanka for the three match series. Virat Kohli will lead a team that has only one change from the one-off series in Bangladesh as Karn Sharma made way for Mishra.

Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said that Karn and Mohammad Shami were not included because they had not recovered from injury in time.
The selectors have gone for continuity in what would be Virat Kohli's first major challenge as India's Test captain. Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin will lead the spin attack once again.

Patil also said that Pragyan Ojha was considered for selection but looking at Sri Lanka's performance against leg spinners recently, Mishra got the nod.
"Considering the nature of wickets in Sri Lanka, we think this is the right combination of bowlers for the series," Patil said.

Incidentally, Sri Lanka lost their most recent series against Pakistan — with the visitors lifted by Yasir Shah's majest bowling effort. Former chairman of selectors Kris Srikanth said on CNN-IBN that this must have surely played on the current panel's mind.


India will be playing a Test series in Sri Lanka for the first time since 2010. Five years back, the three match series ended in a 1-1 draw.
That series featured Abhimanyu Mithun and Munaf Patel as part of the squad as India managed to bounce back with a high-scoring draw in the second match before winning the third test by five wickets.

Muttiah Muralitharan was bidding farewell to Test cricket at that point — after reaching the magical 800-wicket mark. This series will also bring the curtains on another legendary career — Kumar Sangakkara will bid adieu to cricket after a glittering time in the game.

Indian Team for Sri Lanka series: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Chetheswar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra
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Lankan origin Club cricketer dies in England after blow on chest

Surrey: Twenty-four-year-old Bavalan Pathmanathan died after being hit in the chest while batting in a local league match in Surrey.

Air ambulance was called but the club cricketer died of of his injuries on Sunday. He had turned up for Manipay Parish Sports Club in the British Tamil League at Long Ditton recreation ground.

Pathmanathan's teammate, who was batting at the other end, said he initially looked alright after being hit before collapsing on the field.

"When he received the hit I asked from the other end if he is alright. He gave a thumb-up and nodded to indicate he was alright, while pressing his chest," the teammate was quoted as saying by the Colombo Mirror.

"He took a couple of steps behind the stumps and collapsed. He was such a talented and composed cricketer and a darling friend of all of us. Every one of us is going through terrible pain as a result of this terrible loss," he added.

Surrey chief executive Richard Gould added: "Everyone at the club has been deeply saddened to learn of Bavalan's death and would like to extend their sympathies to his family, friends and everyone who knew him from within the community of cricket."

According to British Tamil League's website, Pathmanathan studied in a college in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
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