Video plays from the three-match Test series between Sri Lanka and India

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2015The goodbye
In a way this series was all about Kumar Sangakkara and his farewell. Fittingly, in his last Test, the umpires and the Indian players joined together to give him a guard of honour.The pitch invasion
On the third day of the first Test in Galle, just as Dinesh Chandimal and Jehan Mubarak were building Sri Lanka’s lead, an unexpected long-tailed visitor showed up on the field of play.Record-breaking hands
Ajinkya Rahane started the three-match series in style on the field, claiming eight catches in Galle, setting a world record in the process. Five fielders had previously taken seven catches in a Test.Sangakkara conquered
Sangakkara, in his last series, would have been hopeful of at least one big score but R Ashwin had different ideas. Ashwin took Sangakkara’s edge in his final innings to have him out for the fourth time in four innings.A case of déjà vu
Learning from previous dismissals in Test cricket is imperative to a batsman’s growth but some of the Indian batsmen failed in that regard in the third Test. As many as four batsmen had an uncanny similarity between their first and second-innings dismissals.Incensed Ishant
Ishant Sharma might have been on fire with the ball, but that fire extended to the way he interacted with the Sri Lankans too. Did he go too far? The match referee certainly thought so and handed him a one-match ban.Mishra gets a lift from Rahane
Following India’s memorable 2-1 series win, Rahane and Naman Ojha decided to have some fun with Amit Mishra during a television interview…

Stats highlight from the third day at Kingsmead, where Dean Elgar fought a lone battle for South Africa

Shiva Jayaraman28-Dec-201513 Number of fifty-plus scores by Joe Root in Tests in 2015. This equals the record for the most such scores in a calendar year by a batsman. Virender Sehwag made 13 fifty-plus scores in 2010. Root has made 1372 runs at 62.36 in 2015 and has overtaken Alastair Cook as England’s top run-scorer this year. Among England batsmen, only Michael Vaughan (1481 runs, 2002) and Dennis Amiss (1379, 1974) have scored more runs in a year.55.14 Dean Elgar’s percentage contribution in terms of runs (118 out of 214) to South Africa’s total in their first innings. This is the highest such contribution by a South Africa batsman in a Test innings since their readmission. The previous highest was Herschelle Gibbs’ 196 out of 362 (54.14%) against India in Port Elizabeth in 2001-02. Overall, Elgar’s innings slots in at sixth position in the all-time list for South Africa.1997 The last time before Elgar a South Africa batsman carried his bat in Tests – Gary Kirsten did so against Pakistan in Faisalabad in South Africa’s first innings. Overall, Elgar is only the sixth South Africa batsman to do this. Click here for a list of batsmen to carry their bat in Tests.50 Wickets Morne Morkel has taken against England in Tests. He is the 13th South Africa bowler to do take at least 50 wickets against England. Dale Steyn also got to this milestone in the first innings. Morkel currently averages 27.70 against England, in comparison to Steyn’s average of 31.62 against them.6 Number of batsmen who have made at least 1000 Test runs after getting a pair on debut, including Elgar who completed 1000 runs during his innings of 118 not out. The others are Graham Gooch (8900 runs), Marvan Atapattu (5502), Saeed Anwar (4052), Ken Rutherford (2465) and Gulabrai Ramchand (1180). Elgar has 1083 runs at 38.67, including four hundreds and three fifties.3 Centuries by South Africa openers in Tests since 2014, each of which have been by Elgar. The last time a South Africa opener other than Elgar made a Test hundred was Graeme Smith, who made 234 against Pakistan in Dubai in 2013-14. Elgar’s hundred was also the first by a South Africa opener at Kingsmead in six Tests. Before Elgar, Smith had made 147 against West Indies in 2007-08.1930-31 The last time before Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali in South Africa’s first innings that an England pace-spin pair took four-plus wickets each in an innings in Tests in South Africa. Bill Voce and Ian Peebles took four wickets each at the Old Wanderers in the first innings. The last such instance for England in Tests came in 2007 when Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar took four and six wickets respectively against West Indies’ second innings at Old Trafford.14 Runs scored by South Africa’s No. 5 to No. 8 in their first innings – the second lowest in an innings in which they have all been dismissed since their readmission to Test cricket. The only instance when they scored fewer runs came in their first Test back, in Bridgetown in 1992, when these batsmen managed to score just four runs.0 Number of times Moeen had taken four or more wickets in an innings in an away Test before his 4 for 69 in Durban. His best figures in five away Tests before this were 3 for 51 in West Indies’ second innings in Grenada earlier this year. This is the third time Moeen has taken four or more wickets in an innings in Tests. He has taken 58 wickets in Tests at an average of 36.70.

A fan is overjoyed and overwhelmed at seeing his childhood cricketing heroes playing together in New York

Sheikh Minhaj Hossain09-Nov-2015Choice of game
There is a famous quote which ends the Brad Pitt movie “Troy”. It says, “Men rise and fall like the winter wheat but these men will never die.” As I passed my childhood by watching 90s cricket players, I want to change the quote of Troy to: “I lived in the time of Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Wasim Akram and many more and these men will never fade away!”I had goosebumps when I first heard that all the cricket stars of last 25 years who have retired from the game will be playing together in a match, and that too in the United States! For a cricket lover like me this is like a fairytale to even think of. But with the leadership of Sachin and Warne, all these stars turned this fairytale into a reality. This is the time when we could watch Sachin vs Wasim, Lara vs Warne, Shoaib vs Ponting again! All these years we could only imagine a dream scenario where two greatest legends of the game Lara and Tendulkar would be batting together on the same pitch! And Cricket All-Star 2015 made this possible.Team supported
Before the match, I didn’t have any prediction for a win. But I thought that the match would be competitive. Although it looks like that Sachin’s Blasters are stronger on paper but players like Ponting, Kallis, Sangakkara from Warne’s Warriors would make any day tough for the opponents. I was just there to enjoy the show, not thinking much about the win-loss scenario.About the series, I would be very happy if both the teams could share the trophy. As Warne’s Warriors won the first game, I deeply want Sachin Blasters to win the second match. And the third match will end up in a tie! This series cannot be valued by a trophy. This is beyond that.Key performer(s)
Shane Warne should be considered as the key performer of this match. The way Sehwag and Sachin started Basters’ innings, they could easily get to a total of 200. But Shane dismissed Sachin, Lara and Laxman, and Blasters were bundled out for 140 runs. The underestimated bowler in this match was Vettori. He bowled all four overs and gave only 13 runs with the precious wicket of Sehwag. Sangakkara and Ponting built a partnership to give Warriors a real chance of winning.Things I’d have changed about the match
All the people in the crowd were waiting for Lara to come and bat with Sachin Tendulkar. When Sehwag was hitting fours and sixes for Blasters, even some Indian fans in the gallery were discussing that Sehwag should retire hurt after completing his half-century and Lara should come to bat with Sachin. That would be a dream moment. But Sachin got out to an astonishing flying catch by Kallis and the scorecard looked like “Tendulkar c Kallis b Warne”! You never can have such precious one-liner in the scoreboard!One more thing I would like to change is the size and shape of the field. A baseball field can never be as good as a cricket field. Some of the sixes hit by both teams’ players could easily be caught if the ground was slightly bigger.Just like old times•Rob Tringali/ESPNWow moment
One of the most incredible experience at the match was the mentality and emotion of Indian people towards Sachin Tendulkar. I always heard of it, but never experienced it myself. In this match I witnessed Indians’ love for Sachin in front of my eyes. One example can describe this scenario: before the match, I saw a booth from one of the sponsor companies which was providing a big, white placard to write on. I was standing in the line to write something like “Reminisces of Childhood” and around 10 Indian people were standing in front of me, writing different placards. They were from different groups but all of them had written one common word. That was “GOD”! All of them were calling Sachin Tendulkar the GOD! Someone was writing “Thank you GOD for bringing cricket to America”, while other people were writing that famous dialogue, “Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our GOD”.Yes, if you never experienced this in person, I promise you this is completely different and unbelievable! The whole stadium was chanting “Sachin, Sachin” almost all the time. But the biggest cheer was heard when he came in to bowl the 18th over. The whole crowd went crazy! They knew that they are going to lose the match but still chanting the name of Sachin!Honestly, I never had the experience to watch a match live in India with Indian crowd before. But today in presence of most of the Indian crowd, I understood how they treat Sachin. They really worship him like GOD!Also when Shoaib Akhtar came in to bowl and bowled those deadly bouncers to Kallis and Rhodes, an Indian, who was standing beside me said, “It seems like Shoaib Akhtar is still the fastest bowler of the world! Is he still faster than Steyn, Johnson etc?” Well, I hardly had any doubt about that after watching those lethal bouncers. People were chanting “Shoaib, Shoaib” when he was bowling. Definitely those bouncers from Shoaib were a huge surprise for the whole crowd! Nobody expected this pace from him. Beside that there were chanting for “Viru” when he was in full form and hitting Walsh and Donald out of the park!One of the best parts of this game was not having cheerleaders! Cricket never needed any cheerleaders when these legends were playing. The main attraction of cricket is to create the battle of bat and ball on the field. These legends made sure that their play is more enjoyable than cheerleaders’ dance! They were and they are still successful.And last but not the least was the Mexican Wave! This is something which crowd enjoys for pure entertainment. And we did it too in the gallery.Banner of the day
One of the crowd changed the famous saying “God bless America” to “Sachin GOD blessed America!” Genius!Shot of the day
I’m not going to pick only shots from batsmen. I think some ‘shot’ can be created by bowlers too! In the death overs Akram bowled some beautiful swinging slower yorkers. We were mesmerised after watching this. We were also thrilled to watch Ponting’s hook again. When he hooked Shoaib Akhtar on the last ball of his spell, that special shot reminded me that he is one of the greatest hooker/puller of the history of cricket! And Jonty Rhodes reminded his trademark reverse sweep to finish the match!Overall
There were many wonderful moments in the gallery and on the field. The moment when Sachin and Sehwag were taking guard and Wasim Akram was waiting to run in to bowl was awesome. We all had a thrill, excitement to begin the dream. The famous movie “Back to the future 2” was celebrated on 21st October 2015. This match is like a real version of “Back to the future” movie in the USA. It is like we all have a time machine on which we are riding and going back to the past to watch that surreal scene again.When the match was about to start, the feelings we were having cannot be described by words! This was surreal and the atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable! I saw a number of people were in tears when they saw these players in front of their eyes, playing together after many years. I myself also got deeply emotional by thinking about all of the most precious cricketing moments of childhood. The experience of that moment can only be felt by a hardcore cricket lover who loves cricket wholeheartedly. Overall the organising capabilities were superb. Everything was electrifying! I enjoyed each and every moment thoroughly.Marks out of 10
The match deserves 10/10

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2015Ravindra Jadeja joined in, scalping AB de Villiers for a duck the over after Ashwin got Amla. South Africa were reduced to 12 for 5•Associated PressJP Duminy was the most comfortable of all South Africa batsmen, compiling 35 that included two sixes•Associated PressThe Indian spinners, however, bowled out the visitors for 79 – South Africa’s lowest total since readmission to international cricket. Ashwin completed his 14th five-wicket haul.•Associated PressMorne Morkel got M Vijay early in India’s second innings – caught at slip for 5•Associated PressCheteshwar Pujara looked good with a solid 31, before falling to a straighter one from Duminy•Associated PressShikhar Dhawan was the next one to go, failing to build on his 39•Associated PressImran Tahir then caved into the Indian middle-order, picking up Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha in quick succession•BCCISaha fell in a unique manner, gloving the ball onto wicketkeeper Dane Vilas’ boot in an attempt to play a sweep. The ball lobbed off the boot to present a simple catch to Hashim Amla at slip.•BCCIRohit Sharma then fought on alongside the tail, taking India past 150•BCCIAmit Mishra was the last man to fall, as India folded for 173, with a lead of 309•BCCIAshwin accounted for Stiaan van Zyl for the fifth time in the series, providing India with yet another early wicket•BCCIFor the second time in two days, Tahir was sent in as nightwatchman. The ploy did not work as he was dismissed by Amit Mishra for 8. South Africa ended the day at 32 for 2 with Elgar and Amla at the crease.•BCCI

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2015The pair added 42 together before Dushmantha Chameera had Guptill caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan at point for 30•AFPWilliamson, standing in for the injured Brendon McCullum, then got into his groove with three successive fours off Angelo Mathews•Getty ImagesLatham too kept the scorecard ticking until rookie legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay produced a double-strike in his second over to dismiss Latham and Ross Taylor•Associated PressWilliamson went onto make a fifty off 65 balls, but fell soon after Chameera removed Henry Nicholls as Sri Lanka pulled things back in the middle overs•Associated PressNew Zealand then saw a useful contribution of 38 from Mitchell Santner as he helped the score past 200, before he was run-out in the 42nd over. Doug Bracewell too chipped in with a score of 30 before Tim Southee struck 16 off the last three balls to push New Zealand to 276 for 8•Associated PressDanushka Gunathilaka gave Sri Lanka a blazing start in their chase of 277, smashing seven fours and four sixes in his 45-ball 65•AFPHe fell to Mitchell McClenaghan, but not before Sri Lanka had raced to 98 in 12.4 overs•Associated PressTillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne then combined to add 111 runs for the second wicket, taking Sri Lanka past 200•AFPDilshan top-scored with 91, before he was run-out in the 34th over with Sri Lanka still needing 68•AFPThirimanne then steered the visitors to the target in 46.2 overs with an unbeaten 87, as Sri Lanka picked up their first win of the tour to stay alive in the series•AFP

Stats highlights from the second T20I between Australia and India at the MCG

Bharath Seervi29-Jan-20161 Wins for India in their previous six T20Is before their consecutive wins in this series. They had lost two games to South Africa and one each to Zimbabwe, England and Sri Lanka. They had seven consecutive wins, including five during the World T20 2014, before that period.0 Instances of India batsmen scoring more than one fifty-plus score in a bilateral T20I series. With unbeaten scores of 90 and 59, Virat Kohli has become the first to do so for India. Kohli’s 149 runs in this series are already the most runs by an India batsman in a bilateral series and also the most by any batsman in a T20I bilateral series against Australia.50.65 Kohli’s batting average in T20Is, the highest for any batsman with at least 500 T20I runs. Australia’s T20I captain, Aaron Finch is a distant second with an average of 41.61 and is the only other batsman to average 40-plus.140 Number of stumpings effected by MS Dhoni in international matches, the most by any player. He went past Kumar Sangakkara’s 139 stumpings with two such dismissals in this match. This was also the first time Dhoni had stumped two batsmen in a T20I innings. For India, Dinesh Karthik is the only one to have done this before Dhoni: against South Africa in Durban in the 2007 World T20. Dhoni has 38 stumpings in Tests, 89 in ODIs and 13 in T20Is.2013 Last time Australia lost a bilateral T20I series involving two or more matches: to Sri Lanka by a 2-0 margin in 2012-13. Since thenand before the current series, they had played four series, won three and one was drawn. The only bilateral T20I series between India and Australia before this was drawn 1-1 in 2011-12.97 Runs added for the first wicket by the stand between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – India’s second-highest opening stand in T20Is. There has been only one century partnership for the first wicket for India in T20Is: 136 between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir against England in Durban in the 2007 World T20. Against Australia, only twice has an opposition’s first wicket added more runs. The Indian openers also made the highest opening stand in T20Is at the MCG by eclipsing the 60-run stand by England’s Ian Bell and Steven Davies in 2010-11.2 Instances when there have been two opening stands of 75 or more in a T20I. The first such instances was between New Zealand and Zimbabwe in Hamilton in 2011-12 when Stuart Matsikenyeri and Hamilton Masakadza put on 76 for Zimbabwe and Rob Nicol and James Franklin added 103 for New Zealand. Overall, this is the 12th instance of both teams having fifty-plus run partnerships for the first wicket in a T20I.68 Balls used by India to reach the 100-run mark, the second-least by any team against Australia in Australia. The quickest was 67 balls by West Indies in Brisbane in 2012-13.182 The previous highest total in T20Is at the MCG, by the hosts against South Africa in 2008-09. There has been only one other total in excess of 150 at the MCG before India’s 3 for 184 in this match – 161 for 4 by Sri Lanka against Australia in 2012-13.74 Runs by Aaron Finch, the highest individual score against India while chasing in T20Is. The previous highest was 73 by Jacques Kallis in Gros Islet in the 2010 World T20. Incidentally, both these scores have come in a losing cause. For Australia, there has been only one score higher than Finch’s in chases – 90 by Steven Smith against England in Cardiff in 2015. Glenn Maxwell also made 74 against Pakistan in Dhaka in the 2014 World T20. All these top scores have come in lost causes for Australia.2 Number of times a team’s first three batsmen have all scored 40 or more in a T20I innings. In this match, Rohit made 60, Dhawan 42, and Kohli 59 not out for India. The first such occasion was by New Zealand’s top three against England in Hamilton in 2012-13.

The Bangladesh opener has enjoyed a productive time in the World T20 Qualifiers and the aspect that has stood out is how he has adjusted his game to the situation

Sidharth Monga13-Mar-20161:34

‘I just batted the way I know’ – Tamim

“If Tamim bats 20 overs he would like to have got a hundred.”That was Peter Borren after Tamim Iqbal’s 83 not out in 20 overs against a challenging Netherlands attack. Borren was talking about how sensibly Tamim played the situation. It was a different match. Against a more error-prone Oman attack, Tamim batted the whole 20 overs and went a step further to register Bangladesh’s first Twenty20 international century.This innings was not too dissimilar to the one against Netherlands. He scored 57% of the team’s runs here in 63 of the 120 balls; against Netherlands he faced only 58 balls and scored 54% of the runs. Here he had support through Sabbir Rahman, which helped him play a little more freely.Oman had done their homework. They reckoned Tamim is good off the pads so you can’t bowl straight. They knew he cuts well so you can’t give him width. The idea was to bowl around off stump, take the ball away and give him no pace to work with. Amir Ali did that with his Ramesh Powar-like offbreaks. Bilal Khan used the tackiness of the surface with his cutters to cramp Tamim up. It didn’t help that Soumya Sarkar’s troubles continued at the other end. At 19 for 0 after four overs, somebody needed to go. This is where Tamim had to bat differently than he did against Netherlands to pull Bangladesh out of this slow start.Tamim did so by picking his target: Ajay Lalcheta, whose left-arm spin came into him. The weapon of choice was the sweep over square leg. Having messed with Lalcheta’s length, Tamim used the pace of the flatter deliveries to guide them past short third man, and mixed it with the occasional big hit down the ground.”It’s easier for me as a left-hand batsman, it is easier than attacking an offspinner,” Tamim said of that ploy. “And we had a very good team meeting this morning. We knew exactly where he would bowl. The meeting was fantastic. He bowled exactly there. Outside off. I was waiting for it. I was lucky enough to connect a few and got off to a good start [against him].”Lalcheta and the other left-arm spinner, Aamir Kaleem, bowled 15 balls to Tamim for 41 runs.The other thing Tamim did really well was choose his times to take risks. Even against Netherlands he broke the shackles just when the opposition was turning the screws; here, too, he made sure the pressure was always on the opposition. “I need to wait till [they bowl to] my strength,” Tamim said of when he takes the risk. “I just wanted to see that if they bowl me a bad ball or if I get a boundary early in the over, the pressure goes back on them. If I can get a boundary early, then rotate the strike, you get eight or nine in an over. That is what my plan was.”Of the 14 boundaries that Tamim hit since the start of the fifth over, eight came in the first two balls of the over. One of those not off the first two balls was his final, the one that brought up the hundred. Off went the helmet even as he was running. For a moment it looked like he would do the Mahmudullah-style slide after the recent win, but he stood upright. He gestured towards the coach Chandika Hathurasingha, as if rubbing his hand on a bald head. Then he pointed to where the ball went. The coach had been asking his batsmen for a hundred. A big innings had been delivered.Of the celebrations Tamim said nothing had been planned. “I was too excited so I did everything possible,” Tamim said. “I wanted to celebrate the hundred. Till the last moment I didn’t know I will get the hundred. I didn’t plan any celebration. Whatever came in the heart I did.”At the start of the innings Tamim became the first Bangladeshi to 1000 T20I runs and took the lead over Shakib Al Hasan as the highest run-getter for the country. He is Bangladesh’s leading run-scorer in all formats, and aims to cement his position. “You don’t play for the records, they come their way,” he said, “But whatever six-seven-eight years I play I should leave a tough task for the next guy to get, which will someday happen. That will be good for Bangladesh cricket.”An occasional hothead who used to react angrily to every criticism has come a long way. If that can happen, for Bangladesh in this World T20, “anything is possible”.

Stats highlights from the second day’s play at Headingley

Shiva Jayaraman20-May-2016438 Number of wicket James Anderson now has in Tests; he went past Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets with the dismissal of Angelo Mathews. Among pacers, only Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh have taken more wickets than Anderson. Click here for a list of highest wicket-takers in Tests.548 Runs scored by Jonny Bairstow in his last four first-class innings at Leeds. This was his third century in his last four innings at this venue; he had made a career-best of 246 against Hampshire last month and had followed it up with a 198 against Surrey in his next match. He has now made 1018 runs at an average of 92.54 in Headingley since 2015. Bairstow fell just ten runs short of his highest Test score of 150* which had come in Cape Town in the New Year Test this year. Bairstow has 1344 runs in Tests at 35.36 with two centuries and six fifties.46.98 Bairstow’s percentage contribution to England’s innings – he made 140 of the 298 runs that England scored in their first innings. This is the third highest contribution by an England batsman batting at No. 7 or lower in an all-out innings in Tests. The highest such contribution is by Len Hutton who scored 62 out of the 122 made by England in the first Ashes Test of 1950-51 at the Gabba. Bairstow’s contribution is highest since Jack Russell made 128 out of 264 runs (48.48%) scored by England in the fourth Ashes Test in 1989, at Old Trafford.5/16 Anderson’s returns from Sri Lanka’s first innings – his first five-for at Leeds from eight Tests. His previous best of 3 for 91 too had come against Sri Lanka in 2014. This is only the third time he has taken three or more wickets in Tests in Headingley. This was Anderson’s 19th five-wicket haul in Tests.6 Number of times before Bairstow in this match a wicketkeeper had made a century and also taken five catches in an innings in Tests. The previous such instance was by BJ Watling in the Wellington Test against India in 2014-15. This was the third such instance by an England keeper. The previous two instances were by Matt Prior. Click here for a list of such instances.136 Runs scored by Alex Hales from eight Test innings before this one. He had averaged just 17.00 on England’s tour to South Africa in 2015-16 with a highest of 60 which came in Cape Town. Hales’ 86 is his second fifty in Tests. Hales has made 222 runs at 24.66 with two fifties in Tests.2013 Last time before this England enforced follow-on in Tests, which was against New Zealand in Wellington. After that Test, this was the third such opportunity for Alastair Cook. Before this, England had batted again at Lord’s in the second Ashes Test in 2013 and also against India in Southampton in 2014.2011 The last time Sri Lanka were dismissed for a score lower than the 91 that they managed in the first innings in Tests. England were the opposition on that occasion too – they had bowled out Sri Lanka for 82 in Cardiff with Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann taking four wickets each. Sri Lanka’s total in their first innings is their sixth lowest all-out total in Tests.2 Number of partnerships that have added more runs for the sixth wicket in Headingley than the one between Bairstow and Hales in England’s first innings. Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior had put on a partnership of 160 runs against West Indies in 2007. The only other higher stand had come between Tony Greig and Alan Knott, also against West Indies, in 1976.1 Number of Sri Lanka fast bowlers who have returned better figures than Dasun Shanaka’s 3 for 46 on debut in away Tests. Lasith Malinga had taken 4 for 42 in Darwin on his debut. Shanaka is the only the third Sri Lanka pacer – after Malinga and Hasantha Fernando – to take three or more wickets on debut in overseas Tests. Fernando took 3 for 63 in Johannesburg in 2002. Shanka took all the three wickets in his first three overs giving away just a run. He dismissed Alastair Cook and Nick Compton in his second over and got Joe Root in his third.26 Runs scored totally by Sri Lanka’s top four batsmen in their first innings – the second fewest they have added in an innings in an away Test. The only time they had managed fewer runs was in 1982-83 in Wellington, when their top four totally scored only 21 runs. Overall, Sri Lanka’s top four have aggregated fewer than 26 runs only nine other times, eight of which have come in home Tests.

ESPNcricinfo staff01-May-2016Fresh off a century in the last match against Gujarat Lions, Steven Smith did not let the early wicket slow Rising Pune Supergiants down•BCCISaurabh Tiwary played second fiddle in an 84-run second-wicket stand with Smith that set Supergiants up nicely•AFPThe frustration in Mumbai’s camp was evident when Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu had a heated exchange after Rayudu failed to stop a boundary off the offspinner’s bowling•BCCIJasprit Bumrah dismissed Smith for 45 to bring an end to the stand that helped Mumbai gain control•AFPHarbhajan and Rayudu seemed patched up later, as Harbhajan’s wicket of Peter Handscomb helped Mumbai apply the brakes further•AFPTiwary was the hosts’ top-scorer with 57 – before he holed out at the midwicket boundary in the 18th over•BCCIMS Dhoni made a patchy run-a-ball 24 that helped Pune reach 159 in their 20 overs•AFPMumbai started aggressively, hitting 39 in 3.5 overs, before Ashok Dinda sent back Parthiv Patel after a sparkling cameo•BCCIRohit Sharma, though, continued his good form and ensured that Mumbai had a solid base in the chase•BCCIRayudu provided Rohit with good support as the pair’s 52-run second-wicket stand took Mumbai closer to the target•AFPRayudu fell for 22 but Rohit carried on to bring up his fifth fifty in the IPL this season, and took Mumbai home with nine balls to spare•BCCI

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2016But Ross Taylor, resuming on 38, carried on strongly and raised his 14th Test century•AFPTaylor was supported brilliantly by wicketkeeper BJ Watling as New Zealand dominated the first two sessions, plundering 108 and 120 runs respectively•AFPSikandar Raza ended the 253-run sixth-wicket partnership, forcing Watling to fetch a pull from outside off and hole out to deep square leg. Watling had made 107•AFPKane Williamson called for the declaration after Watling’s dismissal with New Zealand on 576 for 6. Taylor remained unbeaten on 173 with the lead having stretched to 412•AFPZimbabwe’s woeful day continued with the bat too as Trent Boult struck thrice within his first two overs, reducing them to 17 for 4•AFPSikandar Raza struck 37 rapid runs and added 69 for the fifth wicket with Craig Ervine. Ervine remained unbeaten on 49 and carried Zimbabwe to 121 for 5 at stumps, still 291 behind•AFP