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46th Mustangs Trophy One-Day Encounter
Rehan, Uvindu shine in Royals’ comfortable 7-wicket win
Half-centuries from Rehan Peris and Uvindu Weerasekara helped Royal College outplay arch-rivals S. Thomas’ College by 7 wickets and bag the 46th Mustangs Trophy one Day Encounter worked off at SSC Grounds, Colombo on Friday (24).
Batting first, the boys from Mt Lavinia were bundled out for 165 runs despite Senadhi Bulankulama’s lone cameo, and in reply, Royal achieved the target in just 37 overs.
Senadhi Bulankulama and Thishen Ehaliyagoda walked out to open the innings for S. Thomas’, but their partnership was short-lived, with Thishen being the first wicket to fall for just 5 runs.
One down batter Dineth Gunawardena also lasted just 19 balls as he was run out courtesy of a brilliant fielding effort from Bulan Weerathunga.
Adding salt to their wounds, their skipper Romesh Mendis also bit the dust when he walked back to the pavilion for just 2 runs to make things worse for the Thomians.
S. Thomas found themselves in a tight spot at ( ), but a desperate effort from Senadhi Bulankulama and Mahith Perera, who rotated the strike, saw them slowly reviving their innings.
However, the Royal bowlers didn’t allow any breathing space for the opposition to settle down, as they continued bowling good lines and lengths to put constant pressure on the Thomians.
Senadhi Bulankulama was the only batter to trouble the Royal bowling attack, and apart from him none of the other batters posed a threat to the Royalists.
Bulankulama went on to score a fighting 133 ball 66 runs including 4 boundaries, while Mahith Perera contributed 28 runs before the Thomians were bowled out for a below-par score of 165 runs inside 48.2 overs.
Bulan Weerathunga, Sandesh Ramanayaka and skipper Dasis Manchanayake shone with the ball claiming two wickets each, while Anush Polonnowita, Ranuka Malaviarachchi and Ramiru Perera chipped in with a wicket each.
In reply, it was a walk in the park for the Royalists as they achieved the target in just 37 overs.
Rehan Peris was the hero in the chase top scoring with a blistering 69 runs off 107 deliveries including 7 boundaries and a six, while middle-order batter Uvindu Weerasekara smashed a 68 ball 50 runs with 4 boundaries and 2 sixes to take their team home comfortably.
The win also saw Royal whitewashing the Thomians, as they also won the 144th ‘Battle of the Blues’ annual cricket encounter played for the Rt. Hon. D.S Senanayake Memorial Shield recently.
46 වැනි මස්ටැංග්ස් කුසලාන එක්දින හමුව
රෙහාන් සහ උවිඳු රාජකීයයන් කඩුලු 7ක පහසු ජයග්රහණයකින් බැබළේ
රෙහාන් පීරිස් සහ උවිඳු වීරසේකරගේ අර්ධ ශතක හේතුවෙන් රාජකීය විද්යාලය කඩුලු 7කින් පරම්පරාගත ප්රතිවාදී S. තෝමස් විද්යාලය අභිබවා ගොස් 46 වැනි මස්ටැංග්ස් කුසලාන එක්දින තරගය සිකුරාදා (24) කොළඹ SSC පිටියේදී නිමාවට පත්විය.
ප්රථමයෙන් පන්දුවට පහරදුන් ගල්කිස්ස බාලකයෝ ලකුණු 165කට දැවී ගිය අතර, සේනාධි බුලන්කුලමගේ හුදකලා ආරාධිතයා නොතකා, පිළිතුරු ලෙස රාජකීය විදුහල ඕවර 37කදී එම ඉලක්කය සපුරා ගත්තේය.
S. තෝමස් වෙනුවෙන් ඉනිම ආරම්භ කිරීමට සේනාධි බුලන්කුලම සහ තිශේන් ඇහැලියගොඩ පිටව ගිය නමුත් ඔවුන්ගේ සබඳතාව කෙටිකාලීන වූ අතර තිෂේන් පළමු කඩුල්ල ලෙස ලකුණු 5ක් පමණක් දැවී ගියේය.
බුලාන් වීරතුංගගේ විශිෂ්ට පන්දු රැකීමේ ප්රයත්නයෙන් දැවී යාමෙන් එක් පහළ පිතිකරු දිනෙත් ගුණවර්ධන ද දැවී ගියේ පන්දු 19ක් පමණි.
ඔවුන්ගේ තුවාලවලට ලුණු එකතු කරමින් ඔවුන්ගේ නායක රොමේෂ් මෙන්ඩිස් ද ලකුණු 2ක් පමණක් ලබා නැවත මණ්ඩපයට යන විට දූවිල්ල හපමින් තෝමස් පිලේ තත්ත්වය තවත් නරක අතට හැරිණි.
එස්. තෝමස් () හි දී දැඩි අසීරුතාවයකට පත් වූ නමුත්, පහර භ්රමණය කළ සේනාධි බුලන්කුලම සහ මහීත් පෙරේරාගේ මංමුලා සහගත උත්සාහය නිසා ඔවුන් සෙමෙන් සිය ඉනිම පණ ගන්වනු දක්නට ලැබිණි.
කෙසේ වෙතත්, රාජකීය පන්දු යවන්නන් ප්රතිවාදීන්ට කිසිදු හුස්ම ගැනීමේ ඉඩක් ලබා දුන්නේ නැත, මන්ද ඔවුන් තෝමියානුවන් මත නිරන්තර පීඩනයක් ඇති කිරීම සඳහා හොඳ රේඛා සහ දිග දිගේ පන්දු යවන බැවිනි.
රාජකීය පන්දු යැවීමේ ප්රහාරයට බාධා කළ එකම පිතිකරුවා සේනධි බුලන්කුලම වූ අතර ඔහු හැරුණු විට සෙසු කිසිදු පිතිකරුවෙක් රාජකීයයන්ට තර්ජනයක් වූයේ නැත.
බුලංකුලම පිල පන්දු 133කදී හතරේ පහර 4ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 66ක් ලබා ගත් අතර මහීත් පෙරේරා ලකුණු 28කට දායක වූ අතර තෝමස් පිල ඕවර 48.2කදී ලකුණු 165කට අඩුවෙන් දැවී ගියේය.
පන්දු යැවීමේදී බුලන් වීරතුංග, සන්දේශ් රාමනායක සහ නායක දාසිස් මංචනායක කඩුලු 2 බැගින් දවාගත් අතර අනුෂ් පොළොන්නෝවිට, රනුක මලවිආරච්චි සහ රමිරු පෙරේරා කඩුල්ල බැගින් ද බිඳ දැමූහ.
පිළිතුරු ලෙස රාජකීය ක්රීඩකයින්ට එය උද්යානයේ ඇවිදීමක් වූ අතර ඔවුන් එම ඉලක්කය පන්දුවාර 37 කදී සපුරා ගත්හ.
රෙහාන් පීරිස් පන්දු 107කදී හතරේ පහර 7ක් සහ හයේ පහරක් සමගින් ලකුණු 69ක් රැස්කරමින් විශිෂ්ට පිතිහරඹයක නිරත වූ අතර මැදපෙළ පිතිකරු උවිඳු වීරසේකර පන්දු 68කදී හතරේ පහර 4ක් සහ හයේ පහර 2ක් සමඟින් ලකුණු 50ක් රැස්කරමින් තම කණ්ඩායම පහසුව කරා රැගෙන ගියේය. .
මෙම ජයග්රහණයෙන් රාජකීයයන් තෝමියානුවන්ට සුදු හුනු ගෑම ද දක්නට ලැබුණි, ඔවුන් Rt වෙනුවෙන් ක්රීඩා කළ 144 වැනි ‘Battle of the Blues’ වාර්ෂික ක්රිකට් තරගයද ජයග්රහණය කළේය. ගරු. D.S සේනානායක අනුස්මරණ පලිහ මෑතකදී.
46வது முஸ்டாங்ஸ் டிராபி ஒருநாள் சந்திப்பு
ரெஹான், உவிந்து ஆகியோர் ராயல்ஸ் 7 விக்கெட் வித்தியாசத்தில் வெற்றி பெற்றனர்
ரெஹான் பெரிஸ் மற்றும் உவிந்து வீரசேகர ஆகியோரின் அரை சதங்களின் மூலம் றோயல் கல்லூரியின் பரம எதிரிகளான எஸ். தோமஸ் கல்லூரியை 7 விக்கெட்டுகள் வித்தியாசத்தில் வீழ்த்தி 46வது முஸ்டாங்ஸ் டிராபி ஒருநாள் என்கவுன்டர் வெள்ளிக்கிழமை (24) கொழும்பு SSC மைதானத்தில் நடைபெற்றது.
முதலில் துடுப்பெடுத்தாடிய கல்கிசையைச் சேர்ந்த சிறுவர்கள் சேனாதி புலங்குளமவின் தனி ஆட்டத்தை மீறி 165 ஓட்டங்களுக்கு ஆட்டமிழந்தனர், பதிலுக்கு றோயல் வெறும் 37 ஓவர்களில் இலக்கை அடைந்தது.
சேனாதி புலங்குளம மற்றும் திஷேன் எஹலியகொட ஆகியோர் S. தோமஸ் இன் இன்னிங்ஸைத் தொடங்குவதற்கு வெளியேறினர், ஆனால் அவர்களது பார்ட்னர்ஷிப் சிறிது காலம் நீடித்தது, திஷேன் 5 ரன்களுக்கு முதல் விக்கெட்டாக வீழ்ந்தார்.
ஒன் டவுன் பேட்டர் தினேத் குணவர்தனவும் 19 பந்துகளுக்கு மட்டுமே நீடித்து, புலன் வீரதுங்கவின் சிறப்பான பீல்டிங் முயற்சியால் ரன் அவுட் ஆனார்.
அவர்களின் காயங்களுக்கு உப்பு சேர்த்து, அவர்களின் கேப்டன் ரொமேஷ் மெண்டிஸும் 2 ரன்களுக்கு பெவிலியனுக்கு திரும்பி நடந்தபோது தூசி கடித்தார், தோமியன்களுக்கு விஷயங்களை மோசமாக்கினார்.
எஸ். தோமஸ் ( ) இல் ஒரு இறுக்கமான இடத்தில் தங்களைக் கண்டார், ஆனால் சேனாதி புலங்குளம மற்றும் மஹித் பெரேரா ஆகியோரின் அவநம்பிக்கையான முயற்சியால் ஸ்டிரைக்கைச் சுழற்றினார், அவர்கள் மெதுவாக தங்கள் இன்னிங்ஸை மீட்டெடுத்தனர்.
இருப்பினும், ராயல் பந்துவீச்சாளர்கள் எதிரணியை நிலைநிறுத்துவதற்கு எந்த சுவாச இடத்தையும் அனுமதிக்கவில்லை, ஏனெனில் அவர்கள் தொடர்ந்து நல்ல கோடுகள் மற்றும் நீளங்களை வீசியதால் தோமியன்களுக்கு நிலையான அழுத்தம் கொடுக்கப்பட்டது.
சேனாதி புலங்குளம மட்டுமே றோயல் பந்துவீச்சு தாக்குதலுக்கு சிக்கலை ஏற்படுத்தினார், அவரைத் தவிர மற்ற எந்த பேட்டர்களும் ராயல்ஸ்டுகளுக்கு அச்சுறுத்தலாக இருக்கவில்லை.
புலங்குளம போராடி 133 பந்துகளில் 4 பவுண்டரிகள் உட்பட 66 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார், அதே நேரத்தில் மஹித் பெரேரா 28 ரன்கள் எடுத்தார், தோமியன்ஸ் பந்துவீச்சில் 48.2 ஓவர்களுக்குள் 165 ரன்கள் குறைவாக இருந்தது.
பந்து வீச்சில் புலன் வீரதுங்க, சந்தேஷ் ராமநாயக்க மற்றும் அணித்தலைவர் தாசிஸ் மஞ்சநாயக்க ஆகியோர் தலா இரண்டு விக்கெட்டுகளையும், அனுஷ் பொலொன்னோவிட்ட, ரணுக மளவியராச்சி மற்றும் ரமிரு பெரேரா ஆகியோர் தலா ஒரு விக்கெட்டையும் கைப்பற்றினர்.
பதிலுக்கு, 37 ஓவர்களில் அவர்கள் இலக்கை அடைந்ததால், ராயல்ஸ்டுக்கு இது பூங்காவில் ஒரு நடை.
ரெஹான் பெரிஸ் 107 பந்துகளில் 7 பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் ஒரு சிக்ஸர் உள்ளடங்கலாக 69 ஓட்டங்களை விளாசினார், அதே சமயம் மத்திய வரிசை வீரர் உவிந்து வீரசேகர 68 பந்துகளில் 4 பவுண்டரிகள் மற்றும் 2 சிக்ஸர்களுடன் 50 ஓட்டங்களை விளாசினார். .
இந்த வெற்றியானது தோமியன்ஸை ஒயிட்வாஷ் செய்வதையும் ராயல் கண்டது, ஏனெனில் அவர்கள் Rtக்காக விளையாடிய 144வது ‘பேட்டில் ஆஃப் தி ப்ளூஸ்’ வருடாந்திர கிரிக்கெட் சந்திப்பையும் வென்றனர். கௌரவ. டி.எஸ் சேனநாயக்கா நினைவு கேடயம் சமீபத்தில்.
Football
Asia Leads the Charge as 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Begin to Take Shape
The road to the historic 2026 FIFA World Cup is gaining momentum, and Asia is already making its mark on football’s grandest stage. With an expanded format featuring 48 teams and co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, this edition promises to be the most inclusive and diverse yet — and Asia is stepping up early.
🇯🇵 Japan Sets the Benchmark for Asia
Japan was the first nation worldwide to book their ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, underscoring their dominance in Asian football. Unbeaten in their qualifying campaign with six wins and one draw, the Samurai Blue continue to be the standard-bearers for the continent.
🇮🇷 Iran Continues Consistent Form
Iran soon followed Japan, securing their seventh overall World Cup appearance and fourth consecutive berth. The team remained undefeated in their group, showcasing the experience and tactical depth that has made them a fixture on the world stage.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan Makes Historic Debut
In one of the most emotional stories of the qualifiers so far, Uzbekistan qualified for their first-ever FIFA World Cup. A gritty 0-0 draw against the UAE was enough for the Central Asian side to clinch a spot, sparking nationwide celebrations. Their rise highlights the growing strength of second-tier Asian nations on the global stage.
Asia’s Presence Grows in 2026 Format
Asia is guaranteed eight slots in the 2026 World Cup — a significant jump from previous editions — allowing the region to showcase more talent, depth, and emerging football powerhouses. With teams like South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Australia still in the hunt, the continent could make a serious impact come 2026.
Global Context
The tournament’s expanded format and host countries in North America mark a new era for international football. With 104 matches, 16 host cities, and an increased number of participants, it will be a celebration of global diversity — and Asian nations are ready to shine.
Countries Qualified So Far
- Asia: 🇯🇵 Japan, 🇮🇷 Iran, 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
- Oceania: 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- South America: 🇦🇷 Argentina
(Additional qualifiers from other confederations are ongoing.)
As the countdown to 2026 begins, all eyes are on Asia’s rising stars — ready to challenge the world and redefine the future of football.
Cricket
Sachithra Senanayake Indicted in Landmark Match-Fixing Case Under Sri Lanka’s Anti-Corruption Law
Former Sri Lankan cricketer Sachithra Senanayake has been formally indicted before the Hambantota High Court, marking a historic first in Sri Lanka’s efforts to criminalize corruption in sports. The charges stem from an alleged match-fixing attempt during the 2020 Lanka Premier League (LPL), making Senanayake the first player to face prosecution under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Offences Related to Sports Act No. 24 of 2019.
Senanayake, currently out on bail, is accused of attempting to influence Colombo Kings player Tharindu Ratnayake to underperform during the tournament. The incident reportedly occurred via a WhatsApp message, which was later flagged by a local anti-corruption officer, prompting an official investigation in 2020.
The case falls under the landmark legislation introduced in 2019 by then Sports Minister Harin Fernando, which criminalizes match-fixing and related offenses in the country. If convicted, Senanayake could face a prison term of up to 10 years, a fine reaching Rs. 100 million, or both.
The indictment signals a serious shift in Sri Lanka’s approach to tackling corruption in sports. Authorities hope this high-profile case will serve as a strong deterrent against similar offenses in the future.
Senanayake, once a celebrated off-spinner and a member of Sri Lanka’s victorious 2014 ICC T20 World Cup squad, now faces the grim prospect of being remembered not for his achievements on the field, but for his role in one of Sri Lanka’s most significant match-fixing scandals.
As the case unfolds, it casts a spotlight on the broader issue of corruption in sports and reinforces the urgent need for integrity, vigilance, and transparent governance across all levels of competition in Sri Lanka
Cricket
Harbhajan Singh Criticizes Jayawardene and Malinga for Over-Involvement in MI Dugout During IPL Qualifier
In a surprising turn of events during IPL 2025 Qualifier 2, cricket legend and former Mumbai Indians player Harbhajan Singh has voiced concern over what he termed “excessive involvement” by Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga during Mumbai Indians’ defeat against Punjab Kings.
Speaking on his YouTube channel after MI’s seven-wicket loss at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Harbhajan took issue with the coaching staff’s frequent instructions from the dugout — especially during tense moments when MI bowlers were under pressure.
Too many signals, too much talking — even with someone like Jasprit Bumrah, who knows exactly what he’s doing,” Harbhajan remarked. “At times, you need a calm and collected environment, especially during high-pressure games. Coaches should guide, not command every move from the sidelines.
Punjab Kings chased down a formidable target of 204, with captain Shreyas Iyer anchoring the innings with an unbeaten 87 to secure a place in the final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Despite Mumbai posting a solid total, their bowlers failed to contain the opposition — a point that Harbhajan feels may have been worsened by the atmosphere in the MI dugout.
Jayawardene, MI’s Head of Global Performance, and Malinga, the bowling coach, were both seen actively engaging with players during the game, a move Harbhajan believes may have unintentionally undermined the confidence of seasoned campaigners like Bumrah.
I’ve been part of that setup. The coaching staff means well, but showing visible desperation can impact player morale,
Harbhajan added.
With this loss, Mumbai Indians miss out on a shot at their sixth IPL title, while discussions surrounding the balance between guidance and over-coaching during matches are sure to continue
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