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Sri Lanka cricketers record gigantic upset

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It has been a year of stunning Test upsets.

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A few weeks back, the West Indies stunned high-flying England in a Test series. Now Sri Lanka has done the unthinkable by becoming the first nation from Asia to blank South Africa 2-0 on African soil.

It dropped the jaws off all South Africans, and this defeat was compared to the last humiliation the country suffered at the hands of minnows Japan at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. On that occasion in Brighton, England, the Springboks were edged 34-32, and that generally was regarded the greatest ignominy in the country’s history.

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Add tiny Sri Lanka’s victory to the list.

A red-faced South African skipper Faf du Plessis described the series loss “as my biggest low as a player in the Proteas team.”

He said he was particularly disappointed with his team’s batting in the series. “We were outplayed in their back yard recently, but there’s no excuse when Sri Lanka comes here.”

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Kusal Perera, whose 153 not out took Sri Lanka to a dramatic, unexpected one-wicket win in the first Test in Durban, was named man of the series.

In the second Test in Port Elizabeth, South Africa was dismissed for 222 and 128 while Sri Lanka replied with 154 and 197 for two with Oshada Fernando carrying his bat for 75 and Kusal Mendis was unbeaten on 84.

What must have bewildered the home team is that their highly vaunted fiery pace attack failed to trouble the islanders. But that apparently isn’t going to stop coach Ottis Gibson from loading his World Cup lineup with pace bowlers unless he can be talked out of it. Pace bowlers alone cannot win the World Cup today.

Never before has a sub-continental team – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka – claimed a series win on South African shores.  When one considers some of the  superstars who have tried but failed in South Africa included names such as Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Virat Kohli, among others. Now little-known Dimuth Karunaratne, who was only handed the captaincy after Dinesh Chandimal was fired, will go down in history.

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As one would expect, Sri Lankan politicians, cricket legends and newspapers heaped praise on the squad for “this unthinkable” series triumph.

“First Asian nation to win a series in South Africa,” said the Sunday Island in banner headlines. The Sunday Times of Colombo called the national team “conquerors” for snatching an unexpected series win.

Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were quick to hail the team’s rare success.

Former skipper Sangakkara noted the squad had been under pressure both on and off field.“Congratulations . . . . for achieving what no other Sri Lankan team has ever come close to. Huge character shown by all concerned with the team, coaching staff and management having been under tremendous pressure,” he said on Twitter.

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Since winning the World Cup in 1996, the standard of play on the island took a turn for the worse with allegations of corruption at the management level and player infighting. On Tuesday, Sri Lanka legend Sanath Jayasuriya was banned for two months after admitting two breaches of the ICC anti-corruption code.

IRELAND SEES RED

Ireland isn’t likely to forget the name of Hazratullah Zazai in a hurry.

The 20-year-old Afghanistan batsman clobbered the Irish bowlers to every part of the field to help his team post a world record T20 score of 278 for three in demolishing the Irish.

Zazai’s unbeaten 162 off a mere 62 balls included 16 sixes and 11 fours in the Indian city of Dehradun. His 16 sixes was also a record, and so was his stand of 236 with fellow opener Usman Ghani, who made 73. The night of fireworks overtook the previous world record of 260 for three, posted by Australia against Sri Lanka in 2016. The Irish managed 194 for six as Afghanistan won by 84 runs to wrap up the three-match series with a game to play. Zazai’s century came off just 42 balls.

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Meanwhile, visiting Australia defeated India by three wickets in a thriller in the first T20 clash.

Glenn Maxwell starred for the Aussies with 56 and Nathan Coulter-Nile took three wickets in a thrilling last-ball finish. The Aussies successfully chased 127 for the win.

KL Rahul was India’s top scorer with 50.

CUP MATCH DOOMED?

The India-Pakistan World Cup encounter on June 16 was sold out a day after the draw was announced. In fact the organizers received 500,000 requests for the 25,000 available tickets for the highly-anticipated clash between the political-and-sporting neighbours at Manchester’s Old Trafford. But it now appears India may boycott the match after a Pakistan-based militant group took responsibility for a suicide attack in which at least 46 Indian paramilitary police were killed. It sparked anger and anti-Pakistan protests across India. India’s skipper Virat Kohli said the entire team was shocked at the attack. “Our stand is simple: We stick by what the nation wants to do and what the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) decides to do.  That is basically our opinion. Whatever the government and the board decide, we will go by that and we will respect that.”

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