Padikkal departs after classy ton; Team India conclude Day 2 with 300…

In the second Test match against Sri Lanka, Team India posted a total of 300 runs for the loss of five wickets in 85 overs at stumps on Day 1 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground in Colombo.

Team India's Dhruv Jurel and Saransh Jain will resume Day 2 with the scores of seven and four runs, respectively. Jurel has faced 21 balls and smashed a boundary, whereas Jain has registered a boundary in five deliveries. biznow.biz

Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando returned with the figures of three wickets for 46 runs in 16 overs. Lahiru Kumara and Keshara Nuwantha also claimed one wicket each. Prabath Jayasuriya, Sonal Dinusha, Dhananjaya de Silva, and Kamil Mishara went wicketless on Day 1 of Team India's first innings in the second Test match.

Having opted to bat first, Team India's opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 45 runs in 53 balls, including nine boundaries. Fellow opening batsman KL Rahul also scored 18 runs in 33 balls, with the help of two boundaries and a maximum.

Devdutt Padikkal delivered a stunning knock of 117 runs off 193 deliveries, which was laced with 12 boundaries. Skipper Shubman Gill registered 50 runs in 108 balls, which included six boundaries. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was retired hurt on three runs in 15 balls.

Facing 83 balls, Ravindra Jadeja scored 43 runs, including four boundaries.

Earlier, the visitors entered the clash with one change. Saransh Jain came in place of Kuldeep Yadav. Jain made his Test debut for Team India.

After winning the toss, Team India's skipper Gill said, "Batting first, yes. [On the pitch] It looks like a much harder, much better surface compared to Galle. Galle was also a very good wicket, but I think as the game went on, it got a little bit slower and the ball started to turn. We're expecting the same, but I think for the first two or three days, I think it'll be a really good wicket to bat on. [Playing XI] Kuldeep, unfortunately, had some infections, so he misses out, and Saransh makes his debut for India. [How he would rate the Galle win] I would say probably a nine, because there's always room for improvement, and I think we played a pretty good match, a decent match. And obviously there were some areas where we could have got a little bit better, but, you know, this is Test cricket. It's very, very difficult to be able to have a near-perfect game because you're playing for five days, and to play that dominant and consistent cricket, especially in Test, is hard. But I think overall we had a pretty good match".

On the other hand, the hosts have made two changes. Kamil Mishara made his Test debut. Pasindu Sooriyabandara has been picked up in the playing XI, and Nishan Madushka, along with Dinesh Chandimal, have been benched for the second Test match.

IND vs SL 2nd Test: Confirmed Playing XIs

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Saransh Jain, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

Sri Lanka: Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (C), Sonal Dinusha, Niroshan Dickwell (WK), Keshara Nuwantha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando.

While watching some of the old movies, there is always a belief that the film would have a happy ending. Even in the real world, the gut feeling continues to give signals to the brain that everything will be fine at some point. But the gut feeling may not always send out the right signs. Consider the legendary career of Savita Punia, the Indian goalkeeper. Despite investing much of her life into hockey, Savita’s career ledger records heartbreaks and more heartbreaks. It makes you wonder, how can sport be so cruel? And how can a great athlete wear so many emotions and still soldier on?

Around two years ago, after India failed to qualify for the Olympics, Savita had said this to RevSportz: “There is no point continuing. Main aur khelna nahi chahti [I don’t wish to play any more].”

A distraught Savita sitting on her haunches after India lost to Japan in the third-place playoff in Ranchi, and being consoled by her teammate Nikki Pradhan, turned out to be a poignant moment.

We have to also revisit the Tokyo Olympics. In the quarter-final of that mega event, Savita was India’s pillar of strength, having made seven penalty-corner saves. Unfortunately, in the bronze-medal match, Grace Baldson’s powerful drag-flick went through the legs of Punia and into the back of the net. As Team GB took the lead, all that a shattered Savita could do was look down and wipe a tear or two.

Fast-forward to 2026, and Savita was back in the Indian set-up after taking a 10-month break from the sport. In the subsequent Round 2 of the Women’s World Cup, India were very close to defeating Australia, which in turn would have charted their route to a historic semi-final. It wasn’t to be, as a goalless draw saw India bowing out of medal contention.

Once more, the cameras zoomed in on Savita, with the experienced player down in a pool of tears. Bichu Devi also had a few tears rolling down her face. It’s just that she is 25 and has a long road ahead of her.

Leaving aside Savita’s journey of gut-wrenching losses, there is the small matter of analysing the Indian women’s team’s performance in the World Cup held in the Netherlands and Belgium. The defensive lines held up for most of the tournament, including against higher-ranked opponents like the Netherlands and China. It’s just that they didn’t create enough opportunities. And when they created a few of them, they weren’t converted into goals. In the Australia-India game, Nikki had acres of space in front of her, but she couldn’t find the back of the net.

In the 45th minute, Navneet turned one on the edge of the circle and passed it to Baljeet Kaur, who cut it back to Deepika Sehrawat, but the final touches went missing. Basically, there were too many mispasses, and India weren’t good enough on the ball. Even against the stellar Netherlands side, Sunelita Toppo, Navneet Kaur and Deepika came close to finding the back of the net, but they couldn’t produce the elusive goal.

To summarise, India did punch above their weight in parts. Sjoerd Marijne, the India head coach, however, would know that the team is still a work in progress, and they need to unearth a few missing nuts and bolts before the Asian Games.

Oh! Asian Games. It once again makes you recall Savita. You don’t want to remember a champion player as the ‘Tragedy Queen’, à la Meena Kumari in movies from those bygone times. Instead, she deserves a happy ending or a fairytale narrative where Savita wears a gold medal in what could be one of the final chapters of her glittering career.

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The post Tears of despair at Olympics and World Cups — Savita Punia deserves a fairytale narrative appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.

Pacer Tushar Deshpande and off-spinner Tanush Kotian headlined a fine bowling performance with four wickets apiece as West Zone bowled out North for a lowly 251 on the opening day of their Duleep Trophy match at the Centre of Excellence.

Deshpande (4/57) and Tanush Kotian (4/72) shared the spoils equally as North, who were placed comfortably at 117 for 2 at one stage, were left gasping for breath at 220 for 9 before Anshul Kamboj's audacious 60 off 52 balls with five fours and equal number of maximums took them past 250-run mark.

North also made a mini comeback of sorts as left-arm spinner Abid Mushtaq bowled a peach of a delivery to castle opener Prithvi Shaw while other opener Harvik Desai was snapped up by India's T20 specialist Arshdeep Singh. West Zone ended the day's play at 31 for 2.

Tanush does star turn

In 2024-25, Kotian was summoned to Australia as a replacement of Ravichandran Ashwin, who had announced his retirement during the series. While he didn't get to play a game, Kotian with his all-round performance was in India contention and also went with India A to England in 2025.

However an indifferent 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season pushed him back in pecking order with Saransh Jain leapfrogging him to a Test cap. On the day, Kotian opened the bowling but it was in his second spell that he got the wicket of a dogged left-hander Ayush Doseja (42), who was caught by Urvil Patel.

Towards the latter half he polished the tail while Deshpande worked up brisk pace to hurry the batters and run through the middle-order. For North Zone, the baffling decision to drop opener Sanat Sangwan, who had scored 800 plus runs in Ranji Trophy, came back to haunt them.

The questionable selection of Yash Dhull, saw the former India U-19 skipper badly exposed as he couldn't play Kotian or Mukesh Choudhary confidently. He was finally dismissed by Shardul Thakur.

Ayush Badoni (51) was impressive till the time he stayed at the crease looking at ease against both pace and spin. Once Badoni was dismissed, there was no resistance from other batters until Kamboj saved them from embarrassment.

Brief Scores:
North Zone 1st Innings: 251 in 66.5 overs (Ayush Badoni 51, Anshul Kamboj 60, Tanush Kotian 4/72, Tushar Deshpande 4/57). West Zone 1st innings: 31/2 in 10 overs (Abid Mushtaq 1/5).

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Nagykanizsa [Hungary], August 24 (ANI): India’s 19-year-old Grandmaster Pranesh M emerged triumphant at the prestigious Kanizsa Open 2026 in Nagykanizsa, Hungary, clinching the Group A title with an impressive performance on Sunday.

In the ninth and final round, Pranesh defeated Germany’s Vadim Petrovskiy with the white pieces to seal the championship. Rated 2673, Pranesh is currently ranked 44th in the latest FIDE World Rankings for August 2026.

The Indian Embassy in Hungary congratulated 19-year-old Grandmaster Pranesh M on his victory at the Kanizsa Open 2026 in Nagykanizsa.

It praised his impressive performance in one of Central Europe’s competitive open tournaments and highlighted the growing success of Indian chess players in Hungary.

“Meet the new Indian Chess Champion!! Pranesh M. Huge Congratulations! to Indian Grandmaster Pranesh M on his brilliant victory at the prestigious Kanizsa Open 2026 in Nagykanizsa, Hungary!" The Indian Embassy wrote in an X post.

Meet the new Indian Chess Champion!! Pranesh M.

Huge Congratulations! to Indian Grandmaster Pranesh M on his brilliant victory at the prestigious Kanizsa Open 2026 in Nagykanizsa, Hungary!

After a thrilling 9th round, Pranesh secured the top spot in one of Central… pic.twitter.com/qHDY74ucDR

— India in Hungary (@IndiaInHungary) August 23, 2026

“After a thrilling 9th round, Pranesh secured the top spot in one of Central Europe’s most competitive open tournaments. We are incredibly proud to see Indian talent shining so brightly on the global stage. Hungary continues to be a happy hunting ground for Indian Chess. Wishing him continued success in his chess journey," the post further added.

Pranesh, who hails from Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, finished the tournament with seven points from nine rounds, sharing the top spot with three other players. (ANI)

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