A stellar show by Mithali Raj in the recently concluded One-Day International series against Sri Lanka has seen her move four spots to No. 3 on the ICC rankings table. The Indian captain was prolific in the three-match series scoring 177 runs including a 125 in the final outing as India won the series 2-1. Opener Smriti Mandhana with scores of 73 and 51 in the first and the third game retained her fourth spot while Harmanpreet Kaur, after a poor series with the bat where she aggregated just the 24 runs across three games slipped down four places to No.17. Chamari Atapattu, the Sri Lankan captain, also had an excellent series with scores of 33, 57 and 115 in the three outings. She rose 11 places to No.10 on the points table with a career-high 628 points. Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning, the Australian duo, still head the list for batters.
Indians finish with six gold in cycling event
Indian cyclists produced an impressive performance finishing on top with six gold, five silver and two bronze medals at the Track Asia Cup. India were followed by Indonesian team with 4 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze while Hong Kong came third by winning 4 gold and 2 bronze. In the men’s junior 200 mts sprint, India’s Esow Alben won gold pipping Kazakhstan’s Dimitry Rezanov. India’s Jemsh Singh won bronze medal. “It was a tough fight with Kazakhstan’s rider but I was confident that I can win the gold medal,” Esow said after the race. The second gold for the hosts came in the women’s junior 200 mts sprint where Mayuri Lute from Maharashtra clocked 12.263s to grab the pole position. Thailand’s Kanyaral Hnokacw won silver by clocking 12.871s. Alyona Abramchok from the Kazakhstan team got bronze. In the women’s ‘Elite Keirin’ final, India’s Sonali Chanu missed the bronze medal by a whisker.
Injured Vinesh ruled out of Worlds
Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat, who was exempted from the World Championship trials, was ruled out of the championship after suffering an elbow injury during practice in Lucknow. Vinesh was to compete in the 50kg category and was a medal favourite. The Wrestling Federation will have to look for a replacement, but interestingly the next best grappler in the 50kg category Ritu Phogat has now been selected to represent the country in the 53kg.
Lanka captain Angelo Mathews removed
Angelo Mathews has been sacked as Sir Lanka captain with Dinesh Chandimal replacing him for the upcoming series with England. Lankan cricket board asked Mathews to step down following their humiliating exit from the Asia Cup. They finished bottom of their group after defeats to Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The national selectors, however, did not specify why Mathews was sacked but he has come in for severe criticism for his leadership at the Asia Cup. Chandimal is already captain of the Sri Lankan Test team and will now lead the country in all three formats of the game. England will play five one-day matches, a one-off T20 and three Tests against the visitors from October 10. Sri Lanka were thumped by 137 runs against Bangladesh in their opening match of the Asia Cup and have lost 30 of their 40 matches since January 2017.
