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Humble Roots, 13 Years With One Coach, Endless Sweeps: The Making of Sonal Dinusha

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PC: Sonal Dulshan Vaibhav Tripathi, Colombo Just a few hundred metres from the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) stands the Colombo Cricket Club (CCC), where a group of aspiring cricketers were hard at work in the nets under the watchful eye of their coach, Sonal Dulshan Alwalage. At SSC, meanwhile, one of his students, Sonal Dinusha, was fighting for Sri Lanka in the middle with the bat in hand against India. Dulshan had a job to do. His eyes were on the young players in front of him, guiding them through their training and ensuring every detail of the session was right. But every few minutes, his attention would briefly drift to the scorecard. He wanted to know how his other student was progressing against India. He would have loved to be in Galle, watching Sonal’s innings unfold ball by ball. Instead, coaching duties kept him at CCC, leaving him to follow his student’s performance from a distance. For many, Sonal’s batting in Galle may have been an unexpected sight. It was only his ...
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Women’s Asia Cup 2026: Hong Kong, China – Know Your Team

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Hong Kong, China Women’s team (PC: Cricket Hong Kong) A historic Women’s Asia Cup campaign awaits Hong Kong, China as they prepare to compete in the tournament. They are in Group A alongside India, Pakistan and Thailand. Captain: Natasha Miles Head coach: Mamatha Maben Mamatha Maben is a former India women’s team skipper who also led the team to the inaugural edition of the Women’s Asia Cup title in 2004 in Sri Lanka. She represented India in 40 ODIs and four Tests. Squad Natasha Miles (c), Maryam Bibi, Chan Ka Ying, Chan Sau Ha, Chan Shing Yan Dorothea, Iqra Sahar, Joyleen Kaur, Mahekdeep Kaur, Mariko Hill, Marina Lamplough, Ruchitha Venkatesh, Shanzeen Shahzad, Siu Mei Wai, Wong Wing Kiu Hailey, Yasmin Daswani Key players: Natasha Miles, Kary Chan, Mariko Hill and Yasmin Daswani Fixtures Thailand vs Hong Kong, August 28, Dubai India vs Hong Kong, September 3, Dubai Pakistan vs Hong Kong, September 7, Dubai Hong Kong, China Women’s team in Sri Lanka (PC: Cr...
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WAPL 2026 Auction: 76 Players Sold as Henrietta Flavia Pereira Leads the Way

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WAPL 2026 Auction (PC: Andhra Cricket Association Insta) The first-ever auction of the Women’s Andhra Premier League (WAPL) 2026 took place in Vijayawada on August 25. With the tournament moving to the franchise model for the first time, a total of 191 players were registered for the inaugural auction. Of them, 76 players were sold as the four teams, Godavari Golden Eagles, Vizag Fire Birds, Rayalaseema Xen Stars and Amaravati E Champions, built their squads for the upcoming season. Henrietta Flavia Pereira, the all-rounder, attracted the highest bid of INR 4.30 lakh, with Godavari Golden Eagles snapping her up. K Anjali Sarvani also made headlines after Vizag Fire Birds bought her for INR 3.60 lakh. All eyes were on Team India spinner N Shree Charani, whom Rayalaseema Xen Stars bought for INR 1.10 lakh. However, her participation remains in doubt as the WAPL schedule (September 15-26) clashes with the upcoming Asian Games (September 17-22), where Charani will be representing the cou...
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“I’m really hacked off, I’m really disappointed” – Joe Root breaks silence on Brydon Carse nightclub incident

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Joe Root (PC:X/ICC) England Test cricket team captain Joe Root has expressed his disappointment after fast bowler Brydon Carse was involved in an incident outside a nightclub in Derby. Carse was briefly arrested and later de-arrested after images of him in handcuffs went viral on social media. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has referred the matter to the Cricket Regulator. Until then, Carse has been left out of the squad for the second Test against Pakistan. Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Test at Lord’s, Root said, “If I’m being brutally honest, I’m really hacked off, I’m really disappointed. After last week’s performance, we’re sat here and we’re talking about something that is not related to it at all.” Carse was not on cricketing duty at the time, as he had been released to play for Durham, but he remains a centrally contracted player. Root also revealed that he had spoken to Carse after the incident and said that he was apologetic. “I...
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Jadeja ends Sooriyabandara’s resolve, but Dinusha hangs on

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  Photo: Debasis Sen Rain forced a delayed start to the second session, and India had a stroke of luck as they finally saw off Pasindu Sooriyabandara. For 195 minutes, Sri Lanka’s No. 4, playing only his second Test, had kept the tourists at bay. But Ravindra Jadeja finally got the better of him, with a little help from the rub of the green. It was a slider from the left-arm spinner that straightened off a length. Sooriyabandara used the depth of his crease and tried to dab it square on the off side. He didn’t have the room to work with. The ball deflected off the inside edge onto his back thigh and then on to the stumps. The youngster was out for 80, and Sri Lanka were 171/6. Four balls later, Niroshan Dickwella nudged a dibbly-dobbly delivery down the leg side from Mohammed Siraj to Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps. It was a soft dismissal. Dickwella had impressed on his return to the Test fold after a gap of three-and-a-half years. But instead of building on his 80 in the firs...
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Around 60% of my life is now about trying to help people: Roshan Mahanama opens up on social service and his Trust

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Roshan Mahanama (PC: RevSportz) Former Sri Lanka opener and 1996 World Cup winner Roshan Mahanama is devoting his time to empowering underprivileged children across Sri Lanka through his Trust (Roshan Mahanama Trust). His humanitarian work, which grew after the 2004 tsunami, includes rebuilding homes, providing scholarships and establishing the Roshan Mahanama Primary School in remote Weheratanna, which now caters to the needs of over 100 children. Mahanama, a former ICC match referee and member of the Cricket Transformation Committee of SLC, spoke to this correspondent at Sri Lanka Cricket Headquarters on Monday.  “The Roshan Mahanama Trust was established because, after the Easter bombings in April 2019, I felt I had to be there for the people who had faced that unfortunate incident. I visited all three churches with different organisations to see how I could support them,” he said to RevSportz. “During COVID-19, together with my former teammate and close friend Chaminda Vaas,...
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Eventful start for Saransh Jain

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Saransh Jain vs SL (PC: RevSportz) Prasidh Krishna had just given India the first breakthrough of the morning by removing Kamil Mishara, and Shubman Gill decided to bring Saransh Jain into the attack from the other end. Eighth over of the morning on Day 3, and spin was introduced.   The debutant off-spinner approached the crease nicely, flighted the ball, got a bit of drift and Pasindu Sooryabandara defended it off the front foot. So far so good, just that Saransh had overstepped by a long way. Welcome to Test cricket.  Butterflies in the stomach can do funny things. Bharat Arun, the former India bowling coach, had slipped while bowling his first ball in Test cricket and needed assurance from his captain Kapil Dev. There have been other instances of nerves getting the better of a debutant.  It was important for Saransh to make a good comeback and four dot balls on the spin helped. Then, Sooriyabandara brought out the reverse-sweep, and he and his batting partner,...
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