Sri Lanka’s all-rounder Thisara Perera on Monday announced his retirement from international cricket.

Thisara conveyed the news of his retirement to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Monday morning, reported ESPNcricinfo. The 32-year-old all-rounder has also confirmed that he will continue to play franchise cricket. He will continue playing for Jaffna Stallions in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).

Perera played 6 Tests in his career, managing to score 203 runs and he also took 11 wickets.

The left-handed batsman was known more for his antics in the white-ball format. He represented Sri Lanka in 166 ODIs, smashing 2,338 runs.

In the 50-over format, he also scalped 175 wickets. Talking about his T20I career, he picked 51 wickets while producing 1,204 runs.

He was also a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) till 2016 and he played for teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Kochi Tuskers Kerala, and Rising Pune Supergiants.

Perera was also a part of Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2014.

The Badminton World Federation on Monday announced that India shuttler PV Sindhu and Canada’s Michelle Li have been nominated as athlete ambassadors for the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign aimed at preventing competition manipulation.

Sindhu and Li will be working alongside other athlete ambassadors from around the world to raise awareness on the topic of competition manipulation amongst athletes and entourage. The pair have been global ambassadors for BWF’s ‘i am badminton’ campaign since April 2020. World champion and Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu said of joining the IOC’s ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign: “It is an honour to be nominated by the IOC as an athlete ambassador. I stand alongside my fellow athletes in the fight against any form of cheating or competition manipulation. Together we are stronger.”

2014 Commonwealth Games champion Li added: “We all want to be on the same start line. It’s so important to be fair as that’s a true representation of what your ability is.”

In badminton, manipulation or match fixing includes influencing the course or the result of a badminton match in order to obtain an advantage for the individual or others; and removing all or part of the uncertainty normally associated with the course or results of a competition.

Protecting honest athletes and keeping sport fair is a top priority for the Olympic Movement and both the IOC and BWF are committed to fighting all forms of cheating that threaten the integrity and essence of sport.

BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund said: “Competition manipulation has become an increasingly global concern and protecting honest players is a top priority for the BWF. By joining forces with the IOC in nominating two of our most popular players, Pusarla and Li as ambassadors, we believe we can have a positive impact in the fight to protect integrity in sport.”

The IOC’s ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign was launched in 2018 to raise awareness among athletes, coaches and officials of the threat of competition manipulation.

DUBAI: New Zealand has replaced reigning World Champions England as the number one ranked side in the ODI rankings but England has consolidated its position at the top of the T20I table after the annual update carried out on Monday.

These updates eliminate results from 2017-18 and half the weighting of matches played in 2019-20 which includes the 2019 World Cup. New Zealand, who defeated Bangladesh 3-0 in their only ODI series during the past year, have advanced two slots in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings after gaining three rating points to reach an aggregate of 121. Australia is second with 118 points while India and England are both on 115, the former ahead on decimal points.

England’s slip down to the fourth position comes in the second annual update since they won the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup at Lord’s in the summer of 2019. In the past 12 months, they have suffered 2-1 series losses to Australia and India, as well as an ODI loss to Ireland.

The latest update, which rates all matches played since May 2020 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, sees Australia move up two places from fourth to second and India drop one place to third. The West Indies have overtaken Sri Lanka to the ninth position.

The Netherlands have been allowed to retain their ranking despite only having played four ODIs during the new rating period, since their scheduled fixtures were postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

England remains the top-ranked side in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, extending their lead over India to five points. During this period, they drew a three-match series against Pakistan 1-1, defeated Australia 2-1 and South Africa 3-0 before losing an away series to India by a 3-2 margin.

New Zealand has also gained in the annual T20I update, moving up from fifth to third after series wins over the West Indies, Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh. Australia has moved the other way, down from third to fifth.

Despite the pandemic, 80 countries have played the requisite six T20Is over the past three years to remain in the rankings. Five countries have lost their ranking after the update — Gambia, Ghana, Hungary, Sierra Leone and Sweden.

The annual update to the Test rankings will be carried out following the conclusion of the ongoing Pakistan versus Zimbabwe series.

Ramesh Mendis and Praveen Jayawickrama made light work of Bangladesh’s middle and lower-order as Sri Lanka won the second Test by 209 runs on the fifth morning here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

With this win, Sri Lanka won the two-match Test series 1-0. Jayawickrama returned with five wickets while Mendis scalped four wickets for the hosts in the second innings. Resuming on the fifth day at 177/5, Bangladesh was given an early jolt in just the third over of the day as Praveen Jayawickrama had Liton Das (17) adjudged leg-before wicket. Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam then got together at the crease to form a 23-run stand for the seventh wicket.

However, Sri Lanka broke the partnership in the 62nd over as Dhananjaya de Silva sent Taijul (2) back to the pavilion, reducing Bangladesh to 206/7. Mehidy and Taskin Ahmed tried their best to keep the Sri Lanka bowlers at bay, but to no avail.

Ramesh Mendis then got into the act as he dismissed Taskin (7) and Sri Lanka needed just two more wickets to register a win. Jayawickrama then had Mehidy (39) caught by Pathum Nissanka in the 71st over, reducing Bangladesh to 227/9. With this scalp, Jayawickrama registered his 10th wicket in the match.

In the very same over, Abu Jayed (0) was adjudged leg-before wicket and this gave Sri Lanka a win by 209 runs. Jayawickrama returned with figures of 5-86. In the first innings, Jayawickrama had returned with six wickets.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 493/7 and 194/9; Bangladesh 251 and 227 (Mushfiqur Rahim 40, Mehidy Hasan 39; Praveen Jayawickrama 5-86).

The Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) slated to be played on Monday evening has been rescheduled for a later date.

“Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier were found to be positive in the third round of testing in the last four days. All other team members have tested negative for COVID-19,” the IPL said in an official statement. Both the players have isolated themselves from the rest of the squad. The Medical Team is in continuous touch with the duo and are monitoring their health. Meanwhile, the Kolkata Knight Riders have now moved towards a daily testing routine to identify any other possible cases and treat them at the earliest.

The Medical Team is also determining the close and casual contacts of the two positive cases during the 48 hours prior to collection of the sample that returned the positive test results.

The BCCI and the Kolkata Knight Riders prioritise the health and safety of everyone involved and all measures are being taken in that endeavour.

Earlier on Monday, speaking to ANI, a BCCI official had confirmed that there are cases in the KKR camp and the RCB camp isn’t too keen to take the field against them. “Varun and Sandeep tested positive and that made the RCB camp wary of the situation. The game is set to be postponed,” the official had said.

India registered a slight dip in COVID-19 cases as it registered 3,68,147 new coronavirus infections and 3,417 related deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the union health ministry on Monday morning. With this, the cumulative count of the cases has gone up to 1,99,25,604.

Before the start of the tournament, Delhi Capitals’ Axar Patel had tested positive for Covid-19. Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Nitish Rana also tested positive, but he also returned a negative test before the start of the tournament. Few groundstaff members at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai had also returned positive tests, but all the 10 IPL matches went smoothly in Mumbai.

With the second COVID-19 wave rampant across the country, there have been reports of some foreign players being wary of the situation and how they will return to their respective countries at the end of the 14th edition of the IPL. But IPL COO Hemang Amin has assured all players and support staff that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will ensure their smooth return at the end of the league.

Ramesh Mendis scalped three while Praveen Jayawickrama picked two wickets as Sri Lanka dismantled Bangladesh’s top-order to sniff victory on day four of the second Test on Sunday.

Bad light and a light drizzle forced early stumps in Pallekele on the penultimate day as Bangladesh scored 177/5 in the second innings. Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan are unbeaten on 14 and four runs respectively with the visitors needing 260 more runs to win the second Test. Sri Lanka needs five wickets to seal the Test series on day five (Monday) as the first game of the tour had ended in a draw last week.

In the first session on Sunday, Sri Lanka lost half their side with a lead of just over 360. The hosts resumed their innings at 17/2 on day four but lost Angelo Mathews early.

Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva then carried the Sri Lanka innings before both batsmen went to the dugout. Dhananjaya de Silva played a counter-attacking knock as Sri Lanka’s lead crossed 350.

Sri Lanka lost a flurry of wickets against the run of play which saw the hosts declaring their innings at 194/9 to set a target of 437 for Bangladesh in the second Test.

In the second session, chasing the target, Bangladesh attacked, but Sri Lanka struck to reduce the visitors to 112/3 before tea.

Sri Lanka began the final session on a high picking skipper Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim as Bangladesh lost half of their side with still needing more than 250 runs for a win.

Mushfiqur, who was looking good, was dismissed on 40 as Ramesh Mendis picked his third wicket to reduce Bangladesh to 171/5. Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 493/7d and 194/9d (Dimuth Karunaratne 66; Taijul Islam 5-72); Bangladesh 251 and 177/5 (Mushfiqur Rahim 40, Saif Hassan 34; Ramesh Mendis 3-86)