Weekly CRICKET Review - LXXXiii | Biggest Test defeats for Sri Lanka

damithudaya (76)modmemberin Steem Sri Lanka • 5 days ago

Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,

You already know I am sharing a weekly wrap-up of what is happening within the Cricket community. It's the 83rd edition now. After last week's post, the International Cricket has become much active! So, let's see what's going on!

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Australia tour of Sri Lanka, 2025

After a hasty series with India and qualifying for the WTC Fina,l Austalia came to Sri Lanka without some key players for two Tests and 2 ODIs. Smith took the captaincy for the Test series. And the first Test Galle, well, it was just a one-sided one where Sri Lanka faced the biggest loss ever in Test Cricket. No surprise there with the way Sri Lanka played.
Australia won the toss and went for batting first and had the perfect start. After missing a catch early in the match, Travis Head started to give a headache. He scored a quick 57 off 40 balls, after opening the inning. Usman Khawaja had a poor form earlier but came back with a blast, registering his maiden double-hundred.
And Steve Smith, who came to bat with 9999 Test runs, became the 15th batter to make it to 10K runs. He scored his 35th Test century as well. Smith and Khawaja added 266 runs for the third wicket. The debutant Josh Inglis recorded a quick hundred off 92 balls. So, with that, the Aussies declared the first innings with a mammoth total of 654/6.

But the batting wasn't the same for the Sri Lankans. They started to lose wickets from the second over, and Chandimal's 71 runs were the only impactful inning. Others fell cheaply putting just 165 runs on the board.
With another 489 runs behind, Sri Lanka had to follow on. No difference there, also. Once again, openers fell cheaply and the middle order could get only starts. So, it's only 247 runs in the second inning. Aussie spinners did the job for them as Matthew Kuhnemann took 9 wickets and Lyon took 7.
Australia won the match by an innings and 242 runs

England tour of India, 2025

It's a big red ball series of 3 ODIs, 5 T20s. Well, after a solid performance, Inda won the shorter format 4-1. As I said in the last week, the first two matches were won by India.
The third one was at Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot. England put a competitive total, having put in to bat first. With a fifty from Duckett and a quick 41 from Livingstone, they put 171/9. Varun Chakravarthy bowled a wonderful spell, taking a fifer. After losing Abhishek Sharma early, the Indian top and middle order couldn't get going, exactly the way they wanted. They could score only 145/9, and England won by 26 runs.

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The fourth one was at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. India started batting, and once they were 12/3 after two overs with Saqib Mahmood's triple wicket maiden. Poor form continued for Samson once again. Then Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh built the inning a bit, and Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya did the dame. With quick fifties, the duo added 87 runs in 6 overs. India scored 181/9.

The match got tense when Harshit Rana, a frontline baller, came as Dube's, an allrounder, concussion sub. England got a great star,t scoring 62/1 after the powerplay. But then wickets started to fall cheaply. Only Harry Brook fought with a 25-ball fifty and kept the match alive. Anyway, England was balled out for 166 runs, and India won by 15 runs.

The last match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, was a screamer. India batted first and posted their fourth-highest T20I total of 247/9. It was a complete show from Abhishek Sharma. He started toying with English ballers and registered his second T20I ton in just 37 balls. He scored 135 runs off just 54 balls, with 07 fours, and 13 sixes. It was just a firework from him. With small contributions from others, India posted the above mammoth total.

Anyway, as the reply, England was nowhere near it. Apart from Phil Salt's 21-ball fifty, no one had a chance. England was all out for 97 runs in 10.3 overs. India won the match by 150 runs, and the series as 4-1.

Now this is what the WTC table looks like.

2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship points table