This is Sri Lanka's biggest victory over Australia in ODIs in terms of runs.
Australia will be without their premier pacers but their envious pedigree in ICC tournaments make them favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy from Group B.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka led by example and smashed a belligerent hundred to set up a 49-run victory over a depleted Australia.
The left-arm spinner was the most prolific bowler in Australia's 2-0 whitewash in Galle, taking 16 wickets at an average of 17.18.
Starc's withdrawal comes after pace stalwarts Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were ruled out due to injuries.
Australia's Champions Trophy roster will have a different look to the peerless squad that took a record-extending sixth World Cup title at the 2023 tournament in India.
Australia bowled out Sri Lanka for 231 in the hosts' second innings and then chased down the target of 75 losing the lone wicket of opener Travis Head.
It will also the first three-Test series between the countries since the West Indies tour of Australia in 2015-16.
Smith's unbeaten 120 is his second successive hundred of the series while Carey made a career-best 139 not out hitting 22 fours and three sixes between them.
Dimuth Karunaratne's Test career ended in a whimper as Sri Lanka's most prolific Test opener fell caught behind to Kuhnemann after making 14.
Australia, who have already secured their place in the final of the World Test Championship against South Africa, won the opening Test, also in Galle, by an innings and 242 runs.
Australia captain Pat Cummins is all but ruled out of the Champions Trophy while fellow paceman Josh Hazlewood is also a doubt for the tournament.
Australia's success has been compared with some of the nation's great Test teams led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.
The legendary Ricky Ponting says the quality of players and recent history make India and Australia the favourites to figure in the summit clash of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.
Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith hailed his side's resounding innings and 242-run victory over Sri Lanka in Galle on Saturday as "near flawless" after the visitors retained the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy.
Spin twins Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon combined to dismantle Sri Lanka and bowl Australia to a crushing victory by an innings and 242 runs in the opening Test in Galle on Saturday.
Sri Lanka are still 518 runs behind and will need a Herculean effort to avoid the follow-on even though more rain is forecast for Saturday.
Australia's Usman Khawaja struck a maiden double hundred and Josh Inglis got a century on his Test debut against Sri Lanka to power the tourists to a mammoth 654/6.
Davis Cup heavyweights Australia and the United States eased through the first qualifying round on Saturday but Britain were knocked out as Japan hit back from 2-1 down to win 3-2, while Denmark staged a dramatic comeback to overcome Serbia.
Steve Smith became the 15th member of Test cricket's 10,000-run club as he and opener Usman Khawaja smashed hundreds to help Australia rack up 330/2 on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
An angry Rohit complained about Gavaskar being 'too negative' about his form in Australia, claiming that external pressure impacted his focus!
The couple also has a four year old son, named Albie.
Former India spinner R Ashwin has called for a shift away from the superstar culture prevalent in Indian cricket, urging for a more grounded approach.
While millions turn to dating apps, social media, and messaging platforms to find love, new McAfee India research reveals an alarming rise in AI-driven scams, fraudulent dating apps, and deepfake.
A player had the BCCI foot the bill for an astonishing 27 bags, weighing over 250kg.
The eight-team Champions Trophy features India, Pakistan, Australia, England, New Zealand, Afghanistan, South Africa and Bangladesh.
No one should make China an issue in their bilateral relations and their cooperation should not harm the interests of another country, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday reacting to queries on the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Trump.
Cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara will captain India and Sri Lanka, respectively, in the inaugural International Masters League.
Injuries in the squad prevented England from training ahead of the last two One-Day Internationals against India, coach Brendon McCullum said.
2013 winners India are placed in Group A alongside defending champions Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh.
'As players, you need to stay calm, try and block that noise out, and just play with the same intensity as you would play Australia or any other team.'
Bumrah's exclusion wasn't solely about workload management-his leadership potential played a crucial role in the decision. The BCCI has all but finalised him as India's next Test captain.
The Gujarat Giants will be hoping to improve their bowling and fielding after a disappointing defeat in their Women's Premier League season opener. They will face the UP Warriorz, led by Deepti Sharma, who will be looking to capitalize on their strong spin bowling attack. The match will be a crucial one for both teams as they seek to make their mark in the tournament.
Despite being troubled by a few injuries, Mandhana is happy with the squad at her disposal.
Johnson is a coveted player on the T20 franchise circuit and took a million-dollar contract to play in the 2024 Indian Premier League.
'The unpredictability factor is mainly due to our culture.'
Gautam Gambhir has rubbished speculation that Shreyas Iyer was being side-lined from the ODI set-up despite his brilliant form
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Salman Agha and Mohammad Rizwan both struck centuries as Pakistan completed their highest successful run chase in ODIs with a six-wicket win over South Africa.
Trump announced that India and the US agreed to work together to build the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and called it one of the greatest trade routes. He said that the route will operate from Israel to Italy and onward to the US.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances