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Kohli signals Test exit

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Virat Kohli has communicated his desire to retire from Test cricket to the BCCI ahead of the big five-match series in England starting June 20, for which he is expected to be a part of the squad. ESPNcricinfo understands that Kohli has been having these conversations with officials of the BCCI for the past month or so.

If Kohli doesn’t change his mind, he will bring the curtain down on a glorious career that has spanned 14 years and included 123 Tests – 68 of them as captain – in which he has 9230 runs at an average of 46.85.

But it hasn’t been a particularly fruitful time in the format for Kohli of late. When he scored 100 not out in the Perth Test in November 2024, it was his first century in Tests since July 2023 (against West Indies in Port of Spain), and his average, 55.10 at its peak after he scored his career best of 254 not out vs South Africa in Pune in 2019, has been 32.56 over the last 24 months.
Despite that, it’s understood that the team management and selectors expect his experience to be crucial on the tour, where India will also be playing under a new captain – Shubman Gill is the frontrunner to take over from Rohit Sharma following his retirement from Test cricket earlier this week.

Kohli, as well as Rohit, were included in the highest category (A+) in the latest BCCI contracts, which is usually meant for players who play all three international formats. Both Kohli and Rohit had retired from T20Is after India won the World Cup last year and, if Kohli does retire from Tests, they will only be available for ODI cricket going forward.

Apart from Rohit, India are without R Ashwin, who retired from international cricket during the 2024-25 series in Australia. With Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane not in the mix at the moment, and Mohammed Shami’s form under scrutiny after his return from a long injury layoff, Kohli is among the only seniors around, along with KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah.

Before Rohit replaced Kohli as India’s Test captain, India had won 40 of the 68 games in which Kohli led, losing just 17. The 40 wins makes Kohli India’s most successful Test captain of all time – MS Dhoni with 27 from 60 and Sourav Ganguly with 21 from 49 rank below him – and also places him at No. 4 on the overall list of captains with the most Test wins, behind Graeme Smith (53 from 109), Ricky Ponting (48 from 77) and Steve Waugh (41 from 57).

It was in England that Kohli had recorded one of his greatest highs as a Test batter, on the 2018 tour. He was the top run-getter across the two sides in the five Tests, aggregating 583 at an average of 59.30 with two centuries. That it came after he had scored just 134 runs in ten innings on the previous tour, in 2014, made the performance that much more special. That year, 2018, was also his best in terms of aggregate for a year, when he scored 1322 runs.

During his golden run, he averaged 75.93 in 2016, 75.64 in 2017, 55.08 in 2018, and 68.00 in 2019. During that period between 2016 and 2018, Kohli scored 3596 runs in 35 Tests at an average of 66.59, with 14 hundreds and eight fifties in 58 innings.

(espncricinfo.com)

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COVID subvariants spreading in Asia detected in Sri Lanka

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The Medical Research Institute of Sri Lanka has confirmed that the COVID-19 variant currently spreading in the Asian region has also been identified in the country.

Dr. Jude Jayamaha, a specialist in viral diseases at the Medical Research Institute, stated that patients infected with the Omicron subvariants LF.7 and XFG are being reported locally.

Dr. Jayamaha explained that this finding was confirmed through research conducted on biological samples collected from several hospitals across the island.

However, he emphasized that there is no need for undue fear regarding these COVID-19 variants.

Health authorities have also stressed the importance of vulnerable groups—such as pregnant mothers, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses—following health guidelines, including wearing face masks and avoiding crowded places.

Dr. Jayamaha reiterated that new COVID-19 variants emerge periodically, and health authorities are continuously monitoring the situation, so the public should remain calm.

(newswire.lk)

(This story, originally published by newswire.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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Anudi misses out from Miss World Quarter-Finals

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The Miss World organization has announced its quarter-finalists, selecting 40 contestants from across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Sri Lanka’s Anudi Gunasekara, was not selected in the top 40, despite being recognized for her impressive performances in the Multimedia and Head-to-Head challenges.

The top 40 consisted of 10 contestants each from Asia & Oceania, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

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Fuel prices unchanged

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The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) announced that there will be no revision of fuel prices for the month of June 2025.

Accordingly, all fuel prices will remain unchanged for June, it said.  

Existing fuel prices (per litre):

Auto Diesel – Rs. 274
Super Diesel – Rs. 325
Petrol 92 Octane – Rs. 293
Petrol 95 Octane – Rs. 341
Kerosene – Rs. 178

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