Cricket-loving locals in Sri Lanka discovered themselves in a light dilemma because the Ladies’s World Cup made its first look on Lankan shores. With all the event scheduled on the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, opinion was break up — delight at seeing a ‘main’ venue lastly added to the roster (not like India’s selection of tier-2 grounds) combined with concern over how a 40,000-capacity stadium would look if the crowds didn’t present.
“Dambulla or Pallekele are higher venues for ladies’s cricket. The Asia Cup, which Sri Lanka received final 12 months, drew nice crowds in Dambulla. However Colombo is the logistically handy choice for a multi-team occasion,” a couple of native reporters informed the travelling pack on the sidelines of the Pakistan–Bangladesh fixture, performed earlier than near-empty stands.
Glitchy promotions and restricted consciousness weren’t the Diary’s solely issues. A motherboard failure in its work laptop computer prompted a surge of panic on the eve of the much-anticipated India–Pakistan conflict. Fortuitously for the Diary, and sadly for host Sri Lanka and Australia, after per week of oppressive humidity, the heavens opened. The washout provided sufficient time to sprint throughout town searching for a repair.
Stadium symphony: From Tamil beats to Sinhala hits, the stands swayed in unison as Colombo discovered its festive rhythm below the floodlights.
| Picture Credit score:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
Stadium symphony: From Tamil beats to Sinhala hits, the stands swayed in unison as Colombo discovered its festive rhythm below the floodlights.
| Picture Credit score:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
The rain, and the merciful dip in humidity that adopted, additionally allowed for an impromptu night by the ocean at Galle Face. The Diary has been conservative with its seafood selections, however a strikingly coffee-less chilly espresso and a fast crash course on the world’s Dutch historical past managed to fill each abdomen and soul.
A lot-needed break: A second of calm by the ocean — Galle Face after the rains, the place the Diary traded deadlines for sea breeze and quiet reflection.
| Picture Credit score:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
A lot-needed break: A second of calm by the ocean — Galle Face after the rains, the place the Diary traded deadlines for sea breeze and quiet reflection.
| Picture Credit score:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
On the India–Pakistan recreation, one’s seat dictated the expertise. Whereas ‘gesture-watch’ dominated the temper within the media field, the stands had been an image of simple enjoyment — spectators, principally impartial followers trying to savour a pleasing Sunday night of cricket, danced freely to Tamil, Hindi, and Sinhala hits. A mid-innings efficiency by an Emirates cabin-crew dance troupe left the viewers amused. The gang, a mixture of academy gamers, native households, and expats, was loud, cheerful, and above all relieved that cricket, for as soon as, did all of the speaking on and off the sector.
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
Festive lights, heavy hearts
The feelings had been combined forward of the World Cup’s opening match in Guwahati. There was the joy of internet hosting the most important occasion in ladies’s cricket, and town was alive with Durga Puja celebrations. But, beneath the festive temper lay a deep sense of mourning. Assam was grieving the tragic dying of Zubeen Garg, who drowned whereas swimming in Singapore. One of many state’s best cultural icons, Garg had develop into a family identify throughout India together with his hit track Ya Ali from the 2006 Bollywood movie Gangster.
His smiling face appeared down from billboards throughout Guwahati, and his music echoed within the tributes paid on the World Cup’s inaugural ceremony, held shortly earlier than India’s opening match in opposition to Sri Lanka. Among the many performers was Shreya Ghoshal, whose voice carried a becoming word of remembrance.
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Web reward: Assam’s Siddhartha Das with the gloves gifted by South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt — a memento from a memorable internet session at Barsapara Stadium.
| Picture Credit score:
P.Okay. Ajith Kumar
Web reward: Assam’s Siddhartha Das with the gloves gifted by South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt — a memento from a memorable internet session at Barsapara Stadium.
| Picture Credit score:
P.Okay. Ajith Kumar
Siddhartha Das was in for a shock after ending his internet session at Guwahati’s Barsapara Cricket Stadium, the place he had been bowling to the South African batters. A member of the visiting help workers approached him and handed over a pair of batting gloves.
It was a present from South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt to Siddhartha, who had bowled some 50 deliveries to her as she ready to face England’s spinners. “I’ve loved watching her on TV,” mentioned Siddhartha, a left-arm spinner and trainee on the Assam Cricket Affiliation Academy. “She performed a variety of cowl drives and straight drives in opposition to me. And, after all, I’m delighted that she has given me a pair of her gloves.”
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Within the early days of the World Cup, a cab driver in Guwahati introduced up India’s opening match in opposition to Sri Lanka. “India would have been in massive hassle however for Deepti Sharma’s innings,” mentioned Sajeevan, a driver from Kerala, referring to the off-spinning all-rounder’s rescue act with Amanjot Kaur that took India from a precarious 124 for six to what would develop into a match-winning whole.
Listening to him delivered to thoughts an interview with Smriti Mandhana in Jaipur about six years in the past. The elegant opener had mentioned, “Earlier, individuals would say that the off-spinner bowled effectively. Now they are saying Deepti Sharma bowled effectively.”
P.Okay. Ajith Kumar
Garba evening with a twist
Revelry: Dancers whirl in rhythm on the Taal Garba Mahotsav in Indore, their synchronised steps capturing town’s festive pulse on an evening when cricket met celebration.
| Picture Credit score:
Sankar Narayanan E.H.
Revelry: Dancers whirl in rhythm on the Taal Garba Mahotsav in Indore, their synchronised steps capturing town’s festive pulse on an evening when cricket met celebration.
| Picture Credit score:
Sankar Narayanan E.H.
A visit to Indore, set in opposition to the backdrop of Navratri, provided the right alternative for the Diary to witness its first Garba celebration, and it proved a memorable one.
A hesitant enquiry by this reporter, on the eve of the Ladies’s ODI World Cup match between Australia and New Zealand on the Holkar Stadium, was all it took for the venue supervisor and some native journalists to make some calls and safe a ticket.
The vacation spot was the Taal Garba Mahotsav, held at a college sports activities complicated simply throughout the road.
Because the evening wore on and the tempo of the synchronised steps quickened, the synergy and vitality within the efficiency evoked amusement and wide-eyed surprise.
Madhya Pradesh’s very personal and Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer making his approach to the dais to provide away the prizes was a pleasant shock that capped off the evening for this cricket correspondent.
Sankar Narayanan E.H.
Printed on Oct 06, 2025