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Veteran dancer, choreographer and teacher, Deshamanya Dr. Vajira Chitrasena has passed away at the age of 92.
Vajira is regarded as Sri Lanka’s first prima ballerina as she is the first Sri Lankan woman to practice the traditional Kandyan dance which was traditionally performed only by men.
She was married to Chitrasena who was a well known legendary dancer and dance guru.
President pays homage to Sacred Tooth Relic
Together, Let’s Build Our Nation – President
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WEATHER FORECAST FOR 08 NOVEMBER 2026 Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 08 November 2026 by the Department of Meteorology
Misty conditions can be expected at some places in theWestern, Sabaragamuwa, Central and Uva provinces during the early hours of the morning.
Showers may occur in the coastal areas of the Northern and Eastern Provinces in the morning.
Showers or thunder showers will occur at most places of the island after 1.00 p.m. Heavy showers about 100mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central provinces and in Galle, Matara and Kurunegala districts.
The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayaike in his Deepavali message said that the government is collectively pursuing towards building Sri Lanka as an Island of Peace and Humanity, which grows stronger economically and socially and stands with dignity before the world,
The full text of the President’s message:
“It is with great pleasure that I extend my warm greetings on the occasion of Deepavali, one of the most sacred religious festivals of the Hindu community, which symbolises the triumph of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.
Commemorating the victory of Lord Krishna, over the demon Narakasura, Hindus engage in religious observances with the hope that, just as righteousness triumphed over unrighteousness, darkness will be dispelled from every heart and the light of goodness will prevail.
The true meaning of Deepavali extends beyond illuminating homes with the light of oil lamps. It lies in kindling the light of love, compassion, brotherhood and humanity in the hearts of people. Deepavali therefore provides a valuable opportunity to renew our resolve to build a better, more just and compassionate society by choosing kindness over hatred, coexistence over division, and justice over injustice.
We remain firmly committed to the great responsibility of transforming every sphere of society, the economy and politics, and building a nation that respects all religious and cultural identities and treats everyone with equality and dignity.
I hope that the path we are collectively pursuing towards building Sri Lanka as an Island of Peace and Humanity, which grows stronger economically and socially and stands with dignity before the world, will be further illuminated by the lamps lit this Deepavali.
I extend my heartfelt wishes to all Hindu devotees in Sri Lanka and across the world for a peaceful, joyful and prosperous Deepavali.”
India 113 for 7 in 26 overs (Shreyas Iyer 30, KL Rahul 26*; Jacob Duffy 3-35, Kyle Jamieson 3-35) beat New Zealand 134 in 41 overs (Daryl Mitchell 55, Mitchell Santner 31; Gurnoor Brar 4-30, Anshul Kamboj 2-25, Axar Patel 2-28, Auqib Nabi 2-31) by four runs (DLS method
Rain taketh what rain giveth. Consistent rain on the eve of the second ODI between New Zealand and India, which continued on match morning, played a significant part in giving us a pitch that hosted a rare low-scoring thriller in Wellington, but rain on the night of the match also denied us an organic finish. When the rain arrived to put a premature end to the 47-overs-a-side contest, India had just lost their seventh wicket and had scored 113 runs in a chase of 135. They were only four runs ahead of the DLS par score, a measure of how close the match was.
It was like batting on a trampoline, the only half-century-maker of the match Daryl Mitchell said. It wasn’t just the steep bounce but the unevenness of it, plus the seam movement that made batting difficult. The very soul of ODI batting, the ability to work the ball into the gaps, was taken away. The lack of a pitch square in multi-sport New Zealand grounds made it even more difficult to place the ball in the gaps as it would just lose all the pace after bouncing in the lush grass.
With four fast bowlers in their XI, India didn’t go looking for wickets. They kept hitting the deck hard, the scoreboard moved slowly, and the batters had no choice but to eventually play low-percentage shots, which brought India wickets, four of them to Gurnoor Brar, his personal best returns.
New Zealand had four fast bowlers as well, but they didn’t have the cushion of runs. They had to go searching at times, and India’s batters were good enough to punish those balls for boundaries. In fact, India just took the Mitchell method to a higher intensity. Mitchell would get into power positions and swing hard at anything remotely loose while defending or leaving good balls. Every India batter did that, which shows in 78 runs in boundaries out of just 113.
Daryl Mitchell was the highest scorer on the trampoline-like pitch (Cricinfo)
By the time the New Zealand batters had enough measure of the pitch to formulate a method, they had already lost three wickets. This is what can happen when you keep losing the toss, now six out of seven during this tour. Tim Seifert ended up chipping Auqib Nabi to short midwicket after the first ten balls of the match had brought New Zealand no runs. If it was extra bounce that did Seifert in, Will Young was defeated by seam and bounce. Henry Nicholls, lucky to survive Anshul Kamboj’s accuracy early on was slightly unlucky in playing him on.
At 23 for 3, Mitchell and Tom Latham decided to be more cautious, but Latham chose the wrong ball to try to break the shackles. Brar was over the wicket and angling the ball across, which made the pull a dangerous shot. In the same over, Glenn Phillips fell to the same shot, but this short ball also jagged back in to take the top edge.
Mitchell Santner looked the most comfortable of all the batters on display as he added 59 with Mitchell for the sixth wicket. He had the advantage of getting to face spin, which India’s batters didn’t because New Zealand knew they would not need to bowl all their overs. However, Mitchell couldn’t take any advantage of spin, instead getting frustrated at not being able to get singles down the ground and managing just one run off six reverse sweeps. Having scored just 10 off 26 balls from Axar Patel . Mitchell finally gave him the charge and ended up being caught at long-off.
The hostile Brar ensured a swift end to the innings with relentless short-pitched bowling. Even when he went full after pushing batters back, it was only just good length. A bouncer from Kamboj resulted in a concussion for Blair Tickner, which brought Matt Fisher into the XI.
KL Rahul anchored India in a tricky chase (Cricinfo)
Despite a golden duck for Shubman Gill, India were much more urgent in attacking the loose ball than New Zealand. Rohit Sharma scored 20 of his 23 runs in boundaries, Virat Kohli drove the second ball he faced for four, Shreyas Iyer threw his hands at anything with width, and KL Rahul scored his first 14 runs in boundaries.
The two tall new-ball bowlers, Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy, were still a handful. Duffy got Gill with seam and bounce, and Kohli with one that stopped on his cover-drive. Rohit did India a favour by facing 25 out of the first 27 balls that the menacing Jamieson bowled. Ten of those got the better of him but he still scored 21 runs.
Although Fisher got Axar in his first over, Smith and Fisher were not the same threat as some of the taller bowlers in the match. Or even Ticker might have been had he bowled. However, Santner didn’t stay in holding pattern for long and brought back his new-ball bowlers.
Jamieson took out Iyer with a nasty bouncer for 30 and Duffy had the wickets of Naman Dhir and Kamboj. The latter fell swinging hard at a length ball in what proved to be the last over of the match, leaving India precariously close to falling behind the DLS par. To be fair to Kamboj, though, the rain arrived without warning much like this low-scoring thriller in an era dominated by high scores.
India 113 for 7 in 26 overs (Shreyas Iyer 30, KL Rahul 26*; Jacob Duffy 3-35, Kyle Jamieson 3-35) beat New Zealand 134 in 41 overs (Daryl Mitchell 55, Mitchell Santner 31; Gurnoor Brar 4-30, Anshul Kamboj 2-25, Axar Patel 2-28, Auqib Nabi 2-31) by four runs (DLS method)
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