India vs Sri Lanka XI warm-up match: Padikkal seals No. 3 spot with s…

Devdutt Padikkal assured his spot in India’s playing eleven for the opening Test with a stylish century on the second day of the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI, while seasoned Rishabh Pant and his understudy Dhruv Jurel failed to make the most of favourable batting conditions. chickenroadslot.lat

At the end of the second day, India finished its first innings at 357 for eight in 90 overs. Padikkal’s artistic unbeaten 142 and a gritty 63 (retired out) by veteran Ravindra Jadeja were the highlights, while Manav Suthar (41) also impressed with the bat on his maiden overseas international assignment.

The pitch had become much easier to bat on, and Padikkal took full advantage, hitting 18 delectable boundaries to show that he is ready to reclaim his rightful place now that first-choice No. 3 batter Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the series after failing to recover in time from his big-toe injury.

With Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) falling off the second delivery of the day while attempting to flash at left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando (1/42), KL Rahul (40) and Padikkal added 96 for the second wicket.

While Rahul played himself in, the sinewy Padikkal was a treat to watch, opening with a couple of cover drives off fuller deliveries before unleashing some delectable cuts both in front of and behind point. He was particularly severe on right arm pacer Ishitha Wijesundara who was hit for multiple boundaries. Anything short from pacers or spinners was pulled with a lot of disdain. The famous ‘Nataraja Shot’ also came out of the closet against the pacers.

The hallmark of Padikkal’s batting was the extra second he almost seems to have while deciding on his execution. His defence has also got tighter and the footwork against spinners has been exemplary. A pull shot off off-spinner Ramesh Mendis brought up his ton in just 121 balls before he was asked to retire.

By then, he had added 72 runs for the third wicket with Jadeja, who again showed why he is a valuable asset as a middle order batter overseas even as his spin bowling stocks has depleted quite considerably.

The biggest disappointment of the day was certainly Rishabh Pant (2) who once again played an indiscreet shot against off-spinner Mendis (2/77) trying to hit him against the turn over long-on. The leading edge flew to long-off.

If Pant perished going for the offensive, Dhruv Jurel’s (1) technical ineptness against off-spinner was exposed once again after the South Africa Test series. A forward defensive prod and the inside edge flew to short square leg fielder who caught it on second attempt.

But Manav Suthar, who is impressing everyone with his heart and commitment joined Jadeja as the duo added 76 to steady the ship. Towards the end, Padikkal once again came out to bat and added four more boundaries to his quota of 14 in company of Saransh Jain (22 retired out).

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], August 8 (ANI): Indian javelin thrower Yashvir Singh expressed his delight after winning bronze at his first Commonwealth Games, describing it as the biggest tournament of his career.

He urged young athletes to maintain discipline, follow a proper diet, listen to their coaches and avoid distractions while pursuing their goals.

India scripted history in athletics at the Commonwealth Games 2026 as Neeraj Chopra clinched the silver medal and debutant Yashvir Singh secured bronze in the men’s javelin throw event, marking a memorable 1-2 finish for India on the podium.

“I am feeling very good. This is my first international tournament, the Commonwealth Games. Before this, I have played the Asian Championship and World Championship, but this is the biggest major tournament of my life, and in this first tournament only my bronze medal has come. For the children of Rajasthan, I just want to say that staying disciplined is very important, pay attention to your diet, focus on what your coach tells you and don’t keep any distractions here and there, this thing," Yashvir Singh told ANI.

Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage produced a sensational performance to claim the gold medal with a best throw of 89.75m, which he achieved in his second attempt.

India concluded a memorable Commonwealth Games campaign in Glasgow with 39 medals, 13 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze, to finish fourth in the overall standings.

India also officially began its journey towards hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Amdavad as the Commonwealth Games Flag was ceremonially handed over during a spectacular Closing Ceremony that celebrated the conclusion of Glasgow 2026 and looked ahead to the historic centenary edition of the Games. (ANI)

(This content is sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received. The Tribune assumes no responsibility or liability for its accuracy, completeness, or content.)

Devdutt Padikkal assured his spot in India’s playing XI for the opening Test with a stylish century on Day Two of the warm-up match against Sri Lanka Cricket XI, while seasoned Rishabh Pant (2) and his understudy Dhruv Jurel (1) failed to make the most of favourable batting conditions.

India finished its first innings at 357-6 in 90 overs. Padikkal’s artistic unbeaten 142 and a gritty 63 (retired out) by veteran Ravindra Jadeja were the highlights, while Manav Suthar (41) also impressed with the bat on his maiden overseas international assignment.

Ravindra Jadeja celebrates after his half-century on Saturday

Padikkal hit 18 boundaries to show that he is ready to reclaim his rightful place now that first-choice No. 3 batter Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the series. With Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) falling off the second delivery, KL Rahul (40) and Padikkal added 96 for the second wicket.

While Rahul played himself in, the sinewy Padikkal was a treat to watch, opening with a couple of cover drives off fuller deliveries before unleashing some delectable cuts both in front of and behind point. Anything short from pacers or spinners was pulled with disdain. The famous ‘Nataraja Shot’ also came out of the closet against the pacers.

A pull shot off off-spinner Ramesh Mendis brought up his ton in just 121 balls before he was asked to retire. By then, he had added 72 with Jadeja, who again showed his value as a middle-order batter overseas.

The biggest disappointment of the day was certainly Pant, who once again played an indiscreet shot against off-spinner Mendis (2-77), trying to hit him over long-on against the turn. The leading edge flew to long-off. Towards the end, Padikkal once again came out to bat and added four more boundaries to his quota of 14.

18
No of fours smashed by Devdutt Padikkal against SLC XI on Saturday

65
Padikkal’s highest score, which came in his debut innings against England; the top-order batter has scored a total of 90 runs in two Tests

2024
The year Devdutt Padikkal played his last of two Tests

8
No of 50-plus scores by Jadeja in his last 13 Test innings

https://ssifanzine.com/feed/

Australia is not a sporting superpower because it has one great game. From swimming and cricket to cycling, hockey, rowing, sailing, athletics and football codes, its success comes from a system designed to find talent, develop it and keep pushing the limits of performance.

There is something unusual about Australian sport.

The country has a population of only around 27 million, yet it repeatedly punches above its weight on the world stage.

It happens in the swimming pool.

It happens on the cricket field.

It happens on the athletics track, the cycling track, the hockey pitch and the water.

It even happens on snow and ice — a remarkable achievement for a country better known for beaches and sunshine.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Australia finished with five medals, including three golds, continuing a run in which it has medalled at every Winter Olympics since 1994. Recent success has been driven by targeted investment in freestyle skiing and snowboarding, specialised facilities and even unconventional talent-conversion programmes.

So, what is Australia doing differently?

The answer is not simply that Australians are naturally athletic.Australia has built an ecosystem around sport.It Starts Before the Athlete Becomes a Star.One of the biggest reasons Australia produces elite athletes is that sport begins at the grassroots.Sport is not treated purely as entertainment. It is deeply integrated into Australian community life. The Australian Sports Commission says 81% of Australians surveyed believe sport contributes to positive child development and education, while 73% see it as a positive influence in their local community.

That creates an enormous pool of young people who are exposed to different sports.

A child may begin with swimming.

Another may play cricket.

Someone else might try athletics, hockey, netball, cycling or an Australian football code.The important part is that the journey does not necessarily stop at participation.For talented athletes, there are pathways to take the next step..And Australia has spent decades building those pathways.

The AIS Changed The Game

The biggest piece of the puzzle is arguably the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

Australia established the AIS in 1981, and it became one of the foundations of the country’s modern high-performance sporting system.

Today, the Australian Sports Commission describes the national high-performance system as a network involving the AIS, eight state and territory institutes and academies, national sporting organisations and government-supported programmes.

This is important because elite sport is rarely just about finding the most talented 15-year-old.

The real question is:

What happens after you find them?

Australia has developed a system to answer that question.

From Potential to Podium

The AIS uses its Foundations-Talent-Elite-Mastery (FTEM) framework to map athlete development.

In simple terms, it tries to understand the entire journey:

Foundation → Talent → Elite → Mastery

The framework is designed to help coaches, teachers, parents and sporting organisations identify where athletes are in their development and what support they need next.That sounds technical.But its impact is straightforward.Australia is trying not merely to discover talented athletes — it is trying to systematically turn potential into high performance.

And that is a huge difference.

Australia Treats Sport Like Science

This might be the country’s biggest competitive advantage.Elite Australian sport is increasingly built around science and evidence. The AIS supports research and innovation in areas including sports medicine, physiology, nutrition, psychology, biomechanics and performance analysis. Its stated goal is to make sure Australian athletes benefit from the latest evidence and innovations and that this knowledge actually reaches everyday training.

That means an Australian athlete’s preparation can involve far more than simply spending more hours practising.

It can involve questions such as:

How efficiently is the athlete moving?

How should they recover?

What should they eat?

How much should they train?

How can injuries be prevented?

How can technique be improved?

How can psychology affect performance?

How can technology help coaches make better decisions?

That philosophy has been particularly visible in swimming.

A 2024 Guardian analysis of Australia’s swimming success described the Dolphins’ approach as “performance by design”, highlighting the emphasis on athlete support, coaching, training environments and detailed preparation. Australia won seven swimming golds at the Paris Olympics and finished second behind the United States in the swimming medal table.

The lesson is bigger than swimming.

Australia tries to make elite performance repeatable.

The Secret Isn’t Just Money — It’s Where the Money Goes

Government investment also matters.

The Australian Government supports sport from grassroots participation through to elite competition, while the Australian Sports Commission provides funding for high-performance programmes, participation, athlete pathways, wellbeing, research and innovation.

The distinction is crucial.

It isn’t simply about spending money on athletes once they have already become champions.

Investment goes into the wider structure around them.

Facilities.

Coaches.

Sports scientists.

Medical teams.

Talent identification.

Training centres.

Research.

Development pathways.

That creates an environment in which an athlete can concentrate on becoming better rather than trying to build an entire performance system alone.

And Then There Is The Culture

You cannot explain Australia’s sporting success through government programmes alone.

There is a cultural factor.

Australians are extraordinarily engaged with sport.

The Australian Sports Commission reports that in 2024-25, 53% of Australian adults watched a live sporting event, while 32% attended a live sporting event.

• And success itself creates another cycle.
• An Australian wins.
• Children watch.
• The athlete becomes a role model.
• More children become interested.
• Participation increases.
• More talent enters the system.
• And eventually another champion appears.

The Australian Sports Commission says 56% of Australians who became more active, started a sport or sought information about a new sport in 2024-25 were inspired by Australians succeeding internationally or by Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games athletes and events.

Success creates participation. Participation creates talent. Talent creates more success.

That is the cycle.Australia Doesn’t Rely On One Sport.This is where the Australian model becomes especially fascinating.Cricket is powerful.But Australia isn’t only a cricket country.Swimming is arguably its biggest Olympic medal engine..Athletics has produced generations of champions.Cycling has become an Olympic medal factory.Rowing and sailing have long been major strengths.Hockey has produced internationally successful men’s and women’s teams.Netball has developed one of the world’s strongest national programmes.

Then there are AFL and rugby league — two enormous domestic sporting ecosystems.

The breadth matters.

A country that succeeds in only one sport can be explained by history, geography or tradition.A country that repeatedly succeeds in different types of sport suggests something more systematic.Australia has the infrastructure to develop different kinds of athletes.

Endurance athletes.

Sprinters.

Swimmers.

Cyclists.

Team-sport players.

Power athletes.

Winter-sport specialists.

That is a much harder achievement.

Even Australia’s Winter Success Has A Lesson

Perhaps the best example of Australia’s approach is the Winter Olympics.

Australia has obvious disadvantages.

It is not a traditional snow-sport powerhouse.

Yet it has built programmes around selected winter disciplines and invested heavily in areas where it believes it can become competitive.

The result?

Australia has now become a regular Winter Olympic medal contender.

The country’s recent winter success has involved specialised training initiatives, dedicated facilities and talent conversion — including athletes moving from other sports into skiing and snowboarding.

That tells us something important.

Australia doesn’t necessarily ask:

“What sport are we traditionally good at?”

It increasingly asks:

“Where can our athletes become world-class?”

That is a very different way of thinking.Australia’s Sporting Culture Also Has A Huge Professional EngineThere is another advantage that Olympic medal tables cannot fully capture.Australia has professional domestic competitions that create enormous sporting ecosystems.

The AFL.

The NRL.

The Big Bash League.

The WBBL.

The A-League.

Professional cricket.

Professional netball.

Professional hockey.

These competitions provide young athletes with visible career pathways and expose them to high-level coaching, competition and performance standards.

And the pathway can begin very young.

A recent example came from the NRL, where the Manly Sea Eagles launched an elite academy involving teenagers aged 15 to 18, working closely with schools and providing positional coaching, football-IQ sessions and mentoring from professional players.

That is the same philosophy appearing again:Identify early. Develop systematically. Connect the pathway.But Australia Isn’t Great At EverythingThis is important.Calling Australia “good at every sport” would be inaccurate.

The country’s rugby union programme, for example, has experienced serious problems, including declining participation, financial difficulties and poor international results.

That actually strengthens the larger argument.Australia’s success is not automatic.When a sport’s governance, participation, funding or development pathway weakens, results can suffer.The Australian sporting machine works best when all the parts are functioning together.

The Real Australian Advantage

So, is it the weather?

Partly.

Is it the beaches?

They certainly help swimming and water sports.

Is it genetics?

That would be far too simplistic.

Is it money?

Investment matters, but money alone does not produce champions.

The more convincing explanation is the combination.

The Australian Sports Commission itself describes Australia’s international success as being linked to government support at different levels and a strong high-performance system led by the AIS. It also points to advances in sports science and medicine, coaching, organisation and sustained investment in elite athletes.

That may be the simplest explanation of all.

Australia Doesn’t Have A Secret. It Has A System.That is why Australia’s sporting story is so fascinating.The country isn’t producing champions by accident.A swimmer can enter the system through a local club and eventually reach an elite programme.A young athlete can progress through talent identification and specialist coaching.A cyclist can move through a high-performance pathway.A winter athlete can benefit from a programme designed specifically around Australia’s competitive opportunities.A team-sport player can move from school or community competition into an academy and eventually a professional league.The systems differ by sport.But the philosophy is remarkably similar.Find the talent.Give it a pathway.Surround it with experts.Use science to improve it.Invest in it.And keep searching for the next athlete

That is why Australia continues to punch above its population size.

And perhaps the most important lesson for other sporting nations is this:

Australia’s greatest sporting asset may not be its athletes at all.

It may be the system that keeps producing them.

The post Why Is Australia So Good at Sport? The Answer Goes Far Beyond Talent appeared first on SSI FANZINE.

According to Brett Lee, 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi showcases outstanding cricket skills. Following a stellar IPL season, he was quickly called to join India's T20I team, where he shone in the Zimbabwe tour, being honored as Player of the Series. Lee underscores the need to safeguard the young prodigy from extreme pressure, stressing that his biggest hurdle will be maintaining mental fortitude as he progresses in his career.