Mathews, Kumara shine as England bowled out for 156
Bengaluru (PTI): England needed a return to their aggressive ways but they produced a cagey batting effort to get bowled out for a modest 156 against a confident Sri Lanka in their World Cup match here on Thursday.
Having logged just two points from four games, England were expected to show some urgency but the defending champions struggled massively on a pitch that offered spongy bounce after batting by choice.
But more than the surface or the enterprising Sri Lankan bowlers, the English batsmen battled inner demons, save Ben Stokes who made a gritty 43 off 73 balls.
Opener Dawid Malan who milked 45 runs with Jonny Bairstow, could be excused though.
Angelo Mathews, an injury replacement for pacer Matheesha Pathirana, put him in two minds with a delivery that bounced from the length just enough to take an edge off his bat to Kusal Mendis behind the stumps.
However, Malan during his 25-ball 28 showed that the pitch is not a hard one to bat on while essaying some gorgeous drives through the off-side.
Unfortunately, the route was not taken by several subsequent batters and they were also culpable of playing some really poor cricket.
Joe Root got run out while taking off for a non-existing single, captain Jos Buttler made an expansive drive outside the off-stump off Lahiru Kumara to get caught behind and Bairstow never timed the pull off Kasun Rajitha to find Dhananjaya de Silva at mid-on.
Liam Livingstone played the wrong line off Kumara to get trapped leg-before. Moeen Ali went for a cut off Mathews when there was no width on offer, and Kusal Perera snaffled the simple offering at point.
These batsmen were expected to lead England's batting charge in a must-win match, and they failed to respond to the situation.
Stokes did try on his own. He had the assistance of fortune as well when Sadeera Samarawickrama floored a tough chance at point off Kumara when the all-rounder was on 12. England were 86 for 5 then.
The left-hander played some archetypal power-packed shots through either side, but the day was not made for a one-man show that Stokes is known to produce.
His dismissal, caught by substitute Dushan Hemantha, at deep of Kumara, effectively ended England's chances of posting a challenging total despite them having an extra-long batting line-up.
Adil Rashid's comical run out while backing up too far could be taken as a symbol of England's drudges with the bat on the day.
But the inept batting display of England should not rob the Lankan bowlers of the just credit.
Kumara (3 for 35) has the tendency to be all over the place but when he hits his lengths correctly, the right-arm pacer is a different beast, who can also crank up some serious speed to hustle the batters.
And hustled England were indeed on the day. They will hope for some more spunk from their bowlers to conjure an unlikely win and remain in the semifinals race.
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HC quashes order staying proceedings against Anil Ambani to classify his bank accounts as fraud
Mumbai (PTI): In a setback to industrialist Anil Ambani, the Bombay High Court on Monday quashed a single bench interim order that stayed proceedings initiated against him and Reliance Communications Ltd to classify their bank accounts as fraud.
A division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad allowed the appeals filed by three public sector banks and auditor firm BDO India LLP against the December 2025 interim order passed by a single bench of the HC.
The division bench, while quashing the single bench order, termed it "illegal and perverse".
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Ambani's counsels sought the HC to stay its order so that they could approach the Supreme Court, but the request was declined.
The banks last month challenged a December 2025 single-bench order granting interim relief to Ambani and his company. The order had cited violations of mandatory RBI rules and a classic case of banks "waking up from deep slumber" after years.
The single bench order stayed all present and future action by Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank and Bank of Baroda, noting that the action was based on a legally flawed forensic audit and violated the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) mandatory guidelines.
The three banks in their appeal said the forensic audit, which led to accounts being classified as "fraud", was legally valid and based on serious findings of fund siphoning and misutilisation.
This was recorded in the report submitted by the audit firm BDO LLP, they contended.
The banks, in their plea, also said Ambani had raised a technical challenge to the forensic audit before the single bench.
They sought the division bench to quash the single bench's interim order, claiming it was "perverse".
Ambani had challenged before the single bench show-cause notices issued by the Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI and Bank of Baroda, seeking to declare his and Reliance Communications' accounts as fraud accounts.
As an interim relief, he sought a stay of the notices and an injunction against any coercive action on the ground that BDO LLP was not qualified to conduct the forensic audit as its signatory was not a chartered accountant.
BDO LLP was an accounting consultant firm and not an audit firm, Ambani claimed.
The single bench had agreed with Ambani and stayed the action by the banks.
