As anticipated, the political masters of Pakistan have finally directed its national cricket team to lift the boycott and play India on 15 February, 2026, as scheduled in Colombo . The Masters must've thought the money at stake is too lucrative to continue indulging in such kind of grumpy politics. Of course, they had imposed some pre-conditions that included making the 'handshake' a mandatory protocol, but the ICC looked the other way. So, the PCB takes it as protecting the 'spirit of cricket'. The Indian cricket board , the sponsors, the TV channels and millions of fans who do not necessarily mix patriotism with sports, if it's cricket in particular, must be deliriously ecstatic that all the revenues and hype and excitement shall be there for harvest thr oughout the ICC Men's T20 World Cup-2026 , co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka . Most of the Indians fans must also be ecstatic to have their heroes go on vanquishing the enemy neighbor and humiliating t...
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| Dilshan! |
Winning the toss New Zealand elected to bat and made a solid start thanks to Nicol (58 off 40 balls) and Guptil (38). Brendon McCullum (25) kept the momentum on, but could not last long. Though well on the way for a total in excess of 190 the Kiwis finally fell short by about 20 runs, but 174 was still a challenging total and the match was on. Sri Lanka in reply raced to 119 in the 13th over with Dilshan (76 off 53 balls) coming into form in a magnificent way, but midway lost the plan with a bit too many run outs. Interestingly both teams were at level in the 17th over and like New Zealand could not capitalize on the last four overs Sri Lanka too could not force a win from a commanding position. They needed 21 runs off the last two overs, but just a single from the last ball. The winning run did not come, a run out came instead and there was a tie leading to the one-over eliminator. Tilakratne Dilshan was named player of the match. The Scorecard:
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| Johnson Charles! |
In the second Super Eight match of the day England proved again that they did not learn at all from the Indian thrashing. Besides, the stronger they asserted that they did not miss Kevin Pietersen at all the more apparent it became how dearly they missed him. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first. Another Gaylestorm (58) breaking out and with a solid innings by J Charles (84) West Indies went off to a flyer posting the first hundred run in the 11th over. A few hiccups midway, as is usual with this team, a total of 179/5 was reached, again at least 20 runs short. England started disastrously and almost lost the match in the middle of their chase. A late charge by Eoin Morgan (71 not out off 46 balls) could not save them and they lost by 15 runs. What rankled most was that England lost only four wickets at that stage. Future prospects look ominous for England at the moment. J Charles was named the player of the match. The Scorecard:
Now for the big ones today: Pakistan Vs South Africa and India Vs Australia. Over to Colombo!
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