Henry Nicholls hails NZ on attaining No. 2 Test ranking

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar hailed India's ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the India vs New Zealand T20 World Cup 2026 final on Sunday, hailing him as the "Don Bradman of bowling." Aakash Chopra, on the other hand, cautioned the Indian batters against New Zealand's pace spearhead Matt Henry ahead of the T20 WC summit clash in Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.

While Men in Blue and their fans could get flashbacks of the Ahmedabad heartbreak against Australia, which stopped India's dominant 10-match win streak courtesy tactical masterclass of skipper Pat Cummins and a brutal hammering by Travis Head, the baggage of negativity will come down and everyone will find some comfort in team's most recent wins against New Zealand and the fact their country is on a winning run across the men's, women's and age-group cricket. The baggage will feel a little lighter.

New Zealand pacer Matt Henry acknowledged that the Blackcaps delivered a brilliant performance with the ball against South Africa in the first semifinal of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026, on Wednesday at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.

Allen's historic 33-ball century and fine bowling from New Zealand helped them seal their spot in the T20 World Cup final, scheduled to take place at Ahmedabad on Sunday. Their opponents, India or England, will be decided at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. This marks their second T20 World Cup final after the 2021 edition, where they lost to Australia.

With this win, NZ has sealed their final spot and will play either India or England, who will clash on Thursday at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. Courtesy of some fight from Marco Jansen (55 in 30 balls, with two fours and five sixes) and Tristan Stubbs (29 in 24 balls, with two fours and a six), Proteas reached 169/8 in 20 overs after they sunk to 77/5. But the real magic was produced by Tim Seifert (58 in 33 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) and Allen (100* in 33 balls, with 10 fours and eight sixes), who put a 117-run stand which killed the game within the powerplay itself.

At the iconic Eden Gardens, it will be a mouth-watering battle between South Africa and New Zealand, two sides without a World Cup title to their name in the 20-over or 50-over format, for a spot in the title clash against India or England. The presence of Henry, who has done well with the new ball, is extremely crucial to determining the outcome of the match. The pacer had left the squad after their final Super Eight game against England on February 27 for the birth of his child.

Samra's knock of 110 runs is also the highest individual score by an Associate nation player in the T20 World Cups. He surpassed Aaron James of the USA, who had made 94 not out agaisnt Canada in the last edition.

Legends League Cricket (LLC) on Friday announced its most ambitious edition yet, Legends League Cricket Season 4, featuring a historic six-city tour across India, scheduled from March 6 to March 25, 2026.

A statement from the International Cricket Council (ICC) Event Technical Committee said, "The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 has approved Ben Curran as a replacement for Brendan Taylor in the Zimbabwe squad. Curran was named as a replacement when Taylor was ruled out after sustaining a right hamstring injury during the match against Oman on February 9."

At 31, Jacob is enjoying his first World Cup experience, following his international debut in 2020 at 26. In two games so far, he has taken two wickets so far and is a crucial part of the Kiwi bowling line-up, consisting of Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson.