A summary of Saturday's action in the FIFA World Cup 2026 UEFA Qualifiers.
'But looking at our current performance, I'm confident that a medal in the World Cup is not far off.'
India overpowered New Zealand by 53 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method to seal their place in the semi-finals of the Women's ODI World Cup.
The spotlight is on mystery spinners like Varun Chakravarthy and Usman Tariq, who could exploit the Premadasa Stadium's testing pitch during the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup on Sunday.
India will have a net session on Saturday evening, and Abhishek Sharma's fitness will be monitored closely before taking a final call.
Shafali Verma turned doubt into destiny as India lifted their first-ever Women's World Cup title.
Buoyed by her team's first win in the ongoing Women's World Cup in Guwahati on Friday, New Zealand captain Sophie Devine expressed hopes of a turnaround for the White Ferns in the tournament and cited South Africa's stunning victory over India.
All-rounder Axar Patel was named vice-captain of the squad, which also saw the return of in-form Ishan Kishan, who pipped Jitesh Sharma as the second wicketkeeper behind Sanju Samson.
Brooke Halliday and skipper Sophie Devine scored fighting fifties before the bowlers fired in unison to guide New Zealand to a comfortable 100-run win over Bangladesh in a Women's World Cup match, in Guwahati, on Friday.
Namibia beat Tanzania by 63 runs to become the first team from the African Qualifiers to secure a spot in the next year's T20 World Cup.
Sweden's hopes of qualifying for next year's World Cup are hanging by a thread after Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka scored from the spot to help the visitors win 2-0 in their qualifying Group B clash on Friday.
Seventeen-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Karabo Meso on Wednesday earned her maiden call-up to South Africa's 15-member squad for the women's ODI World Cup starting later this month in India and Sri Lanka.
England booked their place in next year's World Cup finals as captain Harry Kane scored twice in a 5-0 romp away to Latvia on Tuesday to ensure they will win qualifying Group K.
'Bernard Julien was one of the quiet legends of the 1975 World Cup, a tournament that fifty years ago brought this region joy like no other as the West Indies lifted the first men's world title in the history of the game.'
India's second major casualty on the day was Aravindh Chithambaram who lost to compatriot K Venkatramanan after the second set of rapid games.
India is the second-most successful team in the Sultan of Johor Cup, having won three titles (2013, 2014, and 2022). Only Great Britain, with four titles, have dine better than them.
India to open their U-19 World Cup campaign against USA
This was Jyothi's third appearance at the World Cup Final, having earlier competed at the Tlaxcala (2022) and Hermosillo (2023) editions, where she had exited in the opening round.
Guwahati's cricketing spirit took center stage as it played host to the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 Trophy Tour
The experienced Surya Shekhar Ganguly, GM Raunak Sadhwani and GM Karthik Venkatraman scored comfortable victories while M Pranesh played out a draw to advance to the second round, while IM Aronyak Ghosh defeated GM Mateusz Bartel of Poland to force a tie-breaker, in the FIDE World Cup 2025 in Panaji on Sunday.
Meghana Sajjanar clinched her first-ever World Cup medal, a bronze, in the women's 10m Air Rifle, as India finished fifth in the season-ending ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Ningbo, China.
'I had a feeling from within that this tournament (Asia Cup) would be something special, but I did not think that I would become the player-of-the-tournament.'
Hitesh beats former world champion Okazawa, Indian boxers continue to dominate at World Cup Finals
Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma guided India to a historic 52-run victory over South Africa which saw the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 hosts lift the trophy for the first time.
Preeti shocks world champion Huang; Arundhati, Parveen shine on international return
India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, are coming into the showpiece event on the back of a hard-fought ODI series loss to Australia, where opener Smriti Mandhana slammed two back-to-back centuries and the spinners, led by Deepti Sharma, giving a good account of themselves.
The FIDE World Cup will be held at a resort in North Goa from October 31 to November 27, 2025, offering a total prize fund of US$2 million.
The national selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar, in all likelihood, will select identical squads for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and the marquee ICC T20 World Cup, a BCCI source said on Friday.
Tournament expanded from eight teams to 10 in 2029.
Defending champions India will open their campaign against USA in Mumbai on February 7 before facing Namibia in Delhi on February 12.
Deepti Sharma, who finished as the highest wicket-taker with 22 scalps at an economy rate of 5.52 along with scoring 215 runs in nine innings with three fifties, was also adjudged player of the tournament.
Rosan, Dilraj fashion India's thumping win over Chile in FIH Junior WC
Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal's 212-run stand against New Zealand is India's highest in Women's World Cup history.
The victorious Indian women's cricket team led by Harmanpreet Kaur touched down in the national capital on Tuesday evening for its meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
If India win Women's World Cup it would be a seismic moment: England captain Sciver-Brunt
Meanwhile, Egypt and South Africa also took significant steps towards following the Atlas Lions, moving closer to featuring in the marquee event, which will be played across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian side landed in the evening after completing their warm-up games in Bengaluru.
FIH Men's World Cup: India beat Switzerland 5-0 to qualify for quarterfinals
Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has said he hopes to continue playing until the 2027 World Cup as he prepares to make his return for his country in the three-match One-Day International series against England, which starts on Sunday.
Harmanpreet, Mandhana, Rodrigues among players retained for WPL 2026: Report
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