On Friday night, when New Chandigarh lights up to host Qualifier 2 of IPL 2026, two teams with a lot of similarities yet poles apart in their philosophy will come face to face for the ticket to the final.

Gujarat Titans GT), who are coming off a defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Qualifier 1 and Rajasthan Royals (RR), who beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Eliminator, have plenty in common. Both rely heavily on their top three, both have a weak middle order, and both have incisive new-ball pairs. But their approach to the game could not have been more different.

Even in the age of the Impact Player, GT’s openers, Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudarshan, prefer a low-risk approach to collect their runs. Their scoring rate in the powerplay this season has been 9.66, which puts them in the bottom half. They are happy with just-above-par totals and back their bowling unit to defend those.

RR, meanwhile, are led by the 15-year-old phenom Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who tries to send every ball over the boundary. Gill and Sai Sudharsan combined have hit 59 sixes this season; Sooryavanshi alone has smashed 65. Even with  Yashasvi Jaiswal not at his best, RR’s run rate of 11.66 in the first six overs has been the best in the tournament.

The United States and Iran have reached a preliminary memorandum of understanding (MOU) to extend the ceasefire between the two countries for 60 days and start negotiations for permanently ending the war, according to officials.

The US sources told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the framework still needs President Donald Trump’s final approval. If finalised, the agreement would be a major breakthrough after weeks of stalled diplomacy.

But details of the tentative deal remain obscure. It is also unclear whether the 60-day extension represents a deadline for the negotiations. The ongoing truce is already open-ended.

The MOU would come after sporadic skirmishes between the US and Iran in the Gulf that threatened to unravel the truce. The two sides traded limited attacks earlier on Thursday.

Axios first reported the preliminary deal earlier on Thursday. The White House confirmed the report to Al Jazeera.

According to Axios, the deal stipulates that vessel traffic would be “unrestricted” in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the US would lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Tehran has been claiming sovereignty over the strategic waterway, saying that the strait must be managed jointly by Iran and Oman because it goes through the two countries’ territorial waters.

But the US has rejected any form of Iranian control, including a tolling system, in the Hormuz Strait.

Earlier on Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also threatened Oman  — a close ally of Washington — with sanctions if it facilitates the imposition of fees on ships going through the strait.

Bessent later declined to confirm details of the reported deal, and he suggested that there can be no agreement that does not meet Trump’s red lines.

“It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president, so it is all going to be the president’s decision,” Bessent told reporters.

He added that Trump has made his three conditions for Iran clear: re-opening Hormuz, giving up the stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and ending the nuclear programme.

Tasnim, Iran’s semi-official news agency, cited a source close to the negotiations as denying claims of US officials of an imminent agreement.

“If the text is indeed finalised, Iran will announce the matter to the Pakistani mediator and to the people. And until then, any narrative from Western sources about the finalisation of the matter is not valid,” it said.

In addition to an agreement about the waterway, the reported memorandum also requires that Iran commit to not pursuing a nuclear weapon.

But Tehran has already made that commitment publicly numerous times. Slain Supreme Leader Ali Khameni, who was killed by the US and Israel on the first day of the war, February 28, had issued a religious decree against weapons of mass destruction.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that his country is “not looking for nuclear weapons”.

“We do not engage in diplomacy with humiliation,” he was quoted as saying by Iran’s ISNA news agency.

While the reported deal could resolve the Hormuz issue, other sticking points, including the continuation of US sanctions and the future of Iran’s uranium stockpile, would need to be addressed in further talks.

Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium domestically, which is not prohibited under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). But Trump has stressed that the country’s entire nuclear programme must be dismantled.

The US is also seeking limits on Iran’s missile and drone production, but Tehran has ruled out negotiations over its defence policies.

Another issue is the raging war in Lebanon, where Israel has intensified its attacks, killing dozens of people over the past weeks and issuing forced displacement orders for two of the largest cities in the south of the country.

The Iran-allied group Hezbollah has also stepped up its drone launches against invading Israeli forces.

Israel bombed Beirut on Thursday for the first time in three weeks — the second attack on the Lebanese capital since the “ceasefire” reached in April.

Iran has previously said that any truce must include Lebanon.

Separately, the Lebanese government has been holding direct talks with Israel to end the war. The US has previously said that Lebanon was not part of the April truce while separately backing and hosting the Lebanon-Israel talks.

[Aljazeera]

Half-centuries to Jemimah Rodrigues and a resurgent Yastika Bhatia, combined with three wickets on international debut for Nandanai Sharma, led a somewhat experimental India side to a 38-run victory in the opening game of their three-match T20I series.

After a troubled start at Chelmsford in which Lauren Bell took two wickets in the first over to leave the tourists 7 for 2, Yastika and Rodrigues shared a century stand for the third wicket as captain Harmanpreet Kaur was rested. Playing her first T20I in two years, Yastika struck 54 off 40 balls – her maiden T20I fifty – and Rodrigues faced as many deliveries for her typically poised 69. England overcame a rash of fielding errors after winning the toss to contain the target after the pair departed, with Deepti Sharma’s 13-ball cameo worth 22 the only other double-figure score.

Amy Jones scored fifty from the unfamiliar position of No. 3, dominating a 64-run partnership with Heather Knight, who overtook head coach Charlotte Edwards to become England Women’s most-capped player in history across all formats with 310 caps in all. But Jones’s 48-ball 67 couldn’t save her side in the face of Nandani’s 3 for 34 which gave India an added boost with the T20 World Cup just over two weeks away.

For a third match in a row, Bell struck in the first over, this time with the big wickets of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. Smriti, standing in as captain for Harmanpreet, spooned the first ball – a half-volley outside off stump – straight to cover, where Charlie Dean gleefully accepted the offering. Then, off the last ball, Shafali skied one towards mid-on, where Alice Capsey ran in to take a sharp, diving catch.

Bell had taken wickets in the first over against New Zealand twice – with the first ball in the opening T20I in Derby and the last ball in the second match at Canterbury – before she was rested for the third match at Hove. Earlier, she had snared three lbw dismissals within her first four overs of the third ODI against the White Ferns in Cardiff.

Against India, however, some of her work came undone when the second over, bowled by Issy Wong, went for 27 runs through a combination of wides and Yastika making a fast start of own.

Making her first T20I appearance since April 2024 and after undergoing knee surgery last year, Yastika looked like she’d never been away. From her four boundaries off Wong’s wayward first over to a glorious six muscled over wide long-on off Sophie Ecclestone, she settled in beautifully, raising her fifty off 31 balls and simultaneously taking India past 100 at the end of the 10th over.

She and Rodrigues brought up their 100-partnership off 58 deliveries in the face of some sloppy England fielding but chiefly through exquisite footwork and timing. Rodrigues brought up her half-century with a six down the ground of debutant Tilly Corteen-Coleman and their union yielded 126 runs in all off just 76 balls. It took a combination of a good throw from the 18-year-old Corteen-Coleman and questionable decision-making to break it. As Charlie Dean struck Yastika on the pad and the ball trickled to short third, she and Rodrigues chanced a single and Corteen-Coleman fired the ball back to the bowler, who broke the stumps with Yastika well short of her ground. Dean closed the over with a sharp return catch to remove Rodrigues and give England hope of containing the target.

Wong handed Corteen-Coleman her maiden T20I wicket with a superb over-the-shoulder catch running from backward point to collect a reverse-sweep from Richa Ghosh, who departed for just 4. Wong took the ball in the next over and bowled Bharti Fulmali for 6 with a slower ball that beat an attempted slog and deflected off the pads onto the stumps. India were 148 for 6 in the 17th over but a spirited 39-run stand between Deepti Sharma and Arundhati Reddy raised the target before Bell returned to remove Deepti, pulling a short ball straight to midwicket.

England promoted Jones as Maia Bouchier, who is not part of England’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, made way with Nat Sciver-Brunt still injured and regular opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge poised to return from maternity leave from the second match of this series onwards. The hosts persisted with their opening experiment of Alice Capsey and Sophia Dunkley – Wyatt-Hodge’s usual companion at the top of the order – and while it had paid off with Capsey’s fifty in the first T20I against New Zealand, both fell cheaply on Thursday as the hosts stumbled to 37 for 2.

Jones had enjoyed a fruitful stint as an ODI opener against West Indies last summer but she hadn’t batted at No. 3 in a T20I since the rain-hit home match against the same opponents in 2020. She had limited opportunities with the bat in the New Zealand series, batting just once in the T20s for 1 not out, but she relished her chance against India, picking the gaps expertly on her way to nine boundaries.

Jones’s dismissal, slog-sweeping Nandani to deep midwicket sparked a mini collapse from which England would never recover. Nandani, the 24-year-old quick, was on a hat-trick after Dani Gibson holed out next ball, Shafali again doing the work in the outfield, as she had done to end Jones’s innings. And while Dean negotiated the next delivery, Nandani had her third wicket two balls later, a slower one that deceived Wong and clattered into off stump.

Brief scores:
India Women 188 for 7 (Yastika Bhatia 54, Jemimah Rodrigues 69, Deepti Sharma 22; Lauren Bell 3-34, Issy Wong 1-41, Tilley Corteen Coleman 1-19, Charlie Dean 1-26) beat England Women 150 for 8 in 20 overs  (Sophia Dunkley 16, Amy Jones 67, Heather Knight 21, Charlie Dean 11*, Sophie Ecclestone13; Kranti Gaud  2-24, Nandani Sharma 3-34, Shree Charani 1-25, Deepti Sharma 1-42) by 38 runs

[Cricinfo]