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Delhi Capital’s fourth shot at elusive trophy as Royal Challengers Bengaluru look to make winning a habit

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Lizelle Lee and Shafali Verma against Lauren Bell will be an interesting contest [BCCI]

The grand finale of WPL 2026 carries a distinct India-South Africa flavour, much like the World Cup final two months ago. But the epicenter is Vadodara and not Navi Mumbai, the traditional home of Indian women’s cricket. However, that won’t make the occasion any less special.

The marquee names line up symmetrically. Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues on one side; Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh on the other. Marizanne Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt on one side, Nadine de Klerk on the other.

Threading between these big stars are two high-impact overseas allrounders from West Indies and Australia, each having contributed to their team’s journey to the final in their own way.

Chinelle Henry has been an unheralded star for Delhi Capitals (DC). Her three-for in the Eliminator may have gone unnoticed in the larger scheme of things, but it was as important as Shafali and Lizelle Lee’s opening stand or Rodrigues’ cameo. For Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Grace Harris has filled an even larger void. In Ellyse Perry’s absence, she has become the powerplay enforcer, dominating attacks and setting up games for the likes of Ghosh and de Klerk to finish.

The prospect of these two sides pitted against each other in the final seemed an unlikely prospect even during the auction. Mumbai Indians appeared the obvious front runners, having retained the core that delivered two titles in three seasons.

RCB, meanwhile, were without Perry, and when they opted to replace her with an uncapped Indian fast bowler in Sayali Satghare, fully aware that Pooja Vastrakar would be unavailable for much of the season, the knives were out. Satghare has since become a key strand in RCB’s seam attack.

Thursday’s final also brings a contrast to their journeys to the final. RCB took the route DC did for three seasons running – winning six out of their eight games to top the group. DC have scraped through a sequence of must-win games and will now play their third knockout in five days.

DC are chasing that elusive fourth attempt at glory to help bring silverware to a franchise that is yet to win a major; RCB is looking at making winning titles a habit, attempting a hat-trick of wins (IPL included).

In each of the three previous finals, the winner of the Eliminator has gone on to win the title. Will Thursday be any different?

RCB are likely to back Vastrakar to play as a specialist batter. While she has begun bowling in the nets, a call has been taken to ease her in, given she has returned to competitive cricket after 15 months. Arundhati Reddy’s lack of form is the only other area of concern that could potentially bring in legspinner Prema Rawat into the equation.

RCB (probable): Smriti Mandhana (capt),  Grace Harris,  Georgia Voll,  Richa Ghosh (wk),  Radha Yadav,  Nadine de Klerk,  Pooja Vastrakar,  Shreyanka Patil,  Sayali Satghare,  Arundhati Reddy/Prema Rawat,  Lauren Bell

DC are likely to be unchanged. In fact the 13 players they’ve used this season are the fewest resources a team has used across four WPL seasons.

DC (probable):  Shafali Verma,  Lizelle Lee (wk),  Laura Wolvaardt,  Jemimah Rodrigues (capt),  Marizanne Kapp, Chinelle Henry,  Niki Prasad,  Sneh Rana,  Minnu Mani,  Nandani Sharma,  N Shree Charani

[Cricinfo]



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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued to the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and Galle and Matara districts

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Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 12.30 noon 12 March 2026 valid for the period until 11.00 p.m. 12 March 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts after 2.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav among ESPNcricinfo award winners for 2025

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We're all winners here: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues won big in 2025 [Cricinfo]

India’s players swept all the women’s categories in ESPNcricinfo’s annual awards for individual performances in 2025, reflecting a year in which the team won their first World Cup title.

While Jemimah Rodrigues won the women’s ODI batting honours for her awe-inspiring, cramp-battling century that knocked Australia out of the World Cup. Deepti  Sharma grabbed the ODI bowling award for her match turning five for in the final against South Africa. And Harmanpreet Kaur took the captain’s award for winning the world title and for sealing white-ball series (ODIs and T20Is) in England and winning her second WPL title with Mumbai Indians. Her title clinching 66in the WPL final against Delhi Capitals took the women’s T20 leagues batting award.

South Africa Women had to deal with the bitter heartbreak of losing yet another World Cup final, but the men, who for long fell agonizingly short of the big prizes, took home the World Test Championship,  eating Australia by five wickets in the final at Lord’s. They were rewarded by our jurors too:Aiden Markram won the Test batting award for his epic fourth-innings hundred in that final, while Temba Bavuma,  who made a vital 66 while nursing a hamstring injury during that chase, was picked as the men’s captain of the year for leading his side to the WTC mace, to a sweep of India in Tests in India, and for ODI series wins in Australia and England.

Fast bowler Marco Jansen, one of the bowling architects of South Africa’s 2-0 win in India, narrowly lost the Test bowling award to the incandescent Mitchell Starc, who decimated England with 7 for 58 in Perth on the opening day of the Ashes.

Another seven-for took the men’s T20 leagues bowling award: Taskin Ahmed’s 7 for 19 fro Durbar Rajshahi against Dhakar Capital in the BPL. The batting prize in that category went to Hobart Hurricanes opener Mitchell Owen, whose  39 ball century against Sydney Thunder – which equalled the tournament record for the fastest hundred – took his side to their maiden BBL title.

The women’s T20 leagues bowling award, like the one for batting, also came against Delhi Capitals in the WPL: 21-year-old UP Warriorz fast bowler Kranti Gaud,  in her first season, took 4 for 25, including the wickets of Rodrigues, Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma.

The Champions Trophy was the headline event in men’s cricket in 2025 and the winning ODI performances came from that tournament: in Lahore, Ibrahim Zadran broke records for the highest individual score for Afghanistan in ODIs and for the highest score in the Champions Trophy overall with his majestic 177,  which knocked England out of the tournament. The ODI bowling award was picked up by India legspinner Varun Chakravarthy who took 5 for 42 against New Zealand in Dubai, where a week later India won the Champions Trophy.

Six months later, at the same ground, India also won the T20 Asia Cup. In the final against Pakistan, the dismantler-in-chief was our men’s T20I bowling award winner, another legspinner, Kuldeep Yadav, who took 4 for 30, including three wickets in his final over.

The men’s T20I batting award went to England’s Phil Salt, whose 141 not out off 60 balls against South Africa at Old Trafford was not only England’s fastest T20I hundred, but also their highest individual score in the format; and it took them to their highest team total – 304.

Australian allrounder Beau Webster, who scored four half-centuries, including a series-sealing one in his first Test, in Sydney against India, and took eight wickets in seven Tests, was named the men’s debutant of the year. The women’s debutant award went to India fast bowler N Shree Charani who showed remarkable temperament at the age of 20 to pick up a four for on T20I debut in England. She went on to take 14 wickets in the ODI World Cup, second highest for India after Deepti.

Charani, like Harmanpreet, won two awards. Her other one, for women’s T20I bowling, came for her four wickets against England at Trent Bridge, in a match where opener Smriti Mandhana’s maiden T20I hundred played a vital role in setting up India’s win. Mandhana won the women’s T20I batting award for that performance.

The men’s Associate batting award went to Max O’Dowd for masterminding Netherlands’ 370-run chase – the third-highest successful one in all ODIs -against Scotland in Dundee. His 158 not out came off only 130 balls and trumped George Munsey’s 191 in the same match. The men’s Associate bowling award was picked up by seamer Harry Manenti, whose 5 for 31 against Scotland in the qualifier in The Hague, played a big role in Italy qualifying for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

THE JURY : Ian Bishop, Sambit Bal, Shane Bond, Aakash Chopra, Andrew Fernando, Andy Flower, Nagraj Gollapudi, Mohammad Isam, Isobel Joyce, Raunak Kapoor, Nick Knight, Farveez Maharoof, Andrew McGlashan, Andrew Miller, Sidharth Monga, Tom Moody, Firdose Moonda, Urooj Mumtaz, Vernon Philander, Matt Roller, Osman Samiuddin, Dale Steyn

[Cricinfo]

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Nasa spacecraft weighing 1,300lb due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere

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The two Van Allen Probes were launched in 2012 [BBC]

A Van Allen Probe spacecraft weighing more than 1,300lb (600kg) is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere almost 14 years after its launch, Nasa says.

The spacecraft is projected to re-enter around 19:45 EDT (23:45 GMT) on Tuesday the US Space Force predicted, according to Nasa, though there is a 24-hour margin of “uncertainty” in the timing.

The Van Allen Probe A, which launched in 2012, is expected mostly to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, though some components may survive.

The space agency said there is a one in 4,200 chance of being harmed by a piece of the probe, which it characterised as “low” risk.

The spacecraft and its twin, Van Allen Probe B, were on a mission to gather unprecedented data on Earth’s two permanent radiation belts.

It was not immediately clear where in Earth’s atmosphere the satellite is projected to re-enter. The BBC has contacted Nasa for further detail.

Nasa and the US Space Force have said they will monitor the re-entry and update any predictions.

The mission, which was originally designed to last two years, went on for almost seven. It ended after the spacecrafts ran out of fuel and were no longer able to orient themselves toward the Sun.

The probes flew through rings of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field from 2012 to 2019, in order to study how particles were gained and lost, per Nasa.

Those rings, called the Van Allen belts, shield Earth from cosmic radiation, solar storms and streaming solar wind, which are harmful to humans and can damage technology.

The mission made significant discoveries, including the first data that show the existence of a transient third radiation belt, which can form during times of intense solar activity, Nasa said.

Van Allen Probe B is not expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere before 2030.

[BBC]

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