India’s slump in T20 form gathered pace in startling fashion at Trent Bridge as they hurtled to a record-breaking defeat in the third T20I. Set a target of 202 after Phil Salt’s  gritty 44-ball 70, India barely managed to score as many between them – 76 their second-lowest total in T20Is – as England’s 90mph new-ball pairing of Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue shared seven wickets

The margin of defeat, a fourth in a row for the two-time reigning T20 world champions, was by far India’s heaviest in the format. Having arrived in Ireland 10 days ago with a record of 16 T20I series/tournaments in a row unbeaten, they must now win the next two games against England to avoid making it two consecutive series losses.

The evening had started positively. Shreyas Iyer again won the choice at the toss and this time opted for a chase – but the move backfired even more spectacularly than in Manchester. England patched together a total of 202 despite Salt rarely looking fluent and India puncturing their progress with regular wickets; Prince Yadav impressed with his variations and temperament to pick up 2 for 32, with the highest partnership of the innings 47 between Salt and Sam Curran, who ran hard for 41 off 24.

But any thought that India might be in the game was exploded in the first few overs as they collapsed to 52 for 5. The end was swift, as none of their batters managed to score more than 13, and the innings lasted barely half of the allotted overs.

While England had – in relative terms – opted to come out of the blocks like Aesop’s tortoise, India were intent on haring after their target. But they only succeeded in running into trouble. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi slashed his second ball over the head of deep third and then struck his third into the crowd at deep midwicket, either side of Abhishek Sharma carving a Tongue full toss over cover. India had hit three sixes in the first nine balls of the innings; England at the same point had scored a single.

But the risk inherent in playing such shots against the pace of Archer and Tongue soon became apparent. Abhishek spooned a top edge to point – giving Tongue his maiden T20I wicket – then Sooryavanshi was hurried by an Archer bouncer and gloved his fifth ball behind. Ishan Kishan struck the fourth six of the innings in the next over – England didn’t hit as many until the 15th – but then pulled straight to deep backward square leg; one ball later, Shreya Iyer picked out the same fielder with a flick from the other end.

Axar Patel, up the order at No. 5, then went dot, four, six, out – nicked off for Archer’s third – to leave India five down after five overs and as good as out of the contest.

So well were things rolling for England that even when they executed poorly – such as Jos Buttler’s stumping of Tilak Varma – the outcome was still favourable. Varma was beaten in the flight by Will Jacks, but it seemed Buttler had dropped the ball in the process of breaking the bails. Replays, however, showed that he just managed to hold it in his fingertips long enough for the dismissal to count.

In their panic India had thrown Harshit Rana up the order, too, and left Shivam Dube down at No. 8. Dube only lasted four ball, as Tongue returned to beat him for pace with another short one to make it 63 for 7. He added the wicket of Harshit, too, thanks a flying catch at backward point from Tom Banton, giving Tongue his best figures (4 for 28) in T20s. Remarkably, despite being a Notts player, this was Tongue’s home “debut” Trent Bridge. He’ll doubtless be looking forward to his next outing.

England scored their first run from the ninth ball of the innings, with Salt initially playing out a maiden from Arshdeep. They were 7 for 0 off two before Buttler finally kickstarted things, crunching six boundaries from his next 14 balls to suggest this was a typically true Trent Bridge surface after all. Buttler didn’t make it out of the powerplay, but 36 off 22 represented his best return in 11 T20I knocks.

England were 49 for 1 after six, with Salt still single-figures. Their momentum was checked by Prince’s second intervention in the ninth, Harry Brook miscuing a pull, and Salt had puttered along to 17 off 19 by the end of the over. Then he began to open up, pulling a Varun Chakravarthy half-tracker over the ropes and adding back-to-back fours – though Prince really should have prevented the second, indicative of a scruffy all-round effort in the field by India.

Two wickets in two balls from Harshit meant England were increasingly reliant on Salt taking his innings deep. A partnership of 47 off 26 with Curran ensued, featuring plenty of hard running as Salt moved to a 36-ball half-century – his joint-second slowest in T20Is. Arshdeep was then flicked into the crowd at deep backward square, before Salt dumped Axar over long-on for a third six. But he was gone next ball, just as he hoped to cash in on his hard work: Axar taking pace off to induce a top edge to point.

Back in the side for Ravi Bishnoi as India’s one change from Old Trafford, and playing only his second T20I, Prince immediately proved himself to the manor born. Asked to close out the powerplay, he served up the perfect leg-stump yorker first ball to dispatch Buttler; in his second over, he struck second ball, following up a slower delivery that Brook had pumped over cover with a short one with extra mayo that caught the splice of the bat. His third was a little more expensive, featuring boundaries from Salt and Curran, but he returned to produce a brilliant 19th over, conceding just seven runs – though he missed out on a third wicket when Harshit put down a straightforward chance at deep midwicket.

Scores:
England 201 for 7 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 70, Jos Buttler 36, Harry Brook 16, Jacob Bethell 13, Sam Curran 41*, Will Jacks 14; Harshit Rana 2-40, Axar Patel 1-49, Prince Yadav 2-32) beat India 76 in 11.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 10, Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi 13, Ishan kishan 13, Axar Patel 10; Josh Tongue 4-28, Jofra Archer 3-29, Will Jacks 1-05, Adil Rashid 2-14) by 125 runs

[Cricinfo]

After 1408 runs and 28 wickets, and even some rain delays over five days, the result that had long been telegraphed finally came to pass as Sri Lanka and West Indies played out a draw in the second and final Test in North Sound. The stalemate means it was a first Test series victory in 11 attempts for West Indies, their last coming in 2023 and for their last home Test series win you would have to go back to June 2022.

And it was perhaps the significance – and rarity – of this achievement that informed the hosts’ approach over the course of this Test, which is also the first in 2026 to end in a draw. Following Sri Lanka’s imposing first-innings effort, West Indies’ response – on a good batting surface – never really appeared to be in search of a victory.

Set a target of 302, John Campbell and Brandon King never threatened to take it on, but even so both scoring fifties – Campbell for the second time this Test – will have given the pair and the West Indian dressing room cause for optimism after their recent batting travails in the longest format.

Switzerland beat Colombia 4-3 on penalties  after a goalless draw to set up a quarterfinal with defending champions Argentina.

The two teams cancelled each other out on Tuesday in the final game of the last 16 – the last match to be played at the 2026 tournament outside the United States.

Both teams missed spot-kicks before Switzerland goalkeeper Gregor Kobel brilliantly saved Cucho Hernandez’s effort and Ruben Vargas scored the decisive penalty.

Colombia, once again backed by thousands of passionate fans in Vancouver, had conceded just once in their four games before Tuesday’s match and the Swiss had also proved difficult to break down.

The first action of note came in the 21st minute when Kobel was forced into a flying save to keep out Gustavo Puerta’s curling effort from the edge of the penalty area.

The Swiss stepped up a gear immediately after the first hydration break, with Camilo Vargas beating away a shot from Fabian Rieder before denying Dan Ndoye.

But the match was goalless at half-time, with two well-matched teams struggling for inspiration.

Switzerland started the second half on the front foot, but Colombia also had their moments, with Luis Suarez lashing wastefully wide.

Both coaches made multiple changes in the second half but again struggled to create meaningful openings, with Colombia’s star winger Luis Diaz kept quiet.

Ndoye flashed a shot across goal in stoppage time, but nobody was able to get on the end of it, and the match was 0-0 at the end of normal time.

The game belatedly burst into life in the first period of extra time.

Colombia defender Jhon Lucumi headed against the bar from a corner in the ninth minute, and Kobel kept out a fierce effort from Jaminton Campaz as the South Americans upped the tempo.

At the other end, Vargas dived to his left to beat away an effort from substitute Zeki Amdouni.

Campaz missed a glorious chance to win the game with five minutes of time left on the clock.

With nothing to separate the teams, the game went to penalties.

Switzerland will face Argentina in Kansas City on Saturday after Lionel Messi’s team earlier beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta.

Switzerland last reached the quarterfinals when they hosted the World Cup in 1954.

(Aljazeera)