T20 World Cup: Shivam Dube’s explosive 66, Varun Chakravarthy’s 3/14 headline India’s 17-run win over Netherlands
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The defending champions and co-hosts rounded off the league stage by winning all their four matches and topping Group A. They now take a well-earned breather for the next three days before they take on South Africa at the same venue in their first Super 8s match.
With an aim to help the bowlers get used to defending a total in dewy conditions in the Super 8s, India decided to bat first in the inconsequential tie. Dube’s power-packed half-century — his first in T20 World Cups — lifted India to a daunting 193-6 after they struggled initially against Dutch spinner Aryan Dutt, who bowled brilliantly to finish with 2-19 in four overs.
Varun Chakravarthy then spun some of his own magic, taking 3-14 in three overs, but a spirited Dutch team did well to respond with 176-7.
India dropped a few catches on the night but the biggest worry would be the terrible run of Abhishek, who fell for his fifth duck of the year. Ishan Kishan (18; 7b, 22x4, 1x6), Tilak Varma (31; 27b, 3x4, 1x6) and skipper Suryakumar Yadav (34; 28b, 2x4, 1x6) were all dismissed when well set.
When ‘SKY’ was caught at fine leg off Logan van Beek (3-56 in four overs), India were literally crawling at 110/4 in the 14th over. However, all-rounders Hardik Pandya (30; 21b, 3x6) and Dube then put on 76 in just 35 balls for the fifth wicket to give the tournament co-hosts some much needed momentum in the second half of the innings.
With Dube, who reached his fifty off 25 balls, and Pandya tonking nine sixes between them, India plundered 75 in the last five overs, giving plenty of entertainment to the 68,000-strong crowd.
In the penultimate over, the Dube-Pandya pair took 21 off Kyle Klein as Pandya smoked the medium-pacer for two sixes and Dube took a four off him.
Overall, India’s batters struck 13 sixes on the night. Dube, who employs his long levers, timing and raw power to send the ball into orbit if pitched in his arc, had also produced cameos of 23 (16b) and 27 (17 balls) against Namibia and Pakistan in his previous two outings.
Abhishek, meanwhile, lost his leg stump off the third delivery that he faced as Aryan Dutt, bowling brilliantly, had one skidding off the surface. Short of confidence, Abhishek missed the line of the ball completely as tried to heave it on the on side. Delivering a fabulous spell in the Powerplay, Dutt also had Ishan Kishan bowled in a freakish way: the ball brushed off the in-form left-hander’s pads and elbow before trickling on to the stumps even as he tried to stop it.
The Netherlands deserve to be complimented for the way they kept India, who were 51/2 after the Powerplay, in check in the first 15 overs before the Dube-Pandya onslaught.
| 12 - India have extended their record in T20 World Cup with their twelfth triumph in succession between June 5, 2024 and Feb 18, 2026. 66 - Shivam Dube has recorded his maiden fifty in the T20 World Cup, bettering the 34 vs Bangladesh in North Sound on June 22, 2024. His knock is his career-best in T20Is. His previous best was 65 vs New Zealand in Vizag on Jan 28, 2026. 1 - Dube’s knock is an Indian record for the highest individual innings by a No. 5 batter or below in the T20 World Cup, bettering Hardik Pandya’s 63 vs England in Adelaide on Nov 10, 2022. 13 - Hardik Pandya has become the 13th all-rounder and the first Indian to complete the double of 6000+ runs and 200+ wickets in Twenty20. 3 - Abhishek Sharma is the third opening batter to get three ducks in a T20 WC tournament. The first two are West Indies’ Andrew Fletcher in 2009 and Bangladesh’s Tanzid Hasan in 2024. Three other batters have recorded three ducks in a T20 WC competition — Scotland’s Richie Berrington in 2021-22, Zimbabwe’s Regis Chakabva in 2022-23 and Uganda’s Roger Mukasa in 2024. 4 - Abhishek is the fourth batter to register three successive ducks in the T20 World Cup, the first three being India’s Ashish Nehra between 2010 and 2016, Fletcher in 2009 and Mukasa in 2024. 55 - Abhishek is the second Indian batter to get 5 ducks in 8 innings in a calendar year. Sanju Samson had registered five ducks in 12 innings in 2024. |
Arsenal face ‘bottle job’ questions after implosion against Wolves, says club legend
Arsenal should be braced for accusations they are “bottle jobs” in the wake of a disappointing 2-2 draw at Wolves.
The Gunners were two goals in front after strikes from Bukayo Saka and Piero Hincapie, but Hugo Bueno pulled one back for the hosts before debutant Tom Edozie scored a last-gasp equaliser.
Arsenal are now five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, but Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand.
Speaking on Sky Sports, former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson said the mentality of Mikel Arteta’s side is going to come in for intense scrutiny in the season run-in.
“You can’t play in second gear. When it went 2-2, for the last three minutes there was an urgency, they didn’t have that [before Wolves’ equaliser]. You can’t play like that. Every game is a cup final until the end.
“You’ve got to play at a high tempo. If Arsenal play at a high tempo, Wolves can’t live with them. But to play the way they played, and it’s slow and lazy, and they are giving the ball away, then Wolves are always going to be in the game.
“That could come back to bite them. That is really, really disappointing tonight. It [criticism] is going come on full blast now – being ‘bottle jobs’, ‘melting’. It's full-on now.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was critical of his side’s performance.
“Extremely disappointed with the result and the way the game ended, but we have to blame ourselves,” he said. “In the second half we didn’t show anything close to the standards required in this league to win.
“It was one moment after another. Even though we scored the second goal, we never had control of the game — that’s the reality.”
Arsenal have now won only three of their last eight Premier League matches.
“Disappointed. Not much else to say,” Saka said. “There was a big difference between our first half and second half performances. We dropped our standards and were punished for it.
“It’s time to focus on ourselves, raise our standards and improve our performances. It’s in our control.”
Arteta said his team have to accept every criticism that comes their way and need to bounce back against Tottenham on Sunday.
He added: “That’s credit obviously to Wolves, they can’t be underestimated. It’s very basic things and simple things that today we did really wrong and that’s why we had the feeling without conceding much, when the game is open that kind of thing can happen.
“Any question, criticism, opinion, you have to take it on the chin today. That’s it. Any bullet, take it because we didn’t perform at the level required, Anything anybody says can be right because we didn’t do what we had to do. The way to do it is on the pitch on Sunday in another great opportunity we have.
“We have always done it but if you are strong you need to show it next time. To say it here is simple but we have to show it on the pitch.”
Wolves boss Rob Edwards saw his side pick up a second successive draw and was proud of the belief his side showed to gain an unlikely point.
“It’s nice to get a late equaliser and especially when you’re 2-0 down against a team like that. We’re up against Arsenal, everyone needs to have a bit of perspective. In the first 20-30 mins it was everything we expected the game to be like.
“We stayed in the game and that was important. We showed belief and played with a bit more emotion. To show that character and quality and all of that. It might be easier for the lads to lose belief but that’s not the case.”
Transfer: Cyrille Bayala moves to China
Burkinabé international joins on a free transfer
Transfer: Cyrille Bayala moves to China
Dalian Con City, one of the clubs in China’s second division, has announced the signing of Burkinabé international Cyrille Barros Bayala.
After a period of free agency following the end of his contract, Cyrille Bayala is back in the spotlight, this time in China. The Burkinabé winger embarks on a new adventure in Chinese football. The former RC Lens player joins Dalian Con City on a free transfer, looking to continue his professional career with the Chinese second-tier side.
Cyrille Bayala is 29 years old and brings with him a wealth of European experience gained at clubs such as RC Lens, Sochaux, Ajaccio, and Sheriff Tiraspol. Since 2013, Bayala has made 47 appearances for the Burkina Faso national team.
Time to get control of court storming before something ugly happens
Hey look, everyone. We’re hand-wringing again!
Those mean coaches and players, fresh off a high-intensity game where their very financial livelihood is dependent, are bullying the poor, misunderstood clowns from the stands just trying to post their latest TikTok and chase social cred, that’s all.
Or as we like to say in these most wonderful United States, storming the (insert your playing surface).
Here’s what I call it: a world of no rules.
Not to mention reckless, dangerous and a false sense of security.
Yet with all of that, and even after another dolt from the stands shoved a phone in the face of Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg seconds after a loss to rival Iowa, and screamed at him; even after Hoiberg tried to knock the phone from said dolt, missed and his swing connected with an Iowa staffer in the handshake line, we refuse to end this nonsense with clear and unambiguous rules.
If you storm the court (or field) before players and officials have exited, you’ll be arrested and lose ticket privileges forever. Period.
— Certified Ball Knower 🇺🇸 (@CrtfdBallKnower) February 18, 2026
Instead, university presidents have decided to fine each other. The ACC fined North Carolina $50,000 earlier this month when its fans stormed the court after beating rival Duke, and the Big Ten will no doubt fine Iowa for its latest breach of rules.
The same North Carolina that is currently fueling its football NIL to the tune of $20 million. That 50K might be a bridge too far, baby.
But as the NCAA (also, collection of university presidents) has shown decade after decade, having rules and enforcing them are two distinctly different things.
This isn’t a matter of want, it’s a mater of will.
Know why the NFL doesn’t have problems with field storming? Because the most successful sport in the history of the planet doesn’t put up with it.
There’s a police presence, and there are rules. There’s no gray area about what happens when you enter the field of play at an NFL stadium.
You’ll spend the next few hours in the local lockup, for starters. And just might get a shoulder pad to the solar plexus by one of 100-plus players on the field before the cops toss you in the back of a wagon.
College sports has decided to fine the universities, not the actual perpetrators. College sports has decided to fine each other, and move more fungible money between schools within the conference, instead of targeting the offenders.
I’m shocked, absolutely shocked, something much worse hasn’t happened on one of the many court and field stormings. Because the law of averages says it will, and when it does, college sports will do what it does best.
Feign disbelief, and reactively make sweeping changes at the horror of it all.
Here’s a novel idea: Try proactive steps to eliminate the problem. Not a dopey fine, or an announcement over the PA system.
This isn’t about the “tradition” of storming the field, or running on the court at a buzzer-beater. This is a few hundred students on the field with phones lifted high, recording for prosperity.
Or Instagram. Whichever comes first.
This isn’t about eliminating what makes college sports special, or the purity of college sports over homogenized professional sports. No one is taking away your precious look-at-me moment.
Just making you wait three minutes so players and officials can exit the joint. Hell, we’ll throw a countdown clock with a horn into the equation, so everyone can run on the field or floor and get stupid at the same time.
TikTok to your heart’s content, everybody.
Or we can keep doing dumb, and the next incident won’t be so simple and eventually forgettable.
The next incident might be much closer to what happened three years ago, when Alabama wideout Jermaine Burton took a swing at a coed who ran by and yelled something at him after Tennessee beat the Tide in overtime.
Some player or coach somewhere will directly connect at some point, and when the clown holding the phone hits the deck and is seriously injured, we’ll scream and yell about it for weeks, post about it on social media and demand change.
When we knew the answer all along.
There are rules, and there are consequences for those who don’t follow rules. Despite what you may have heard, that’s not a foreign concept.
Coaches ask players to compete like a pack of wild dogs on the court and field, expending every ounce of energy like you’re livelihood depended on it. Because now, in the new era of NIL, it does.
But don’t mind clowns with their phones, picking at the fresh wound during your lowest moment of the week or year.
They’re just kids, and it’s tradition.
There are no rules.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College basketball court stormings don't need to stop, just wait a minute