The Cricket Bulletin: Major Talking Points | February 13, 2026

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026

India registered its biggest-ever margin of victory by runs in T20 World Cup history as they beat Namibia by 93 runs. With the win, India have now won 10 consecutive matches in the history of the tournament.

Italy made history by securing its first-ever World Cup win after beating Nepal by 10 wickets. The Mosca brothers, Anthony (62*) and Justin (60*), shared an unbroken 124-run opening stand—the highest partnership by siblings in T20 World Cup history.

For Sri Lanka, Dasun Shanaka recorded a half-century in just 20 balls in the match against Oman and registered the fastest T20I fifty by a Sri Lankan.

Abhishek Sharma, who missed India’s match against Namibia, is expected to feature in the next. Varun Chakravarthy said in the post-match conference, “I think he will play the next match. I don’t know. As far as I have spoken to him, he looks good. He did some practice today. He said he is on the way.”

Shayan Jahangir, the USA batter, pleaded to the International Cricket Council for more funding and exposure to Associate nations. “It has a lot to do with the funding as well. We don’t have the money to have those comps [competitions], don’t have those big grounds that we can play on, and I think if we have that funding from the ICC… It’s a request from us, personally from me, to really look into it, and if you really nurture us, I’m telling you, there’s so much talent in Associate cricket.”

PSL Auction

The first-ever Pakistan Super League Auction concluded setting massive new benchmarks for player valuations. The league officially expanded to eight teams with the addition of the Sialkot Stallionz and the Hyderabad Houston Kingsmen. Additionally, the Multan Sultans were rebranded as Team Rawalpindi.

Naseem Shah and Faheem Ashraf were the big picks at the auction as Naseem moved to Rawalpindi from Islamabad United for PKR 86.5 million. Faheem, on the other hand, returned to Islamabad United for PKR 85 million.

Steve Smith was directly signed by the new franchise Sialkot Stallionz for PSK 14 crores, making him the most expensive player in the history of the league. David Warner, Adam Zampa, Daryl Mitchell, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, and Marnus Labuschagne are among the other high-profile overseas players featured in the auction.