Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha had said earlier on Monday the team will abide by whatever decision is taken by the government and the Pakistan Cricket Board regarding the proposed boycott of the T20 World Cup match against India on February 15 in Colombo. Speaking to the media before departing from Lahore, Salman said the players were informed of the decision by the team manager after their match against Australia.

“We are players contracted to the Board and whatever decision our government and Board have taken all the players are on board with it,” Salman said. He added that the World Cup was not solely about India, stressing, “We have three other group matches so we will try to win all of them and qualify for next round.”

Several former captains and players backed the stance. Rashid Latif said, “What the ICC did to Bangladesh… it was time someone took a stand,” while Shahid Afridi admitted disappointment but said he understood the reasons. Moin Khan remarked, “The ICC now has to decide which path it wants to take in the larger interests of world cricket.”

Pakistan have left for Colombo and will open their campaign against the Netherlands on February 7, with further matches against USA and Namibia.

New Delhi: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha, during the captain’s meet in Colombo ahead of the T20 World Cup, said that not playing against India is completely the decision of the Pakistan government.“The India game is not in our control. It’s the government’s decision, and we respect that. Whatever they are going to say, we will do that,” Agha told reporters in Colombo on Thursday. “And then, we have three other games, and we are very excited about that.”

On Sunday, the Pakistani government announced that its men’s cricket team will not take the field in the match against arch-rivals India on February 15, without stating the reason behind the decision.“The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026; however, the Pakistan Cricket Team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on February 15 against India,” the Pakistan government said in a post on X.Agha also deflected a question when he was coaxed about what Pakistan would do if they faced India in the semi-finals.“India’s game is not in our control. It was the government’s decision, and again, if we have to play them in the semi-final or the final, we have to go back to them and act on their advice,” he said.On fans not getting to see an India vs Pakistan match, Salman said, “There are three other games they can come and watch,” he said with a laugh.Shehbaz Sharif, the Pakistani Prime Minister, has also weighed in on the decision and termed the government’s move “appropriate” to boycott the February 15 fixture against India.“We have taken a very clear stand on the T20 World Cup that we won’t play the match against India because there should be no politics on the sports field,” Sharif told members of his cabinet on Wednesday.Sharif further stressed that Pakistan should stand with Bangladesh after the International Cricket Council (ICC) replaced them with Scotland, following Bangladesh’s demand to shift their T20 World Cup matches from India to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns.“We have taken a very considered stance, and we should completely stand by Bangladesh, and I think this is a very appropriate decision.”Alongside India, Pakistan have been placed with Namibia, the Netherlands and the USA in Group A. In 2024, Pakistan lost to India and were then knocked out after losing to the USA in a Super Over.However, they will go into the tournament having defeated Australia by 111 runs on Sunday to complete a 3-0 T20I series sweep.“Yes, we lost to the USA in the last World Cup, but that’s history now. It’s a new World Cup, a new team and a new combination, and we are very excited about that,” said Agha.This will be the first time Agha will be leading his country in a World Cup, and the captain sounded excited.“It’s my first World Cup as a captain, and I’m very excited about that. I don’t know how to describe myself as a captain,” he said.“It’s like people describe it, but as a captain, I just want to lead from the front, try to do as much as I can for my players, take the best out of them, and give them an environment where they can play their best,” he added.Pakistan will start their campaign against the Netherlands on February 7.

Anthropic’s newly launched AI plugins have triggered what analysts are calling a ‘SaaSpocalypse’—a brutal selloff that wiped out roughly $285 billion from software, legal tech and financial services stocks in a single trading session. The AI developer, known for its Claude chatbot, released 11 open-source plugins for its Claude Cowork tool on Friday, January 30. One of them targets legal workflows, and that alone was enough to send investors running for the exits.Thomson Reuters dropped over 15%. RELX, owner of LexisNexis, fell 14%. LegalZoom got hammered nearly 20%. A Goldman Sachs basket tracking US software stocks posted its worst single-day decline since April’s tariff-driven selloff. The Nasdaq fell 1.4%, with ripple effects extending to Indian IT giants—Infosys ADRs slipped 5.5% and Wipro fell nearly 5%.

What exactly did Anthropic release

Claude Cowork is an agentic AI assistant that Anthropic launched earlier in January. Think of it as Claude Code—the company’s developer-focused coding tool—but redesigned for non-technical professionals. It can read files, organise folders, draft documents and carry out multi-step tasks with user consent.The plugins announced last Friday supercharge this capability. They let companies tailor Claude to specific job functions by specifying how work should be done, which tools and data to pull from, and what workflows to automate. Anthropic open-sourced 11 starter plugins covering productivity, sales, marketing, finance, data analysis, customer support, product management and biology research.But it was the legal plugin that spooked markets. It automates contract review, NDA triage, compliance checks and legal briefings. Anthropic was careful to note that all outputs should be reviewed by licensed attorneys and that the tool does not provide legal advice. That disclaimer did little to calm investors.

Why the market panic over a folder of prompts

Here’s the thing that has caught many observers off guard: the legal plugin is essentially a set of prompts and configurations. There’s no proprietary model fine-tuned on case law, no special legal reasoning engine. It’s Claude being Claude, but with structured workflow instructions.The real signal, analysts say, is that Anthropic has moved from selling the model to owning the workflow. When Claude was just an API, companies like Thomson Reuters could build on top of it. Thomson Reuters literally runs CoCounsel on OpenAI. But when Anthropic starts publishing ready-made vertical solutions, the platform becomes the competitor.Jefferies dubbed the selloff a ‘SaaSpocalypse’, noting that investor sentiment has shifted dramatically. The narrative used to be that AI helps software companies. Now it’s that AI replaces them. ‘Trading is very much get-me-out style selling,’ said Jeffrey Favuzza from Jefferies’ equity trading desk. The brokerage also noted that OpenAI appears to be losing ground in the corporate market to Anthropic’s Claude, with enterprises now accounting for 80% of Anthropic’s business.Not everyone is convinced the panic is justified. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called the selloff ‘the most illogical thing in the world,’ arguing that AI will use existing software tools, not replace them. ‘Would you use a screwdriver or invent a new screwdriver?’ he said at a Cisco event. Google CEO Sundar Pichai echoed the sentiment during the company’s earnings call, suggesting the scramble was overblown and that companies ‘seizing the moment’ with AI would find opportunity, not obsolescence.

What does this mean for the software industry going forward

The damage extended well beyond legal tech. DocuSign fell 11%, Salesforce dropped nearly 7%, Adobe slid 7%, and ServiceNow declined 7%. Business development companies with exposure to software loans also got caught in the selling. Blue Owl Capital Corp fell 13%, marking a record ninth consecutive decline.Anthropic isn’t the only player in legal AI. Startups like Harvey AI (valued at $5 billion) and Legora ($1.8 billion valuation) have been developing tools for years. But Anthropic’s advantage is that it builds its own underlying models. Firms like Legora rely on models from developers like Anthropic, which means Claude’s creator can potentially disrupt both traditional legal services and the startups trying to disrupt them.The company’s growth trajectory underscores why investors are taking this threat seriously. Claude Code hit $1 billion in annualised recurring revenue by November, just months after its May launch. Anthropic is now reportedly raising $20 billion at a $350 billion valuation—up sharply from $61.5 billion in March 2025.The iteration speed is also striking. Cowork launched on January 12. The plugins dropped less than three weeks later. Enterprise software companies typically spend quarters on such releases.For software executives watching the carnage unfold, the takeaway is uncomfortable but clear: Anthropic didn’t need a breakthrough product to rattle markets. It just needed to show what Claude could already do—and hit publish.

The road to the T20 World Cup 2026 officially caught fire on February 4, 2026, as defending champions India faced off against South Africa in a high-octane warm-up clash at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. While practice matches are often viewed as mere dress rehearsals, this encounter felt like a statement of intent. India’s batting juggernaut, led by a revitalized Ishan Kishan, dismantled the Proteas’ bowling attack to post a gargantuan 240/6, eventually securing a comfortable 30-run victory.

However, the highlight of the night wasn’t just the scoreline, but a moment of pure, chaotic brilliance from Kishan that left speedster Anrich Nortje in a state of utter disbelief.

Ishan Kishan’s unbelievable mis-hit against Anrich Nortje sails for a six

The defining moment of the Powerplay arrived in the fifth over, delivered by the express pace of Nortje. Already reeling from a flurry of boundaries, Nortje attempted to push Kishan back with a 145kmph+ rib-tickling bouncer. What followed was one of the most bizarre yet effective shots ever witnessed at the Navi Mumbai venue.

As the ball roared toward his head, Kishan instinctively tried to duck out of harm’s way. However, in a desperate attempt to protect himself, his bat remained high and vertical. At the very last microsecond, the ball kissed the face of the blade. Instead of a standard defensive block or a painful blow to the shoulder, the ball gathered the full momentum of Nortje’s pace and glided effortlessly over the short fine-leg boundary for a maximum.

The commentary box erupted in confusion, asking, “How has that gone for six!?” Even Kishan shared a smirky smile with his partner, Abhishek Sharma, as Nortje stood frozen at the top of his mark. That “weird” mis-hit was part of a brutal sequence—6, 6, 4, 6—where Kishan hammered 29 runs off the over, effectively settling the debate over India’s opening slot for the tournament opener. Kishan eventually retired out for a blistering 53 off just 20 balls, featuring seven towering sixes.

Here’s the video:

When you’re in form, everything goes your way!😮‍💨

ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup | Warm-Up Match | 👉 #INDvSA | LIVE NOW ➡️ https://t.co/KpRezrTaFe pic.twitter.com/51Mr18qE1g

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 4, 2026

Also READ: From Virat Kohli to Jasprit Bumrah: Cricketers who won Player of the Tournament in each edition of T20 World Cup

Clinical India dominates despite South African resistance in the warm-up clash

With a mammoth target of 241, South Africa’s chase was always going to be an uphill battle against an Indian side playing on home turf. Aiden Markram (38) and Ryan Rickelton (44) provided some early fireworks, keeping the required rate within sight during the initial overs. However, India’s strategic depth proved too much.

Spin twins Varun Chakaravarthy and Abhishek (2/32) stifled the middle order, picking up key wickets just as the Proteas began to find their rhythm. Tristan Stubbs provided some late-inning drama, smashing a frantic 45 off 21 balls, but the deficit created by India’s top order was insurmountable. South Africa finished their 20 overs at 210/7, falling 30 runs short.

This victory not only boosts India’s confidence as they prepare to defend their crown but also confirms that the “Kishan-Abhishek” partnership is ready to take the world stage by storm.

Also READ: From Virat Kohli to Babar Azam: Leading run-scorers in each edition of T20 World Cup

‘Border 2’ has been having a good box office run but the film has begun to see a drop now after completing its first week. Infact, this decline began gradually right after the Republic Day holiday after a surge in numbers when ‘Border 2’ made Rs 59 crore. The extended weekend complimented by a National holiday worked in the film’s favour but while people had thought that it will be on the lines of ‘Dhurandhar’, that hasn’t really happened. The film is now minting single digit numbers in its second week. While it remained unfazed by Rani Mukerji’s ‘Mardaani 3’, the Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Ahan Shetty, Diljit Dosanjh starrer is slowly beginning to lose steam at the box office. Border 2 Movie ReviewAfter making Rs 224.25 crore in first week, it had a decent second weekend and made Rs 17.75 crore and Rs 22.5 crore on second Saturday and Sunday respectively. It made Rs 5.75 crore on second Monday, and the same number on second Tuesday as well. On Wednesday, the movie collected Rs 4.15 crore and on Thursday, so far till afternoon it has made Rs 49 lakhs. The total ‘Border 2’ collection now in India stands at Rs 291.39 crore.

‘Border 2’ day wise box office collection:

Day 1 [1st Friday] ₹ 30 Cr –Day 2 [1st Saturday] ₹ 36.5 CrDay 3 [1st Sunday] ₹ 54.5 CrDay 4 [1st Monday] ₹ 59 CrDay 5 [1st Tuesday] ₹ 20 CrDay 6 [1st Wednesday] ₹ 13 CrDay 7 [1st Thursday] ₹ 11.25 CrWeek 1 Collection ₹ 224.25 CrDay 8 [2nd Friday] ₹ 10.75 CrDay 9 [2nd Saturday] ₹ 17.75 CrDay 10 [2nd Sunday] ₹ 22.5 CrDay 11 [2nd Monday] ₹ 5.75 CrDay 12 [2nd Tuesday] ₹ 5.75 CrDay 13 [2nd Wednesday] ₹ 4.15 Cr Day 14 [2nd Thursday] ₹ 0.49 Cr ** –Total ₹ 291.39 Cr

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Abhishek Bachchan — just saying the name brings with it a flood of narratives and opinions, not all positive. There’s clearly a lot of noise, both kind and cutting. He endured a string of flops after his debut ‘Refugee’ before finally tasting success with ‘Dhoom’. His filmography does include its share of forgettable outings. But it also boasts performances in ‘Guru’, ‘Sarkar’, ‘Yuva’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’, ‘Dostana’ and, more recently, ‘Manmarziyaan’, ‘Breathe: Into The Shadows’, ‘I Want To Talk’, ‘Housefull 5’ and ‘Kaalidhar Laapata’. While opinions on his work remain divided, his personal life has constantly been under the scanner, surrounded by narratives and fictional stories spun endlessly on the internet. Yet, here is a man who, in the face of failure and negativity, remains firmly rooted in his truth and reality — fully aware of the privilege of being Amitabh Bachchan’s son, but exeuding silent confidence in the fact that he has survived 25 years in the industry on his own merit and can say, “I’d do a much better job if I do ‘Guru’ now.” Unafazed by the chatter, Abhishek has continued to stay true to himself through the years. As he turns 50 today, he appears to be on a clear path of reinvention. This feels like Abhishek Bachchan 2.0. The actor turns 50 today, February 5, and is spending his day while shooting today, as he mostly prefers to work on his birthday. Opening up on his rebirth as an actor, Abhishek had told ETimes in an earlier interview, “If you’re not going to keep reinventing yourself you’re going to become very boring to the public. If we’re talking 25 years, the youth that is going to watch the movies today wasn’t even born when I debuted. The largest segment of the audience is I think between 17 and 25. So the majority of them weren’t even born when I started. So I was already around and working when they were born and growing up. So I’m not their contemporary. The people who were the youngsters same age as me when I debuted are all parents today, some are grandparents. People who were acting and were seniors of mine when I debuted, some are still around some are not. The ones that are around still, you see them and analyse that they can have this kind of an inning because they are re-inventing themselves constantly. They are hungry. It’s very important. How many of my colleagues who were starting off around the time I was starting off, how many of them are still active actors today? Not many, a handful.” But how has he not ever gotten cynical through the criticism and negativity? “Of course, you get cynical. It’s very difficult not to when on a weekly basis you’re failing publicly and it’s being rubbed in your face and people are deriving great pleasure by rubbing it in your face. So you get cynical, but you have to try your best to not remain cynical or be bitter about it. I’m not the kind of person who gets bitter. I’m always the kind of person who looks at the brighter side of life. I do think that life served me well most times and sometimes, it doesn’t serve me well and that’s all right.” When asked if his parents are proud of him, he had said, “I think my father and mother would be proud of anything that I do, provided they know that I’ve given it my best. People forget he’s also a father. For us, Amitabh Bachchan is a hero. So, we never look at it from that lens, but he’s also a family man! He’s a father, he’s a grandfather. For some reason we think, ‘Oh no, he’s not allowed to be that or be human’, but he is. He’s also a father, and my mother is also a mother. I’m their child. They’re allowed to feel the way every other parent would feel.” On work front, Abhishek will be seen in Shah Rukh Khan‘s ‘King’ next. Though, an official announcement on this hasn’t yet been made.