Ireland‘s legendary cricketer Paul Stirling stepped down from the captaincy job. Cricket Ireland announced the update on March 19. They release an official statement to mark the end of an era. Paul Stirling was the captain of Ireland’s T20I team, who guided the team in the 2026 T20 World Cup as well. Cricket Ireland informed that the batter will continue his T20 International career as a batter only. He is the leader of the team in the One Day International format as well.

“Paul Stirling will step down as Ireland Men’s T20 International captain as a new planning cycle begins ahead of the 2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup – however, he will remain a valued member of the T20I squad and will remain captain of the one-day international squad,” the cricket board informed.

Ireland legend Paul Stirling steps down from T20I captaincy

In an emotional speech, the batter himself confirmed that he has a lot to offer to the national cricket team of Ireland, and he will continue as the ODI captain like before. The 35-year-old also stated that he will continue playing T20Is for the Ireland cricket team with new ambitions.

Your daily dose of cricket!

“While I will be stepping away from the T20 captaincy, I remain fully committed to the Ireland team and will continue in my role as ODI captain. I still have a huge amount of ambition as a player and feel this decision will allow me to fully focus on being the best version of myself and making the strongest possible contribution on the field,” Paul Stirling said.

Paul Stirling’s decision to quit captaincy came at a crucial moment, ahead of the 2028 T20 World Cup.

The 35-year-old’s decision to quit the role at a crucial moment for the team, as they will start preparing for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which will be in 2028. They can shape the team with a new captain, keeping an eye on the upcoming days. Under the new captain, the team will get ample time to prepare itself to achieve bigger goals.

“With qualification secured for the T20 World Cup in 2028, Paul’s decision to stand down as T20 captain provides the opportunity for the new captain to begin implementing their style and methodology, starting with the India Series in June,” Graeme West, Director of High Performance at Cricket Ireland, said.

Stirling’s T20I career in brief

The opener has represented Ireland in 163 matches to score a total of 3895 runs for a batting average of 26.31 and a strike rate of 134.35. During this time, he hit twenty-four 50s and a century. From 2019 to 2026, as the skipper-batter, the right-handed batter scored 966 runs at an average of 22.46 in 48 games. During this time span, he registered six half-centuries as well.

From 2009 to 2026, the batter played 26 matches in T20 World Cup tournaments and scored 426 runs for an average of 20.28.

Read More: County Cricket faces ball shortage as Middle East conflict disrupts Dukes supply

You don’t have permission to access “http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-war-iran-calls-on-neighbours-to-prevent-us-from-using-bases-for-strikes-11240934” on this server.

Reference #18.34a21ab8.1773972281.9bd87f3

https://errors.edgesuite.net/18.34a21ab8.1773972281.9bd87f3

Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Ustaad Bhagat Singh’ faces piracy just hours after its March 19, 2026 release, despite legal protection. The action-comedy has garnered mixed reviews, with praise for Kalyan’s screen presence but criticism for its outdated narrative. While some mass moments and humor landed, the film’s overall reception remains divided.

The newly released action flick ‘Ustaad Bhagat Singh’ starring Pawan Kalyan has reportedly fallen prey to piracy within hours of its theatrical release. The action-comedy entertainer directed by Harish Shankar hit theatres on March 19, 2026, as a festive Ugadi release.

Piracy setback and court protection against trolls

Filmibeat reports say that ‘Ustaad Bhagat Singh’ surfaced on multiple piracy platforms shortly after release. The piracy issue comes even as the film reportedly obtained legal protection ahead of its release. As reported by The Statesman, a court issued an ex-parte temporary injunction to safeguard ‘Ustaad Bhagat Singh’ from harmful online content.The order which is backed by a ‘John Doe’ clause restricts anonymous individuals and platforms from spreading defamatory or misleading material. The producers had approached the court and cited concerns that such content could damage the film’s reputation and business prospects.

Mixed reviews flood social media

Alongside the piracy controversy ‘Ustaad Bhagat Singh’ has been receiving mixed reactions from audiences.One review read, “#UstaadBhagatSingh A Completely Outdated Commercial Entertainer! A commercial film like this doesn’t necessarily need out of the box writing, but it atleast needs some freshness. This one feels outdated to the core from the start to end. A few elevation blocks work, but the film lacks flow, feeling like a stitched together compilation of commercial scenes. Harish Shankar falters on both comedy and commercial writing. Thaman tries to elevate with his BGM but has little scope. PK tries in parts, but this one misses his trademark energy. Boring! Rating: 2/5.”Another viewer wrote, “#Ustaadbhagatsingh My rating 2/5 Below average movie.”

Praise for Pawan Kalyan’s screen presence

Despite criticism, several viewers praised Pawan Kalyan for his screen presence and performance.One tweet noted, “#UstaadBhagatSingh – PK’s look, Screen presence & Dialogues r the positives in this Routine, Outdated Drama. Parthiban Naidu as weak villain. Sreeleela ok. Raashi Khanna has no scope. Thaman does a Anirudh work in BGM. One melody track nice. Narration is a Patience Tester. BORE!.”Another review added, “#UstaadBhagatSingh Pawankalyan’s childhood portions were very well written Entry worked out well Dialouges are too good. 1st half is going very well Sorry @harish2you thakuva anchana vesinamduku.”

Humour and mass moments get divided response

The film’s humour and mass appeal sequences have also drawn mixed reactions.One viewer wrote, “Humor that plays on Pawan Kalyan’s limited dancing abilities lands effectively. Pawan Kalyan performing popular songs in his own style was absolutely hilarious.” Another highlighted a key scene, stating, “Police station sequence started off second half with a bang PK’s aggression.”On the other hand, Sacnilk website’s early reports say that the Pawan Kalyan starrer has opened with more than Rs 9 crores at the box office.

Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble has said Abhishek Sharma needs to find a balance between attacking play and spending more time at the crease, drawing a comparison with Virender Sehwag ahead of the IPL season starting March 28.The 25-year-old Abhishek has built a reputation for fast starts at the top of the order with his high-risk approach. However, his starts have not always turned into big scores.

“I would relate him to someone like Virender Sehwag, because he would look to smash every ball. When he moved from Test cricket to one-day cricket and then to T20 cricket, he realised that he had to pace his innings slightly differently,” the former India coach said.“But Sehwag would still go at a 140–150 strike-rate. So, that’s something Abhishek Sharma needs to start thinking about, saying, ‘I’ve been scoring at 200 strike-rate, expectations are on me, should I now go at a strike rate of 300?’ No, you just have to be normal. You have to play a number of balls,” Kumble said on JioStar, as cited by news agency PTI.Kumble pointed out that Abhishek has the ability to score quickly but needs to stay longer at the crease to make a bigger impact.“If Abhishek Sharma bats 20 balls in an innings, we know he will be close to that 50 mark. We saw that with Sanju Samson, not getting out in the 40s or 50s, but making it count by going deeper, getting to that 85-90 mark.“That’s what you need in the T20 format. Maybe that’s the kind of maturity you will see in Abhishek this season, which SRH will be hoping for,” he added.Abhishek, who had a quiet T20 World Cup campaign, will next play for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the upcoming IPL.Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers also spoke about the need for consistency from the left-hander, especially with rising expectations.“He’s 25, not 20 anymore. So, this is definitely the phase where he has to start taking more responsibility. There will be media pressure and people asking him to become more consistent.“We know he was a little inconsistent during the T20 World Cup, which was disappointing. He had a good finish in the final, but otherwise, it was a quiet tournament for him. He was erratic at times. He had an unbelievable IPL 2025, scoring close to a 200 strike-rate and averaging in the 30s, which is good for an opening batter scoring over 400 runs in the tournament, but it could have been better.“Once again, that word consistency comes to mind. It’s a personal challenge he will have to overcome mentally.”De Villiers added that dealing with expectations will be key for Abhishek going forward.“Being the number one international T20I batter in the world comes with expectation, and that is the most dangerous word in cricket, when you feel like the whole world is closing in on you, and it’s up to him to fight those mental battles throughout this coming season.”