The Indian cricket fans are all set for non-stop cricketing action for around three months after the enthralling T20 World Cup 2026, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the schedule for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026).

On Wednesday, March 11, the BCCI confirmed the dates for the first phase of the upcoming IPL 2026, which is set to get underway on March 28 with the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) facing the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the season opener.

IPL 2026 Teams and Squads Overview After Auction

The upcoming edition of the IPL 2026 is expected to be a more exciting one than the last one after the teams have made some bold moves at the mini-auction in Abu Dhabi in December 2025.

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Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

CSK has prepared a new-look squad mixing youth with experience. The five-time IPL champions have stunned everyone by bringing Sanju Samson into the team while parting ways with Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. They have also made headlines by spending ₹14.20 crore each on uncapped Indian players Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma at the auction.

Key Players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson, Sarfaraz Khan, Jamie Overton, Akeal Hosein, Dewald Brevis, Prashant Veer, Ayush Mhatre

Mumbai Indians (MI)

The five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians have made minimal moves at the auction, but they successfully re-acquired Quinton de Kock.

Key Players: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru strengthened their squad with a few smart signings as they will aim to defend their first-ever title in the upcoming IPL 2026.

Key Players: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt, Venkatesh Iyer, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

KKR made headlines with one of the biggest signings of the IPL 2026 mini-auction by acquiring the Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who became the most expensive overseas player in IPL history. The three-time champions signed Green for ₹25.20 crore at the auction.

Key Players: Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Matheesha Pathirana

Read Also: Sanjiv Goenka ready to sell Lucknow Super Giants before IPL 2026

Gujarat Titans (GT)

The Gujarat Titans have made only a few adjustments for the IPL 2026. West Indian all-rounder Jason Holder was their most expensive buy at the auction with ₹7 crore.

Key Players: Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, Rashid Khan, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Delhi Capitals made some bold moves at the mini auction. Their most expensive buy was the talented Jammu & Kashmir all-rounder Auqib Nabi, who was snapped up for a whopping 8.40 crore.

DC brought in big hitters like David Miller and Ben Duckett, each for ₹2 crore, and added Sri Lankan star Pathum Nissanka for ₹4 crore at the auction to strengthen their batting for the IPL 2026.

Key Players: KL Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Ben Duckett, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Auqib Nabi, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Pathum Nissanka, Sameer Rizvi, and David Miller

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Lucknow Super Giants had spent a massive ₹8.6 crore to acquire the Australian wicketkeeper Josh Inglis. The LSG also picked up Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga and South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje, each for their base price of ₹2 crore, with an aim to make a strong comeback.

Key Players: Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Wanindu Hasaranga, Ayush Badoni, Mohammed Shami, Digvesh Rathi, Anrich Nortje

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

The Rajasthan Royals underwent major transformation after trading away Sanju Samson to CSK. Their big signing was the leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (₹7.20 crore).

Key Players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Riyan Parag, Sam Curran, Ravi Bishnoi, Jofra Archer, Adam Milne, Kwena Maphaka

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained most of their core players. SRH’s biggest buy was England all-rounder Liam Livingstone for 13 crore. They also signed Jack Edwards, Salil Arora, and Shivam Mavi at the auction.

Key Players: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Salil Arora, Liam Livingstone, Jack Edwards, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Pat Cummins, Harshal Patel, and Brydon Carse

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

The Punjab Kings decided to stick with their core after reaching the final in 2025. Only Ben Dwarshuis (₹4.40 crore) and Cooper Connolly (₹3 crore), Pravin Dubey, and Vishal Nishad (₹30 lakh each) were signed at the auction.

Key Players: Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Marco Jansen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ben Dwarshuis

IPL 2026 Full Schedule and Match List – 1st Phase

🚨 THE SCHEDULE OF FIRST PHASE OF IPL 2026 🚨 (Express Sports). pic.twitter.com/Bux5ZpxDjz

— Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) March 11, 2026

Kiran George (PTI Photo/Gurinder Osan)(

NEW DELHI: India had a mixed day at the Swiss Open on Wednesday, with some impressive wins but several early exits. The biggest highlight came from Kiran George, who stunned former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games. Ranked 42nd in the world, Kiran edged past the third seed 23-21, 21-19 in the opening round and will next face Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan. However, Gunawan knocked out former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, defeating him 21-15, 12-21, 21-4 in the round of 32.India also celebrated an upset victory in mixed doubles as Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto beat Denmark’s fourth-seeded pair Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund 21-15, 21-14. They will now take on China’s Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying in the next round.Despite these wins, several Indian shuttlers were knocked out early in the Super 300 tournament. In men’s singles, US Open champion Ayush Shetty lost 18-21, 19-21 to Canada’s Brian Yang. In women’s singles, Unnati Hooda was beaten 21-14, 21-14 by Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian, while top seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia comfortably defeated India’s Tanvi Sharma 21-11, 21-10 in just 30 minutes.India also faced a setback when HS Prannoy, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist, gave a walkover to Japan’s Koki Watanabe. In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were eliminated after losing 19-21, 14-21 to Thailand’s fifth-seeded pair Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.On a positive note, India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the round of 16 with a 21-19, 21-19 win over Singapore’s Eng Keat Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo. H Amsakarunan and M R Arjun also advanced after defeating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh 21-16, 24-22.

The government’s move to relax foreign direct investment rules for China and other nations sharing land borders with India has drawn support from experts, who say the step attempts to strike a balance between attracting capital and protecting strategic interests. They also noted that the proposal for a 60-day fast-track approval window for investments in selected sectors could provide greater predictability to investors, reported PTI.Neha Aggarwal, Partner at Deloitte India, said clearer norms on beneficial ownership bring long-awaited certainty to India’s FDI framework. “With foreign investment moderating in recent months, a 60-day approval timeline strikes a pragmatic balance between attracting capital and safeguarding strategic interests, while enabling supply-chain integration and access to advanced technologies,” she said.Shardul S Shroff, Executive Chairman of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, said the proposed expedited route for investments in sectors such as manufacturing and electronics components is a positive step, though its scope may remain limited as majority ownership and control must stay with domestic entities.“Given this stringent requirement, the expedited route may have limited applicability,” Shroff said, PTI quoted.Rudra Kumar Pandey, Partner at the firm, said allowing investments of up to 10 per cent without prior government approval introduces a practical threshold within the Press Note 3 regime. “By ensuring the exemption is available only where the investing entity is not controlled by persons from land-bordering countries, minority investments up to 10 per cent can proceed more smoothly while retaining safeguards around control ownership,” he said.Think tank GTRI said easing restrictions could open space for cross-border investments, but the scale of manufacturing growth in India will depend on wider economic factors. Founder Ajay Srivastava said the policy should be seen as an opportunity to attract deeper manufacturing investments over time. “The policy change is best seen as an opportunity for India to attract more substantial manufacturing investment over time. To realise this potential, India must further strengthen its competitiveness by lowering the cost of manufacturing,” he said.Rahul Turki, Partner and Global Value Chain Ecosystem Leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, said the decision could ease hurdles for global private equity and venture capital funds with minority stakes. “From an investment perspective, this move could unlock capital flows into startups, deep-tech ventures, and manufacturing value chains such as electronics components and solar supply chains,” he said.Krishan Arora, Partner and Leader, Indirect Tax and India Investment Advisory at Grant Thornton Bharat, added that the revised guidelines could facilitate greater trade with neighbouring countries such as China and Bangladesh, while promoting ease of doing business, strengthening manufacturing in sectors like electronics and solar, and attracting higher inbound investment

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Iran on Wednesday warned American tech companies that their offices and infrastructure could become targets as the conflict in the region widens.Al Jazeera reported that IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency has published a list of offices and infrastructure run by major US technology companies that it claims are linked to Israel and used for military purposes.The report described these locations as “Iran’s new targets”. It said the list includes infrastructure used for cloud-based services operated by companies such as Google, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle Corporation.According to the report, the listed offices and infrastructure are located in several Israeli cities as well as in some Gulf countries.Tasnim said the targets were identified because their technology had allegedly been used for military applications. “As the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” it said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.

Separately, Iran also warned that it could target economic centres and banks linked to US and Israeli entities across the region.A spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, which the United Nations has described as owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the warning came after what Iran called an attack on one of its banks.“The enemy left our hands open to targeting economic centres and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region,” the spokesperson said.

The official also warned civilians to stay away from such locations. “People of the region should not be within a one-kilometre radius of banks,” the spokesperson said.Meanwhile, the war between the United States, Israel and Iran entered its 12th day on Wednesday. Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed at least seven people across southern Lebanon early Wednesday, including five in the town of Qana. Residents of Tehran also reported some of the war’s “heaviest bombardment” overnight, with powerful explosions shaking neighborhoods and causing electricity outages across parts of the capital.

Mumbai: In the next academic session from June, city colleges will see an additional batch of UG students across several courses as the first cohort enters the fourth year under National Education Policy 2020. With limited infrastructure to accommodate the additional academic load, autonomous colleges are planning to run the fourth year on a staggered schedule, while some are considering conducting classes in shifts. There has been a lukewarm response from students to pursuing the fourth year, making it difficult for colleges to plan the schedule in advance. Many colleges are also planning to restrict the fourth year to a limited number of programmes for now, citing space constraints, among other concerns.Mithibai College plans to operate in shifts as it prepares to introduce the fourth year across all UG courses. Principal Krutika Desai said the master’s programmes already run in afternoons and evenings. For courses with an existing PG department, the schedules for the fourth year and the first year of the master’s programme will be aligned. “For other programmes, we have prepared fourth year as well as PG syllabi and are waiting to discuss it in the governing board,” she said, adding that for those, they have to look for availability of classrooms in the later part of the day. St Xavier’s College plans to follow a staggered schedule for fourth year programmes. “For some papers that are common to the PG courses, we will combine the classes and for others, we plan to start with staggered timings,” said principal Karuna Gokarn. The college, though, has prepared the syllabi for the fourth year for all programmes and is awaiting govt guidelines. At Matunga’s Ramnarain Ruia College, the fourth year will be offered in science programmes only. “We are offering it for courses where we have PG departments. And classes will be clubbed with first-year PG students. For arts courses, at the moment, we are not planning to start the fourth year, except for psychology,” said principal Anushree Lokur. Jai Hind College plans to offer the fourth-year option only for self-financed courses such as BMS, BAF, BBI and BBA for now. “We have well-established PG departments that are functioning well, and we do not wish to disturb them at the moment. There is also not a strong response from students for the fourth year. Instead, we plan to offer the option to students from self-financed programmes,” said principal Vijay Dabholkar. The college has sent its proposal to the university and is awaiting a response. Dabholkar said due to space constraints, classes will be scheduled in the second shift in the afternoon, and part of the programme will also involve internships.

AI image (Picture credit: OpenAI via ChatGPT)

Arctic sea ice is on track to record one of its smallest winter peaks since satellite monitoring began four decades ago, raising fresh concerns about climate change and its geopolitical implications, according to data reviewed by news agency AFP.Figures from the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that Arctic sea ice extent reached nearly 14.22 million square kilometres on March 10. If the current trend continues until the winter maximum later this month, the level could rank among the five lowest ever recorded.Sea ice forms when ocean water freezes during winter and melts during summer. However, the total amount of ice returning each winter has been steadily declining due to human-driven global warming.

Risk of record-low winter peak

Seamus McAfee said the situation could still change slightly, but current data suggests the Arctic is approaching a historically low winter extent.“But so far, it is looking like it could be a very significant extent, perhaps one of, if not the lowest, in the record,” McAfee said, as quoted by AFP.Last year, Arctic sea ice reached its lowest winter maximum on March 22, covering 14.31 million square kilometres, according to the NSIDC. Previous lows were recorded in 2016, 2017 and 2018.Samantha Burgess said the 2026 level would likely fall within the five lowest years on record.Meanwhile, polar oceanographer Gilles Garric said the current winter was already among the “top three” lowest levels so far.

Arctic warming far faster than global average

Scientists say the shrinking ice cover reflects a broader warming trend in the Arctic.The last three years have been the hottest globally on record as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. The Arctic is warming significantly faster than the rest of the planet.“Given that the Arctic is warming at 3–4 times the global average rate, we are likely to continue to observe continued Arctic warming, loss of multi-year ice,” Burgess told AFP.Experts also warn that the return of the El Nino later this year could further push global temperatures higher.Low winter sea ice levels could also accelerate melting during the summer months.

Threat to ecosystems and wildlife

Although melting sea ice does not directly raise sea levels, unlike melting glaciers or ice sheets, scientists warn that the loss of frozen ocean cover threatens fragile polar ecosystems.Species such as the polar bear and emperor penguin depend on sea ice for breeding, hunting and survival.Shaye Wolf warned the shrinking ice cover could signal deeper climate dangers.“The sirens are blaring that we’re headed for a hothouse planet with massive devastation around the world,” Wolf told AFP.“But Arctic warming, driven by fossil fuels, puts us all in peril. We’re closer than ever to irreversible tipping points that will forever alter the world we know.”Despite the Arctic hitting a record low, Antarctica saw an improvement as its sea ice extent approached its typical summer average following four years of significant lows, according to a report from the NSIDC.

Melting ice reshaping geopolitics

Beyond environmental risks, the loss of Arctic ice is also reshaping global geopolitics.As ice retreats, new shipping lanes and access to untapped mineral and energy resources could emerge across the region.Elizabeth Chalecki said the melting Arctic could transform the region into a contested maritime zone.“From a geopolitical perspective, the climate change-induced melting of sea ice is turning the Arctic into the new Mediterranean: a common shared maritime resource surrounded by competing states,” she told AFP.Russia is already expanding its economic and military presence along the Northern Sea Route, while the United States and Canada may need to increase their activity in the region.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has previously voiced interest in acquiring Greenland, arguing the Arctic territory holds strategic importance amid growing competition with Russia and China.Scientists warn that while new economic opportunities may emerge from the melting ice, the environmental consequences could be far more severe if global emissions are not rapidly reduced.