The stakes couldn’t be higher. With South Africa already securing their spot in the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-finals from Group 1, the iconic Eden Gardens sets the stage for a winner-takes-all showdown. For India and West Indies, the equation is simple win and progress, lose and fly home. Both teams currently sit on 2 points from two matches in the Super 8s.

India enter this game with momentum after a crushing 72-run victory over Zimbabwe, where they posted a tournament-high 256/4. West Indies, despite a strong start to the tournament, are coming off a tough 9-wicket loss to South Africa. However, they hold a superior Net Run Rate (+1.791 vs India’s -0.100), meaning a washout would actually favour the Caribbean side.

IND vs WI, T20 World Cup 2026: Match details

• Date and Time: March 01; 7:00 pm IST / 1:30 pm GMT
• Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

IND vs WI, Head-to-Head Record in T20Is

Matches played: 30 | India won: 19 | West Indies won: 10 | No result: 01

Eden Gardens Pitch Report

The surface at Eden Gardens for tomorrow’s high-stakes encounter appears to be a quintessential batting paradise, characterized by its firm bounce and consistent pace. While the iconic Kolkata track historically offers some initial lateral movement for the seamers under lights, the true nature of the clay-based pitch suggests a high-scoring affair. Spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Gudakesh Motie may find some grip as the match progresses, but the relatively short boundaries and rapid outfield will likely neutralize the slower bowlers. Expect a flat deck where the ball comes onto the bat beautifully, making a first-innings total of 200+ the par score.

Squads

India: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj

West Indies: Brandon King, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph, Romario Shepherd, Jayden Seales, Quentin Sampson, Johnson Charles

Also READ: T20 World Cup 2026: What if the India vs West Indies Super 8 clash at Eden Gardens gets washed out due to rain in Kolkata?

IND vs WI, T20 World Cup 2026: Today’s Match Prediction

Case 1:

• India wins the toss and bowls first
• West Indies’ powerplay score: 40-50 (6 overs)
• West Indies’ total score: 190-200

Case 2:

• West Indies wins the toss and bowls first
• India’s powerplay score: 60-70 (6 overs)
• India’s total score: 230-240

Match result: Team batting second to win the contest.

Also READ: Sunil Gavaskar highlights silver lining of South Africa defeat following India’s T20 World Cup Super 8 triumph vs Zimbabwe

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NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said that more than 410 flights operated by domestic carriers were cancelled on Saturday and around 444 flights are expected to be cancelled on Sunday as airspace restrictions continue over Iran and parts of the Middle East. In a post on X, the ministry stated: “Due to airspace restrictions over Iran and parts of the Middle East, 410 flights of domestic carriers were cancelled on 28 February, and 444 flights are expected to be cancelled on 1 March.”Amid widespread cancellations and airspace restrictions over parts of the Middle East, the aviation ministry said that the authorities are closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with airlines and airports to minimise passenger inconvenience.“DGCA is maintaining close coordination with airlines to ensure full compliance with safety and operational regulations. Passengers are advised to check and confirm their flight status with the respective airlines before proceeding to the airport. Major airports remain on operational alert to manage potential diversions and ensure seamless passenger facilitation. Passenger assistance, airline coordination, and terminal crowd management are being closely monitored, with senior officials deployed on the ground,” the ministry further wrote. Highlighting the measures taken to address passenger concerns amid large-scale cancellations, the ministry said that its grievance redressal mechanisms remain fully active to support affected travellers.“The Ministry’s Passenger Assistance Control Room (PACR) continues to closely monitor passenger concerns and facilitate prompt redressal. On 28 February, AirSewa recorded 216 grievances, and 105 grievances were resolved during the same period ensuring necessary support to affected passengers. All stakeholders are working in coordination to ensure orderly handling of affected passengers and timely assistance to all concerned travellers,” the statement added. The cancellations come amid escalating tensions in West Asia following coordinated US-Israel strikes on Iran and subsequent retaliatory actions by Tehran targeting Israel and US military bases in the region. Several countries have imposed airspace restrictions and issued NOTAMs, affecting international flight operations.Earlier, Air India announced the cancellation of 28 international flights scheduled for March 1 connecting India with cities in Europe, the United States and Canada, citing the evolving situation in the Middle East.The affected routes include services between Delhi and London (Heathrow), Mumbai and London (Heathrow), Amritsar and London (Gatwick), Delhi and New York (JFK), Mumbai and New York (JFK), Mumbai and Newark, Delhi and Chicago (via Vienna), Delhi and Toronto (via Vienna), Delhi and Frankfurt, Mumbai and Frankfurt and Delhi and Paris.The airline had earlier suspended all flights to Middle East destinations until 2359 hours on March 1, stating that safety remains its highest priority. It said that affected passengers are being informed and provided rebooking and refund options.IndiGo also issued a travel advisory saying that it is closely monitoring developments across the Middle East, including updates related to Iran and surrounding airspace and remains prepared to take necessary steps based on changing conditions.Flight disruptions were particularly visible at airports in Kerala. Several services from Kochi to Doha, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi were cancelled, while some flights were delayed or diverted. Qatar Airways temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha following the closure of Qatari airspace.The Aviation Minister conducted a high-level review meeting via video conference with senior officials from the ministry, the Airports Authority of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), airline operators and major airport operators. Discussions focused on maintaining passenger safety, uninterrupted operations and real-time coordination.Airlines have been instructed to closely track airspace advisories and implement rerouting or diversions wherever necessary in line with international safety standards. Airports across India, especially major international hubs, have been placed on heightened alert to handle diversions, emergency landings and passenger assistance.The ministry is also coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs to address any urgent requirements involving Indian carriers or nationals abroad.Passengers have been urged to stay in contact with their airlines for updates and confirm flight status before heading to the airport as the situation in the Middle East remains volatile.

NEW DELHI: Around 60 lakh electors in West Bengal have been categorised as ‘doubtful’ by Election Commission, and their cases have been sent for adjudication by judicial officers appointed by the Kolkata high court. This is in line with the Supreme Court‘s directive dated Feb 20. With assembly elections in the state likely to be announced in the second half of March, this means that it would be a race against time for the “doubtful” voters to be made a part of the electoral list.Sources said that the final electorate of Bengal is around 6.4 crore, with a total 1.2 crore deletions since Oct 27, 2025 (15.9%). Of these, around 61.8 lakh were deleted on account of being deceased, shifted, migrated and registered at multiple places and another 60 lakh categorised as ‘doubtful’ voters under adjudication.Such ‘doubtful’ electors, as and when their cases are approved by the court-appointed judicial officers, shall be added back to the state’s roll by way of supplementary lists to be published later. Until then, these voters will not be eligible to vote in any election.A senior EC functionary told TOI that the majority of these ‘doubtful’ electors are likely to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. “Despite stiff resistance, the SIR exercise in Bengal has been a huge success,” said another EC official.According to the rules, the electoral roll of a state is frozen 10 days before the last date for nomination in Lok Sabha or assembly elections. So only those ‘doubtful’ voters whose cases are disposed of within the prescribed deadline can vote in the upcoming Bengal assembly elections.It remains to be seen how much time the judicial officers will take to dispose of cases of the 60 lakh ‘doubtful’ voters in West Bengal. The cases of thousands of ‘doubtful’ or ‘D’ voters in Assam, categorised as such since 1997 and not allowed to vote, have been under adjudication by the foreigners tribunals for decades. Only after the tribunals declare the ‘D’ voters as bona fide citizens can they vote. If ruled as foreigners, they are sent to detention centres and deportation proceedings initiated.The judiciary-appointed officers in Bengal will now have to do the same for those categorised as ‘doubtful’ voters due to SIR, ostensibly on grounds of being Bangladeshis. So effectively, the judicial officers will act like foreigners tribunals, examining and confirming citizenship of ‘doubtful’ electors before restoring their voting rights.At the start of the SIR exercise on Oct 27, 2025, Bengal’s electorate stood at 7.7 crore. The draft roll published on Dec 16, 2025, put the strength of the electorate at 7.08 crore after 58.2 lakh deletions. The final roll published on Saturday listed 6.4 crore voters, with 3.6 lakh net deletions since draft roll publication.

NEW DELHI: Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu has found herself stranded in Dubai for over eight hours after missile-related disturbances in Gulf airspace led to an indefinite suspension of flights across the region.Sindhu was on her way to Birmingham to compete at the prestigious All England Open, set to begin next Tuesday, with Dubai scheduled as a transit stop. The unexpected halt in airport operations has now raised serious concerns over whether she will reach England in time for the tournament.

Providing an update on Sunday morning, Sindhu wrote: “The ordeal continues to unfold and the situation is becoming more frightening by the hour.”She went on to describe a particularly alarming moment at the airport. “A few hours ago, there was an explosion close to where we were holed up at the airport. My coach had to quickly run out of the area as he was closest to the smoke and debris. It was an extremely tense and scary moment for all of us,” Sindhu said.Reassuring fans about her safety, she added: “We are all safe now and have been moved to a more secure place, thanks to the tireless efforts of the staff at Dubai Airport and the Dubai authorities. A special thanks as well to the Indian High Commission in Dubai for their incredible support and constant assistance in helping keep us safe,” she further said.“For now, we are trying to get some rest and hold on to hope as we wait for things to settle,” she said.This marked her second public update since the disruption began.On Saturday, Sindhu had posted a video from a packed airport, accompanied by the caption: “All flights suspended until further notice.”Later, she shared that she was safe but unable to leave with her team, noting how rapidly the tensions had escalated and calling it “terrifying”.“It’s hard to process what’s unfolding right now. Hearing the interceptions overhead and seeing how quickly everything has escalated is honestly terrifying,” Sindhu wrote on ‘X’.Reflecting on the situation, she added: “So many disturbing videos are coming to light, and this is sadly the reality of what is happening. Dubai is a city I deeply love, a place that has always felt safe and full of life, which makes this moment even harder to comprehend.“To everyone who has been messaging and checking in, thank you, it truly means a lot. I am safe right now, stuck here with my team, and we are doing okay as the situation around the war with Iran continues to evolve,” she added.Sindhu also painted a picture of the tense atmosphere inside the airport.“Airports are chaotic, with many families stranded and waiting, all of us just hoping we get past this soon. I’m sure the authorities are doing everything in their power, and like everyone here, we’re holding on to patience and hope,” she wrote.Summing up her feelings amid the uncertainty, she concluded: “Moments like these remind you how fragile normal life really is. Praying for safety and peace for everyone affected.”

NEW DELHI: In an effort to transform India’s punitive prison system into reformative centres, Supreme Court has mandated radical reforms and ruled that women inmates, like male prisoners, have a fundamental right to be lodged in open correctional institutions (OCIs), which must change character from labour camps to vocational training centres and allow inmates’ to have regular access to their families.Penning a 138-page magnum opus of a judgment on what ails the Indian prison system and the judicially devised antidotes, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta appointed former SC judge S R Bhat as chairperson of a high powered committee with a honorarium of Rs 10 lakh per month along with other facilities to frame within six months a nationally consistent common minimum standards for “Reforms and Governance of Open Correctional Institutions”. It asked states, which do not have open jails, to establish these institutions and mandated setting up of multi-layered monitoring systems to ensure that its series of directions are scrupulously complied with in a time bound manner. It posted the next hearing on the matter on Sep 1. It directed state committees to file quarterly reports on implementation of SC directed reforms in open prisons before the jurisdictional HCs, which in turn will file yearly reports before SC every March 31.Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Mehta said, “Exclusion of women from OCIs, or failure to transfer them despite being eligible for transfer from closed prisons to OCIs, amounts to blatant gender discrimination, violative of Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Constitution, and also infringes upon their right to live with dignity as guaranteed under Article 21.”He said, “Denial of access to OCIs deprives women prisoners of equal opportunity for rehabilitation and cannot be sustained in a constitutional order committed to equality, dignity and the transformative promise of justice. Immediate and effective corrective measures are, therefore, imperative in this regard.”The bench frowned at the long wait for a person lodged in closed jails – varying between 4 to 21 years in different states – to become eligible for shifting to an open jail.

AHMEDABAD: Amid intensifying geopolitical conflicts and trade tensions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch on Saturday for India as a preferred investment destination. “India is capable, India is competitive, and India is committed. Today, India has only one message for investors worldwide: India is ready, India is reliable, and India will deliver,” Modi said.

Speaking after inaugurating US-based chip giant Micron Technology’s ATMP (Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging) plant at Sanand, the first such facility in the country, Modi said Gujarat would provide the lifestyle and social life that international companies desire.“A small town (Sanand) suddenly found its place on the global map. Development and systems are needed; perhaps even today you may have thoughts like, ‘It would be nice if this were there, it would be nice if that were there.’ I assure you, friends, the lifestyle you desire, the social life you desire, the way you live your life, Gujarat will create that too. We will not let you feel anything is lacking.” He said after establishing itself as a software powerhouse, the country is “firmly establishing its identity” in the hardware sector too. The PM said that until 10-11 years ago, discussions about data and chips in India were confined to very close circles, and these often revolved only around IT services.Speaking about the speed of project approvals, he said, “Today’s India is moving forward with this approach — from policy to production. It is visible. Remember, the MoU for this facility was signed in June 2023. Subsequently, the groundbreaking for this facility took place in Sept 2023 in Sanand. In Feb 2024, machines began to be installed in the pilot facility, and today, in Feb 2025, commercial production has begun at this facility. Anyone who follows this sector can understand the meaning of this speed.”Referring to the start of commercial production at Micron’s ATMP facility, he said it would strengthen India’s role in the global technology value chain. The ATMP facility will manufacture SSD (solid state drive) storage devices as well as RAM-type DRAM and NAND products, a govt release said. The company has invested Rs 22,516 crore in its Sanand plant. “The AI Summit introduced the world to India’s vision. This year is yet another proof of India’s commitment to technology leadership. Today, India is rapidly becoming a part of the global semiconductor value chain,” he said. “This is the century of the AI revolution, and semiconductors are the bridge to this change. If oil was the regulator of the last century, the microchip will be the regulator of this century. India decided to move forward rapidly in the semiconductor sector,” the PM said.India is rapidly becoming an integral part of the global semiconductor value chain, and the entire world wants to secure the supply chains for both these technologies, he said. “The two largest democracies — India and the US — are continuously striving for this,” the PM said, adding their collective effort will also make the global supply chain of critical minerals more secure and reliable.

AJMER: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday sharpened his election-season attack on Congress, accusing it of divisive politics over its youth wing’s ‘shirtless protest’ at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.Addressing a rally in Ajmer, Modi said Congress leaves no “opportunity to malign India”, charging that it had abandoned national interest. “Kabhi Congress INC yaani Indian National Congress thi… aaj wo INC ke bajay MMC ban gayi hai (INC no longer exists in that form. Today, it has become MMC – Muslim League Maoist Congress),” he said.

“History is witness that Muslim League hated India and divided the nation. Maoists too hate India’s prosperity, our Constitution and our successful democracy. They attack from hiding, and Congress also enters anywhere to defame the nation. The country will never forgive such actions of Congress,” he said.He said the Feb 20 protest by Youth Congress at the summit was staged to embarrass India before foreign guests. “When the world speaks well of India, every Indian feels proud. But Congress tried to create drama and defame the country before foreign dignitaries,” he said.Modi accused the party of lashing out after electoral losses: “Congress has been continuously losing (elections) across the country, and due to its anger, it is taking revenge by tarnishing India’s image.”Turning to national security, Modi said Congress had a record of weakening the armed forces, alleging years of shortages and delays, including ‘One Rank, One Pension’, and defence scams during its tenures. “Defaming the country and weakening the armed forces has been an old habit of the party. It had left our soldiers longing for weapons and uniforms,” he said.Modi contrasted that with the past 11 years, saying, India’s forces had struck “on every front”, citing surgical strikes and Operation Sindoor. “Our Army has been victorious in every mission and every battlefield… they have proven their bravery. But even in these matters, Congress chose to promote the lies of the enemies,” he said, adding, “Congress opposes everything that is good for the country and benefits the people of India. This is why the nation is teaching them a lesson.” On Rajasthan front, Modi attacked Congress’s past rule over alleged corruption, paper leaks and farmer distress.,