Pakistan secured the Pakistan T20I Tri-Series 2025/26 title with a commanding six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the final at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Opting to field first after winning the toss, Pakistan’s bowlers dismantled Sri Lanka for just 114 in 19.1 overs, setting up a straightforward chase completed in 18.4 overs. Saim Ayub‘s dual impact and Mohammad Nawaz‘s incisive spell proved decisive in this high-stakes night encounter under the floodlights.​

Mohammad Nawaz’s exceptional spell crumbles Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka raced to 56 for 1 in the powerplay, powered by Kamil Mishara‘s aggressive 59 off 47 balls, including two fours and four sixes, after Pathum Nissanka‘s brisk 11 fell early to Shaheen Shah Afridi. The momentum shifted dramatically post-drinks at 81 for 1 in 10 overs, as Mohammad Nawaz unleashed a fiery four-over spell of 17 runs for 3 wickets, dismissing Kusal Mendis (14), Janith Liyanage (0), and Wanindu Hasaranga (5) to spark a collapse.​

The last eight wickets tumbled for 30 runs, with fall of wickets accelerating from 84 for 2 (10.3 overs) to all out at 114—Pavan Rathnayake (8) and Kusal Perera (1) to Abrar Ahmed, Dasun Shanaka (2) to Shaheen, and tailenders cleaned up by Salman Mirza and Shaheen’s 3 for 18. Nawaz’s economical 4.25 run rate and sharp turn exploited the Rawalpindi surface, while Ayub chipped in with 1 for 17, including Mishara’s catch off his bowling. Extras added 13, but Pakistan’s collective effort restricted Sri Lanka below 120.​

Also READ: Dushmantha Chameera’s fiery spell takes Sri Lanka into the Pakistan T20I Tri-Series final

Saim Ayub’s blistering knock powers Pakistan to a commanding victory

Chasing 115, Pakistan navigated the powerplay at 32 for 0 before Eshan Malinga struck, removing Sahibzada Farhan (23 off 22) at 46 for 1 in 7.3 overs. Ayub then unleashed a blistering 36 off 33 balls—laced with six fours—to propel the score to 50 in 7.5 overs and 71 for 1 at the 10-over drinks interval. His lbw departure to Wanindu Hasaranga at 75 for 2 (11.3 overs) brought Babar Azam (37 not out off 34, with two fours and a six) to the fore, steadying the innings amid a successful DRS review. Pavan Rathnayake fought back with 2 for 11, accounting for Salman Agha (14 off 14) at 98 for 3 (15.3 overs) and Fakhar Zaman (3 off 5) at 104 for 4 (17.1 overs), but Babar and Usman Khan (3 not out) calmly finished the job and guided hosts home with 8 balls left at 118/4.

Also READ: T20 World Cup 2026 full schedule: India vs Pakistan on February 15

NOIDA: A 23-year-old woman was shot dead in front of her sisters by her ex-boyfriend who pumped a bullet into her chest when she refused to marry her on Friday night.Originally from Amroha, Soni, the victim, had been working as a clerk at a private company. She stayed in a modest one-room house in Yakubpur village with her two younger sisters, Kusum (17) and Pushpa (14), and a younger brother, Rupesh (15), who was away attending a relative’s wedding at the time of the attack.According to police, Soni met Krishna (25) three years ago while both were employed as domestic workers at a high-rise society in Sector 142. Their friendship soon blossomed into a relationship, but Soni grew increasingly unhappy with Krishna’s aggressive behaviour.

Broke up with accused 4 months ago

“The woman was not happy with Krishna as he was very aggressive. A few times, he had even slapped her over trivial issues,” a senior police officer said.Four months ago, Soni decided to end the relationship and moved to a new building, hoping to escape Krishna’s persistent advances. For the past 15 days, she had even stopped taking calls from him. Undeterred, Krishna tracked her down and arrived at her house on Friday evening, just as she returned from work.Kusum recounted the terrifying moments leading up to the shooting. “It was surprising that Krishna came to the house. Soni didn’t allow him to come home because of his bad behaviour towards her. Krishna knocked on the door, and when we opened it, he pushed us inside, barged in and locked the gate. He said he just wanted to talk,” she told TOI.The conversation quickly escalated into a heated argument. “Soni tried to throw Krishna out, but he overpowered her. When she started dialling the cops, he snatched her phone and threw it away. He fired three rounds into the wall as he tried to force her to accept her marriage proposal. When Soni tried to open the door to run to the police station, he placed his gun on her chest and pulled the trigger,” Kusum sobbed.Neighbours, alarmed by the sound of gunshots, rushed to the scene. “People started knocking on our door. But Krishna opened the door and threatened them with the gun before escaping from the building,” Kusum said.Neighbours called police, who took Soni to a nearby hospital. She, however, succumbed to her injuries.Shakti Mohan Avasthy, DCP (central Noida), confirmed that an FIR had been registered against Krishna under Section 103 (murder) of the BNS. “Five teams have been formed to nab the accused. Police are checking CCTV cameras and trying to trace the accused with the help of surveillance,” he said.

Barcelona’s Dani Olmo, back, celebrates after scoring (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona secured a 3-1 victory against Alaves in La Liga, with Dani Olmo scoring twice to temporarily place the team at the top of the standings.The match began with a surprising development as Pablo Ibanez gave Alaves an early lead in the first minute. Barcelona quickly responded through young talent Lamine Yamal, who scored from Raphinha’s assist.Olmo put Barcelona ahead in the middle of the first half and secured the win with a late goal at their partially reconstructed Camp Nou stadium.Barcelona now leads Real Madrid by two points, with Real Madrid scheduled to face Girona on Sunday.Following their 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League, Barcelona managed to secure their fourth consecutive league win during their 126th anniversary celebrations.“They caught us a bit by surprise in the first minute, but the team came back well from that situation, keeping our idea (of how to play), we got the first, then the second, we dominated and got the win,” Olmo told DAZN.“It’s a dream come true to be able to play here, to score and help the team to win.”The team played without Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong, while Jules Kounde was benched after his own goal at Stamford Bridge.Raphinha returned to the starting lineup for the first time since his injury, and Marc Bernal made his first start since August 2024 after recovering from knee surgery.Alaves proved to be more challenging opponents compared to Athletic Bilbao, whom Barcelona defeated 4-0 in their previous home match.Ibanez capitalized on Marc Casado’s failed corner clearance and Victor Parada’s assist to score the opening goal.Barcelona equalized when Yamal scored from Raphinha’s cross, which Olmo missed initially.Joan Garcia made an impressive save to prevent Calebe from scoring, before Olmo gave Barcelona the lead with assistance from Raphinha.Yamal nearly increased Barcelona’s advantage but hit the post after getting past Antonio Sivera. Lucas Boye almost scored for Alaves before halftime.The return of Pedri Gonzalez as a substitute in the second half was warmly welcomed by the 45,000 spectators in the three operational stands.Both Yamal and Olmo had near misses as Barcelona sought to extend their lead. Pau Cubarsi made a crucial block to deny Boye’s attempt to equalize.Olmo finally scored Barcelona’s third goal in stoppage time, assisted by Yamal.“We couldn’t keep our lead but after that we had our chances,” Alaves defender Jonny Otto told DAZN. “It’s not easy to make Barca end up asking for the final whistle.”

SRINAGAR: A division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir high court has stated that cross-LoC trade between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir amounts to intra-state trade as PoK is part of Jammu and Kashmir.While deciding petitions from cross-LoC traders, the HC said, “It is not disputed by learned counsel appearing on either side that the area of the state presently under de-facto control of Pakistan is part of territories of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Therefore, in the instant case, the location of the suppliers and the place of supply of goods were within the then state of Jammu Kashmir (now Union Territory) and, therefore, the cross-LoC trade effected by petitioners during the tax period in question was nothing but intra-state trade.”“We appreciate the fair stand taken by the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners despite there being contrary pleadings disputing the nature of cross-LoC trade as intra-state trade,” the division bench, comprising Justices Sanjeev Kumar and Sanjay Parihar, observed.The petitioners had challenged show-cause notices issued to them by the Superintendent, CGST, under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, stating that when trade was started in 2008, “intra-state sales tax was governed by the Jammu and Kashmir Value Added Taxes Act, which provided that cross-LoC trade was a zero-rated sale.”However, in 2017, when GST was rolled out, the authorities started investigations against the petitioners to probe whether they had paid GST on their outward and inward supplies. After getting information that there were huge outward and inward supplies effected by the petitioners, show-cause notices were served on them.The petitioners also argued that even if it was assumed that the trade was intra-state, a tax demand would be impermissible as the trade was barter trade where no money exchanged hands.The HC said it found no merit in all these petitions and dismissed them.In 2008 after improving relations between India and Pakistan as confidence-building measures, both govts decided to allow free cross-LoC trade between them on certain terms and conditions.However, on April 9, 2019, the Indian govt suspended cross-LoC trade on grounds that the trade routes were being misused to funnel illegal weapons, narcotics, and fake currency.Two steps — a cross-LoC bus service and cross-LoC trade — were seen as the two biggest CBMs between India and Pakistan. On April 7, 2005, the then prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had flagged off the first cross-LoC bus service, titled Karwaan-e-Aman, or peace caravan, that connected Srinagar to Muzaffarabad. Later, cross-LoC trade, established as barter trade, began on Oct 21, 2008, on two routes — Salamabad (Uri)-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot. Traders on either side of the LoC were permitted to exchange 21 mutually-agreed items.

JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Demolition of journalist Arafaz Ahmad Daing’s home in Jammu by Jammu Development Authority (JDA) has triggered a political confrontation, with deputy CM Surinder Choudhary demanding to know who ordered the action and urging LG Manoj Sinha to order an inquiry.Choudhary visited Saturday the demolished structure at Narwal and said neither the elected govt nor CM Omar Abdullah ordered the step. “The JDA vice chairman is posted by the LG, and police involved also report to the LG. If this action did not happen on your orders, then order an inquiry and suspend the officials responsible,” he told reporters.The house was levelled Thursday morning by JDA teams accompanied by a large police contingent. Daing said his father built the structure 40 years ago and the family had lived there ever since. His counsel, lawyer Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad, alleged the demolition was “selective targeting” executed by JDA vice chairman with support from district authorities.Former J&K BJP president Ravinder Raina visited the site Friday and expressed solidarity with the family. He said he spoke to Sinha and claimed the latter told him “the LG administration did not use bulldozers. So where did this action come from? I don’t want to politicise this”.Choudhary accused Raina of lying. “Ask him to show his call records and prove he actually spoke to the LG,” he said. He praised neighbour Kuldeep Sharma, who offered land to Daing’s family, calling it “a powerful example of the brotherhood that defines J&K”.Omar accused Raj Bhavan–posted officers of carrying out “selective demolitions” to allegedly undermine the elected govt. “Development authorities, revenue officials — these should be our officers. Instead, officers are being posted without consulting us, and they take dictation from somewhere, use bulldozers,” he alleged.Choudhary said Omar “never supported actions driven by revenge”. “If officials acted on their own without consulting the LG or the CM, they should be placed under suspension,” he said, adding J&K govt backs moves to retrieve encroached land but insisted action “must not be selective” and should begin with “influential land grabbers, not the poor”.

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Housing sales across India’s 15 major Tier II cities rose 4 per cent in value to Rs 37,409 crore in the July-September quarter of 2025, even as volumes declined, according to real estate analytics firm PropEquity. Sales fell 4 per cent year-on-year to 39,201 units during the quarter, while new housing supply dropped 10 per cent to 28,721 units.The 15 cities include Ahmedabad, Surat, Gandhi Nagar, Vadodara, Jaipur, Nashik, Nagpur, Mohali, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Goa, Trivandrum, and Kochi. Ahmedabad, the largest market, recorded a 6 per cent decline in sales to 13,021 units, while Surat saw an 8 per cent drop to 4,936 units.Samir Jasuja, founder and CEO of PropEquity, was quoted by news agency PTI as saying, “Tier 2 cities remain the key engines of India’s growth story. Expanding employment opportunities, improving infrastructure, and stronger connectivity continue to drive sustained demand across residential, commercial, and retail real estate.”Lalit Parihar, MD of Aaiji Group, noted that the four Gujarat cities—Ahmedabad, Surat, Gandhi Nagar and Vadodara—dominate Tier II launches and sales, accounting for over 60 per cent. “These cities demonstrate strong housing demand driven by robust economic growth, rising white-collar employment, and rapid infrastructure upgrades. With improved connectivity and expanding industrial hubs, they offer a balanced mix of affordability, quality of life, and long-term investment potential,” he said, as per PTI.Kirthi Chilukuri, founder & MD of Stonecraft Group, said the drop in new launches is more of a strategic pause than a slowdown. “The 4 per cent rise in sales value shows demand remains strong, with buyers willing to pay more for trusted brands and better amenities. This signals a healthier, more mature market where long-term value matters,” Chilukuri added.Other industry experts, including Yashank Wason of Royal Green Realty and Rajat Khandelwal of Tribeca Developers, also affirmed that Tier II cities continue to see strong housing demand, with homebuyers showing preference for newly launched projects, reported PTI.