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England vs Sri Lanka 2026 1st T20: England captain Harry Brook continued his sublime run of form in T20I cricket, smashing his second T20I century as captain – 114 not out off 49 balls with 10 fours and six sixes to set up his side huge 119-run win over Sri Lanka in the first T20I of three-match series at Rose Bowl in Southampton on Tuesday. Brook carried on his tremendous run of form from the T20I series against England with successive scores of 79 not out, 95 not out and now 114. newsindata.com

The England skipper is now once century behind former India captain Rohit Sharma and Pakistan’s Babar Azam to equal the record of most centuries by a captain (Test playing nations) in T20I cricket. Rohit had notched up three centuries in 62 innings as captain while Babar has 3 in 78 innings while Brook in comparison has a couple in 23 innings.

Brook went on to smash 30 runs in Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage’s second over – fifth of the innings – en route to his 42-ball century. The England skipper his 3 sixes and 3 fours in the over.

WATCH Harry Brook smash 30 runs in Dunith Wellalage’s over HERE…

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Harry Brook takes 30 off the 5th over pic.twitter.com/Rd3gdTWGze

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 15, 2026

Brook, with two T20I centuries and 10 Test tons and three in ODI cricket is now the second Englishman after Buttler to have multiple centuries across all international formats. Wicketkeeper Buttler has two centuries each in Tests and T20Is and 11 tons in ODIs.

The other batters to have multiple centuries across all international formats are: Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul (India), Babar Azam (Pakistan), Chris Gayle (West Indies), Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill (New Zealand) and Quinton de Kock (South Africa).

Brook’s shift to No. 3 after an indifferent run in this year’s T20 World Cup 2026 continues to pay dividends. In eight matches and innings in T20Is at number three, he has smashed 476 runs at an average of 95.20 and a strike rate of 200.84, with two centuries and fifties each.

In 69 T20Is for England, Brook has scored 1,646 runs in 60 innings at an average of 36.57 and a strike rate of 164.10, with two centuries and eight fifties.

Meanwhile, England batted first and century from Brook and Jos Buttler’s 80 in 44 balls, with eight fours and three sixes, took them to 254 for 4 in 20 overs. Sri Lanka, in reply, were skittled out for just 135 runs in 19 overs, with Sonny Baker (3/12 in four overs), Jamie Overton (2/20) and Liam Dawson (2/23) being the top bowlers for England.

“I thought we had an amazing night tonight. Communication once again was outstanding. If we’re being ultra-critical, we could probably get a few more runs here and there, take earlier wickets, but I thought the performance tonight was near perfect, and the communication once again from the changing room out onto the field was very good,” Brook said in the post-match press presentation.

The Indian women have won the Asia Cup and, as my readers read this, are about to land in Nagoya for the Asian Games. There is no doubt India will start as overwhelming favourites for gold, with the same opponents present in Nagoya. But despite the Asia Cup win, questions remain, and many of them surround the batting form of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

For years, Harmanpreet has been the mainstay of the middle order. One expects her to play the big shots, control the middle overs, add to the scoring rate and set things up for finishers like Richa Ghosh. But over the last few months, apart from the one-off innings against Australia at Lord’s on 28 June, which was brilliant, Harman has struggled for momentum with the bat.

In the Asia Cup, there was not a single occasion when she actually looked good. In the final, her decision to come up the order was the correct one. After a fantastic start, the stage was set for her to dominate. But then came yet another innings of 14 off 14 balls, and it was clearly a struggle.

The semi-final was no different. Apart from the two sixes, which added a degree of gloss to a scratchy innings of 24 off 28 balls, the struggle was evident.

This is now a real worry for India. Harmanpreet cannot continue to struggle if India are to do well against better teams. While the Asian Games should be relatively straightforward, with the other teams modest at best, the Champions Trophy on home soil in February 2027 will be a very different challenge. India will need Harmanpreet Kaur at her best if the team are to have a chance. And from what we have seen over the last few months, things are not looking great for the captain.

Is she feeling the pressure of captaincy? Of not doing well against the top teams in the T20 format? Could it be impacting her batting? I have, for a while now, felt that she should be allowed to focus on her batting and get her form back.

India may need a leadership change for Harmanpreet the batter to regain her confidence and get her mojo back. Smriti Mandhana, who was yet again brilliant in the Asia Cup final, looks ready and should be entrusted with the captaincy. She is the best batter in the team and has the respect of the players. Having been Harmanpreet’s deputy for years, Smriti will also be able to get the best out of her.

While the call rests with the selectors, the truth is that the Asia Cup win, or a possible Asian Games gold, cannot mask these deficiencies any more. India must find a solution to Harmanpreet’s lack of form. At the moment, there is no replacement for her and, for India to do well in the Champions Trophy or even at the LA28 Olympics, the batter in Harmanpreet is far more important than the skipper.

The issue cannot be overlooked for long, because then there will hardly be any time to put corrective measures in place.

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The Sports Ministry has spent more than Rs 700 crore over the last three years on preparing Indian athletes for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.

The ministry said Rs 702.86 crore has been spent through the Annual Competition and Training Calendar on training, equipment, international exposure and other support for athletes. A further Rs 97.84 crore has been spent through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

The biggest part of the spending has gone towards international competition exposure. Around Rs 251.4 crore was used to give Indian athletes opportunities to compete overseas and prepare against strong opposition. Another Rs 118.3 crore was spent on domestic training.

N S Johal, CEO of TOPS, said the preparations have given the Indian contingent good momentum ahead of the Games.

“There is good momentum across disciplines and the contingent features a lot of debutants which is as TOPS CEO, a very proud thing for me,” Johal said.

“The gestation period in sport is high and when young athletes are able to enter the top level early, it is a very good sign for the future,” he added.

India will send 501 athletes to the Asian Games, including 267 men and 234 women, across 36 sports. The contingent also has 265 support staff.

The Games will feature 310 athletes making their Asian Games debut. Among the young names attracting attention are 18-year-old squash player Anahat Singh, paddler Syndrela Das, badminton player Ayush Shetty and judoka Asmita Dey.

Cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who is 15, is also part of India’s contingent, although he is not funded by the Sports Ministry.

Johal said preparations had been closely monitored through regular meetings. “Since January this year, we have had nine coordination meetings of the Target Asian Games Group and the whole effort has been to provide athletes with the best possible environment despite the administrative challenges posed by issues in various federations,” he said.

He also pointed to the role of the Khelo India programme in developing India’s next generation of athletes.

“The biggest takeaway has been that despite everything that goes on, the focus has not wavered from the athletes. We have 65 athletes in the contingent who have come through Khelo India which is our baseline sports system,” Johal said.

TOPS has also focused on sports science support, with physios, doctors and mental health experts travelling with the teams. Around one-third of the authorised support staff comes from sports science backgrounds.

“Every team has women’s support staff. One third of the authorised support staff is from sports sciences. These are the little things we have worked on to ensure balance in the contingents,” Johal said.

India won a record 106 medals at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze. The 2026 Games begin on September 19, with the Indian contingent looking to build on that performance.

East Bengal will kick off their AFC Champions League Two 2026-27 Group D campaign against Jordanian champions Al Hussein SC, at the Amman International Stadium, on Wednesday. Antonio Lopez Habas’ men will look to transfer their recent winning momentum to the continental stage.

The fixture is a massive challenge for East Bengal who qualified for the group stage after a dramatic 4-1 win in extra-time against Kuwait’s Al Arabi in the preliminary round. It is the club’s ninth appearance in the group stage of Asia’s second-tier competition and first since 2015.

But Habas thinks East Bengal can carry their domestic momentum into the AFC Champions League.

“We are excited to participate in the ACL Two Group Stage. It’s a unique chance to compete at the highest level in Asia, and we want to inculcate the same mindset in the players. We want to continue the winning momentum that we achieved over the past two months. We want to replicate that success in tomorrow’s game against Al-Hussein,” he said.

East Bengal’s preparations have not been smooth with injuries and visa problems affecting the squad. Chris Ikonomidis did not travel with the team due to being laid low by fever. Mohammed Rashid is also an injury concern with a back injury, adding to the uncertainty ahead of the opener.

However, captain Rashid stressed that there should be no fear of the opposition. Instead, it was a moment to rejoice for East Bengal.

“This match will not be an easy match because we’ll face a team that has prior experience of playing at the continental level over the past two-three years. However, we believe in each other and in our abilities to deliver a good performance. Football is an 11v11 sport. We are playing in this tournament now because we deserve to be here and we have to push ourselves to show that East Bengal can do well at this level.”

Al Hussein have had a turbulent build-up. Their head coach Ahmad Hayel stepped down just days before the match. The assistant coach Bashar Bani Yaseen had to take charge against East Bengal.

Bani Yaseen, on his part, says it’s a good mix of youth and experience:

“We have great confidence in the players. They have extensive experience with clubs and the national team. We have a good mix of experienced and young players, and the healthy environment provided by the club gives us greater confidence to deliver our best performances and results.”

Al Hussein will be without some of their key attacking options as well. Captain Mahmoud Al Mardi and Colombian striker Brayan Riascos are both injured and doubtful, further depleting the hosts’ attacking resources.

Their captain and defender Abdallah Naseeb also accepted the onus on the team, saying the players know the importance of the occasion and are determined to live up to the standards their supporters have come to expect.

Predicted XI:

East Bengal (4-4-1-1): Prabhsukhan Gill (Gk); Hardik Bhatt, Diego Zivulic, Anwar Ali, Sandip Mandi; Jay Gupta, Jeakson Singh, Mohammed Rashid (c), Bipin Singh; Dani Ramirez; Edmund Lalrindika.

Al Hussein (4-2-3-1): Yazeed Abulaila (Gk); Ahmad Assaf, Saleem Obaid, Abdallah Nasib (c), Ali Hajabi; Mahmoud Shawkat, Youssef Qashi; Omar Ghanjouq, Mahmoud Deeb, Aref Al Haj; Masoud Juma

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