AHMEDABAD: New Zealand will be ready to pounce if India’s bowling star Jasprit Bumrah falters in the T20 World Cup final said all-rounder Glenn Phillips on Friday.

Defending champions India and New Zealand clash in Ahmedabad on a blockbuster Sunday after the co-hosts edged out a spirited England team in the second semi-final.

A brilliant 105 from Jacob Bethell on Thursday kept England in the hunt during a record chase of 254 before Bumrah bowled a near-perfect 18th over.

A succession of precise yorkers and length balls yielded just six runs and England were behind the chase.

New Zealand, who thrashed South Africa in the first semi-final, are eyeing their maiden title in their second final appearance and Phillips said the team are ready for Bumrah.

“He [Bumrah] is a human as well,” Phillips told reporters. “He is allowed to have a bad day, as are the rest of us. So hopefully we have a good day against him.”

Bumrah’s accuracy and his ability to bowl yorkers has choked opposition teams. Against England, his four overs returned figures of 1-33 in a match where 499 runs were scored in 40 overs.

However, he fared less well against the Kiwis in a five-match T20 series at the start of the year.

India won 4-1 but Bumrah, who played in four of the matches, took just four wickets, conceding 9.46 runs an over.

Phillips acknowledged Bumrah’s class but said the tactics against any bowler are never the same.

“Obviously we had a really good trip against him in the bilateral series as well but he’s a class bowler,” said Phillips.

“He’s got so many variations. He hits the block hole at the death incredibly well.”

Phillips also played down the possible ploy of playing out Bumrah’s four overs and targeting the other bowlers.

“It’s not necessarily going to be that, per se,” he said. “As I said, a bowler is allowed to miss, and if he happens to miss, we do have to put it away.

“That also means that if he does bowl, well, we have to accommodate for other things and adapt.”

Perennial underdogs New Zealand edged into the semi-finals on net run rate but stepped up a couple of gears when Finn Allen’s 33-ball 100 defenestrated favourites South Africa.

New Zealand overturned their target of 169-8 in just 12.5 overs to claim an outrageous nine-wicket win: they are now seeking a first World Cup title in either white-ball format.

Mitchell Santner’s team will be up against a crowd of over 100,000 at the Narendra Modi Stadium and a billion Indian fans watching on TV, although that doesn’t appear to be worrying the New Zealanders.

“For us, we just go out there and enjoy it,” said Phillips.

“We have a great time as a group of guys, we go out there and do our best for our country and yes, obviously a packed crowd is fantastic.

“We play to entertain the people and whether they’re supporting us or whether they’re supporting India, it’s fantastic for cricket in general.”

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2026

LONDON: The spectre of Premier League relegation loo­m­­ed ever larger for Tott­enham Hotspur on Thursday after a 3-1 home defeat by Cry­stal Palace left them teetering just above the drop zone.

When striker Dominic Sola­nke gave 16th-placed Totten­ham the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute, a first league win in 2026 looked on the cards for the hosts.

But they collapsed in shambolic fashion before the interval with Palace replying three times to stun the hosts after Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven was sent off.

Van de Ven hauled back Ismaila Sarr in the area to receive a red card before Sarr coolly slotted home the resulting penalty, sending Gugli­elmo Vicario the wrong way.

Adam Wharton then played in Jorgen Strand Larsen to slot a low shot past Vicario in the first minute of stoppage time and provided another classy assist for Sarr to make it 3-1.

Sarr also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside shortly before Solanke’s opener.

Ten-man Tottenham battled after the break in a subdued atmosphere and emptying stadium but could not prevent a fifth successive league defeat which extended their winless league run to 11, their worst for 50 years.

They have 29 points from 29 games, one more than Nottingham Forest and West Ham United. Palace’s victory lifted them into 13th place with 38 points.

Tottenham have been ever-present in the Premier League and were last relegated from the top flight in 1977, but interim manager Igor Tudor must turn things around quickly if they are to stay above the trap door.

Despite another blow, he remained relatively upbeat.

“It was two games, after the red card it was a different game. The second half we tried and I saw interesting things,” Tudor told TNT Spo­rts. “After this game I believe more than before, maybe that sounds strange but I saw something in the team, I saw some good energy and passion and fight.”

Tottenham qualified for the last-16 of the Champions Lea­g­ue in impressive fashion but have not won in the Premier League since beating Crystal Palace on Dec. 28 and their home record is the joint-worst in the division along with Burnley.

Croatian Tudor was hired after the sacking of Thomas Frank last month — his reputation as a man for a crisis presumably why the club made a surprise appointment.

His record now stands at three defeats from three games though and Totte­nham’s next league match is away at Liverpool, after a Champions League clash away to Atletico Madrid.

Tottenham finished 17th last season but won the Europa League and while they are still in Europe, the priority is top flight survival with a BBC report estimating that relegation could cost the club 260 million pounds ($347 million).

Asked if the pressure was causing the sort of bad decision-making which saw Van de Ven dismissed, Tudor said bluntly: “We need to stop with speaking about pressure.”

Last season Tottenham were spared because the bottom thr­ee were cast adrift well before the end of the campaign.

This time, while Wolverh­ampton Wanderers and Bur­nley look set to drop, the scrap to avoid finishing 18th will be intense, with West Ham beating Fulham on Wednesday and Forest drawing away at Manchester City.

While Tottenham face anxious weeks ahead, Palace are now 10 points clear of the drop zone and looking up.

“What I loved most is the reaction after we conceded the goal,” manager Oliver Glasner said. “But we also have to be critical that we could have done better in the second half.”

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2026

LAHORE: Pakistan put up an impressive performance to edge Japan 4-3 in the semi-final of the FIH Hockey World Cup qualifier at the Suez Canal Authority Hockey Stadium in Egypt on Friday.

The win has guaranteed the Green Shirts a place in the global event and marks their return to the Hockey World Cup after eight years. The tournament will be hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands in August.

The Pakistan team, led by Ammad Butt, was trailing 3-1 in the third quarter of the match against Japan, when it smashed three goals in the last nine minutes of the final quarter to edge ahead 4-3, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Ammad gave his side an early lead in the ninth minute with an impressive field goal. The lead, which remained intact till the end of the first quarter, was neutralised in the second quarter (21st minute) when Japan’s Ryoma Ooka scored a field goal.

In an inspiring show, Japan took control of the match in the penultimate quarter when Shota Yamada (35th minute) and Yamasaki Koji (40th minute) struck in quick succession to take a solid 3-1 lead.

However, in a sensational comeback in the final quarter, Pakistan’s Abu Bakr Mahmood, Sufyan Khan and Afraz scored a goal each in the 52nd, 55th and 57th minute, respectively, to reclaim the lead that remained intact till the final whistle.

Just two minutes before the end of the match, Japan lost a golden opportunity to equalise when Fujishima Raiki missed a penalty-stroke.

Pakistan have put up an impressive show in the qualifier, winning all of their group matches against China (5-4), Malaysia (5-3) and Austria (4-2) and Japan (4-3)

Ammad and company will now face England — who routed Malaysia 7-1 in the other last-four match — in the final of the qualifying event at the same venue on Saturday.

Once a giant force in global hockey and four-time World Cup winners, Pakistan had failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup held in The Hague, Netherlands, and finished poorly in 12th position in the 16-nation edition staged in Bhubaneswar, India in 2018. Pakistan had also failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup held in the Indian city of Odisha.