Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks smashed 44 off 16 balls to take England to a thrilling four-wicket T20 World Cup win in Colombo that denied New Zealand a guaranteed place in the semi-finals but kept Pakistan’s slender hopes alive.

New Zealand would have joined England in the knockouts with a win in their final Super Eights match and they scored 159-6 after opting to bat.

England lost wickets early and looked like they would be squeezed out at 117-6, needing 43 from the last three overs.

But Ahmed and Jacks took 22 off the 18th over from Glenn Phillips to turn the match on its head.

Ahmed blasted 19 off seven balls in his first T20 World Cup match alongside Jacks, who made an unbeaten 32 off 18, to see England to 161-6 with three balls to spare.

England will move on to a semi-final in Mumbai on Thursday against either India or the West Indies, who clash on Sunday to decide the final semi-final berth.

New Zealand now have to wait on the outcome of Saturday’s clash between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Kandy to know if they have qualified for a semi-final in Kolkata against South Africa.

Pakistan have an inferior run rate so they need to win by 64 runs or inside 13 overs to overtake the Kiwis and deny them a place in the final four. If Pakistan qualify, then the semi-final would be played in Colombo.

England used five spinners to bowl 16 of the 20 overs on a turning track.

The 2010 and 2022 champions had never bowled so many overs of spin before in a T20 international.

Jacks returned the best figures with 2-23, while Adil Rashid picked up 2-28 and is now England’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 11.

Rashid was complemented by fellow wrist spinner Ahmed, who was called up in place of Jamie Overton, and took a wicket with his first ball before finishing with 2-28 from three overs.

Glenn Phillips top scored with 39 off 28, including four fours and a six, while opener Tim Seifert scored 35.

Liam Dawson (1-32) and Jacob Bethell (0-13) were the other spinners employed by England.

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India revived their T20 World Cup campaign with their “fearless” brand of cricket ahead of a winner-takes-all decider against the West Indies for the last semi-final berth.

Hot favourites to defend their title on home soil, India thrashed Zimbabwe by 72 runs in Chennai on Thursday to bounce back from their heavy defeat against South Africa in their Super Eights opener.

India’s batting, led by opener Abhishek Sharma’s blistering 55 and an unbeaten 50 by Hardik Pandya, piled up 256-4, the second-highest total in the history of the tournament.

In a brutal show of power hitting, the Indian batters demolished the opposition bowling with 17 sixes and 17 fours at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

India face the West Indies, who went down to South Africa by nine wickets, in Kolkata on Sunday to decide the second semi-finalist from Group 1.

“We want to play fearless cricket, the brand of cricket we played today and we played since last year,” batter Tilak Varma said.

“The same intent we want to keep in the next game as well. And going ahead in the tournament, we take the same intensity (forward).”

The left-handed Varma hit a 19-ball 44 as he put together an unbeaten 84-run stand with Pandya, who capped off the innings with two sixes to raise his fifty.

It all came together for India after they rejigged their opening combination with the return of Sanju Samson, who handed the team a quick start with his 24 off 15 balls.

The left-handed Abhishek hit form with his first T20 World Cup fifty after he struggled in the tournament with three ducks in four innings.

“It’s important when the openers give us a good start, the same confidence follows to number three, four and five,” said Varma.

“And we discussed that whatever the situation is, (even) if we lose three-four wickets in powerplay, we will bat with the same rhythm,” he added.

“And we want to show the fear in opposition bowlers, that these guys are ready to hit each and every ball.”

‘Keep that intensity’

India, the world’s top-ranked T20 team, came into the World Cup on the back of huge totals in bilateral contests and was tipped to cross the 300-run mark at the tournament.

But their batting had looked fragile and was often exposed, including by minnows the United States, who reduced them to 77-6 in their opener.

Varma remains cautious of his team’s plans against the West Indies, who posted 254-6 against Zimbabwe in their Super Eights opener.

“So if the wicket is not good, then we’ll adjust, and we’ll keep that intensity on,” said Varma.

“I would not say we want to score more than 250 — but if we get a good start, then of course we’ll go for it.”

The Indian bowling has looked good.

On Thursday, left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh returned figures of 3-24 to limit Zimbabwe to 184-6.

He surpassed senior paceman Jasprit Bumrah as the leading bowler for India at the T20 World Cup with 35 wickets to Bumrah’s 33.

“We have been doing well for the past couple of years, so even after a blip or a defeat, the belief of the group was there,” Arshdeep told reporters.

“We knew we just had to come and follow our processes, and the result will come our way. So the thought was very simple and we are enjoying it.”

The 2024 champions have the weight of history against them. No team has ever retained the T20 World Cup and no side has ever won the trophy on home soil.

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PARIS: Vinicius Junior sealed Real Madrid’s progress to the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday with the clincher against Benfica as holders Paris St-Germain edged out 10-man Ligue 1 rivals AS Monaco.

Italian giants Juventus almost pulled off a stunning comeback from their 5-2 first leg deficit against Galatasaray, but extra-time goals from Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz gave the Turks a 7-5 aggregate victory, while Lazar Samardzic’s injury-time spot-kick put Atalanta through 4-3 on aggregate against Borussia Dortmund.

Vinicius scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory on the night to secure a 3-1 aggregate success for Real in the play-off tie in Madrid.

“(Vini) had a great game,” Real coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Movistar. “Unbala­ncing them, scoring, creating a lot of danger every time he took them on.”

A week on from the racism furore in the first leg in Lisbon, Vinicius provided the perfect riposte as the man he accused of racial abuse, Argentine midfielder Gianluca Prestianni sat out the match with a provisional ban imposed by UEFA.

Benfica coach Jose Mourinho was also suspended for the match against his former employers but his side briefly gave him hope of a shock result.

Rafa Silva gave Benfica a deserved lead on 14 minutes, but two minutes later, Aurelien Tchouameni levelled things up on the night with a crisp finish from Federico Valverde’s cutback.

With strike-partner Kylian Mbappe injured, Vinicius then stole the limelight, breaking clear 11 minutes from time to fire across goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin and into the far corner.

Tchouameni called it “a victory over racism”.

“We didn’t play our best match of the season, that’s for sure. But I think there are things more important than this match, and more important than football,” Tchouameni told reporters.

Meanwhile, PSG overcame a first-half scare to beat Monaco 5-4 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw at the Parc des Princes.

“What we’ve shown this season is our resilience, our ability to solve problems,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said of his team.

With Morocco full-back Achraf Hakimi picked to start despite facing trial for alle­ged rape, PSG made a sluggish opening.

Monaco pulled level on aggregate just before half-time as Maghnes Akliouche finished smartly from Mamadou Coul­ibaly’s clever pass.

But Coulibaly picked up two yellow car­ds in quick succession early in the second half and almost immediately, Desire Doue teed up Marquinhos to finish from close range.

Six minutes later, Hakimi let fly from distance, Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Koehn parried, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia slammed home the rebound to all but crush the visitors’ hopes before Jordan Teze scored in injury time.

OSIMHEN BREAKS JUVE HEARTS

Ten-man Juventus’s hopes of pulling off a stunning comeback came up short despite beating Galatasaray 3-2 after extra time in Turin.

Captain Manuel Locatelli gave Juve a lifeline with a first-half penalty as the Italians dominated.

But their hopes of progressing took a huge blow when English centre-back Lloyd Kelly was harshly dismissed early in the second half after catching Yilmaz with his studs as he jumped for a header.

Federico Gatti turned home right-back Pierre Kalulu’s wicked cross and US midfielder Weston McKennie levelled up the tie eight minutes from time with a back-post header from barely a yard out to force extra time.

But Osimhen and Yilmaz’s extra period goals sent the Turks through.

“It almost makes me want to cry for how much we believed. I think we gave our hea­rt, and more,” Locatelli told Prime Video.

Juve’s recent form had instilled little confidence they could fight back, with four defeats in a winless run of five games, but they were applauded at fulltime after a heroic effort.

“There was an impressive reaction, the fans also supported us a lot, in extra time we arrived tired,” Gatti said. “We had put the game back on its feet with 10 men, but in the first leg we threw it away.”

But Juve icon Giorgio Chiellini was hoping for more, especially with one of Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur awaiting Galatasaray in the next round.

“We’re upset and disappointed after the effort put in and what we showed today,” said Chiellini, now a club official. “What we did today should be a starting point for the remainder of the season.”

ATALANTA STUN DORTMUND

Two red cards, a VAR overturn and a decisive converted penalty with the last kick of the game.

All of that happened in the final seconds of a Champions League thriller between Atalanta and Dortmund — and it ultimately ensured there will still be Italian representation in Europe’s top club competition.

Serbian midfielder Samardzic’s last-gasp penalty earned Atalanta a 4-1 victory on the night at home.

Algerian centre-back Ramy Bensebaini gave away the penalty deep into time added on after catching Nikola Krstovic in the face with a high boot.

It earned him a second yellow card on a nightmare evening in which he inadvertently contributed to Atalanta’s first two goals as well.

The Italians had wiped out their 2-0 first leg deficit by half-time thanks to goals by striker Gianluca Scamacca and veteran wing-back Davide Zappacosta, both aided by Bensebaini deviations.

Croatian midfielder Mario Pasalic hea­ded home from inside the six-yard box to give the Italians the aggregate lead but Ka­rim Adeyemi’s brilliant individual goal had looked set to send the game into extra time.

“Everyone had written us off,” said Zappacosta. “But … we always believe and we never give up.”

Italy’s record of having at least one team in the round-of-16 since that stage was reintroduced to the Champions League in 2003-04 was under threat after Serie A champion Napoli didn’t even make the playoffs after finishing in 30th place in the 36-team league phase and Inter Milan was eliminated by tiny Norwegian team Bodø/Glimt in the playoffs on Tuesday.

“It’s an unforgettable night,” Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino said, “a dream come true.”

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2026

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