Eight Up! India’s women reign supreme in Asia
Dubai, 14 September By the time Shafali Verma was caught in the 13th over, the Women’s Asia Cup final was already India’s to lose. She and Smriti Mandhana had put on 129 for the first wicket in 77 balls, and Sri Lanka, chasing 184 under the Dubai lights, were bowled out for 111 in the last over of the innings. The 72-run margin gave India an eighth Asia Cup title, and the scorecard, as ESPNcricinfo records it for the final of 13 September 2026, shows a match won twice over: once by the openers, and once by two spinners.
129 in 77 balls
India chose to bat. The first fifty came in 30 balls, the hundred in 62, and the powerplay closed at 57 without loss. Verma made 68 off 39 with nine fours and two sixes; Mandhana made 59 off 39 with five fours and three sixes. Their stand was 70% of India’s eventual 183 for 5, and on ESPNcricinfo’s records it is the highest partnership for any wicket in the tournament’s T20 history. The middle order added 54 in the last seven overs, with Gunalan Kamalini’s 15 off 5 balls at the death lifting the run rate to 9.15 an over.
Sri Lanka’s reply was not without fight. Chamari Athapaththu, the captain, made 36 off 32 and put on 58 for the second wicket with Vishmi Gunaratne; at 62 for 2 after 9.3 overs the chase was alive. Then it was not. The last eight wickets fell for 49 runs in 10 overs and 3 balls.
Seven wickets for 39
Two bowlers did that. Shree Charani, the left-arm spinner, took 4 for 20 from four overs, one of them a maiden; Deepti Sharma, the off-spinner, took 3 for 19, including Athapaththu stumped by Richa Ghosh. Between them: eight overs, 39 runs, seven of the ten wickets. Sri Lanka scored at 5.55 an over against India’s 9.15, a gap of 65% on the desk’s arithmetic. Verma took a wicket too, with the ball, to go with her Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards.
Eight titles in ten editions
The final also settled an account. Sri Lanka had beaten India in the 2024 final; this was India’s sixth win over Sri Lanka in an Asia Cup final across formats.
President Droupadi Murmu, in a post on 14 September, congratulated the team for winning every match of the tournament and called the players a source of inspiration for the country’s youth.
Blitz Data Card
At a glance India 183 for 5 in 20 overs (run rate 9.15) · Sri Lanka 111 all out in 20 overs (run rate 5.55) · Margin 72 runs · First wicket 129 in 77 balls (Verma 68, Mandhana 59) · Shree Charani 4 for 20, Deepti Sharma 3 for 19 · India’s eighth Asia Cup title.
What the numbers add up to Recomputed here — 129 ÷ 183 = 70% of India’s runs came from the opening stand. Charani and Deepti: 4 + 4 = 8 overs, 20 + 19 = 39 runs, 4 + 3 = 7 wickets, which is 7 of 10. Sri Lanka’s last eight wickets: 111 − 62 = 49 runs. Eight titles in ten editions is an 80% strike rate, on the desk’s count of the tournament’s editions.
What India gains
The continent’s women’s title kept in India for a fourth T20 edition, and a bowling attack that closed a final with spin, a template for the World Cup cycle.
Dhiraj wins archery World Cup
Saltillo, 14 September Down 3–1, thereafter 5–3, Dhiraj Bommadevara shot a 29 and then a 28 to drag the recurve men’s final of the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final back level. In the ensuing shoot-off, he put his arrow on the line of the ten to lift the Archery World Cup 6-5. In the process, he became only the second Indian to win a World Cup Final
The circuit’s season-ending final began in 2006, and since then the men’s recurve trophy has gone to archers of the standing of Brady Ellison, Kim Woojin, Marcus D’Almeida and Oh Jin Hyek; the one Indian name on the honours board was Dola Banerjee, who won the women’s recurve title in Dubai in 2007. The last Indian man on the podium at all was Jayanta Talukdar, bronze in Edinburgh in 2010.
The road through Antalya
Bommadevara, 25 and a serving soldier, reached Mexico as India’s only qualifier by winning the Antalya stage of the 2026 World Cup in June, after taking the Asian Championships in 2025. In Saltillo he beat Berkim Tumer of Türkiye and Jean-Charles Valladont of France by 7–1 each before the final. Mete Gazoz of Türkiye finished third.
Blitz Data Card
Saltillo Final at a glance: Bommadevara beat Nakanishi (Japan) 6-5, after a 5–5 tie and a shoot-off
What India gains
A men’s recurve archer proven at every level below the Olympics, two years out from Los Angeles.
Sixth Rajbhasha Sammelan opens on Hindi Diwas
Navi Mumbai, 14 September Seventy-seven years after the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language of the Union, on 14 September 1949, the Department of Official Language opens its sixth All India Official Language Conference in Navi Mumbai on September 14. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will present the Rajbhasha Gaurav and Rajbhasha Kirti awards for 2025–26 at the inaugural session; Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar will also attend.
Vande Mataram at the centre
The conference is a two-day affair, built this year around the state’s own literary and cultural ties with Hindi. Its centrepiece discussion is the national song, Vande Mataram, whose author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is represented at the programme by a fifth-generation descendant. Books and a commemorative issue of Rajbhasha Bharati are released, and an exhibition brings stalls from banks, ministries and institutions, the offices where the official-language rules are actually worked every day.
52.83 crore speakers in 2011
The scale of the language is the reason the day exists. Akashvani puts Hindi’s first-language speakers at more than 52 crore. The Census of 2011, the last count available, recorded 52.83 crore people declaring Hindi as their mother tongue out of 121.09 crore, which is 43.6% of the country on the desk’s arithmetic. The previous conference was held in Gandhinagar in 2025; the fourth, in 2024, marked the diamond jubilee of the official-language provisions.
Blitz Data Card
Navi Mumbai At a glance: Hindi adopted as official language: 14 September 1949 · Years since: 77 · Conference: sixth All India Official Language Conference, two days, Navi Mumbai · Awards: Rajbhasha Gaurav and Rajbhasha Kirti, 2025–26 · Hindi mother-tongue speakers, Census 2011: 52.83 crore of 121.09 crore.
What India gains The Union’s official-language work reviewed in a non-Hindi-speaking state, with the banks and ministries that serve the public on the same floor.
Houston G20: India’s three energy pillars
Houston, 14 September The G20’s energy ministers meet in Houston which commences from 14 September to 16 September. India goes to the table with the Union Minister of Power and Housing and Urban Affairs, Manohar Lal, carrying a brief the Ministry of Power set out .
The meeting, held under the United States’ G20 presidency, is organised under three pillars: energy security and affordable baseload, permitting and regulatory efficiency, and critical minerals and resilient supply chains.
Three pillars, three Indian readings
Each pillar has an Indian reading. On baseload, the ministry says Khattar will describe how India builds a system able to meet demand that is still growing fast, a position that keeps coal and nuclear in the conversation alongside solar. On permitting, India will present its own reforms in approval and regulation as experience other members can use. On critical minerals, the brief names diversification, circularity and the whole value chain, which is a way of saying that India intends to process and recycle, not only to buy.
Technology-neutral, by design
The phrase that matters most in the release is “technology-neutral”. India will advocate approaches that “respect diverse national circumstances”, the ministry says, a formulation that leaves each country to choose its fuel mix while agreeing on the goals of security, affordability and resilience. For a country that hosted the G20 in 2023 and now sits as a member under the American presidency, it is a continuity position.
What India gains is a seat in the room where the supply chains of the next decade’s power equipment and battery minerals are being discussed, and a chance to say in public that reliable baseload for a growing economy is a legitimate goal.
Blitz Data Card
Houston, 14 September At a glance: G20 Energy Ministerial, Houston, 14–16 September 2026, under the United States’ presidency · India represented by the Union Minister of Power · Three pillars: baseload, permitting, critical minerals · India’s stated approach: pragmatic, inclusive, technology-neutral.
What India gains
A public G20 record of India’s case for affordable baseload and for processing critical minerals at home.
Blitz appreciates The Ministry of Power and Minister
After Delhi: the BRICS summit in numbers
New Delhi, 14 September A day after the 18th BRICS summit closed at Bharat Mandapam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a video of its two days and thanked the leaders of the member countries for a summit he called productive and outcome-oriented, Akashvani reported on 14 September 2026. The clip carries a line from his summit speech: through BRICS, India has advanced friendship, partnership and cooperation across the board.
