Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski, left, is congratulated by Fermin Lopez, center, and Lamine Yamal (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona strengthened their grip on the La Liga title race with a commanding 3-0 victory over Mallorca on Saturday, opening up a four-point lead at the top of the table. Teenage sensation Lamine Yamal played a central role, responding to an earlier miss with a stunning long-range finish that underlined his growing influence. Robert Lewandowski set Barça on their way in the first half before 18-year-old academy graduate Marc Bernal wrapped up the points late on with the first goal of his senior career. The result gives Barcelona breathing space at the summit, although second-placed Real Madrid have the chance to cut the deficit to a single point when they travel to Valencia on Sunday. Lewandowski broke the deadlock in the 29th minute, reacting quickest after Marcus Rashford’s initial effort down the left was blocked. The striker calmly brought the ball under control, shifted it away from a defender and finished with precision from close range. Rashford’s growing confidence was evident again just before the interval. His curling free kick in stoppage time forced an excellent save from Mallorca goalkeeper Leo Roman. The rebound dropped invitingly for Jules Koundé inside the area, but his mishit effort fell to Yamal, who surprisingly failed to convert from virtually on the goal line. Lewandowski, one of the game’s most prolific scorers with more than 650 club goals to his name, was quick to encourage the young winger after the miss. Yamal made amends in emphatic fashion in the 61st minute. Skipping past a defender on the edge of the box, he unleashed a fierce, dipping left-footed strike into the bottom corner, leaving Roman rooted to the spot. Both Yamal and Lewandowski were substituted later in the match and watched on approvingly as Bernal added the third in the 83rd minute. Barcelona cut through Mallorca’s midfield with a sharp passing move that released the teenager, who showed impressive composure to glide past a defender and slot the ball neatly inside the post. Elsewhere in La Liga, two fixtures were postponed. Rayo Vallecano’s home clash with Oviedo was called off due to safety concerns over the pitch at Vallecas Stadium, while Sevilla’s match against Girona was also postponed because of adverse weather. Oviedo said it understood the decision but criticised the late notice and confirmed it was considering legal action.

India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

NEW DELHI: India kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign with a win over the USA, but captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted the team had to dig deep after a shaky start. India posted 161/9, thanks largely to SKY’s unbeaten 84 off 49 balls after the top and middle order collapsed. The USA then managed 132/8 in reply, as India’s bowlers kept things under control.

After the match, Suryakumar was honest about India’s batting struggles. He said, “Only I can tell at the position we were in at 77/6, how much pressure we were in… We could’ve batted a little better.” He also spoke about the conditions, noting the pitch and morning light were unusual, but stressed that the team should not make excuses.“It was a little different wicket from what it is always at Wankhede. But at the same time, we knew when we woke up in the morning, we saw outside there wasn’t a lot of sun outside,” he added.Surya, who got the Man of the Match award for his exceptional knock, explained how he approached his innings when India were in trouble, adding, “I always felt that there was a need for a batter to bat till the end. I never felt that it was a 180-190 wicket. I felt it was a 140 wicket.” He revealed that coach Gautam Gambhir also advised him to stay till the end and back himself. “Gauti bhai told me the same thing during the break after the 14 overs. He told me, just try and bat till the end, you can cover it any time,” he continued.Drawing on his experience of playing in Mumbai maidans, he focused on timing his shots and managing the innings under pressure.He also reflected on his personal journey, saying, “I knew definitely someday it was going to come… I was trying to bat in such a way, hold the innings for the team, but it wasn’t happening.”India’s bowlers then stepped up. Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel shared key wickets to keep the USA chase in check. Though Milind Kumar, Shubham Ranjane and Suraj Krishnamurthi fought back with useful knocks, they could not match India’s experience in crunch moments.Earlier, India were rocked at 77/6 after Shadley van Schalkwyk ripped through the batting with four wickets, including a triple strike in one over. But Suryakumar’s calm and aggressive knock rescued India and gave the bowlers enough runs to defend.In the end, India won by 29 runs, an important but hard-earned victory that showed both their resilience and the areas they still need to improve.

Former India spinner Murali Kartik urged Suryakumar Yadav and co. to respect the conditions and employ a different approach than their usual plan after suffering a massive scare at the hands of the United States of America (USA) in the 2026 T20 World Cup. The Men in Blue’s ultra-aggressive plan failed after they were reduced to 77-6 on a sluggish surface at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on Saturday, February 7.

After being put into bat first, Team India lost an early wicket as Abhishek Sharma holed out to the deep to record yet another golden duck. The hosts ended up losing four wickets in the powerplay, and looked lost at one point as even the likes of Rinku Singh and Hardik Pandya perished in the middle overs without making an impact.

The majority of the Indian batters lost their wickets while slogging and attempting to ramp up the scoring rate, despite the tacky surface at the iconic venue dictating otherwise. It required a special effort from Suryakumar Yadav, who exploded after settling down to score an unbeaten 84 runs off 49 deliveries, and helped India put on 161 on the board.

Murali Kartik opined that India’s slam-bang approach, which has brought them a lot of success in recent times, will not work on each and every occasion.

“Sometimes you have to respect the conditions. Yes, like we talked about Bazball, this is your playing style, but it won’t work every time. No matter how much confidence and form is there, every player will be nervous. That nervousness will be there. This is why Gambhir and Surya like having eight batting options. Axar Patel is coming in at No.8, so that matters a lot,” the former spinner said on Cricbuzz.

The Indian bowlers also extracted the most out of the surface to contain the opposition to 132-8 in the second half of the contest, and seal a 29-run win to start the title defence.

“They will say to be careful with shot selections” – Manoj Tiwary on Team India’s dressing room chat after IND vs USA T20 World Cup 2026

Former India batter Manoj Tiwary believes that the team management will not try to dissect the batting performance too much, but will urge the players to be more watchful with their shot selections so that such a predicament can be avoided in the future.

“I think there will be a generic talk in the dressing room. They will say to be careful with shot selections. If you lose a match against USA, then you have to hear about it al your life if you are a captain or a coach, you will have to carry that all your life. So, winning this match was extremely important,” Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.

India are currently on top of Group A on the basis of a superior net run rate of +1.450. They will next face Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, on Thursday, February 12.