Former England captain Michael Vaughan has stirred debate after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 by suggesting that the South Africa national cricket team made a tactical mistake by defeating the West Indies cricket team in their Super 8 clash.The encounter, played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, ended with South Africa securing a comfortable nine-wicket victory. The result had a major impact on the tournament equation because it allowed the India national cricket team to remain in contention for the semi-finals. Later the same day, India beat the Zimbabwe national cricket team to keep their campaign alive.

Speaking on the ‘Stick to Cricket’ podcast, Vaughan remarked that South Africa may have inadvertently helped India stay in the race by winning that particular game.“I tell you, who I think is the stupidest team of the tournament? South Africa. Because if South Africa had allowed the West Indies to beat them in the Super 8s, India would have been knocked out. I’m just saying – if they had cleared them out, the juggernaut that was coming would have stopped.”“By winning that game, they allowed the juggernaut to go on. India then beat Zimbabwe, then the West Indies in a kind of quarter-final, and then England. South Africa had to play Zimbabwe next, and they even rested three players for that match,” Vaughan said on the ‘Stick to Cricket’ podcast.According to Vaughan, teams looking to win a World Cup sometimes benefit from eliminating the strongest side early in the competition rather than allowing them to gather momentum.“Look, these things shouldn’t happen and usually don’t happen. I’m just saying that if you want to win a World Cup, the best way is to eliminate the best team early,” Vaughan added.Following their victory over Zimbabwe, India’s next match against the West Indies effectively turned into a knockout contest. In that high-pressure game, Sanju Samson produced a match-winning unbeaten 97 to guide India to a five-wicket win and seal a place in the semi-finals while ending the West Indies’ campaign.Meanwhile, South Africa travelled to Kolkata for the first semi-final, where they faced the New Zealand national cricket team. Led by Mitchell Santner, the Black Caps dominated the contest and sealed a nine-wicket victory. The highlight of the chase was a sensational 33-ball century from Finn Allen, which helped New Zealand cruise into the final. India ultimately won the T20 World Cup 2026.

Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday in New Delhi, where the two leaders announced a series of agreements, including a strategic energy partnership.

The deals come as new allegations emerge about the Indian government’s involvement in the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist.

“There has been more engagement between the Canadian and Indian governments in the last year than there has been in than two decades combined,” Carney said in joint remarks with Modi.

“So this is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition.”

The agreements announced by Carney and Modi Monday include a $2.6 billion agreement in which Saskatoon-based Cameco would supply just under 22 million pounds of uranium to India for nuclear energy generation, and two memorandums of understanding that cover topics including critical minerals and energy sources.

A government release says the visit also led to 10 commercial agreements worth more than $5.5 billion.

The Carney-Modi meetings — a bilateral with respective delegations followed by a 35-minute private one-on-one — ran long, leading to the cancellation of lunch meeting with additional staff and the delay of a joint announcement.

Then a news conference with Carney, the first time the prime minister was set to answer questions from the media since the trip began Thursday, was cancelled just before it was scheduled to begin.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu held a media scrum in Carney’s place.

Carney’s government has been under pressure to clarify whether it believes India is still engaged in foreign interference. The Globe and Mail published a report late Sunday about the alleged role Indian consular staff played in the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist three years ago.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an advocate for an independent Sikh homeland and president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was killed in Surrey, B.C., in June 2023.

The Globe and Mail cited two anonymous sources who said consular staff in Vancouver provided information to help with the killing.

Anand said it would be “irresponsible” to speak directly about an active RCMP investigation while it is ongoing.

The foreign minister said that she raised broader issues of Indian foreign interference and transnational repression while meeting with officials from the Modi government.

“There is agreement between Canada and India to continue to ensure the safety and security of the Canadian population and we need to be at the table, we need to engage, we needs to have these diplomatic conversations in order to make progress of this sort,” Anand said.

“It’s extremely important to remember that diplomacy is not about retreating and hiving yourself off from having difficult conversations. It’s very much about ensuring that the written word is marking the path forward on national security.”

A news release suggested Carney had raised the issue of foreign interference, noting the prime minister had “underscored that Canada will continue to take measures to combat transnational repression.”

Anand repeatedly referred to that news release in response to multiple questions on the Nijjar investigation.

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She also pointed to actions taken by the Canadian government including listing the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity, working to pass bail reform legislation aimed at tackling a rise in extortion and the expulsion of Indian diplomats in 2024.

During a background briefing with reporters before the trip to India, a senior government official said Canada is confident Indian foreign interference is not happening anymore.

The official said that Canada believed India was still interfering in its democracy, Carney would not be making this trip.

Anand said Canada remains focused on protecting Canadian citizens and national security.

“The words of the senior official are not words that I personally would use. I agree with his comments relating to the guardrails that we have in place,” she said.

Earlier in the trip, Carney first announced the two countries were working toward signing a comprehensive trade deal by the end of the year. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand also announced a new Canada-India strategy on talent and innovation, which includes 13 new partnerships between Canadian and Indian universities.

Carney landed in India on Friday, the first visit by a Canadian prime minister since diplomatic relations disintegrated two years ago, after then prime minister Justin Trudeau accused agents of the Indian government of being involved in Nijjar’s killing.

After the allegations around Nijjar’s death, the RCMP said there was evidence of a wider campaign of intimidation and violence.

Carney has set out to reset Canada’s relationship with India, inviting Modi to the G7 summit Canada hosted last year.

In his remarks, Modi said Carney was responsible for the improved relationship.

“I give the entire credit for this increasing momentum in every area of co-operation to my friend, prime minister Carney,” Modi said in remarks translated by the Indian government.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

On the eve of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s official visit to Mumbai and New Delhi, a senior official said the government believed India was no longer plotting attacks on Canadians.

The official’s comments at a press background briefing were the first to suggest India had halted the clandestine operations that Canada has linked to a murder and other violence.

“We have a very robust diplomatic engagement, including between national security advisers, and I think we can say we’re confident that that activity is not continuing or we would not be having this type of discussion,” he said.

Pressed by reporters to clarify the comment, the official declined to elaborate, but added, “I really don’t think we’d be taking this trip if we thought these kind of activities would continue.”

The official spoke on the condition he would not be identified.

Canadian national security agencies believe India began a campaign in 2022 to kill activists in North America who support Khalistan, an independent state in the Sikh-majority Punjab.

Among those allegedly targeted was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in June 2023 as he was leaving the Surrey, B.C., temple where he served as president.

The RCMP believes the Indian government tapped gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi to arrange the murder. An Indian intelligence officer was also implicated in a plot to kill another Canadian in the U.S.

As the RCMP investigations progressed, Commissioner Mike Duheme announced that India’s government had been linked to a broad array of violence, often targeting pro-Khalistan activists.

Canada subsequently expelled six Indian diplomats. But since taking office, Carney has restored, and deepened, ties with India, which he is courting for a trade deal to offset a tariff-obsessed White House.

Since then, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which India had allegedly cooperated with to target opponents in Canada, has been tied to the extortion crisis in cities with large South Asian populations.

But at a briefing on Wednesday in advance of Carney’s arrival in India on Feb. 27, the senior government official seemed to suggest that New Delhi’s targeting of Canadians had stopped.

The World Sikh Organization of Canada called the official’s comment’s “utterly false” and said it “does not align with what Sikh Canadians are experiencing on the ground and what we are seeing firsthand.”

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Only last weekend, Vancouver police warned Canadian Sikh activist Moninder Singh about an imminent threat to himself, his wife and their children. It is the fourth such warning he has received since 2022.

“The WSO is aware of incidents in the past six months of individuals being surveilled, harassed and intimidated by agents of the government of India,” the national Sikh group said in the statement.

“The Carney government has failed to hold India accountable or to create any meaningful safeguards to ensure that Sikh Canadians are protected from foreign interference and transnational repression. Declaring the problem resolved does not make it so.”

The senior officials would not answer when asked when they believed India had stopped its transnational repression and foreign interference campaign in Canada.

“We have a mature, robust discussions with the government of Indian on these issues. And we have robust safeguards in place to avoid foreign interference,” the official told reporters.

“I can’t give you a specific date of which individuals changed views. We’ve got a systematic engagement with the government in India, at senior officials level, at the ministerial level, at the leader level. And these issues have been raised regularly. And we are confident that we have the basis for further productive discussion.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to India this week for trade talks, police have warned a Canadian Sikh leader about a “credible threat” to his life.

Moninder Singh, who heads the Sikh Federation of Canada, said a member of the Vancouver Police Department delivered the caution on Sunday.

The tip about the threat came from a confidential informant, the officer told Singh, whose wife and children were also deemed to be at risk.

The Sikh activist, who lives in Surrey, B.C., shared an audio recording of the police visit, as well as a photo of the officer’s business card, with Global News.

“From time to time, the VPD conducts what is called a ‘Duty to Warn’ when we receive information regarding a threat to someone,” a police spokesperson said.

“I can’t comment on if any ‘Duty to Warn’ incidents happened over the weekend as there would be an ongoing criminal investigation associated.”

Police did not share any further details but Singh believes it is the latest attempt by the government of India to silence its Canadian opponents.

in 2022, Singh and fellow activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar were the first to receive a duty to warn notice. Nijjar was gunned down the following year, allegedly by the Indian government.

Since then, police have warned Singh periodically about new threats against him but last weekend’s was the first to include his family.

Since he is not a business person like those typically preyed upon by India’s extortion gangs, he suspects he is being targeted because of his activism.

Singh is an outspoken critic of human rights in India, and an advocate of the Khalistan movement that supports independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab.

The RCMP has previously linked such threats to the Indian government, and Singh believes that is also the case for this latest caution from police.

“India uses criminal syndicates, gangs in Canada, to carry out their dirty work for them,” he said. “India taps them and then they go out and carry these political assassinations out.”

“So I feel like the reason why they’re targeting me, for my political expression, my support for a Sikh homeland, Khalistan, or unveiling India’s horrible human rights record, I think it comes back to India.”

For Singh, the incident has underscored concerns that Carney is re-engaging with India without regard to the safety of Canada’s large Sikh community.

Under pressure to diversity Canada’s trade partners amidst U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariffs, Carney has turned to India.

But national security officials have reported that the government of India is behind foreign interference, disinformation and transnational repression in Canada.

The RCMP believes the Indian government has collaborated with the Bishnoi gang to attack political opponents, notably Nijjar, who was killed outside a Surrey Sikh temple in 2023.

Gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi and his Canadian lieutenant Goldy Brar allegedly carried out the killing for India. The crime group is also partly responsible for the current extortion crisis in Canadian cities.

Following Nijjar’s murder, the FBI uncovered a similar plot by an Indian intelligence officer to kill Canadian lawyer and activist Gurpantwant Singh Pannun in New York.

Then, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme accused India of orchestrating a broader array of violent crimes, prompting Canada to expel six India diplomats in October 2024.

Indian diplomats and agents were engaging in “clandestine activities” such as collecting information on members of Canada’s South Asian community, he said.

“This information is shared with senior levels of the Indian government, who then direct the commission of serious criminal activities against Indo-Canadians through the kinetic use of Lawrence Bishnoi’s organized crime network,” National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin testified.

“Bishnoi is currently in jail in India, and he is able to order these actions through his gang, which has extensive criminal networks in India and internationally,” she said.

“Serious crimes committed in Canada include homicides, assassination plots, perpetrated extortions and other extreme violence.”

At the same time, Canada’s foreign interference inquiry called India the “second most active country engaging in electoral foreign interference in Canada.”

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In an interview on Monday, Singh said he had received no assurances from Canadian officials that those issues had been resolved, or that India had promised to stop.

Deepening ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government without having dealt with the underlying national security threats was premature, he said.

“There’s a lot of unfinished business,” Singh said, adding that many Canadian Sikhs felt betrayed to see Carney and his officials meeting their Indian counterparts.

“It’s a bit of a slap in the face of the Sikh community that we have all these ongoing issues and we’re talking to a country that’s behind all of that.”

“We’re not holding them accountable in any which way.”

Throughout Canada’s various disclosures of India’s actions, New Delhi has denied them and put the blame on former prime minister Justin Trudeau, while claiming it needs to see evidence before taking action.

“The burden of proof lies on the accuser, not on the accused,” Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik told Global News in an interview on Monday.

Patnaik vowed that if such evidence surfaced, India would take action, even if it implicated senior officials in Modi’s government.

He said he had no response to latest Canadian Security Intelligence Service annual report, which referred to India’s role in the Nijjar murder.

The killing signalled “a significant escalation in India’s repression efforts against the Khalistan movement and a clear intent to target individuals in North America,” CSIS wrote.

“I cannot say anything about it,” said Patnaik, who replaced the previous high commissioner expelled from Canada for his role in violence against Canadians.

“Same way when we have our own report, it says that Canada supports separatist movements in India, that Canada support Khalistani movement in India,” he said.

“That’s the way our agencies look at it.”

Asked about extortions by Indian nationals working for India-based crime groups such as the Bishnoi gang, he said that was Canada’s problem.

An RCMP report released to Global News under the Access to Information Act said the Bishnoi gang was “acting on behalf of the Indian government.”

“You have to deal with it. If you start pointing fingers outside, that’s a different matter. It’s very easy to point fingers outside,” the high commissioner said.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca