Former England international cricketer Michael Atherton has termed Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi a very dangerous opponent for any team.

Despite England inflicting a defeat on the Pakistani side in the Super Eights stage of the T20 World Cup 2026 in Kandy, Atherton, who is also a cricket commentator, praised Shaheen for regaining form.

When asked to comment on the fast bowler, he said: “Wickets up top is what he’s all about. His combination of obviously decent pace, and if he can get that ball swinging, he remains a very dangerous opponent.”

England chased down their target of 165 with five balls to spare, despite a late wobble. Captain Harry Brook scored his first T20 international century to take England into the World Cup semi-finals with a nervy two-wicket win.

Atherton recalled that Shaheen — who took four wickets in the match against England — has had a difficult time. “And, you know, he’s one of the kind of iconic figures of Pakistan cricket.”

“So it’s good to see him back, taking wickets at the top of the order. And he got Pakistan right back in the game. They only needed to get Harry Brook out and that was probably Pakistan’s game. But Brook was just too good for them tonight,” he added.

After England restricted Pakistan to 164-9, Brook came in on the second ball of the innings with the score 0-1 after Phil Salt’s golden duck, caught behind off Shaheen.

Wickets tumbled in the power play but Brook stood firm.

He lifted his side from a precarious 35-3 to 155-6 when he was dismissed by Shaheen, having scored the second fastest century in T20 World Cup history and the first by a team captain.

Shaheen hailed Brook’s century as a “world-class knock” and said that this would be the best innings of his life. “Brook played proper cricketing shots, and he deserved a handshake, so I went to him and shook his hand in appreciation,” said the pacer.

Duke’s win against Michigan has propelled the Blue Devils to a familiar perch: No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.

The Blue Devils climbed two spots to top Monday’s poll, marking the 148th appearance at No. 1 to add to what was already the record for any program.

Duke (25-2) claimed 56 of 61 first-place votes to supplant Michigan (25-2) after Saturday’s 68-63 win against the Wolverines in Washington.

That win came in a matchup of the top two teams in the NCAA men’s selection committee’s preliminary top 16 seeds for March Madness, released hours before the game.

The Blue Devils enter this week with a national-best 12 Quadrant 1 wins, along with nine wins against AP Top 25 teams.

And now the latest such win has pushed the Blue Devils back to a No. 1 ranking for the second straight season under fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer. Last year’s Final Four team sat atop the last two polls entering the NCAA tournament, the first time Duke had reached No. 1 since Scheyer took over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski in 2022.

Arizona rose two spots to No. 2 after beating BYU and winning at Houston and secured the other five first-place votes. Michigan fell to No. 3 as its first appearance at No. 1 since January 2013 turned into a one-week stay, followed by a pair of Big 12 teams in Iowa State and Houston.

The top tier

UConn fell one spot to No. 6 after a week that included a home loss to Creighton, while reigning national champion Florida leaped five spots to No. 7 to return to the top 10 for the first time since late November. The Gators were ranked No. 3 in the preseason and spent a week among the unranked in early January. They have won seven straight and 12 of 13.

Purdue, Gonzaga and Illinois rounded out the top 10.

NCAA selection committee vs. AP Top 25

The selection committee had Michigan, Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the No. 1 seeds in Saturday’s reveal of the preliminary top 16 seeds. The Cyclones edged UConn and Houston for the fourth 1-seed, with the Huskies’ loss to Creighton and then Iowa State’s head-to-head win against Houston to start last week swinging the vote to T.J. Otzelberger’s squad.

Monday’s poll largely aligns with the committee’s reveal, starting with the same four teams at the top in a shuffled order — with Iowa State moving up two spots even after Saturday’s loss at now-No. 19 BYU.

In addition, the AP Top 25 and committee align on 15 teams being ranked among those top 16 seeds. The outlier is St. John’s at No. 15 in the AP poll, taking a slot that went to Vanderbilt — with the Commodores seeded 15th overall by the committee Saturday but sliding to No. 25 in Monday’s poll.

Rising

Alabama had the week’s biggest jump, rising eight spots to No. 17 after a thrilling double-overtime home win against Arkansas and a victory at LSU pushed the Crimson Tide’s win streak to six games.

Florida had the week’s second-biggest gain, while BYU rose four spots after the Arizona loss and Iowa State win.

In all, 11 teams moved up from last week’s ranking.

Sliding

No. 14 Kansas joined Vanderbilt with the week’s biggest slide of six spots. The Jayhawks are coming off a 16-point home loss to a Cincinnati team that was reeling in early February but has won four straight.

The Commodores lost at Missouri and at home to Tennessee last week, falling to 5-6 since a 16-0 start that carried them to a No. 10 ranking as of mid-January.

Saint Louis tumbled five spots to No. 23 after last week’s loss at Rhode Island ended an 18-game winning streak, while 11 teams fell from last week but remained in the poll.

Status quo

Illinois and No. 20 Arkansas were the only two teams to hold their position from last week.

Coming and going

Tennessee was the lone new addition, at No. 22, with the Volunteers beating Oklahoma and Vanderbilt last week to push their winning streak to four games. This starts a third stint in the poll for Rick Barnes’ Volunteers, who fell out for two weeks in mid-January, returned for a week at No. 25 to start February, then were unranked again for the past two weeks.

The Vols replaced Wisconsin, which fell out from No. 24 after last week’s loss at Ohio State.

Conference watch

The Big 12 led all conferences with six ranked teams, while the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference each had five. The Atlantic Coast Conference was next with four, followed by the Big East with two.

The West Coast Conference, Mid-American Conference and Atlantic 10 each had one ranked team.

Local officials representing World Cup host cities warned Congress on Tuesday that security concerns, coordination problems and inadequate federal funding are risking catastrophe with little more than 100 days remaining before the games begin.

Witnesses joined members of the House Homeland Security Committee in citing the urgent need to unfreeze FEMA money earmarked for the host cities’ security needs.

Officials testified before the committee that local agencies have failed to coordinate adequately with each other and the federal government as they work out complex security details on transportation, hotels, fan events and practice locations, as well as the stadiums themselves.

Drone threats, human trafficking, the presence of ICE agents at games and the recent cartel violence in Mexico are adding to the troubled picture provided not only by the witnesses but also by committee members themselves.

They registered their concerns on the 11th day of a freeze on Homeland Security Department funding following deadly shootings of U.S. citizens by ICE officers in Minneapolis. The department also dispenses the Federal Emergency Management Agency funds required for World Cup security.

The federal government had previously earmarked $625 million for the 11 U.S. host cities “to enhance security and preparedness” and $250 million “to strengthen their ability to detect, identify, track, or mitigate” drone threats, FEMA states on its website. Security planning is heavily impacted by the government’s inability to dispense the funds.

The FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11 in Mexico City, with Los Angeles hosting the opening U.S. game on June 12 and New York and New Jersey hosting the final on July 19. Recent drug cartel violence near host city Guadalajara has heightened concerns about Mexico’s ability to secure its venues.

“I feel that if we’d been having this conversation two years ago, we’d be in better shape,” Mike Sena, president of the National Fusion Center Association, testified. “… But today, as we’re approaching these games, we’re nowhere near the capability we need.”

Events such as the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will test homeland security more than it has been in decades, Sena said, adding that a lack of coordination between local agencies has added to the security headaches.

“For events of this scale, that approach means serious risks may go unaddressed,” Sena said.

Ray Martinez, the chief operating officer for the Miami World Cup host committee, said that without the roughly $70 million in federal funds that Miami has applied for, the end of March would mark a “drop dead date” to start canceling plans due to inadequate security, starting with the Fan Fest concert events planned around the games.

“We’re 107 days out from the tournament but, more importantly, we’re about 70-something days out from starting to build the Fan Fest. These decisions have to be made,” Martinez said. “…Without receiving this money, it could be catastrophic for our planning and coordination.”

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) said that FEMA staffers who process grants are not working during the partial shutdown and that the funding is “not coming till the government reopens.”

Republicans chided their Democratic colleagues on the committee for withholding the votes required to unfreeze the funds.

Joseph Mabin, the deputy chief for Kansas City police, said release of the funding is “critical” for his city to hire additional personnel ahead of the World Cup, and that his local department did not have enough staff to cover all security threats. Kansas City will host six games and serve as base camp for four teams.

Salaries for many of those working on the planning and coordination are also “contingent” on the frozen funds, said Travis Nelson, deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser to the Maryland governor.

Nelson described this moment as “pivotal,” and compared it to a Jenga game where one wrong move “is going to cause the whole thing to come down.”

Recently, town officials in Foxborough, Massachusetts, sought clarity on the source of around $8 million they say is needed to fund public safety for this summer’s World Cup games at Gillette Stadium, the home of the New England Patriots.

The White House World Cup Task Force headed by Andrew Giuliani did not immediately respond to ESPN’s request for comment.