HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hit his first international half-century for India as Zimbabwe was comfortably beaten by seven wickets in a Twenty20 on Thursday.
Sooryavanshi scored 50 off 18 balls. He was out next ball at 68-2, top-edging an attempted cut at Richard Ngarava.
But the teenager had turned the chase of 126 into a doddle and Shreyas Iyer was in the middle at 126-3 to celebrate his first win as captain in eight T20s. Zimbabwe made 125-7 after Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav took two wickets each.
Sooryavanshi replaced Sachin Tendulkar this month as the youngest player to represent India but his output in the T20 series in England was modest: 14, 13, 15 at a strike rate of 168. He was replaced for the last match and India lost the series 4-0.
The selectors hoped Sooryavanshi would thrive in a low-key series at the same cricket ground where he blasted 175 off 80 balls against England in February in the final of the Under-19 World Cup.
Sooryavanshi on Thursday took four balls to smash his first six over backward square. The other sixes cleared long-off, fine leg and long-on.
The second of three matches is on Saturday.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
India's batsman Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, right, celebrates reaching a half century with his teammate Ishan Kishan during the first T20 cricket match between Zimbabwe and India in Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Wonder Mashura)
India's bowler Shivam Dube, right, bowls as umpire Iknow Chabi of Zimbabwe, watches on during the first T20 cricket match between Zimbabwe and India in Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Wonder Mashura)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation are suing the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands and its police commissioner as a fight over the Second Amendment deepens.
The nonprofits are asking a federal judge to allow nonresidents to apply for and be issued licenses to carry concealed handguns in the U.S. territory.
The lawsuit filed this week asserted that Florida resident Sean Dale Henry, a member of Gun Owners of America and supporter of Gun Owners Foundation, called the U.S. Virgin Islands’ police department multiple times to apply for such a license.
“Henry has been unable to get the USVI police to so much as pick up the telephone,” the lawsuit states. “The fact that the USVI police do not answer their phone makes (Henry’s) need to keep and bear arms for his own self-defense all the more vital.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. territory’s government did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The lawsuit filed Monday notes that Henry plans to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands at least twice in upcoming months and seeks to bring a concealed gun for self-defense purposes.
“The Second Amendment doesn’t end at the shoreline,” Luis Valdes, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ outreach director for Gun Owners of America, said in a statement. “Americans don’t lose their constitutional rights simply because they travel to a U.S. territory.”
It is the second time the U.S. Virgin Islands’ government and its police commissioner are sued over the Second Amendment.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department sued the U.S. territory, accusing it of obstructing and systematically denying American citizens the right to possess and carry guns. It cited local laws including that applicants must demonstrate “good reason to fear death or great injury to his person or property,” and have “two credible persons” vouch for their need of a firearm.
At the time, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ government said it was “committed to protecting constitutional rights while maintaining public safety.”
In a February court filing, the U.S. Virgin Islands accused the U.S. government of coming to court “with unclean hands" and of employing hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers it accused of depriving people of their “rights, privileges and immunities secured and protected by the 1st, 2nd, 4th , 5th and 14th amendments.”
“The United States of America cannot come to the court with unclean hands and seek to enjoin others while engaging in such blatant, violative, and abusive patterns and practices itself,” the filing read.
That case is still making its way through court.
FILE - The owner of a shooting range prepares to load bullets in his 9mm semi-automatic handgun for a demonstration on June 23, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
