Category: Sports

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan have become the team to win the most matches in the ongoing calendar year after they whitewashed Bangladesh in a three-match series in Dhaka — proving that they are performing tremendously.

Mohammad Nawaz struck a boundary off the last ball as Pakistan overcame late drama to beat Bangladesh by five wickets in Monday’s third T20I for a series whitewash.

Pakistan are on top, with 17 wins from 26 matches. They have lost six and tied three matches. South Africa rank second, with 15 wins and eight losses from 23 matches.

New Zealand are third, with 13 wins and 10 losses, from 23 matches. Bangladesh are fourth, while England rank fifth. India are not in the top five — they rank seventh.

Pakistan had performed well in the recently concluded T20 World Cup and were the only Asian team to have made it to the semi-finals. However, a five-wicket defeat from Australia in the semis ended their World Cup campaign in a heartbreak.

Ahead of the series against Bangladesh, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam wanted the Men in Green to keep up the T20 World Cup momentum and play aggressive cricket in the series against the Tigers.

And the Men In Green did not disappoint their skipper in the T20I series. Pakistan will play a series of two Test matches from November 26 to December 4 against Bangladesh.

*********

LAHORE (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik will not play today’s match and will leave the squad to see his son, who is ill, in Dubai.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a statement today (Monday) confirmed that Shoaib Malik will not be available for the third T20I match against Bangladesh. 

Iftikhar Ahmed will most likely replace him in the playing XI. PSL star Shahnawaz Dahani is also expected to make his debut today.

The former Pakistan captain will depart for Dubai at 10:00am local time.

The PCB said that the national Twenty20 squad will leave Dhaka via Dubai tomorrow at 6:30 pm after the conclusion of the T20 series.

Spinners Imad Wasim and Usman Qadir will return home after staying with their families in Dubai for a few days.

The Test squad, which reached Bangladesh on Sunday, will leave Dhaka for Chittagong tomorrow at 3:00pm. The first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played in Chittagong from November 26

The PCB added that bowling consultant Vernon Philander will leave the squad after the first Test. He will fly to South Africa on December 1.

The second and final Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played in Dhaka from December 4

 *************

LAHORE (NUT-SPORTS)

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who is well-known across the globe as “Rawalpindi Express” for his running speed, will no longer be able to run.

Taking to Instagram, the former cricketer revealed that his “running days are over” as he is going for a “total knee replacement in Australia Melbourne very soon.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWixN3bMn2w/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e938b19a-aaef-4d94-8a20-b9152d37179f

Akhtar also uploaded a picture of himself along with the news. Within minutes of uploading, the post started getting responses from fans and followers who prayed for his swift recovery and wished him good luck with the surgery. 

“Those knees did wonders! May Allah grant you a speedy recovery,” one of his fans wrote. 

“Really sad but hope for speedy recovery boss,” another follower chimed in.

“Really sad for you champ and for your TKR surgery,” a third commentator posted, using a crying emoji.

It is worth noting that the pacing legend holds the record for bowling the fastest ball at 161.3 kph and it is next to impossible to bowl at a speed of 219kph.

He is considered one of the fastest bowlers in cricket’s history along with Australia’s Brett Lee. 

***************

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed the schedule of Australia’s tour of Pakistan, scheduled to take place in March-April next year. 

Tim Paine’s Australian side is scheduled to visit Pakistan and take on the Men in Green for three Test matches, an equal number ODIs and one T20 match next year. 

The first Test match between the two sides will be played from March 3 in Karachi while the second Test will be played from March 12-16 in Rawalpindi. 

The teams will then play a third Test match in March 21-25 in Lahore. 

The Tests will be played as part of the ICC World Test Championship, while the ODIs will be connected to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League – a 13-team event from which the seven highest-placed sides and the hosts, India, will qualify directly for the event proper in 2023.

All four white-ball matches of the series will take place in Lahore from March 29 to April 5, confirmed the PCB. 

This will be the first time that an Australian side will be visiting Pakistan to play a cricket series here after 24 years. 

The last time an Australian squad played a series in Pakistan was in 1998 when Mark Taylor led them to a 1-0 series victory – their first since Richie Benaud’s side defeated Fazal Mahmood’s team by 2-0 in the 1959-60 series. Between the two series, Pakistan hosted Australia in 1964-65 (drew 0-0), 1979-80 (won 1-0), 1982-83 (won 3-0), 1988-89 (won 1-0) and 1994-95 (won 1-0).

Pakistan staged the last four series with Australia offshore – 2002-2003 (Colombo and Sharjah, Pakistan lost 3-0), 2010 (drew 1-1 in England), 2014-15 (won 2-0 in the UAE) and 2018-19 (won 1-0 in the UAE).

*********

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Following a predictable exit of the Indian team from the T20 World Cup, former Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Ahmed has predicted that Virat Kohli will now not only leave captaincy, but will retire from T20 cricket too.

Shedding light on the dismal performance of Indian players, Ahmed said that they have been living in a bio-secure environment for months now because of IPL and this had drained them, which reflected in their performance.

“Kohli is a family man now and has a daughter. He would now want to focus more on his family life,” he said during programme Jashan-e-Cricket.

“Kohli will now save energy for ODIs and Tests.”

Endorsing his views, Pakistan great Inzamamul Haq said that there is no doubt that India played bad cricket, however, Indian analysts and former players are not addressing a major issue.

“Things changed when even before T20 World Cup Kohli had announced that this will be his last T20 series as a captain.

“BCCI had negated the claim saying that this wasn’t true, but later Kohli had confirmed that he will leave captaincy after T20 World Cup,” he said.

The former cricketer said that when a cricketer says he will leave captaincy, this means there is something wrong in the dressing room.

He said: “As a player, I can tell that Kohli wasn’t comfortable with the team and the environment of the dressing room was not stable.

“You could clearly see two groups — a Mumbai group and a Dehli group.

India were effectively pushed out of the T20 World Cup on Sunday as New Zealand defeated Afghanistan by eight wickets.

**************

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan became the first team to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals after beating Namibia by 45 runs, with brilliant half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Rizwan finished with a slow-to-fast 50-ball 79 not out while Babar notched his 23rd Twenty20 international fifty with a 49-ball 70 to lift Pakistan — who won the toss and batted — to 189-2 in their 20 overs.

Namibia tried their best to match their opponents, with David Wiese notching 43 not out and Craig Williams scoring 40, but Pakistani bowlers never allowed them a free hand as they managed 144-5 in 20 overs.

With four wins in as many games, Pakistan became the first side to reach the last four from Group 2. This will be their fifth semi-final in Twenty20 World Cup history — the most by any team.

Williams knocked five boundaries and a six before he holed out to spinner Shadab Khan while Wiese smashed two sixes and three boundaries in his 31-ball knock.Opener Stephan Baard scored 29.

Pakistan next face Scotland in their last match in Sharjah on Sunday. Namibia will meet New Zealand, also in Sharjah two days earlier.

 

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan Sunday acknowledged former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan’s contributions to cricket, after he announced his retirement. 

Afghan had earlier said he had decided to say farewell to the game suddenly as Afghanistan’s loss to Pakistan had “hurt too much”. 

Tagging him in a tweet, Rizwan said Afghan was one of few Afghanistan cricketers who had contributed a lot to the country’s cricket. 

“He along with @MohammadNabi007, Nawroz Mangal and others started something gigantic for cricket in the country. More power to you my brother. Lots of prayers for your second innings,” he tweeted. 

Earlier, Rizwan had also extended his support to India’s only Muslim member of the World Cup squad, Mohammed Shami, after the latter was subjected to abuse and trolling online. 

 

Lahore(NUT-DESK)

Indian cricket fans will undergo the same feeling that usually a Pakistani fan feels when they’ll be keenly depending on the results of other teams in Group 2 of the ICC T20 World Cup, so that Kohli XI could stand a chance to qualify for the next stage of the mega event. 

India is at the bottom of the table with Scotland after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two games. Kohli’s team is set to play three lower-ranked teams in the days to come.

India, with an NRR of -1.609, is currently not only eyeing to improve its run rate by winning its remaining three matches but also hopes for some upsets against New Zealand, and probably Pakistan as well.

The table in India’s group is led by Pakistan with 3 wins in as many games while Afghanistan has won two matches in their three games. New Zealand and Namibia, on the other hand, have one win in two games apiece.

Pakistan next plays Namibia and Scotland and it is highly unlikely that either of them will stop the Babar Azam-led squad’s unbeaten run in the event. 

If any team India would want to upset Pakistan, it should be Scotland. Pakistan need only one more win to cement their place in the semi final of the tournament.

India next plays Afghanistan on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, which will be a must-win game for them. If Afghanistan manages to stun India, then Kohli’s side will be knocked out.

To stay alive in tournament, India must  not only win, but win the Afghanistan clash by a convincing margin, to improve its NRR and dent Afghanistan’s NRR, which is currently at +3.754.

Before taking on Afghanistan, India will also keenly follow the New Zealand vs Scotland game. While New Zealand will enter the game as clear favorites, Indian will still hope for an upset by Scotland against the Kiwis.

In an unlikely event of Scotland beating New Zealand, the Indians will feel some energy but they’ll have to beat Scotland on Friday to keep their race alive. Before India’s match against Scotland, New Zealand will play Namibia. The Kiwis will be the favorite team to win that match.

Hence, if Scotland beats New Zealand, New Zealand beats Namibia and India beats both Scotland and Afghanistan, then India, New Zealand and Afghanistan will have four points each.

If New Zealand beats Scotland, Namibia beats New Zealand and India wins against Afghanistan and Scotland, then New Zealand, Namibia, Afghanistan and India will be tied with four points each [assuming that Pakistan will beat Namibia on Tuesday].

In either scenario, India will be keenly watching the Afghanistan vs New Zealand game. Any team winning that match will then have 6 points on table. India is schedule to play its last game against Namibia on November 8, it will then know what NRR it will need to achieve in that match.

Seeing Afghanistan’s mammoth NRR of +3.097, India wouldn’t want to tie with Afghanistan on points and would rather want the Afghan side to lose against New Zealand as well. For them, overcoming New Zealand’s NRR would be easier, which is currently at +0765.

India’s NRR currently is -1.609, which means Kohli’s side will really have to work hard to push themselves up to become one of the two top teams of the tournament, and along with putting in some serious hard work, also hope for Namibia and Scotland to pull off some upsets. 

Otherwise the only option they would be left with would be to consider which flight they need to board to head back home. 

 

 

Laohre (NUT-DESK)

Former England captain Michael Vaughan heavily criticised the Indian cricket team Sunday, saying that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should allow its cricketers to play cricket in other countries around the world, and gain experience. 

However, the tweet did not sit well with many Indians who, in agony over India’s terrible loss to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, lashed out at the former cricketer. 

“India should take a leaf out of all other countries … allow their players to play in other leagues around the World to gain experience … #India,” he tweeted.

Essentially, what Vaughan was trying to say is that India should allow its cricketers to play in other leagues around the world so that they can share the dressing room with other players and play in different conditions as well. 

Indian stars mostly play in international matches and the IPL. Rarely do they play in other cricket leagues around the globe. Here are some of the infuriating replies he received. 

Manish Gupta, sore from the humbling defeat, chose to respond to a Pakistani fan, instead of replying to Vaughan’s tweet. New Zealand vanquished India by eight wickets in their T20 World Cup clash. India now has a very slim chance of reading the semi-final stage of the ICC T20 World Cup, as it remains without a win after suffering defeat at the hands of Pakistan and New Zealand. 

************

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan cricket team is all charged and will look to move closer to a semi-final spot at the ICC T20 World Cup when it takes on Afghanistan in a Group 2 Super 12 game at Dubai International Stadium on Friday (today). The match will start at 7:00 pm (Pakistan Standard Time).

Pakistan has so far played 13 T20Is in the UAE since 2016, winning all of them. Babar Azam’s in-form men will start favourites against Mohammed Nabi’s Afghanistan, which began its campaign with a 130-run win over Scotland.

Mujeebur Rahman, with his variety of off-breaks, googlies and carrom balls, finished with five for 20. Such was its dominance that by the time Rashid Khan, the No 3-ranked T20I bowler in the world, came on to bowl, Afghanistan was already on course for a big win against Scotland, who were one of the few minnows playing in the tournament.

Pakistan will take on Afghanistan in what is expected to be a highly-charged clash as both teams will face each other for the first time nearly after eight years.

Today’s T20 World Cup encounter has assumed importance as Pakistan can cement its place in the semi-final if it wins the match.

The Pakistani squad for the Afghanistan clash will likely remain unchanged — and the same team which defeated New Zealand would step on the ground today.

Former Pakistani cricketers have cautioned the Men in Green to not take the rivals lightly.

Both the teams are unbeaten and both are in the top two of Group 2. Pakistan crushed India, then took down New Zealand while Afghanistan have routed Scotland with a massive net run-rate that might end up being crucial later on.