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  • Govt stops PCB from organising T10 league

    Govt stops PCB from organising T10 league

    The government of Pakistan has stopped the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from organising a T10 league.

    PCB Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf had planned to organise the T10 league, initiating discussions with English cricket county Middlesex and planning for exhibition matches in Rawalpindi from January 24 to 26.

    A 40-member delegation consisting of men and women cricketers and officials from England was likely to come to Pakistan for the event.

    According to the website ‘Cricket Pakistan’, a detailed project briefing was presented to the Inter-Provincial Coordination Division (IPC) Ministry by a five-member delegation in Islamabad. Later, the budget for exhibition matches was reduced to Rs28 crores.

    However, at the same time, the ministry sent a letter to the PCB headquarters in Lahore, directing them to limit the activities to day-to-day matters, including banning the installation of chairs, solar panels, and fans in stadiums.

    The ministry has also imposed restrictions on signing memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with any cricket board. Meanwhile, Zaka Ashraf will chair the PCB Management Committee meeting on Tuesday. During this meeting, a new governing board will be established with four representatives from each of the four departments and regions. Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nominated Zaka Ashraf and Mustafa Ramday as government candidates.

    The first meeting of the governing board is expected within a week during which possible objections to the chairmanship nominations will be cleared and heard. After that, the final list of candidates will be announced. Despite the traditional trend of the Prime Minister’s nominee taking over the chairmanship, the current situation deviates from this norm.

  • Usman Khawaja’s unique initiative to help Palestinians

    Usman Khawaja’s unique initiative to help Palestinians

    Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja’s unique initiative to help the oppressed Palestinians has come to light.

    Usman started selling “Freedom and Equality” t-shirts with the words “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal”.

    Cricketer Usman Khawaja in his tweet on social networking website X says “I’ve teamed up with @electricwicky to bring you the uzzy “Freedom and Equality” T-shirts. All profits will be donated to the ‘Unicef Children of Gaza’. Appeal for those who can, please purchase to help support those who are struggling and spread the word!”

    It should be remembered that Usman Khawaja wore shoes with the slogan of expressing solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians in practice. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has punished Usman Khawaja for raising his voice for the oppressed Palestinians of Gaza.

  • Pakistan makes three changes for third T20 match against New Zealand

    The Pakistan playing XI for the third T20 against New Zealand has been announced with three changes in the team.

    Pakistan announced the playing XI on Tuesday with Usama Mir, Aamir Jamal, and Abbas Afridi dropped from the squad.

    In place of these three, Wasim Jr, Mohammad Nawaz and Zaman Khan have been included in the national team.

    It should be noted that Abbas Afridi has been ruled out of the match due to a strain in stomach muscles.

  • Sikandar Raza sets world record in T20 cricket

    Zimbabwe cricket team’s all-rounder Sikandar Raza has set a historic record with five consecutive half-centuries in T20 Internationals.

    The 37-year-old all-rounder scored his fifth consecutive half-century in the T20 match against Sri Lanka in Colombo, after which he became the first cricketer in the world to score five consecutive half-centuries in the shortest format.

    Sikandar Raza completed his fifth half-century in 37 balls and played an innings of 62 runs in 42 balls in the match.

    Raza’s extraordinary form began in November during the Africa Region qualifiers for the T20 World Cup where he scored 58, 65, 82, and 65 runs in Zimbabwe’s last four matches.

    He now stands as the only record holder by surpassing stalwarts including Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Craig Williams, Ryan Pathan, Gustav McKeown, and Reza Hendricks who scored four consecutive half-centuries.

  • Lionel Messi wins FIFA Player of the Year award for record third time

    Lionel Messi wins FIFA Player of the Year award for record third time

    Argentina’s star footballer Lionel Messi has won the 2023 FIFA Player of the Year award for a record third time.

    The FIFA Awards ceremony was held in London on Monday, in which the best players of the year were honored with awards.

    In the Men’s Footballer of the Year category, tough competition between France’s Mbappe, Norway’s Erling Holland and Lionel Messi ended with the Argentinian beating his rivals.

    Messi previously won the Men’s FIFA Player of the Year award in 2019 and 2022.

    Portugal’s Ronaldo has also won the FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award twice.

    However, Messi has now won the award for the third time, surpassing Ronaldo to become the player who has won the award the most times.

  • Muhammad Hafeez’s strict attitude has made senior players unhappy

    Muhammad Hafeez’s strict attitude has made senior players unhappy

    Senior players of Pakistan cricket are upset and unhappy with the strict behavior of team director, Muhammad Hafeez.

    Tension has erupted between team management and the players in New Zealand over the issue of the No Objections Certificate (NOC), Geo sources have said.

    After losing three Tests in Australia, the Pakistan team has also been defeated in both T20 Internationals in New Zealand.

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has given unlimited powers to Hafeez after he replaced Mickey Arthur as director, putting him at the forefront of many decisions in domestic cricket.

    Sources say that some players including Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, and Azam Khan had asked for and were issued NOCs for the expensive league ILT Twenty20 in Dubai. Still, some of the big cricketers asked for the NOC for the Bangladesh Premier League but Mohammad Hafeez is hesitant, which threatens his contracts.

    Senior players are also not happy with long team meetings. Players say that they are interfering and interrupting unnecessarily which is spoiling the atmosphere of the team.

    When Geo News tried to get a response from the Pakistan team management and PCB, they indicated that everything was fine.

    Team sources say that although right now tension is in the initial stage, but going forward, things may become more bitter.

    The final of the ILT Twenty will be played on February 17, the same day as the opening match of the Pakistan Super League. Retired player Mohammad Amir has been issued NOC for ILT Twenty20.

  • New Zealand defeats Pakistan by 46 runs in first T20

    New Zealand has defeated Pakistan by 46 runs in the first T20 match of the five-match T20 series.

    Pakistan cricket team captain Shaheen Shah Afridi won the toss and decided to field first. Kiwis Finn Allen and David Conway started the innings, but Afridi caught the latter out on the second ball. However, in the third over of the innings, the ace bowler was smashed for 24 runs.

    Alan fell to Abbas Afridi after scoring 34 runs in 15 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 3 fours.

    Several easy catches were dropped amid multiple instances of misfielding by Pakistan. Kiwi batsmen took full advantage cruising to 128 when the third wicket fell with Kane Williamson’s dismissal on 57.

    New Zealand’s fourth wicket fell when Glenn Phillips was caught out by Babar Azam for just 19 on an Abbas Afridi’s ball, after which Daryl Mitchell scored 61 runs before being sent back to the pavilion by Shaheen Afridi.

    New Zealand’s Mark Chapman made 26, Adam Milne made 10, Ortam Sothi was dismissed for just six runs while Ish Sodhi and Matt Henry returned to the pavilion for zero.

    Shaheen Afridi and Abbas Afridi took three wickets each while Haris Rauf took two wickets.

    Saim Ayub and Muhammad Rizwan started the innings on behalf of Pakistan. The former was run out after scoring 27 runs in 8 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 2 fours for a total of 33.

    Muhammad Rizwan also scored 25 runs and was caught out by Tim Southee while Fakhar Zaman scored 15 runs. Iftikhar Ahmed was dismissed for 24 runs while Azam Khan played an innings of 10 runs. Babar Azam completed his half-century with the help of 2 sixes and 3 fours before being dismissed at 57 runs off 35 balls.

    The captain was out on a duck while Osama Mir and Abbas Afridi could score one run each, Amir Jamal remained not out after putting up 14 runs.

    Tim Southee took 4 wickets while Adam Milne and Ben Sears dismissed two players each, and one scalp went to Ish Sodhi.

    The next match of the series will be played on January 14 on Sunday.

  • Big setback for New Zealand before first T20 against Pakistan

    Before the T20 series against Pakistan, New Zealand cricket team’s all-rounder Mitchell Santner fell victim to Covid.

    According to the Kiwi’s management, Mitchell Santner will not play the first T20 match against Pakistan due to Corona, as he will now be kept in isolation.

    It has been further reported that Mitchell Santner will continue to be examined in the coming days and will fly home alone to Hamilton.

    The first T20 match between Pakistan and New Zealand will be played today. Pakistan has won the toss and decided to field against New Zealand.

  • Video: Former Brazilian legendary footballer Ronaldo refuses to recognize Virat Kohli

    The former Brazilian legendary footballer Ronaldo is unknown to the Indian cricket team’s star batsman Virat Kohli.

    Social media star Darren Jason (YouTube-IshowSpeed) asked former footballer Ronaldo some questions during a meeting, one of them was do you know Virat Kohli?

    Responding to Darren’s question, Ronaldo said, “No, I don’t know him.”

    However, Darren then told him that he is a cricketer, to which Ronaldo replied that he might not be that famous here in Brazil.

    Darren Jason then told Ronaldo that Kohli is as famous as Babar Azam, while he showed the former footballer a picture of Kohli, and Ronaldo said yes.

  • Nepali cricketer sentenced to eight years in prison for rape

    Nepali cricketer Sandeep Lamichane was sentenced to eight years in prison in a rape case, while a fine of Rs300,000 (three lacs) was also imposed on him.

    A single bench of the Kathmandu District Court sentenced the leg sniper to eight years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs3 lacs on his conviction in a rape case. The court also ordered Lamichhane to pay another two lac rupees to the victim.

    Lamichhane’s lawyer Saroj Ghimer while talking to the media said that they would appeal against this decision in the High Court.

    In September last year, the Nepal Cricket Association suspended Sandeep Lamichhane from the team after he was accused of raping an 18-year-old girl.