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  • Shaheen has advice for his teammates: Play for the team, not for yourself

    Shaheen has advice for his teammates: Play for the team, not for yourself

    Shaheen has advice for his teammates: Play for the team, not for yourself

    Fast bowling sensation and skipper of Lahore Qalandars, Shaheen Afridi, has offered advice to his teammates ahead of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
    The pacer told his colleagues that Lahore Qalandars is ready to defend the title in PSL 8, but warned them that no one can cement their place in the team if they playing for themselves. “The player who scores a single run with courage will play all the matches in the upcoming PSL 8,” Shaheen said, The News has reported.

    Champions of PSL 7, Lahore Qalandars are set to defend their title in the eighth edition of the premier cricket event starting February 13. The final of the league will take place on March 19th in Lahore.
    Shaheen Afridi also said that no one will secure his place in the team if he is playing selfishly.
    He said that no one will blame each other after the defeat, as all the players are equally good in their niche.
    He advised his teammates to look after each other and consider the Qalandars their family, behaving like brothers with each other. “Look only for the win and if we lose, move forward and conquer every match.”
    Shaheen added that there will be no junior and senior discrimination in the team. “Shaheen is Zaman and Zaman is Shaheen we all play for our nation. Our duty is to entertain, with great passion and sportsmanship,” the young captain told his team.
    It should be noted that Qalandars lifted the PSL7 trophy last year when they thrashed Multan Sultans by 42 runs in the final.
    PSL games will be played in Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi between February 13 and March 19 this year.
    The most number of matches (11) in this edition is scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi. Karachi and Lahore will host nine each, while Multan will host five games.

    In the upcoming PSL 8, Lahore Qalandars will aim to become the first side to win back-to-back titles, while Islamabad United will eye to become the first team to win three titles since the event started in 2016.

  • ‘India can go to hell’- Javed Miandad bursts out on Asia Cup controversy

    ‘India can go to hell’- Javed Miandad bursts out on Asia Cup controversy

    Pakistan’s former captain Javed Miandad has slammed Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on its refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup 2023.
    “India can go to hell,” if they do not want to come to Pakistan, the batting great said to media on Monday.

    BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Jay Shah had warned that India will not travel to Pakistan for the upcoming Asia Cup this year. Shah also said that BCCI will insist on a neutral location for the Indo-Pak clash and for the tournament.

    In October 2022, Indian cricket authorities said that they would not send a team to the 2023 Asia Cup in Pakistan, prompting Pakistan’s cricket authorities to hint they may pull out of the upcoming ICC World Cup, scheduled to be held in India later this year.
    Pakistan cricket officials also warned India that if they mess with them they will also going to mess with India and the move can split the international cricket community.
    The PCB said Shah’s comments could “impact Pakistan’s visit to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC Events in India in the 2024-2031 cycle.”

    “I have always been saying, if India doesn’t want to come [to Pakistan], we don’t care. They can go to hell. We are playing cricket. It’s International Cricketing Council’s (ICC) job to control such things or there’s no point in having a governing body,” Miandad said.

    If a team don’t come, no matter how strong they are, ICC should remove them, Miandad said.

    “They should play, why aren’t they playing? They are afraid of consequences.”
    He added that India is scared of Pakistan. “Even in our time, they were scared to play cricket against Pakistan because Indian crowd is ‘nasty’. Whenever they lose, no matter they play well or not, Indian cricket fans burn their houses. So that’s why they are afraid of to play cricket against Pakistan.”
    Despite being considered one of cricket’s greatest rivalries, India and Pakistan have not met on home soil in any version of the game since 2012, and only play each other in international tournaments on neutral grounds.

    The ACC will make a final decision on the venue of Asia Cup 2023 in its Executive Board meeting next month.

    An emergency meeting of ACC was held in Bahrain on Saturday which was also attended by Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Management Committee Chairman Najam Sethi. Among other issues, the fate of the Asia Cup was also discussed but no decision was made.

  • Indian border officials bars own baseball team from entering Pakistan

    Indian border officials bars own baseball team from entering Pakistan

    The Indian baseball team, who had arrived at Wagha Border to enter Pakistan to play West Asia Cup, was barred from crossing over by Indian border officials, Dawn has reported. Nepal’s baseball team, which had travelled with their Indian counterparts, entered Pakistan.

    The West Asia Cup will start on January 27 in Islamabad.

    Indian security officials reportedly asked their team to show a NOC issued by the government.

    The Indian team had all the traveling documents and visas in their hands except the NOC. According to Dawn Pakistan Baseball Federation chairman Fakhar Ali Shah has said that they are still waiting for the Indian team’s arrival.

    “Even if they get the NOC on Jan 27, we will adjust the schedule of their matches accordingly,” Fakhar said, stating that Sri Lanka’s arrival had also been delayed and they would fly in on Thursday while Nepal joined Palestine and Bangladesh in reaching Islamabad.

    Earlier, Indian Baseball Federation general secretary Harish Kumar, who is accompanying the 20-member squad, had sent a video message to the PFB, saying it was “thankful to the government of Pakistan, especially for their all efforts for the issuance of the visas to the Indian squad”.

  • Sarfaraz Ahmed shows singing skills at Shaan Masood’s Qawali Night

    Sarfaraz Ahmed shows singing skills at Shaan Masood’s Qawali Night

    Sarfaraz Ahmed’s singing skills were on full display at the Qawali Night of the cricketer Shaan Masood’s wedding ceremony. A viral video shows Sarfarz singing the song “Mubarak Ho Tumko Yeh Shaadi Tumhari.”

    People on social media have been blown away by Sarfaraz’s singing skills.

    Shan Masood had an intimate nikah ceremony on January 22 with former all-rounder Shahid Afridi and Shadab Khan among the cricket players who were attended the exchange of vows.

    Tomorrow, January 27, the batter will throw a valima reception for his friends and family in Karachi.

  • ‘Doors are open’ for Ben Stokes, says England coach Mathew Mott

    ‘Doors are open’ for Ben Stokes, says England coach Mathew Mott

    English All-Rounder Ben Stokes is likely to return to England’s One Day International (ODI) Team to play for the 2023 World Cup. The 31-years-old England Test captain took retirement from ODIs last summer to manage his workload, however, his decision was criticized by many. Stokes took his team to the final and won the title of men’s T20 World Cup.

    The “door is open” for Ben Stokes to come out of 50-over retirement and play at the World Cup in India later this year, England coach Matthew Mott has said.

    Mott said England is happy to wait on a decision.

    “The door is always open for a player of that quality but we are also very aware that his main focus is red-ball cricket as the captain,” Mott said, speaking before England’s three-match ODI series against South Africa begins on Friday.

    England is currently building its team for defending its title. The World Cup will be played in October and November by which time England will not have played a Test for more than two months.

    Ben Stokes was the man of the match in the 2019 World Cup when England won the coveted trophy for the first time after a dramatic super over against New Zealand.

  • Mike Tyson sued for $5M for allegedly raping a woman in the early ’90s

    Mike Tyson sued for $5M for allegedly raping a woman in the early ’90s

    A woman is suing Mike Tyson boxer for alleged violently raping her inside a limo after the two met at a popular Albany nightclub in the early 1990s.

    The woman, who has asked courts to keep her name secret, filed the suit in early January under a temporary New York state law allowing victims of sexual assault to seek civil damages regardless of the statute of limitations.

    She is seeking $5 million in damages, stating that she is suffering from physical, psychological and emotional injury since she was assaulted by the boxer.
    She said to the court that she ran into Tyson at a local hotspot then called “Septembers” and later got into his limo after he offered to pick up her friend and take the two of them to a party. She claimed that the boxer immediately started touching her and trying to kiss her.

    “I told him no several times and asked him to stop, but he continued to attack me,” the woman said. “He then pulled my pants off and violently raped me.”
    Tyson spent three years in jail beginning in 1992 after being found guilty of raping model Desiree Washington, who was 18 at the time.
    Tyson, considered one of the greatest in the ring, has consistently ran into trouble during his career.

    It is not clear in the affidavit at which date Tyson allegedly raped the woman, neither is it clear whether Tyson’s driver was inside the car or the car was parked. Meanwhile, the legendary boxer remains tight-lipped and has not commented publicly on the suit.

  • Mickey Arthur set to return as Pakistan’s cricket team head coach, hints Najam Sethi

    Mickey Arthur set to return as Pakistan’s cricket team head coach, hints Najam Sethi

    Mickey Arthur is set to return as Pakistan men cricket team’s head coach for the second time, PCB’s Chairman Najam Sethi hinted on Monday.

    The South African will replace Saqlain Mushtaq whose contract expires next month.

    However, Mickey Arthur’s contract as head coach is still being negotiated. Talking about the hiring, Najam Sethi said at a press conference, “I am personally in negotiations with Mickey and we have resolved 90% of issues,” adding that he has appointed former Test cricketer Haroon Rasheed as the new chief selector, replacing former all-rounder Shahid Afridi who held the post on an interim basis.

    “Hopefully, we will very soon share the news that Mickey will be joining us and I’d like him to build his own team of coaches once he is here,” Sethi told the members of the press.

    Formerly the coach for South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka, Arthur was in charge of the Pakistan team from 2016 to 2019 when the team won the 2017 Champions Trophy and became the top-ranked T20 team in the world.

    The Johannesburg-born 54-year-old currently has a long-term contract with Derbyshire.

  • ICC rescinds ‘below average’ rating for Rawalpindi pitch

    ICC rescinds ‘below average’ rating for Rawalpindi pitch

    The Rawalpindi pitch’s demerit point after the ICC World Test Championship series between Pakistan and England’s first game has now been rescinded.

    Following a Pakistan Cricket Board appeal, the decision was made. After the first Test of the series in early December, the pitch grade at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was deemed to be “below average.”

    England won the Test by 74 runs after some exciting batting. The pitch was later described as “embarrassing” by PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja, and Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees agreed.

    “It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler,” Pycroft said. “That was the main reason why batters scored very fast and both sides posted huge totals. 

    “The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match. Since there was very little in it for the bowlers, I found the pitch to be ‘below average’ as per the ICC guidelines.”

    The ICC appeal panel, however, came to the unanimous conclusion that the pitch had some “redeeming features” after studying the Test Match film, including the fact that a result was feasible and that 37 out of 39 wickets were taken.

    The appeal panel concluded that the pitch did not deserve the “below average” grade it had previously received.

    The venue had previously faced the possibility of having its right to hold international cricket matches suspended due to the number of demerit points it had received.

  • Najam Sethi appoints Haroon Rasheed as the new chief selector of Pakistan men’s cricket team

    Najam Sethi appoints Haroon Rasheed as the new chief selector of Pakistan men’s cricket team

    Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management committee Najam Sethi on Monday announced the appointment of men’s national team chief selector, Haroon Rasheed, who is a former Test cricketer.

    Haroon represented Pakistan in 23 Tests and 12 ODIs and was also a member of Shahid Afridi-led selection committee appointed only for the home series against New Zealand.

    Haroon Rasheed also served as national men’s team chief selector in 2015 World Cup. He was also the manager of the Pakistan Cricket Team from 2003 to 2005.

    In a press conference, Najam Sethi said, “I think Haroon is the best man for this job. I have worked with him. He is a competent individual and I have given him a free hand to make his team and take decisions.”

    PCB reportedly wanted Afridi to continue as the chief selector; however, the former all-rounder refused a permanent role, citing personal commitments.

  • ‘Not my-self’; wearing Hijab discomforts me, says Iranian chess player

    ‘Not my-self’; wearing Hijab discomforts me, says Iranian chess player

    Iranian chess player Sara Khadem has taken part in an international chess tournament without wearing the hijab.

     As per Iranian Law, it is compulsory for women to wear hijab or cover their head while competing in international tournaments. Sara Khadem has said that she still hopes she will continue representing her homeland in international competitions.

    On September 13 last year in Tehran, Iran, the moral police arrested a 22-years-old woman named Masha Amini from Kurdistan Province for not wearing hijab properly.

    Masha Amini went into a coma when the police assaulted her while she was under arrest. Masha died in the hospital on September 16.

    Sara Khadem’s action is also being seen as support for the protests which have gripped Iran since Amini’s death. Iranian moral police planned to arrest Sara Khadem upon her arrival in the country but the chess player fled to Spain with her husband and 10-month-old son.

    While talking to a Spanish newspaper Sara Khadem said that she is, “not my-self while wearing hijab.” She said that planned to leave Iran after the birth of her son Sam. “I want my son to move freely on roads and play without bothering us. Spain is the only place that pops up in my head and I took refuge here,” she stated.

    Khadem also clarified that she will only wear hijab if there are cameras before an international chess match in Kazakhstan.

    “But I’m not me when I wear hijab. I don’t feel well. So, I decided to put an end to that situation. Because of this, I have decided not to wear the hijab anymore,” she said.