Tag: Cricket Pakistan

  • 2021: The year of records in Pakistani cricket

    2021: The year of records in Pakistani cricket

    The Pakistan cricket team is considered to be the most unpredictable team of all. The Men in Green have seen many ups and downs this year but the green shirts flourished with bright colours, making record breaking partnerships, personal and team records and many more. We have collected some major events that happened in cricket in Pakistan and how the year 2021 was for the Shaheens.

    Our champions reshaped the face of T20I Cricket in 2021. Have a look at their phenomenal performance.

    PSL 6 Winners

    Mohammad Rizwan, leading the Multan Sultans, won the sixth edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) in 2021. Sultans beat Peshawar Zalmi by 47 runs in the final to win their maiden trophy of the tournament in June, 2021. Rizwan replaced Shan Masood as the captain of the team after he was traded from the PSL franchise Karachi Kings.

    Sultans started at the second leg of the PSL fifth on the points table, having lost four of their first five matches but led by their captain Rizwan, went on to win four of the next five to finish the league stage second. They then swatted the Islamabad United challenge in the first qualifier and lead themselves to the win in the final, a crowning glory in their magnificent UAE leg of the season.

    Pakistan beats India in T20WC

    Pakistan made history by beating arch-rival India for the first time in a T20 World Cup match in October. The green shirts’ 10-wicket win ended a decades-long defeat streak that began in 1992. Pakistan had lost all 12 of their previous World Cup matches against India.

    The two former champions clashed after more than two years in the 2021 T20 World Cup opening fixture at the Dubai International Stadium.

    Pakistani openers Azam (68) and Mohammad Rizwan (79) produced a batting masterclass to chase down the 152-run target without losing a wicket, and finishing the game in the 18th over.

    Rizwan and Babar partnership

    Babar and Rizwan made a formidable partnership for Pakistan at the top of the order. They scored a total of 6 century stands, which is the most by a batting pair in the history of T20Is. Out of these, 4 were in excess of 150 runs which is also the most for a batting pair in T20Is and came against the likes of England, India, South Africa, and West Indies.

    The duo was magnificent for Pakistan throughout the 2021 T20 World Cup. They were influential as Pakistan defeated arch-rivals India for the first time in World Cup history. The batting pair scored an unbeaten knock of 152 runs and registered the highest opening stand in T20 World Cup history.

    Babar and Rizwan’s opening partnerships were all the more impressive because of pressure situations. Out of their six century partnerships, three came while chasing a target. This also included 197 run stand against South Africa at Centurion.

    The duo also became the first batting pair in history to score more than 1,000 runs in a year. They scored 1,380 runs at an average of 57.50 in 25 innings while batting together.

    Rizwan T20 Runs

    Mohammad Rizwan rounded off a magnificent year in T20 cricket by becoming the first batter in the history of the format to cross 2,000 runs in a calendar year. The wicket-keeper batter scored 2,036 runs at an average of 56.55 and a strike rate of 132.03 in 45 innings he played in the year. Rizwan also became the highest run-scorer in T20Is in a calendar year as he became the first batter in history to cross 1,000 runs in T20Is. He scored 1,326 runs at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 134.89 in 26 innings.

    The star wicket-keeper batter was Pakistan’s most influential player in all formats this year. Rizwan won a total of 6 player-of-the-series awards in 2021, equaling the record of most player-of-the-series awards held by Sachin Tendulkar since 1998. Rizwan bagged 4 player-of-the-series awards in T20Is and 2 in red-ball cricket.

    Record 20 T20I wins in a year

    During the year, Pakistan played 29 matches in the shortest format and won 20 – the most by any team. They lost six while three ended with no result.

    The Men in Green played seven bilateral T20 series, and won six – against South Africa, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Bangladesh. They only lost to England.

    Pakistan also won all group matches in the T20 World Cup – against India, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Namibia and Scotland. They lost the semi-final against Australia in a thriller.

    Babar number 1 T20 and ODI player

    Babar Azam’s incredible 2021 has been capped off with a number1 T20I batting ranking.

    Combining in an opening partnership of 158 with Mohammad Rizwan against the West Indies in Karachi to set up a 3-0 series win, Babar’s 79 from just 53 balls propelled him back to the top, overtaking Aiden Markram and Dawid Malan. He now sits number1 in both the men’s T20I and ODI rankings going into the final days of the year.

    This was only the second time in history that a batter was ranked number one in both formats at the end of a year. Australian legend, Ricky Ponting, achieved the feat in 2005.

    Babar Nominated for ODI Player of the Year Award

    The Skipper of Pakistan is also nominated for the ODI Player of the Year award. He scored 405 runs in six matches in the outgoing year at an average of 67.50 with two centuries in the 50-over format.

    Alongside Azam, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Ireland’s Paul Stirling and South Africa’s Janneman Malan have been named as contenders for the award.

    Rizwan Nominated for T20Player of the Year Award

    The star batter is also nominated for the T20I Player of the Year award for his exceptional performances with the bat.

    Alongside Rizwan, Jos Buttler, Wanindu Hasaranga and Mitchell Marsh are the four nominees for the Men’s T20 Cricketer of the Year Award.

    Two Consecutive Whitewash

    The Pakistan cricket team had a great two series against Bangladesh and West Indies. First the green shirts beat Bangladesh with a 2-0 clean sweep in Test matches and 3-0 whitewash in T20Is and the national team later triumphed a T20I series at home against West Indies.

    Meanwhile, led by the dynamic opening duo of Rizwan and Babar, Pakistan pulled off a record chase in the third and final T20 international to register a 3-0 series whitewash over the covid-hit West Indies team.

    Pakistan beats India in U19 Asia Cup

    Pakistan beat arch-rivals India by two wickets in a nail-biting match of the group stage of the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Under-19s Asia Cup, with young stars Muhammad Shehzad and Zeeshan Zameer’s heroics leaving the Men In Blue surprised.

    Skipper Qasim Akram put India to bat after winning the toss and restricted the Men In Blue to 237 in the 50-over match at the ICC Academy Ground.

  • VIDEO: ‘Real Qalander’ Fakhar Zaman eating with ground staff wins hearts

    VIDEO: ‘Real Qalander’ Fakhar Zaman eating with ground staff wins hearts

    Video of Pakistani cricketer Fakhar Zaman, who represents the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa team, eating with the ground staff after the final match of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is doing the rounds on internet and it has won the hearts of Pakistani social media.

    https://twitter.com/PCBofficials/status/1476480509412790275?s=20

    Zaman had lunch with the ground staff at the National Stadium in Karachi during the innings break on the last day of the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Tournament.

    Several fans took to Twitter and appreciated the cricketer for the humility and nice gesture, while some called Zaman a real Qalandar.

    https://twitter.com/ShaziyaaMehmood/status/1476211317371543553?s=20

    Zaman hit a quick-fire fifty, smashing 9 fours and a monstrous six in the 5-day match.

    After the match, Zaman also took selfies with his fans.

    KP has won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy cricket tournament title for the fifth time while successfully defending its title. The team has won five consecutive domestic tournaments in two years.

    Northern who were set a 384-run target on the final day, went down fighting as they were bowled out for 214 in their second innings with 18.4 overs left in the final session of the match.

  • Twitter reacts after Shaheen ‘Test Player of the Year’ snub

    Twitter reacts after Shaheen ‘Test Player of the Year’ snub

    Pakistani Twitter has strongly reacted after Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has not been named among the nominees for ICC ‘Test Player of the Year’.

    India’s spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, England skipper Joe Root, New Zealand’s all-rounder Kylie Jamieson and Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne have been nominated for the award on Tuesday.

    Shaheen was the second highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, during 2021, with 47 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 17.06.

    Interestingly, the ICC decided to include New Zealand’s pacer Kyle Jamieson, who had bagged fewer wickets than Shaheen, in the list. The right-armer bagged 27 wickets in five matches.

    Explaining their decision, the ICC said, in a statement, that “in New Zealand’s finest hour, as they celebrated their ICC World Test Championship victory, Jamieson was the player who made the difference”.

    “Away from the seam-friendly pitches of New Zealand and England, Jamieson also impressed on the flat decks in India, getting the ball to shape beautifully,” the statement added.

    However, Twitter users were not happy with ICC’s decision to pick Jamieson over Shaheen.

    https://twitter.com/EhtishamEjaz051/status/1476052082163601408?s=20

    Some of the netizens were even questioning Hassan Ali’s exclusion from the nominees as the star Pakistani speedster has grabbed 41 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 16.07 which include five, 5 wicket-hauls and one 10 wicket-hauls.

  • ‘Pick me’: Namibia captain asks to be picked in PSL after Kamran Akmal backs out

    ‘Pick me’: Namibia captain asks to be picked in PSL after Kamran Akmal backs out

    After Kamran Akmal announced that he would not play in the 2022 Pakistan Super League (PSL), Namibian cricketer Gerhard Erasmus and Dutch player Maxwell O’Dowd took to Twitter to express their PSL ambitions.

    Kamran Akmal has decided not to play in PSL 2022 after being picked in the draft in the lowest category of players by his old team Peshawar Zalmi. The 39-year-old was moved down from the Diamond category to the Gold category by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). But he was eventually the last pick for Peshawar from the Silver category. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, the wicketkeeper-batter called it a “humiliation” and revealed he would not play in the tournament. ESPNCricinfo shared his quote on Twitter to which Namibian cricket captain Gerhard Erasmus replied that he would love to play in the PSL for free.

    “Pick me, I’ll be there for free, wrote Erasmus.

    Meanwhile, Netherlands cricketer Maxwell O’Dowd also retweeted the original post and expressed his desire to play in the tournament next year. He wrote, “Up for a swap!? I’ll gladly play!”

    On Monday, Akmal had said that it was also “an embarrassment”.

    “If it has to end like this, so be it, but I am not going to play with such humiliation,” he said.

    “This is an embarrassment. You don’t treat a player like this. With all the runs I have scored in the league, I deserve better,” he said in the interview.

  • Ramiz Raja confirms PSL for women cricketers

    Ramiz Raja confirms PSL for women cricketers

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja has confirmed Pakistan Super League (PSL) for women cricketers.

    In an interview to international media, Raja said that Pakistan does not have any system for women’s cricket, we do not have any schools or colleges for it.

    While talking about women cricket, Chairman PCB said that this kind of cricket will be the first in Asia because women cricket is also an integral aspect of Pakistani cricket.

    Referring to the difficulties faced by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (AFG) in the interview, Raja said that cricket in Afghanistan is currently facing difficulties but like the cricket boards of other countries, PCB also stands by Afghanistan.

    Earlier in a video posted by PCB, Raja hinted at the possibility of organising a women’s Pakistan Super League in the near-future. Ramiz was speaking after ECB CEO Tom Harrison visited Pakistan last month to try and repair relations following the recriminations of England pulling out of a two-match T20I series in October.

  • PCB announces squads for Windies tour, Hassan rested, Sarfaraz dropped

    PCB announces squads for Windies tour, Hassan rested, Sarfaraz dropped

    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the squads for West Indies tour to Pakistan. Pacer Hassan Ali has been given a rest and wicket keeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed has been dropped from the squad.

    Shoaib Malik and Imad Wasim have been dropped from Pakistan’s T20I squad along with Sarfaraz.

    Sarfaraz, who was a late inclusion in Pakistan’s 2021 T20 World Cup squad, didn’t play in the tournament but got a chance in Pakistan’s previous series against Bangladesh, where he scored six. For more than two years, he has rarely found an opportunity to play in the eleven.

    Similarly, Shoaib Malik, who played some handy knocks in the middle order for the team in the recently-concluded World Cup, was dismissed for a duck in the only batting opportunity in Bangladesh.

    “As we have been playing T20Is since October and now have a pretty settled and balanced side, we have decided to reduce the number of players to 15. As such, we have not included Imad Wasim, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik,” chief selector Muhammad Wasim said.

    “In consultation with Hasan Ali and taking into consideration that he has been playing non-stop cricket since returning from a back injury, we have decided to give him time off from this series,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Hassan has also been rested for the ODI series, while Sarfaraz has not found favour in the 50-over setup either. Along with the duo, all-rounder Faheem Ashraf and Salman Ali, who were a part of the side that played in England, have been dropped. In turn, the selectors have included Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Wasim Jr for the three ODIs against West Indies, which will be a part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.

    T20I Squad: Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan (VC), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (Wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.

    The Windies will be landing in Pakistan on December 9, while the series is set to be starting from December 13.

  • NCOC reportedly allows full capacity crowd for Pak-West Indies series

    NCOC reportedly allows full capacity crowd for Pak-West Indies series

    The National Command and Control Center (NCOC) has reportedly allowed a hundred per cent crowd capacity for Pakistan vs West Indies series at the National Stadium, Karachi.

    Read More – PCB announces schedule of West Indies tour of Pakistan

    The three-match T20I series is all set to commence from December 13 after which the teams will face each other in the ODI series, which is part of the ICC World Cup Super League, at the same venue.

    According to Cricket Pakistan, NCOC has allowed 100 per cent capacity after a request by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

    Children up to the age of 12, who have been vaccinated, will also be able to enjoy the game at the stadium.

    Moreover, NCOC has directed PCB to follow all Covid-19 protocols for these matches.

    Meanwhile, the Windies had earlier announced their squads for the T20Is and ODIs. Match officials for the series have also been announced by PCB.

    Aleem Dar, member of ICC Elite Panel of Umpires, will team up with Ahsan Raza, one of the four Pakistani umpires in the ICC International Panel of Umpires, for the on-field umpiring duties of the first of the three T20I.

    The Windies are scheduled to arrive in Karachi on December 9.

  • Mohammad Rizwan praises young boy for making an ‘incredible’ sketch

    Mohammad Rizwan praises young boy for making an ‘incredible’ sketch

    Pakistan’s wicket keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has praised a boy from Gilgit Baltistan who made a sketch of him. While sharing the sketch on his own Instagram, the cricketer said that it is “incredible”.

    “Farhan Ali Macholvi, this is incredible. Thank you so much for your love & support. You are the pride of our Gilgit-Baltistan,” he wrote.

    The cricketer further said that the children are the assets of this nation and they will make Pakistan strong.

    “I strongly believe that our real assets are children. They will build a strong Pakistan. May you keep doing what you love.”

    The sketch shows Rizwan in the team’s green jersey, waving at fans, as he walks by with a bat tucked under his arm, helmet in hand.

    The 29-year-old cricketer won hearts of Pakistani fans with his prolific performance at the T20 World Cup 2021. He scored 281 runs in his six innings at the tournament while scoring a half century in his first ICC semi-final of his career.

    Rizwan became the first player in the history of the game to score 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year.

  • ‘No one should point fingers, I back everyone’: Babar Azam talks to team after losing semi-final

    ‘No one should point fingers, I back everyone’: Babar Azam talks to team after losing semi-final

    Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has given a pep-talk to the team in the dressing-room after they lost the semi-final to Australia in Dubai on Thursday. The young captain stressed it’s important to not point fingers at each other and that the entire team failed to play up to its potential in the heartbreaking loss on Thursday.

    Read More – Hayden lauds ‘warrior’ Rizwan, who was in hospital the night before Pak-Aus match

    Talking about unity in the team, Babar said: “Everybody is sad, everybody is feeling the pain. We need to figure out where we went wrong and where we have to improve. No one will tell us this, we all know this. But we have to learn from this.”

    “We have created a unit at the World Cup and this shouldn’t break. There should be no finger-pointing. We should not go into saying ‘he did this, he did this and all that’. We, as a team, did not play well. No one should point fingers at any other person.”

    “We lost, it’s okay but we have to learn from this. We will. In the times to come, we shouldn’t make the same mistakes,” added the captain.

    “I am telling you again, we shouldn’t let the unit break. We have worked hard to create this. One loss shouldn’t force anyone to leave this unit. As a captain, I am backing everyone. We have created a very good atmosphere in the dressing room, one that feels like family. Everyone has put in the effort. Every match, every player has taken up responsibility,” said Babar.

    “We will put in the effort, that is in our hands but the result is not. I know everyone is sad. But this will last for a short while. We will start thinking about where we went wrong and where we should have improved. Don’t get bogged down. Try lifting each other. Learn, there is a bit of sadness but we have to overcome that,” Babar concluded.

    Pakistan posted 176 runs for the loss of 4 wickets on the board in their quota of 20 overs, thanks to fifties from Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. However, defending a total in Dubai proved difficult yet again as Pakistan paid the price for some ordinary effort with the ball and on the field.

    Australia will face New Zealand in the final of the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday

  • Shaniera Akram tells Australia, England what they should be worried about when touring Pakistan

    Shaniera Akram tells Australia, England what they should be worried about when touring Pakistan

    Shaniera Akram, who is a humanitarian, environmentalist and wife of legendary Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram, has told Australian and English cricket teams what they should be worried about when touring Pakistan.

    Taking to Twitter, Shaniera wrote: “The only thing Australia & England should be worried about when coming to play cricket in Pakistan is The Pakistan Cricket Team!”

    “Thank you @CricketAus and @ECB_cricket for this opportunity,” she wrote, adding, “Like we always do, Pakistan & @TheRealPCB will welcome both teams with open arms & hearts!”

    Australian and English Boards have announced a visit to Pakistan. Yesterday, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja met England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman. The series was discussed. Two additional matches were also announced after the meeting.

    The schedule of Australia’s visit to Pakistan has also been released two days ago, this will be Australia’s first visit to Pakistan after 1998.

    Fans are eager to know whether Shaniera, who lives in Pakistan but is of Australian origin, will be supporting Pakistan or Australia during the T20 World Cup semi-final.

    “Million dollar question: I’m deeply interested in knowing that who would @iamShaniera Bhabhi be supporting at #PAKVSAUS in the 2nd #SemiFinal of #T20WorldCup?” asked Twitter user Samra Tariq.

    At this, Shaniera did not give a clear response.

    “I want to know from all of you ??? Which team do you guys think I will cheer for???” Shaniera said.

    Pakistan will face Australia in the semi-final in Dubai on November 11. Pakistan remained undefeated in the Super 12 and ended the stage on a high.