In a Super 12 match that was hampered by rain on Wednesday, Ireland pulled off the biggest upset of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 so far, defeating the defending champions England by five runs using the Duckworth-Lewis system.
Set to chase 158, England lost five wickets for 105 runs before the umpires suspended play due to persistent rain, allowing Ireland to pull off an incredible victory as the batting side was five runs off the mark using the D/L method.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed that their national cricket team will arrive in Pakistan on September 15 to play seven T20 International matches, The News reported.
The guests will stay in Pakistan for 17 days. Matches will take place between September 15-October 2. Then they will leave for Australia to take part in the T20 World Cup, which will take place in Australia.
England cricket team is visiting Pakistan after 17 years.
ECB wanted to play all seven matches at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wants to host these matches in Lahore, Karachi, or Multan as the stadiums have the capacity to accommodate more spectators. The dates and venues of all these matches are not yet decided.
England will also face Pakistan in a three-match Test series.
England will play two additional Twenty20s during their tour to Pakistan next year, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chief Executive Tom Harrison announced on Tuesday.
Pakistani cricket fans were infuriated by ECB’s decision to unilaterally cancel their joint men’s and women’s trip to Pakistan, which had been planned for October, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja saying that his nation had been “used then binned” as part of a “West versus rest” mentality.
That visit would have been England’s first since 2005 and came against the backdrop of New Zealand’s prior withdrawal from Pakistan, citing a specific and credible security threat.
Harrison travelled this week in an apparently successful bid to repair relations, agreeing to extend what had been a five-match T20 series to a bumper seven-match rubber next September and October.
England will also return for a three-Test series starting in November, after the T20 World Cup in Australia.
Announcing the deal, Harrison said: “Myself and ECB’s senior director Martin Darlow visited Lahore to talk face to face with the PCB around some of the things that have happened over the past few weeks, leading to the cancellation of our tour in October.
“We also wanted to discuss the future as the two boards have a historic relationship and want to move the agenda towards a forward-looking one as opposed to one looking back.
“This is just to reaffirm our commitment to Pakistan cricket to getting England teams, men’s and women’s teams, eventually playing in Pakistan at home.
“I don’t think there’s a cricketer in England who doesn’t want to test their abilities against the huge talent this country has and in the conditions they know best.”
It was announced earlier this week that Australia would tour Pakistan for the first time since 1998 when they visit the country in March and April 2022 for three Tests, three ODIs and a T20 international.
“The ECB have shown their large heartedness to be here for which I am thankful to Tom and Martin. It means a lot to us,” said Ramiz Raja.
Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry held an important press conference on New Zealand’s withdrawal from the recent cricket series in Pakistan, revealing that a threatening e-mail was sent to New Zealand from India.
Accompanied by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, the Minister of Information talked about the strict security measures for New Zealand squad.
The information minister said Pakistan was facing a hybrid and fifth-generation war.
Fawad spoke about a fake social media post that was shared with former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Ehsanullah Ehsan’s name in August, adding that the post had warned the New Zealand cricket team against touring Pakistan.
“The post stated that New Zealand cricket team should not go to Pakistan as Daesh would attack it,” revealed the information minister.
Chaudhry said that an article was published in The Sunday Guardian two days later, on August 21, by the paper’s bureau chief Abhinandan Mishra, who wrote the same thing: that the New Zealand cricket team could get attacked in Pakistan.
“The article published in The Sunday Guardian centred around Ehsanullah Ehsan’s post,” he said. “Indian journalist Abhinandan Mishra has close relations with former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh,” he added.
The information minister revealed that five days later, on August 24, a threatening e-mail was sent to New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill’s wife from an ID using the Tehreek-e-Labbaik alias. In the e-mail, Fawad Chaudhry revealed that a death threat was issued to – New Zealand batsman.
“The e-mail said that Guptill will be killed while on tour in Pakistan,” he said. “After we investigated the ID, it was found that it was created on August 24, 2021 at 01:05am while the e-mail was sent at 11:59am on August 25,” he disclosed.
He said the e-mail was sent using ProtonMail, adding that those who knew about the service were aware that it is a secure e-mail service. He said Pakistan had asked Interpol to assist it further in probing the e-mail and the perpetrator behind it.
He said that despite “all these threats”, the Black Caps did not cancel their tour and arrived in Pakistan.
Read More – ‘Pakistan provided more security to New Zealand’s team than their armed forces combined’: Sheikh Rasheed
Chaudhry said that a chartered flight had brought the New Zealand team on September 11.
“A detailed programme containing their protocols and security was issued by the interior ministry, which included the squad being accompanied by two helicopters,” shared the information minister.
Chaudhry said that the New Zealand squad, on September 13, travelled from their hotel to the Rawalpindi cricket stadium along with the Pakistani players, where they held a “full practice session”.
“I would just like to remind you that both Pakistan and New Zealand’s security agencies had probed and arrived at the conclusion that the threats issued on August 19, 21 and 24 were all fake,” he noted.
He said the team again travelled to the same stadium on September 14 and held another training session there, with the same security protocols in place.
Meanwhile, Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar was asked how he feels about England and New Zealand’s tour abandonment, he said that it is not abig deal. Many businessman cry when everything is closed because of matches. So, there is no need to cry over it.
Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja on Monday expressed his disappointment over England Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to call off the men’s and women’s cricket tours.
Raja said England has failed a member of their cricket fraternity when it needed it the most.
“Disappointed with England, pulling out of their commitment & failing a member of their Cricket fraternity when it needed it most. Survive we will inshallah,” Ramiz Raja tweeted.
“I am severely disappointed in England’s withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other. So you can take any decision on the basis of security threat and perception. There was a sense of anger because first New Zealand got away without sharing information about the threat they were facing,” said the 1992 World Cup team member in a video shared by the PCB.
The PCB chairman further said that it is a wake up call for Pakistan team to become the best for other teams to line up to play against them without making excuses.
“A wake up call for Pakistan team to become the best team in the world for teams to line up to play them without making excuse,” he said.
ECB on Monday announced that it has has reluctantly decided to withdraw both men’s and women’s teams from the tour to Pakistan.
“The ECB Board convened this weekend to discuss these extra England Women’s and Men’s games in Pakistan and we can confirm that the Board has reluctantly decided to withdraw both teams from the October trip,” an ECB statement read.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is reportedly amongst the many who are disappointed with Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) squad selection for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Read More – Pakistan squad for New Zealand, England and ICC T20 World Cup announced
According to Geo News, the skipper was not informed about the selection of the team for the mega-event.
Moreover, it was revealed that he is reportedly not pleased with inclusion of Azam Khan and Sohaib Maqsood, who were added by the chief selector after discussion with PCB chairman-in-waiting Ramiz Raja.
The power-hitter wanted to include Fakhar Zaman and Faheem Ashraf in the team, per the insiders, who added that Babar contacted Raja to discuss the selection but his suggestions fell on deaf ears.
The report also revealed that the selection of the 15-man squad sent a message to Babar about directing his focus solely on playing rather than selection of the players.
Babar isn’t the only one who is reportedly dismayed by the players selected for the World Cup. Former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, who resigned on Monday as the head coach, also had doubts over the selection of Azam Khan.
Pakistan cricket selectors have named the 15-player squad for the upcoming Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) against New Zealand and England, and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
The seven home T20Is in Lahore and Rawalpindi will be played from September 26 to October 14, while Pakistan will proceed to take on India in a battle of former champions in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup opener in Dubai on October 24.
Domestic performers Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah have been drafted into the side to provide more firepower in the middle-order.
The 15-player squad includes five batters (Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez and Sohaib Maqsood), two wicketkeeper-batters (Azam Khan and Mohammad Rizwan), four all-rounders (Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Shadab Khan) and four fast bowlers (Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Shaheen Shah Afridi).
Travelling reserves are Fakhar Zaman, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir.
Announcing the squad at a presser, Chief Selector Muhammad Wasim said: “While selecting the squad, we have tried to cover all our bases by catering for the modern day brand of T20 cricket that will be required to perform impressively in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. This includes trusting the abilities, skills and experience of the players to perform in a high-pressure global tournament in conditions that are familiar to us, as well as looking at the teams we will play in Group-2 matches.”
India suffered a humiliating defeat by an innings and 76 runs in the third Test match against England at the Headingley Cricket ground on Saturday.
“Basically down to scoreboard pressure. Always up against it when you get out for under 80, and the opposition puts up such a big score. But we did well to stay in the game yesterday, fight back as much as we could, and gave ourselves a chance. But the pressure today was outstanding from the England bowlers and eventually they got the results they wanted,” said Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
India were skittled out of 278 after resuming the day at 215/2. In what was expected to be easy batting conditions on a sunny day at Headingley, England bowlers were ruthless in their approach and finished the match in the first session of the day to jump to 14 points on the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 table.
With a clinical five-for England bowler Ollie Robinson bagged Player of the Match Award, taking seven wickets overall.
With the series delicately poised at 1-1, the action now moves to The Oval in London for the fourth Test.
Legendary Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar has told the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Babar Azam, to stop giving lame excuses.
This comes after Pakistan was whitewashed 3-0 by England in the recent ODI series. Pakistan also lost the T20 series 2-1.
“It is all lame excuses. There was nothing on the wicket like extraordinary bounce. A little seam movement is expected in England. If you can’t handle that seam, then what will you do?” Akhtar said PTV Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
While in another interview with Sports Tak, Akhtar said: “Virat has what … 70 centuries in international cricket right. So in the next five years, he will get 30 more and I want him to get 120 centuries, or at least 110. See, with these many runs, who can be compared to him? The debate in itself is wrong. And Babar is now coming through. It’s really good that there is healthy competition.”
“If Babar needs to beat Virat and surpass him, he will have to score more runs chasing and play the kind of innings Kohli has. There is no doubt that Babar Azam can probably be the greatest batsman of Pakistan, but it will take time. We will judge Kohli and Babar after 10 years where they stand,” Akhtar added.
“I have a feeling Pakistan and India will play in the T20 World Cup final and India will lose to Pakistan. Conditions in UAE will favour both India and Pakistan,” said Akhtar while talking about the India-Pakistan face-off in the T20 World Cup.
Azam was in fine form during the three ODIs as he accumulated 177 runs, which included a career-best 158, at an average of 59.
As for the T20 series, he scored 118 runs in three matches, which included a top score of 85, at an average of 39.33 and a strike-rate of 151.28.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal has slammed the former coaches for the present scenario of the Pakistan cricket team. His statement came after Babar Azam-led Pakistan was whitewashed after losing the last match to England by 7 wickets.
Ben Stokes-led England, which featured mostly inexperienced players as the regulars were isolated due to the Covid-19 outbreak, trashed the visiting party in all the three ODIs. After the humiliating series loss, the Pakistan team has been receiving flak from several former cricketers of the country for getting hammered by a second-string team.
In a conversation with paktv.tv, Akmal heaped praise on England’s cricketing system for setting up an example of how to form a team in adverse conditions.
“The biggest plus point of England cricket is their system. The players they selected for the series didn’t show a single sign of nervousness, neither did they hit the panic button. They didn’t even complain about the absence of regulars who were in isolation, because they have that kind of confidence,” Akmal said.
“All the players have played in domestic cricket hence; they handled the pressure well and played with planning. They passed a message to the world how a cricket team should be made and what should be the selection criteria,” he added.
Akmal further pointed out that the damage was done to the team during the tenure of former coaches and the same old policies of the governing body has hampered Pakistan’s cricketing environment.
“If you have two coaches of similar types, then that will cause problems. Coaches have the biggest role in constituting a team. Did the last two Pakistan coaches improve the team? They started all this and now the current management is facing flak.
“The players need to play cricket more and more. They need to spend more time on the ground. They need to focus on every format but unfortunately, T20 is getting more attention. Their lies the problem,” Akmal said.
“Vicky Bhai [Waqar Younis] was the head coach earlier and then there was Mickey Arthur. What have we won after or before the 2017 Champions Trophy? We were number one in T20Is and in Tests just for a month. But what about India who has been on the top for five years?” he added.
Pakistan will take on England in a three-match T20I series starting from today (Friday).