It’s Pakistani Cricketer Babar Azam’s birthday today and with all of the wishes pouring in for the batsman, Lord’s, which is considered as the “Home of Cricket”, has also forwarded its greetings to the vice-captain of the men-in-green.
Lord’s Cricket ground from its Twitter handle has posted a video of Babar Azam playing in a Test match and wrote, “One of the finest in the world at the moment Wishing Babar Azam a very happy birthday!”.
The video shows right-handed batsman playing during a test match in Lord’s cricket ground between Pakistan and England in 2018.
A day earlier, Lord’s cricket ground from its account had also wished Pakistan’s former cricketer and right-arm off-spin bowler, in which they wrote, “Here’s a throwback to his battle with Adam Gilchrist in the Lord’s Bicentenary Match in 2014”.
A day after Sri Lanka humiliated Pakistan with a 3-0 win in the T20 series marking the former’s return to the country ever since the 2009 bus attack, a resolution in the Punjab Assembly has sought skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed’s removal from the national cricket team.
“The team that tops the global T20 rankings, has lost from a team that sits at the eighth spot,” read the resolution submitted by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Malik Zaheer Iqbal.
Seeking Sarfaraz’s removal from the team, the resolution further demanded an investigation into Pakistan’s whitewash against a comparatively inexperienced team like Sri Lanka.
Earlier, head coach, chief selector and former national cricket team captain Misbahul Haq conceded that the defeat had been a “wake-up call for the team”.
Pakistan have been humbled thrice in Lahore, losing the first game by 64 runs, the second by 35 and the third by 13 runs, to a Sri Lankan side missing some of their top players, such as Lasith Malinga, Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews.
“This was an eye-opener for us and you as well. The way we go after the seniors, and what we did in the World Cup. We forget their performances,” said Misbah at a presser in Lahore as he appeared to blame the team’s naivety and struggles against spin bowling the reason for the defeat.
Sarfaraz, who came in to bat at number four and scored 17 off 16 balls before throwing away his wicket, appeared to pin the responsibility of the failed run chase on his partner Haris Sohail.
He has earlier been trained guns at also for his poor performance at the 2019 World Cup, which was followed by a campaign seeking his removal as the captain.
Cricket fans in Lahore tore up the posters of skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed after the Men in Green faced a humiliating defeat in the T20 series against Sri Lanka.
As per details, the fans are demanding that Sarfaraz should leave his captaincy from T20 format as he is not suitable to lead the team and want Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to place someone who can play fast cricket easily.
Captain Sarfaraz has said that the players failed to live up to the expectations associated with the number one ranked T20I side.
“The management did their best to help us, but ultimately it’s up to the players and the captain to deliver. The management has no role to play in that, whether it’s the World Cup or this series”, he added.
Sri Lanka’s victory was their first-ever T20 series whitewash and was achieved despite missing 10 of their top players, including regular T20 skipper Lasith Malinga, who refused to tour Pakistan over security fears.
In case you missed it, former Pakistan Cricket Team captain Shahid Afridi, aka Lala has started his own Youtube channel where he posts videos related to cricket and his humanitarian work.
Recently, Lala gave his fans an exclusive tour of his house in DHA Karachi and needless to say, his fans loved it. The video garnered 2.4 million views in only five days!
The video starts with drone shots of Afridi’s house.
Following that, Afridi welcomes everyone to his house and we are taken straight to the basement which is Afridi’s den. Afridi shares that his house was made two years ago and he chose the area because Moin Khan Cricket Academy is nearby and he regularly visits the academy to play.
The basement of the house has a pool table as well as table tennis.
Afridi then shows us his signed shirt collection – he has a shirt signed by Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakarra, Australian cricketer Shane Warne, Younis Khan and one of Virat Kohli, signed by the entire Indian cricket team. Afridi says that Kohli is one of his most favourite batsmen.
While showing his collection, he also shared fond memories he has with those cricketers. Afridi also showed his trophies and other awards he has gotten over the years. The pool room’s walls are full of pictures and mementos of the cricketer’s matches.
Lala then takes the camera to the drawing-room where he welcomes his guests. The room, done in shades of blue, also has gifts he has received over the years including a gun gifted to him by former Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Sachin Tendulkar’s bat with which Afridi made a new record.
“This bat played an essential role in making Shahid Afridi,” said Afridi while speaking about the bat.
We are then taken outside the house. Lala says that he loves green spaces which is why he made this garden where he spends most of his evenings with his family and children.
In the end, Lala showed fans a small annex on the side of his house for his guests who come to stay with him. He said that it is important to give them their privacy.
Pakistan top-order batsman Babar Azam has surpassed Indian captain Virat Kohli to become the third-fastest player to reach 11 one-day international (ODI) hundreds. Babar reached this milestone in just 71 innings while Kohli needed 82, The News International reported.
According to the details, the right-handed batsmen, who had scored 96 in Pakistan’s last ODI against Bangladesh during the 2019 World Cup, smashed his eleventh ODI century while playing against Sri Lanka in the second ODI at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday.
The first match was washed out without a ball being bowled at the same venue on Friday.
South Africa’s batsman Hashim Amla remains the quickest to 11 ODI hundreds, getting there in only 64 innings. Another South African Quinton de Kock reached hi 11 hundreds mark in only 65 innings.
Babar Azam also became the quickest to score 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year for Pakistan, reaching to the milestone in only 19 innings.
Babar has so far scored two centuries and seven half-centuries in this year.
Pakistani cricketer Shadab Khan gave a witty response while speaking to media on Sunday when a reporter asked him how he felt about the fast bowler Hassan Ali — being left out of the squad for Pakistan’s series against Sri Lanka.
When asked how he felt about playing in a series without his friend Hassan for the first time, Shadab said: “It’s just friendship, you make it sound like our relationship is that of husband and wife”.
“I do miss him because we have been playing together for a while now. Not just me but the entire team misses him as he’s always jolly”, he added.
Shadab also took to social media and tweeted: “See Hassan, our friendship has made it to the press well”.
Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan has announced to donate his
Pakistan-Sri Lanka series match earnings to the victims of the earthquake.
The earthquake, which came on the early
morning of Tuesday, has claimed over at least 21 lives and left 450 injured.
Shadab took to Twitter to express grief over the sad incident and pledged to help the affected people.
I pledge to donate all my match fees from the #PAKvSL series to the ppl affected by the #earthquake in Pakistan today. Let’s try to help our brothers and sisters in need.
Pakistan will play its first match against Sri Lanka on 27th September in Karachi in a series of 3 ODIs and 3 T20s.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi also publicly asked everyone to help the affected people.
Very tragic news about the earthquake, please help the affected people wholeheartedly. My prayers are with everyone affected and victims. May Allah bless us all
Pakistan head coach-cum-chief selector Misbahul Haq has named a 16-member squad for the upcoming One-Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka, Cricket Pakistan reported.
According to the details, Abid Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Usman Shinwari, Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Rizwan have made a comeback in the ODI side, while fast-bowlers Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been left out of the team due to back spasm and dengue fever, respectively.
All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been dropped from the squad, while Shoaib Malik has already announced retirement from the 50-over format.
The squad for the T20 matches to be held in Lahore will be announced later. Until then, other players will continue training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
“After thorough discussions with the members of the selection committee and meticulous planning, I feel we have put together the best possible squad,” Misbah said Saturday and added how his experience told him that “there are no easy games or opponents”.
Following are the players included in the ODI squad:
Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imamul Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari and Wahab Riaz.
Former Pakistan cricketer Ramiz Raja is disappointed with the 20 probables selected by head coach-cum-chief selector Misbahul Haq for the upcoming T20 and ODI series against Sri Lanka.
While speaking in a Youtube video, the famous commentator has criticised Misbah for implementing a safety first approach in his selection.
He said, “It was disappointing to see no new name or experimentation from Misbah, despite playing against a second-string Sri Lanka side,” adding that Misbah is playing safe as it is his first big assignment and is opting for tried and tested players.
Ramiz Raja believes that Men in Green needs out of the box thinking with regards to the future.
“You could have invited around four to five players to this camp, who you think are talented and have what it takes to serve Pakistan in future,” he added. “Instead, those players have been recalled who have been playing for Pakistan for last 10 years and we are aware of their potential and limitations.”
England cricketer Ben Stokes has described The Sun’s front-page story about a private family tragedy from his past as “utterly disgusting” and the “lowest form of journalism”.
The Sun published details of how Stokes’ half-brother and half-sister were shot dead by his mother’s ex-husband more than three decades ago.
According to The Sun’s story, Stokes’ mother’s jealous ex Richard Dunn had weekend custody of his children. He shot them both dead at his flat in Christchurch, New Zealand in April 1988. Dunn then drove to his ex’s home and torched the building. She had left to go to work. Alerted to the fire, armed cops raced to his apartment and Dunn retreated inside. Ten minutes later, they heard two shots and found him dead.
In a statement, Stokes described The Sun’s article as “low and despicable behaviour, disguised as journalism”. He said the article deals with “deeply personal and traumatic events” that affected his New Zealand-based family more than 30 years ago. “My family has worked hard to deal with the private trauma inevitably associated with these events and has taken great care to keep private”.
A spokesperson for The Sun said that the newspaper has the utmost sympathy for Ben and his mother “but it is only right to point out the story was told with the co-operation of a family member who supplied details, provided photographs and posed for pictures”.
After Stokes’ heartfelt statement, a Twitter campaign to boycott The Sun began with hashtags #DontBuyTheSun and #BoycottTheSun.
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive Tom Harrison also issued a statement condemning The Sun.
