Tag: ICC T20 World Cup

  • Fiery batter of Pakistan Asif Ali voted ICC Player of the Month

    Fiery batter of Pakistan Asif Ali voted ICC Player of the Month

    Fiery Pakistan hitter Asif Ali has been voted as the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Player of the Month for October 2021, after his match-winning performances against New Zealand and Afghanistan a few days ago.

    Asif smashed 12-balls for 27 in Pakistan’s clash with New Zealand, hitting three sixes when they mattered the most.

    In Pakistan’s next game against Afghanistan, the Men in Green were once again in trouble, struggling against Afghanistan’s spin maestro Rashid Khan.

    However, in came Asif again, with the team needing 24 runs off 12 balls. Asif did not come under pressure, hitting the ball with a straight bat and hit four sixes to ensure Pakistan’s victory.

    Read More – ‘Aik over main 25 bhi kar leinge’: Asif Ali to Shoaib Malik

    In total, he scored 52 runs without defeat across three matches for Pakistan in October at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, scoring at a strike rate of 273.68.

    ICC Voting Academy member Irfan Pathan said helping Pakistan win, especially from the “jaws of defeat” is what makes Asif Ali special.

    “Although he scored considerably less than other two nominated players, the contribution he made and the pressure situations from where he snatched the victories made all the difference,” added Pathan.

    From the women’s cateogry, Irish skipper Laura Delany bagged the Player of the Month for October award.

    Delany’s performance in Ireland’s 3-1 ODI series win over Zimbabwe was brilliant. The all-rounder impressed with the bat and the ball, scoring 189 runs at 63, and taking four wickets at 27.

    Delany posted scores of 88, 35 and 68 in her three innings, scoring at a strike rate of 108.62. In the lone match where she was not required with the bat, she still contributed with the ball, taking 1/22.

  • ‘Too old, should retire’: Asim Azhar slams Shoaib Malik’s trolls after his quickfire half-century

    ‘Too old, should retire’: Asim Azhar slams Shoaib Malik’s trolls after his quickfire half-century

    Singer Asim Azhar has praised cricketer Shoaib Malik after he scored a fiery 54-run spell while batting against the Scots on Sunday, making his 50 the joint-fastest of the 2021 World Cup alongside Indian cricketer KL Rahul’s, which was also against Scotland.

    Many took to Twitter to congratulate Malik for the achievement. The Tum Tum singer also lauded the all-rounder, saying: Too old, not good enough, he should retire. Shoaib Malik: the fastest 50 of the #T20WorldCup.”

    Pakistan completed the Super 12 stage with five wins in as many games with a clinical 72-run win over qualifiers Scotland in Sharjah on Sunday.

    The Green Shirts are set to face the Australian cricket team in the semi-final on Thursday, November 11.

    Earlier in July 2021, the Jo Tu Na Mila crooner tweeted a humorous post for the local team.

    'B team se aise khelte hain jaise wo A hain aur A team se aise jaise wo B hain': Asim Azhar on Pakistan's T20 win

  • Shoaib Malik has ‘butterflies’ over facing Australia

    Shoaib Malik has ‘butterflies’ over facing Australia

    Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik has admitted that the semi-final match against Australia is giving him “butterflies”.

    Pakistan completed the Super 12 stage with five wins in as many games with a clinical 72-run win over qualifiers Scotland in Sharjah on Sunday.

    Shoaib smashed 18-ball 54 not out, the fastest half century of the tournament as Pakistan scored 189-2 in 20 overs before keeping Scotland down to 117-6.

    Pakistan is all set to play a semi-final against Australia in Dubai, a repeat of the 2010 T20 World Cup last-four, which the Australians won on the last ball in St Lucia.

    “Of course, we are watching Australia play good cricket and so are we, so it will be a tough match for both teams,” said the 39-year-old cricketer after his man-of-the-match knock, which contained six sixes and a four.

    “It will be a tough challenge for both teams and will give us butterflies but that is always encouraging.”

    Shoaib, who has played in all seven editions of the T20 World Cup, said: “We will take the semi-final as just another game and I think if we do that then we will be able to plan things in a better way.”

    Australia finished runners-up in Group 1, winning four of their five matches, but losing out on top spot to England on net run-rate.

    Having not won a Twenty20 World Cup yet, the Australians are peaking at the right time with opener David Warner returning to form, scoring 89 not out against the West Indies on Saturday.

    Read More – Australian Cricket team to tour Pakistan in March-April 2022

    “We will have a good rest, we are the form team so we need to plan well for the semi-final and this rest will surely help in doing that,” added Shoaib.

    “I am enjoying cricket and keeping fit, always love to come to the ground and do my best for my country and today’s innings was like that, highly enjoyable and it helped the team.”

    Shoaib, who was not part of the initial squad and was only included when Sohaib Maqsood was ruled out with a back injury, said that the omission had hurt.

    After his smashing win against Namibia, Malik took to Twitter and said that he dedicate this win to his team memebers.

    Meanwhile, Indian cricket commentator Aakash Chopra told Pakistan to “keep the trophy in the subcontinent”.

  • ‘Pointless’: Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis slam match-fixing ‘conspiracy theories’ after India beats Afghanistan

    ‘Pointless’: Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis slam match-fixing ‘conspiracy theories’ after India beats Afghanistan

    Former Pakistan captains Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram were critical of suggestions on social media of match-fixing during the India-Afghanistan clash. The pace bowling duo dismissed the claims as ‘conspiracy theories’.

    After two back-to-back defeats, India finally registered a victory in the T20 World Cup with a comprehensive 66-run win over Afghanistan. However, while most of the cricketing fraternity praised India’s dominant performance, some users on social media started a viral trend alleging the match was fixed and India ‘paid’ well.

    Reacting to the trends, Akram said on A Sports, “I don’t know why we like to create such conspiracy theories? India are a very good team. They just had couple of bad days at the start of the tournament.”

    Waqar echoed the sentiment saying, “It’s a pointless thing to say and people should not give it much attention.”

    After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, India scored 210 for two in their must-win Super 12 game. This is so far the highest score of this World Cup and the only time a team crossed the 200-run mark in what has been a low-scoring tournament.

  • ‘If we win T20 WC, all players will dedicate it to my daughter’: Asif Ali

    ‘If we win T20 WC, all players will dedicate it to my daughter’: Asif Ali

    Pakistan’s hitter Asif Ali has shared that the national players have decided to dedicate T20 World Cup’s victory to his late 18-month-old daughter Noor Fatima.

    Read More – ‘Aik over main 25 bhi kar leinge’: Asif Ali to Shoaib Malik

    According to reports, Asif and his teammates have decided to name T20 World Cup’s victory after his daughter who lost her life while battling cancer.

    “If we manage to win the T20 World Cup, all players will dedicate it to my daughter,” Asif was quoted as saying.

    It must be noted here that Asif led Pakistan to two back-to-back victories against New Zealand and Afghanistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

    After beating Namibia on Tuesday, Pakistan became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing mega event. Pakistan’s last match of the Super 12 stage will be against Scotland on November 7.

  • Shahid Afridi says India needs a ‘miracle’ to qualify for T20 World Cup semi-final

    Shahid Afridi says India needs a ‘miracle’ to qualify for T20 World Cup semi-final

    Former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi has said that India have an outside chance of qualifying for the semis but with how they have played their two big games in the event, it would be nothing but a miracle to see them qualify.

    The former captain’s statement came after New Zealand crushed India by eight wickets on Sunday.

    Azhar Ali and Shoaib Akhtar also took to Twitter to express their displeasure on the performance of India.

    A timid India could only manage a below-par 110 for 7 in their crucial match and then saw New Zealand chase down the target of 111 with 33 balls to spare.

    Trent Boult took three wickets, while Ish Sodhi grabbed two crucial wickets of Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He also bagged Player of the Match award for his classic performance with the ball.

    India is still mathematically alive in this tournament but even three crushing wins against Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia would not guarantee qualification for the semi-finals.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan is on the top of the table in Group 2 with six points, Afghanistan stands second with four points, beating India with a big margin, the Black Caps are on third position with 2 points in their bucket.

    India will play Afghanistan on Wednesday in their next match of the Super 12 stage.

  • Pakistan cricket fights back…hard

    Pakistanis are on a high these days after Pakistan cricket team’s three consecutive wins at the T20 World Cup. Pakistan is on the top in their group with three out of three wins against India, New Zealand and Afghanistan. We still have to play the remaining two matches against Namibia and Scotland next week (November 2 and 7) before the semi-finals.

    Pakistan cricket team broke its jinx by beating India for the first time in a World Cup match. And what a win it was! We restricted the India side to just 151 runs and we chased the score without losing a single wicket. The second match against New Zealand was even more special as this had come after the team pulled out of its tour to Pakistan last month.

    In September, cricket fans across Pakistan were heartbroken after New Zealand’s disappointing decision to abandon the Pakistan series over “security threats” just minutes before the first One-Day International (ODI) match was about to begin in Rawalpindi. Following New Zealand’s unilateral decision, England also decided to cancel their men’s and women’s teams’ tour to Pakistan in October. New Zealand was to play in Pakistan after almost 18 years while England’s men have not played an international match in Pakistan since 2005 and their women’s team were to visit the country for the first time.

    It was not just the cricket fans who were disappointed; apart from the huge financial loss to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) because of these cancellations, it must have affected the Pakistan cricket team as well. After the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan has had to play their ‘home series’ away from home for many years. Cricket came back to Pakistan due to the efforts of Najam Sethi and others at the PCB.

    We Pakistanis criticise our team a lot when they don’t perform well but we need to understand what our players have been through for more than a decade now. They have been away from their families for months on end due to home series in the UAE; they have had to rebuild the team after the 2010 spot-fixing scandal; Pakistanis are kept out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to political reasons; and they have had to face discrimination in cricket because of India’s influence at the International Cricket Council (ICC) – Pakistan does not get enough bilateral series and enough international matches to compete with other teams. Under such difficult circumstances, our team has won the ICC Champions Trophy, ruled the Test rankings, made the Pakistan Super League (PSL) a huge international success and much more. We are proud of our Men in Green. They have cheered us up in the most depressing of times. Pakistan Zindabad.

  • ‘Aik over main 25 bhi kar leinge’: Asif Ali to Shoaib Malik

    ‘Aik over main 25 bhi kar leinge’: Asif Ali to Shoaib Malik

    Asif Ali clinched the match for Pakistan, beating Afghanistan with five wickets.

    At the post-match ceremony Asif said: “The boundary was small from this end so I told Shoaib Malik that I’d go for it this over. Thank God we pulled it off.”

    He further said: “I look at the situation and what it demands and which bowler has overs remaining, and the field setting.”

    “I told Shoaib [Malik] that Naveen was bowling well, and from this end I could even score 25 in an over. So I planned for it,” he concluded.

    “The bowlers bowled brilliantly at the start, but I think we gave 10-15 runs too many away,” said Babar at the post-match ceremony.

    “We didn’t quite use the Powerplay as well as we hoped but Asif and Shoaib Malik at the death were brilliant. The way Asif has played many innings at the PSL, I was very confident he’d get us out of any trouble we find ourselves in,” he added.

    Babar also said: “I wanted to stay till the end but got out, unfortunately. So credit to Asif Ali.”

    Pakistan needed 24 runs in the last two overs. Hitting four sixes in the 19th over, Asif sealed the deal for Pakistan.

    Many notables, cricketers and Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter to congratulate Pakistan and thank Asif for the win. Here are a few Tweets:

    https://twitter.com/76Shadabkhan/status/1454144930318852096?t=tOzd5GoPIMRudKDQzXldbA&s=19

    While former Chief Minister of Punjab Shehbaz Sharif wants to make a flyover in Asif Ali’s name.

    England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes took to Twitter and wrote: “Remember the name @AasifAli2018.”

    Meanwhile, the power hitter took to Twitter and wrote: “Aur koi hukam Pakistan? Shukriya @isbunited aur woh sub log jinho ne mere per belief rakha mere mushkil waqt mai. #PakistanZindabad.”

  • ‘Will take the knee’: Quinton de Kock apologises after ignoring team directives

    ‘Will take the knee’: Quinton de Kock apologises after ignoring team directives

    South African wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock has apologised to his teammates and fans for the “hurt, confusion, and anger” he caused by refusing to follow a CSA directive to take the knee at the T20 World Cup and sitting out the game against the West Indies, reported ESPN Cricinfo.

    In a statement released on Thursday morning, de Kock explained that his decision not to take the knee on Tuesday was a response to feeling “like my rights were taken away when I was told what we had to do in the way that we were told” by the CSA board. However, after an “emotional” conversation between the board and the players last night, he has a “better understanding of their intentions” and “will love nothing more than to play cricket for my country again”.

    It means de Kock has made himself available for selection for the rest of the tournament, which for South Africa, resumes on Saturday against Sri Lanka.

    He recognised that he has dominated the cricket conversation in the last 48 hours, although he said that was unintentional. “I never ever wanted to make this a Quinton issue,” de Kock’s statement read. “I understand the importance of standing against racism, and I also understand the responsibility of us as players to set an example. If me taking a knee helps to educate others, and makes the lives of others better, I am more than happy to do so.”

    De Kock was the only player in the South African squad who had previously chosen not to make any gesture in support of anti-racism and said that that was because he “didn’t understand why I had to prove it (his feelings on antiracism) with a gesture, when I live and learn and love people from all walks of life every day,” he said.

  • Afghanistan demolishes Scotland at T20 World Cup, wins by 130 runs

    Afghanistan demolishes Scotland at T20 World Cup, wins by 130 runs

    Afghanistan cricket team has opened their World Cup campaign with a bang on Monday, beating Scotland by 130 runs.

    Batting first, the Afghans posted a gigantic total of 190 runs. The chasing team was limited to 60 runs with all wickets gone in just 10.2 overs.

    Mujeeb-ur-Rehman took five wickets and bagged Player of the Match award for his performance with the ball.

    Afghanistan’s next clash is with the Green Shirts. Pakistan will be playing its second match of the T20 world Cup with New Zealand today (Tuesday), while their encounter with the Afghans will be on Friday.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated the Afghanistan team for their “convincing win against Scotland.”

    He also said that despite all trials and tribulations in their country they showed great strength and and determination.

    Meanwhile, the Taliban have congratulated the Afghan cricket team after they defeated Scotland.

    Taking to Twitter, Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid felicitated the team and wished them good luck for the rest of the tournament.

    “Congratulations to all Afghans on the victory of the Afghan team in the ongoing World Twenty20, Mujahid wrote. “Wish them more success in the future.”