Tag: Pakistan Cricket

  • Teenage pacer Naseem Shah to not fly back home for mother’s funeral

    Teenage pacer Naseem Shah to not fly back home for mother’s funeral

    Pakistan’s 16-year-old pacer Naseem Shah, who is currently in the Test squad for the series against Australia, will not be traveling back to the country after the untimely demise of his mother on Monday, Cricket Pakistan reported.

    According to the details, the young pacer reportedly made had taken this decision after consulting with his family members in Pakistan. The Lower Dir native decided against going back due to the distance and time constraints involved.

    Naseem will stay with the national team in Australia however he has been pulled out of the ongoing three-day practice match against Australia A.

    Shah is part of the playing XI currently facing Australia A, however, he did not bat in Pakistan’s first innings, which concluded yesterday at the score of 428. He also did not take the field when the Australia A innings began.

    The first Test match between Pakistan and Australia will start on November 21 in Brisbane.

  • Blame Sarfaraz for dengue, stray dogs as well: Sattar

    Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar has made a comment over the removal of Sarfaraz Ahmed from the captaincy of the national cricket team in all formats, The Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, when asked what he felt about the removal of Sarfaraz, MQM leader said: “It is wrong to remove Sarfaraz on the basis of bad performances in just two to three matches.”

    He added that if Sarfaraz is being blamed for everything that happened wrong with the Pakistan team, then the blame of the “increased number of stray dogs and the ongoing epidemic of dengue in Karachi” should also be put on the former skipper.

    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday removed Sarfaraz as team captain after citing his degrading individual and leadership performances in all formats.

    The board then appointed right-handed batsman Azhar Ali as the new Test captain, while Babar Azam was given the captaincy in the T20 format.

    However, the announcement regarding the captain of the ODI format has not been made as of yet. As per PCB, it will be made in due course since the team is not scheduled to play any ODIs until July 2020.

    Earlier, Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka in Karachi and Lahore in a landmark T20 and ODI series, but the return of international cricket was marred by the 3-0 whitewash in T20Is at the hands of a second-string Sri Lanka side.

  • PAKvsSL: Angry fans tear down Sarfaraz’s posters outside Gaddafi Stadium

    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.

  • Najam Sethi trolls Imran Khan with ‘Relukata’ tweet

    Najam Sethi trolls Imran Khan with ‘Relukata’ tweet

    Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi has trolled Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan after it was reported that various Sri Lankan players had opted out of the proposed Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan.

    Sethi took to Twitter to mock PM Imran for his comments on international players who took part in the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) in 2017.

    “Imran Khan should guide the PCB on how to make sure Sri Lanka doesn’t send a “Relukata” team to Pakistan!” Sethi tweeted.

    The former chairman was highly crticised in 2017 for bringing in second tier players for the HBL PSL final which was held in Lahore.

    Adding to the criticism Imran Khan called the international players ‘phateechar’, ‘rallukatta’ and ‘from Africa’. The former World Cup winning captain believed that these second tier players could have been called to play in the country regardless of the security conditions.

    These terms used by Imran Khan were classified as derogatory and racist during the time and he also received massive backlash for the comments and had to justify his stance accordingly.

    Sethis’s remarks come at a time when the PCB is still striving to get international cricketers to play in Pakistan.

  • PAKvBAN: How can Pakistan still qualify for the World Cup semi-finals?

    New Zealand’s defeat against England has put a heavy dent to Pakistan’s chances of qualifying for the 2019 World Cup semi-finals, but some fans are still hopeful to see Green Shirts end up among the top four teams.

    Pakistan will get through if any of the following scenarios take place in their match against Bangladesh today.

    FIRST SCENARIO:

    If Pakistan win the toss and opt to bat first; they will have to score 400 runs and dismiss Bangladesh for just 84 runs.

    SECOND SCENARIO:

    The Green Shirts can also qualify by putting 350 runs on the scoreboard and dismissing all Bangladeshi batsmen for just 38 runs; however, if Bangladesh bat first, we stand no chance of qualifying.

    These two scenarios would guarantee that Pakistan overtake New Zealand on net run-rate (NRR) as both teams are still running for the final spot in the semi-finals race.

    New Zealand’s defeat to England has ended their campaign at 11 points on the World Cup points table. Pakistan is currently on nine points.

    Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a tie or no-result washout.

    If two sides are level on points at the end of the group stage, the one that has won more games goes through. Since they remain level, the side with the superior NRR — which in this case is New Zealand — advances.

  • ‘The similarities continue’, ICC trolls Pakistan with cheeky ’92 jibe

    ‘The similarities continue’, ICC trolls Pakistan with cheeky ’92 jibe

    Soon after England somewhat crushed Pakistan’s dreams of reaching the semi-finals, after the former defeated New Zealand by 119 runs, the International Cricket Council (ICC) trolled the Green Shirts over “another 1992 similarity”.

    Taking to Twitter, ICC aimed a cheeky dig towards Pakistan cricket fans, who had been quite vocal on social media platforms regarding the startling similarities between the 1992 World Cup triumph and the ongoing 2019 tournament.

    “This is the first time England have qualified for the World Cup semi-finals since ’92. The similarities continue,” the tweet read.

    Similar to the Pakistan cricket team’s run in the group stages of the 1992 World Cup, the Green Shirts have registered the exact same record of four victories, three losses and one washout in their 2019 campaign thus far.

    However, England’s crushing victory over New Zealand on Wednesday means that Pakistan stand virtually knocked out of the tournament, unlike their fairy tale run in 1992 when Imran Khan lifted the World Cup in Melbourne.

    Incidentally, England’s victory also ensures their first semi-final qualification since 1992.