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PSL X – WHO WILL WIN?

The brand-new season of the Pakistan Super League is in full swing, marking a historic milestone as the country's biggest cricketing festival celebrates its tenth anniversary. As the tournament enters its second half, all six teams are carefully analysing their performances and strategizing their next moves. With the race to the playoffs heating up, it's the perfect time to take a closer look at the current standings — and assess which teams are emerging as favourites to go all the way and lift the coveted silverware.

Peshawar Zalmi

The beloved cricketing icon Babar Azam and his ever-popular Peshawar Zalmi currently sit mid-table, fighting to find consistency. After a tough start with back-to-back losses, they have roared back with strong victories against last season’s runners-up Multan Sultans and two-time winners Lahore Qalandars. Their bowling attack is finding shape with Luke Wood’s fiery opening spells and Arif Yaqoob's crafty leg-spin in the middle overs. Batting concerns are easing too, with Mohammad Haris in sublime touch, TKC chipping in, and Babar regaining his groove. The late middle order, powered by Owen and Abdul Samad, has added vital depth. However, the fifth bowling option remains a work in progress, with Hussain Talat, recently Owen, and Saim Ayub sharing the load. Zalmi look a much-improved side, but with the business end of the tournament approaching, consistency is key if they are to mount a serious title challenge.

Karachi Kings

Karachi Kings, much like the early RCB days in IPL, are heavily reliant on their top three. Their fortunes ride on the performances of big guns like Warner, Seifert, or Vince. When one clicks — like Warner against Zalmi, Vince versus Sultans, or Seifert against Gladiators — the team looks transformed. However, middle-order woes persist despite trying Shan Masood, Saad Baig, and Omair Bin Yousaf. Their bowling unit, although lacking express pace and a wrist-spinner, continues to punch above its weight, consistently keeping them competitive. With Kane Williamson joining, the challenge now lies in foreign player selection, with Warner and Seifert’s spots already locked. Karachi still are among the higher-ranked teams in the points table, but to secure a playoff berth, they must address middle-order collapses. The top three can’t do it all alone when the tournament pressure peaks.

Quetta Gladiators

After years of struggle, Quetta Gladiators entered PSL X with a revamped squad but still await a breakthrough season. A dominant win over Zalmi marked a promising start, but bowling woes have since plagued them, leaking runs in nearly every match. Batting remains a major concern, especially with Rossouw out of touch and shuffled across different batting positions. The inconsistency in team selections has added to their struggles, preventing any real momentum. Surprisingly, Akeal Hossain have not made it into playing XI with other foreign picks also struggling but the addition of Chapman can turnaround. Despite this, with two wins from four matches, they remain firmly in playoff contention. However, to push deeper into the tournament, Quetta must find a settled XI and bring stability to both their batting and bowling. With talent in the squad, a few smart decisions could still turn their campaign around.

Islamabad United

Islamabad United have been the standout team of the tournament so far, ticking almost every box in this year's PSL. With high balls-per-boundary batsmen, a sharp bowling attack, and astute leadership, they look like the most complete side. The management’s smart drafting — unearthing talents like Gous from the USA and strengthening the squad with Nawaz alongside Imad and Holder — has paid off brilliantly. Their batting features explosive openers like Farhan and Gous, a strong, balanced middle order, and real firepower at the death. Bowling-wise, they offer threatening opening spells, a wicket-taking spin duo in Imad and Shadab, Nawaz’s all-round utility, and dependable death bowling options. Their emerging player pick remains untested so far, simply because they haven’t been pushed into difficult situations yet. The only slight concern is Azam Khan’s inconsistent form with both bat and gloves, but Gous’s performances have more than covered that gap. Heading into the business end of the tournament, Islamabad United clearly look like the team everyone else has to beat.

Lahore Qalandars

Despite having the league’s largest fanbase, Lahore Qalandars have yet to hit their stride this season. Their batting line-up, featuring the likes of Abdullah, Fakhar, Billings, Sikandar and Mitchell, looks strong on paper but hasn't clicked consistently. While Shaheen and Haris continue to lead the attack with fire and fury, the third seamer’s spot remains a revolving door, with Zaman, Jahandad, and Azab tried without success. Spin options have improved slightly with Asif Afridi and Rishad. The selection of the emerging player needs to be a smart one, as they have options across key roles — a wrist-spinner, an opening batsman, and a fast bowler — meaning the entire team combination must be carefully adjusted based on who they choose. As they return to their fortress at Gaddafi, the Qalandars will be banking on home support to rediscover their champion form. If they can tighten their bowling combinations and find batting consistency, they have the squad to once again lift the trophy.

Multan Sultans

Multan Sultans have been this season’s biggest disappointment so far. Despite reaching the last four finals, they find themselves in a battle just to stay alive halfway into PSL X. Expectations were sky-high, but underwhelming performances — especially with the ball have derailed their campaign. Their batting line-up, led by Rizwan and Usman had moments of brilliance from Yasir Khan but lacks the old consistency. Captaincy tactics have also been uncertain in many games. On the top it, Rizwan now playing as a pure batter with wicket keeping duties handed over to others is also a questionable decision. Defending 230+ in the opening match, their bowlers were dismantled, exposing serious flaws. The draft losses of Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali and Khushdil Shah have left gaps they haven't been able to fill. Every game from here is a must-win and unless their bowling improves drastically and Rizwan regains top form, Multan’s dream of another final could quickly fade away.

The Winner – Predictions

With the first half of the season nearly complete, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Islamabad United are strong favourites to clinch their fourth PSL title, which would make them the most successful team in the league’s history. Having already etched their name into the record books with eight consecutive wins (spanning PSL 9 and 10), their place in the top four seems almost certain. The only lingering question is whether they are peaking at the right time or perhaps too early in the tournament. However, the beauty of the Pakistan Super League lies in its fierce competitiveness, where any team can still rise, upset the odds, and snatch the trophy on May 18 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Based on current form, a probable standing could see Islamabad United at the top, followed by Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars battling for second and third spots, with Peshawar Zalmi potentially sneaking into fourth position. Quetta Gladiators and Multan Sultans, however, have plenty of work to do, and the road to the playoffs looks a steep climb for both.

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PSL 6 and Islamabad’s Chances

One of the biggest cricketing events in the country is just a month away. As teams finalize their rosters for the upcoming HBL PSL 6, fans of the teams are excited to know that what chances their favorite teams have in the 6th season. Cricket festivity will quadruple as soon as the tournament starts, let us examine all the HBL PSL Teams and their chances based on their final list of players. Firstly, in this article, we will be taking a look at Islamabad United. With a new coach, Johan Botha, team will look to improve their performances as they were last in the points table last season. With one of the successful teams in first 4 editions of PSL, Islamabad United (IU) will be searching for the right combination at the start of the tournament.

Let us examine what Islamabad United have in their bag.

As far as the retentions are concerned, Islamabad United have tried to retain those players that have been associated from earlier days with the team. Likes of Shadab Khan, Hussain Talat, Musa Khan, Zafar Gohar, Asif Ali and Faheem Ashraf had started their PSL careers with IU and all of them have been able to represent Pakistan based on those performances. In addition to that, two foreign players; Colin Munro and Alex Hales have also been retained. Munro is a T20 impact player and has been retained having decent PSL 5. Munro scored in excess of 200 runs with an average of 35 and strike rate of 140 in 8 matches. Alex Hales was one of the major retentions, he was traded back with Colin Ingram going back to Karachi and Hales to IU. Openers were a missing link this year for IU as Ronchi isn’t available, therefore, a strong opening stand is required for which Hales is brought in. Alex Hales was with Karachi last year and played outstandingly well in which he scored 272 runs with an average of 45.33 and a strike rate of 148. He was also in the top 6 hitters of the tournament with 12 sixes in 9 matches.

Now let’s take a look at the picks in draft, some of the gun players recruited are Hasan Ali, Lewis Gregory, Reece Topley and Chris Jordan (supplementary). Although, some of the surprise picks were Iftikhar Ahmed, Rohail Nazir, Phil Salt, Lewis Gregory and Iftikhar Ahmad. Talking of the overall look of the team, Islamabad looks a pretty decent team with covering majority of their basis. One of the areas of improvement for Islamabad United were their bowling in the powerplay and in the end. Highest number of wickets were only 9 and that too were by Shadab Khan, none of the other bowlers were able to get more than 9 wickets. Economy rate of all the bowlers were above 9, although, the league had an economy rate of 8.5 overall. Keeping in mind the bowling disasters, IU has drafted in Hasan Ali, Reece Topley, Muhammad Wasim Jr, Akif Javed and Chris Jordan. Accompanying them will be retained players, Faheem Ashraf and Musa Khan.

IU had not retained any of the wicket keeping options, therefore, they had to pick at least one wicket keeper as well. They went for 2 options including local and foreign with the likes of Rohail Nazir and Phil Salt. IU has done pretty well in the all-rounder’s category too with Shadab leading the pack followed by a long list of all-rounders including Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Zafar Gohar, Lewis Gregory, Iftikhar Ahmad, Chris Jordan and Ahmed Safi Abdullah. Batting has been pretty decent in last tournament as well in which Munro, Shadab, and other top order had a decent run. At present, Asif Ali and Hussain Talat have been in the form of their life in the ongoing domestic tournaments, whereas, Munro and Hales are hitting hard consistently in Big Bash which could make IU’s batting quite long and threatening for the opponents. Spin bowling is also addressed which includes 2 Left-Arm spinners, Zafar Gohar (recently debut for Pakistan) and Ahmad Safi (34 wickets in 10 matches in QET); 1 Off-spinner in Iftikhar Ahmad and leading the team is the leg spinner Shadab Khan.

The most likeable factor of IU is that they not only have a strong first XI but they also have like for like replacement options, such as, Gregory for Jordan, Rohail Nazir for Phil Salt, Bowling option of Reece Topley and Spin options as mentioned above. With decent enough choices and availability of players in the squad, IU looks pretty good to go on at least till the play-off’s stages. As far as the team on paper is concerned, we rate them to be counted upon top 3 teams in the tournament.

Potential First XI of IU could be as follows:

1.       Alex Hales

2.       Colin Munro

3.       Phil Salt

4.       Shadab Khan

5.       Iftikhar Ahmad

6.       Hussain Talat

7.       Asif Ali

8.       Faheem Ashraf

9.       Chris Jordan

10.   Hasan Ali

11.   Muhammad Wasim Jr. / Ahmad Safi Abdullah

However, following can prove to be match winners for IU

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Women in Sports

Women in Sports | A chat with Yash Lahoti from India

Women's CricZone is the most comprehensive and premier media platform for Women’s Cricket in the world. They try to cover every single event in all nations which play the sport. They produce unique video content for digital consumption and share it regularly on social media platforms. Listen to more insights by watching the full interview.

https://youtu.be/h9TnKkFNtXw

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What Franchises might go for in PSL 6 Draft?

Pakistan Super League’s 6th edition is all set to take place from 20th February, 2021 with final to be played on 22nd March, 2021 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The tournament would require a strong team composition for reaching grand finale and as a part of making teams, all the 6 Franchises had given their retentions list to Pakistan Cricket Board. All the retentions were announced by PCB’s twitter handle today which is just a day before the actual draft takes place. The draft for making up full teams for PSL 6 is scheduled on 10th January, 2021 in Lahore which will help in shaping up the teams for the flagship event of PCB.

Keeping a look at the retentions, it looks like all the teams have opted for those players which they feel can help them in creating a winning combination. Every team had an option of retaining a maximum of 8 players. All the teams retained 8 players except Peshawar Zalmi, who retained only 5 players. Majority of the retained players are local players, whereas, out of 45 retained players only 10 are international players. An evenly balanced set of players has been retained which includes openers, middle order batsmen, fast bowlers, spinners and all-rounders. Let us have a look on each and every team individually which will help in identifying the possible picks for 2021.

Islamabad United

One of the most successful teams is Islamabad with 2 PSL titles to their name and they have retained 2 opening batsmen in which one has been traded with Karachi Kings. Other retentions include 3 all-rounders and 1 each middle-order batsman, fast bowler and spinner. Retained players include Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Asif Ali, Musa Khan, Zafar Gohar, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Hussain Talat. Some of the major releases included Dale Steyn, Rumman Raees, Amad Butt, Phil Salt and Dawid Malan. But from the retentions, it seems that Islamabad’s management has gone for retaining performers and impact players only. With probably, the most balanced retentions, it seems like Islamabad will be eyeing on picking few batsmen of one whom can keep wickets as well along with strengthening their fast bowling unit. Another factor needs to keep in mind is that majority of England, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australian players might not be available as they will be on their national duties.

Karachi Kings

Defending champions have gone on to retain 8 players in which majority of local performing players are included. Retentions include the likes of Babar Azam, Sharjeel Khan, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Amir, Aamir Yamin, Waqas Maqsood, Arshad Iqbal and Colin Ingram. Karachi has opted for a majority of local players which seems that they will be relying more on local talent because international cricketing commitments for foreign players will make it tough. Looking at the retentions of KK, it seems they will be eyeing to select some all-rounders stuff including a wicket-keeping option. Karachi has gone for retaining majority of those players which will gurantee them good bowling stuff. Therefore, they will look out to pick middle-order batsmen including the likes of some hard hitting batsmen with spin bowling options. Some of the major miss-outs from Karachi’s retentions are Mohammad Rizwan, Chadwick Walton, Iftikhar Ahmed, Umer Khan, Cameron Delport, Umaid Asif and Chris Jordan.

Lahore Qalandars

Finally, Lahore was able to turn the tables for themselves by finishing 3rd on the points table for the first time and peaked just at the right time of the tournament. Lahore was so close to winning the title but ended as runners up. The retentions list of Lahore included Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Sohail Akhter, David Wiese, Dilbar Hussain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Ben Dunk. All of these retentions were major performers in 2020 with each giving his performance at crucial stages of the tournament. However, Lahore didn’t retain one of their critical success factor, Samit Patel. It was earlier announced that Fakhar Zaman would not be retained but retentions list showed that Lahore has opted for retaining him. Key miss-outs were Usman Shinwar, Samit Patel and Chris Lynn. Lahore will be looking to pick some middle-order batsmen and spin options.

Multan Sultans

Multan had their best PSL last year but was unfortunately not able to win the trophy. The retention list of Multan included Shan Masood, James Vince, Rilee Rossouw, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, Imran Tahir and Usman Qadir. Multan has also retained those players which makes the core of their team including middle order and top order batting along with one reliable T20 bowler in Sohail Tanvir and 3 leg spinners. From the team outlook, it seems that Usman Qadir, this time might get a longer run with Afridi and Imran Tahir at the eve of their playing careers. Key players that were not retained by Sultans included Moeen Ali, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ravi Bopara, Junaid Khan, Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Ilyas and Rohail Nazir. Looking at the retentions, it seems like Multan will be looking to pick likes of fast bowlers and middle order batsmen as it self-sufficient in the spin department. However, like majority of teams, Multan will also be searching for a wicket keeping option in the drafts.

Peshawar Zalmi

One of few teams who are eyeing a complete overhaul is Peshawar Zalmi. They have retained only 5 players as there was an option of retaining 8 but quite a selective list is being selected by them. Keeping in mind their turn in the draft, they seem to select diverse group of players as they have retained only 1 fast bowler, Wahab Riaz; 3 batsmen, Kamran Akmal, Liam Livingstone, Haider Ali and 1 all-round option in Shoaib Malik. It seems that majority of batting talent has been retained but some lower order batting options and complete bowling unit shall be picked in the draft. Peshawar had not performed that well in the last season and may be they want to completely overhaul their team composition as they have even gone on to release Hasan Ali, who had performed brilliantly with bat and ball in the domestic 4-day tournament. Some major outliers from Zalmi were Hammad Azam, Umar Amin, Tom Banton, Liam Dawson, Carlos Brathwaite, Imam ul Haq, Yasir Shah and Rahat Ali.

Quetta Gladiators

With most number of matches won in first four seasons of PSL, Quetta was named among top contenders as PSL returned home last year. However, Gladiators performed quite badly as they were 6th on the points table this year. Their combinations didn’t seem right and as a result of that, they have probably released all of their batting options. Retained players include Sarfraz Ahmed, Azam Khan, Ben Cutting, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Hasnain, Anwar Ali, Naseem Shah and Zahid Mahmood. With decent performances in the domestic tournaments, Zahid Mahmood, unexpectedly has been retained. Some major players who were unable to see their names in the retention list of Quetta were Ahmed Shehzad, Ahsan Ali, Jason Roy, Fawad Ahmed, Tymal Mills, Sohail Khan and Khurram Manzoor. Keeping in mind the retentions list, core of the bowling unit has been retained, whereas, batting department’s overhaul will be done by picking appropriate players from the draft.

Let us all see that how teams shape up after the PSL draft on 10th January, 2021.

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An Interview with Kamran Akmal

https://youtu.be/n1z9sbhZGeA

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A conversation with Kamran Akmal | Pakistan Cricket | Peshawar Zalmi

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The Career Saving Performance

A player who made his debut in the year of 2010 which was not known for much good news in Pakistan’s cricketing history yet it proved to be a great year as far as debutants were considered. Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam and the likes of other promising talent rose to the scene. All of the mentioned players showed a lot of promise but were either not consistent enough or not given enough chances. Although, Azhar Ali was one player who was able to secure his position in the Test format. After 10 years of cricketing career, he stands at over 6,000 test runs, averaging above 40 and 17 centuries to his credit. Not only this, he has been able to lead the national team in limited overs, whereas, at present, he is the captain of test team.

All of this cricketing years came to question when Azhar Ali’s last 2-3 years after MisYou (Misbah and Younus) has been quite dismal. This has caused a dip in the batting performance of the test team but a big thank you to the likes of Babar Azam who had rescued the batting time and again. With age getting to late 30s’ and performance dipping with captaincy record also not a very promising one, the career of Azhar Ali was on the brink of shutdown. With 2 tests completed and no big score to his name along with losing the 1st test from a winning position also proved to be a last nail in the coffin. In such a situation, there was nothing to lose but to come out as victorious. This very moment changed the entire landscape of Azhar Ali’s career.

With a slight change in his batting technique as advocated by Younus Khan (Pakistan’s batting coach), he was able to negotiate England’s bowling in tough conditions. He not only negotiated the bowling but was able to score big runs with 1st test century in England and 3rd against them. The entire innings of Pakistan ended but Azhar went not out with scoring 141 runs. In that innings, more than 50% of the Pakistan’s batting runs came from the bat of Azhar Ali. This isn’t the first time that Azhar has punched back with his performance. He was pushed to the back when selected for limited overs but gave some consistent performances to prove his position. He also scored a double century against Australia in Australia against a very good bowling line up.

But yes for the first time, he has been able to do what other modern day great batsmen do, go to the nets and change strategy for performing at the biggest level. His career might be on the verge of coming to close but he surely can represent the country for at least next 2-3 years based on performance and fitness. Although, this performance has been able to save his career as an international player but his captaincy will still remain under question. What Azhar Ali needs to do is to perform outstandingly well as far as batting is concerned so at least, one end is saved and then to work on his captaincy skills. The performances in batting will also help him in captaining the side better as it could be observed from the past.

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Cost of a drop catch, could Pakistan have turned the tables in World Cup 2015?

The world cup quarter-final came to life with fast bowling of Wahab Riaz and the constant challenge he put up to Shane Watson. Chasing a below average total of 214, Australia were struggling to find their feet with 59-3 in 11 overs. With Watson coming in and Wahab Riaz being the leading wicket taker of Pakistan for that tournament, the match was evenly poised. With Finch, Warner and Clarke all back in pavilion, the only hope of Aussies were Steve Smith. Pakistan had nothing to lose and went all in with 2 slips, 1 short leg and a very square fine leg and third man fielder.

Misbah-ul-Haq as a skipper was very well planned along his bowler, Wahab continued to bounce Watson which caused an extreme difficulty for him. The tournament itself wasn’t a very successful one for Watson as he had averaged only 29 in the world cup. With extra bounce on the wicket and that too under lights, an energized Wahab Riaz made full use of it. This troublesome time continued for Watson in next 5 overs and finally a game changing moment came in the 17th over. Very first ball of 17th over was pitched short with over 145 KPH speed and was hit right to the fielder at deep fine leg.

For the first time in the match, it looked like Pakistan will come on top in the quarter-final, however, this feeling was short lived and Rahat Ali dropped an easiest of catches. At that time, Australia were 83-3 in 16 overs. A wicket at that moment would have done wonders for the Pakistani team. Looking at the statistics, there was not much performance given by the lower batting order of Australian Team. With pressure being exerted on Australia in a pressure game that too at home with 95% crowd supporting them, it was they who were living on the edge rather than Pakistan.

The World Cup journey of Pakistan wasn’t expected to land at quarter-finals depending upon the start they had to the tournament, hence, Pakistan had to put all in and in fact, they were after a dismal batting performance. In the entire tournament, Australia were in good decent positions every time when Maxwell came out to bat except the New Zealand game in which entire side got out. Australia lost 4 wickets above 200 runs against England, they were 170-4 against Sri Lanka, 382-4 vs Afghanistan and 233-4 against India. This would have been 1st occasion in which they would have lost 4 wickets under a score of 100.

Remaining batsmen except Maxwell, had a poor world cup with the bat. Faulkner, Johnson, Starc and Cummins all averaged below 20 and they were also untried as most of the times their batting didn’t came due to the performances of top order. Only Haddin had an average of 40 but his total runs were only 126 in 8 matches. If Watson would have returned to pavilion with Maxwell coming in and playing the way he is accustomed to, there could have been more chances. In such a scenario, the entire untested lower order would had become more vulnerable.

With that one dropped catch, the entire world cup of Pakistan went off. The entire morale gathered by Wahab’s bowling was lost somewhere in Adelaide’s ground. Pakistan team went sloppy after that and was unable to regain as Australia achieved the target in 34th over. However, on the other side of it, if fielder had taken the catch, Pakistan could have gone on to win the match and maybe tournament because it would have given an unprecedented push to the team. The yield of catch would have turned the tables in 2015 world cup and yes we could have said that we are destined to witness the journey of 1992 again.

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Advice for youngsters | Covid for Commentators | Interview of Sikandar B...

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The 2.0 version of Sarfraz Ahmed

One of the most successful T20 captains of Pakistan and 1st one to lead Pakistan towards a major 50 over title in 2017 since 1992 is back in the team. Sarfraz was not only sacked from the role of captain but was nowhere in any of the formats including Tests, ODIs and T20Is. It meant that now performances of 33-year old wicket keeper batsman had to be proven in domestic cricket. As first class season in country was once again revamped with now limited teams in the hunt for trophy, keeping all other things aside, quality was definitely on the higher side.

Sarfraz in 2019’s domestic season was able to score 340 runs at an average of 48.50 with 1 century to his name. He was also able to be involved in 17 dismissals behind the wickets. A pretty decent first class season along with maintaining high standards of fitness kept him in the hunt. With the arrival of PSL 2020, all eyes were set to reevaluate his performance for making a comeback into the national side. However, he had an average PSL season but due to no other keeper outperforming in the season, management went back to considering him in the team. Despite his comeback, he still will be 2nd choice as Rizwan played last couple of series as permanent wicket keeper batsman in all the three formats.

Looking at Sarfraz’s previous 2 years’ performance in 2018 and 2019, he did pretty well in limited overs format. Performances in test dropped as he averaged mere 24 with no big score. In ODIs, he averages 31 with 97 as highest score and as far as T20Is are concerned, he scored 421 runs at an average of 30 and a strike rate of approximately 120. One thing to be kept in consideration is that all of these performances came when he was captaining the side in all three formats. Now as he is making his 3rd comeback in a 12-year career and counting, he has a lot of potential to deliver in UK.

Past performances of Sarfraz suggest that he likes batting in the UK, one of his ODI centuries came at Lords Cricket Ground. On the same ground, he was able to score vital 40 odd runs that helped Pakistan winning a test match last year. Furthermore, he averages 59 in ODIs against England and in last 2 years, his average is 89 against the same opposition. The vital factor that has helped Sarfraz in retaining his spot for a major part of his career was wicket keeping abilities. He has taken some great catches including one on Shaheen Shah’s bowling against New Zealand in world cup 2019. In 2019’s domestic season, he had 17 dismissals in 5 matches. In last 2 years, he has 47 dismissals in 11 tests, 37 dismissals in 35 ODIs and 23 in same number of T20Is.

Sarfraz’s record in comparison to all the other modern keepers that Pakistan has produced till date has been really good. Talking about the modern greats, including the likes of Kamran Akmal, Moin Khan and Rashid Latif, Sarfraz has the best batting averages in ODIs and Tests. Captaincy record was also decent enough excluding Tests, 87% in T20Is and 60% in ODIs. Stats clearly depict that performances in tests were dropping, although, he was still performing consistently in limited overs.

Despite his selection in the 29-member squad, he might travel back with getting no match at all but Sarfraz with fitter than before, shall capitalize on his opportunity whenever provided. Even if he doesn’t get a test match, he will still be considered for T20Is as Rizwan didn’t get many games by his PSL franchise even and his record in T20s isn’t that effective.

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Why is PSL Successful | How Islamabad United prepares themselves | Rehan...

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Conversation with Sikandar Bakht | T20 Leagues and Covid-19

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Cricket during covid-19 | A chat with Rehan Ul Haq

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Pakistan announces mammoth squad for the bio-secure tour of England

In wake of global pandemic, Pakistan Cricket Board has named a huge 29-member squad as they are scheduled for their 1st Bio-secure tour. International cricket returns with a different scenario under new playing rules announced by ICC and matches behind closed doors. Pakistan will be among the first teams to enter ground in such times of crisis. However, the debate on selection of team in limited and longer formats continues.

Usually, at the end of test series, the players of test team come back with limited overs players reaching but this won’t be possible in the current scenario. The tour is planned in a way that firstly, team will reach in UK and spend 2 weeks in quarantine. Moreover, at the end of tour, after reaching Pakistan; all players will again have to quarantine themselves for 14 days in order to curb the spread of disease.

There are no surprises as far as captaincies are concerned, Azhar Ali will be leading the test side while Babar Azam will be skipper in T20I matches. For the first time, Babar will also be the vice-captain of test team, whereas, his captaincy in ODI will still have to wait as there are no ODIs in the tour. Few of the refreshing additions in the squad are of Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah and Sarfraz Ahmed. While some questions still need to be asked on selection of Sohail Khan, Imran Khan, and Iftikhar Ahmad with the dropping of Usman Qadir, without a match.

Haider and Khushdil performing well in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 are set for their careers to thrive in T20Is. Haider had performed brilliantly for Peshawar Zalmi with a strike rate of over 158. While, Khushdil already has debuted against Australia without any major impact but his clean hitting in PSL has kept him in the hunt. Lastly, among batsmen, Iftikhar has to prove his mettle in this tour otherwise it should be curtains for him in the tests. Sarfraz has finally returned to the international cricket with requirements of 2 wicket keepers in such a long and demanding tour. But one reckons, it will be very difficult for him to get a match.

Pakistan is also carrying a battery of fast bowlers with themselves including the experienced likes of Wahab, Abbas, Imran Khan senior and Shaheen Afridi. The young pacemen are also made part of the squad including Haris Rauf, Shinwari, Naseem, and Husnain. Some of the surprising moves have been the inclusion of Faheem Ashraf and Sohail Khan. England’s condition might demand an extra medium pacer who can bat a little bit, hence, Faheem’s selection can be backed by that fact. However, Sohail Khan’s selection have raised eyebrows once again as he had a mediocre PSL and was able to acquire only 22 wickets in 9 first class matches in 2019.

The spinners are kept in line with the requirements of T20s and Tests as Yasir Shah, Imad Wasim and Shadab are a consistent part of team in last 5 years. Kashif Bhatti is the 4th and last spinner included in the squad who had a successful first class season few years back and since then is with the team but has been unable in reaching playing XI. For the first time, we see consistent set of openers for quite a while now in Pakistan’s test and limited overs format with Shan Masood, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq and Abid Ali. At last, this might be a chance for Fawad Alam to finally play his comeback test match but the conditions will be demanding in England. Nevertheless, this is now or never chance for him and he needs to grab it with both hands.

The veterans Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez are back in the team which further complicates the issue of central contract. Wahab, Amir, Hafeez and Malik, all void of central contract but were and in fact are in the consideration of limited overs squad with T20 world cup nearing is a self-questionable decision of selection committee and PCB’s management. Haris Sohail and Mohammad Amir have been 2 players that have excused from participating in this tour. PCB had given the option of backing out to all the players and by exercising their due right, they have backed from it. Amir has to be present with his wife for the birth of their second child while Haris has excused for his personal family reasons.

Reserves are also being announced for the tour in case of fitness or covid-19 issues. The list of reserves is also a decent enough with Bilal Asif, Muhammad Nawaz and Musa Khan as already capped players. But Imran Butt, among the leading run scorers in domestic cricket has finally been rewarded by at least his name in the reserves list. On the look of it, squad looks pretty well with one or two questions. But let us see that what this tour brings for Pakistan and cricket’s return on international scene. Earlier to that, let’s hope that no player tests positive for covid-19 as tests of all the players are scheduled on 20th and 25th of June.

[pakihead]

Transforming dreams into reality, Story of Afshan Noreen

A young girl coming from the city of Gojra not only had big dreams but wanted to materialize those dreams into reality and yes she did it. Afshan Noreen coming from a small city known for hockey has not only managed to wear national color but has brought many laurels for Pakistan. She is one of the main players in Pakistan’s Women Hockey Team. Let us drive through her journey full of challenges and achievements.

Despite being the national game of our country, hockey has been unable to attain the status even close to most popular game in country, cricket. Generally, the sports culture in our country is not very prevalent with cricket as only exception. Yet, Afshan had decided to progress her career as a hockey player and is currently highest goal scorer from Pakistan. Most of the people don’t know that Afshan’s elder brother has already represented Pakistan’s U-19 and National Cricket Team in Tests and ODIs. While growing up, she saw her brother playing cricket but still she opted for hockey and said that she has preference for hockey rather than cricket.

Ignoring the challenging environment commonly faced by females, Afshan started playing hockey in her school life and for the first time was selected for junior hockey team in 2012. Due to her extra ordinary performances, she was able to represent the National Hockey Team in 2014. Her winning performance in the quarter final of Asia Cup Qualifiers 2016 against Singapore is memorable for Pakistan’s sporting history. For the first time, women’s hockey team was able to reach semi-final of Asia Cup Qualifiers due to his 1 match winning goal. Moreover, her performance against India in India was also marvelous. Pakistan for the first time was able to not lose match against Indian team because of her 2 goals.

Afshan has been the only women hockey player of Pakistan to secure international contracts in Australia and United Kingdom. Furthermore, she aspires to play in the world’s best women hockey league in Netherlands. After having so many honors to her name, she still hasn’t been cherished by the sports authorities. Players like Afshan are the ones who constantly promote the better image of Pakistan but are unable to get the needed recognition. Sports board and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) doesn’t provide central contracts to its players and they rely on departmental jobs for meeting their expenses.

Hockey was once, the most cherished game across the country as Pakistan won world cups in 1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994. The men hockey started deteriorating in the last decade and the situation can be determined from the fact that Pakistan was unable to participate in the world cup of 2014. Women hockey is even in a more rescue needed position. Let us hope that the current administration pf PHF with the push of sports turned politician, our PM, will make serious efforts for the development of sporting culture in our country. In the meanwhile, we should wish best of luck to sportswomen like Afshan Noreen.

Pakistan Zindabad !

[pakihead]

New rules announced by ICC for playing during Covid-19

International cricket is due to take its first breath since the emergence of corona virus. The series between West Indies and England is due to start shortly as both the teams have started training with West Indies entire team present in UK. International Cricket Council (ICC) has put up a new variety of rules for managing the game effectively during covid-19.

The changes to game are brought by the Chief Executive Committee (CEC) of ICC. The adjustments brought to the game are for a certain duration as cricket can be continued within the global pandemic. New set of rules which are brought to the game are substitutes, home umpires, five penalty runs and enhancement of reviews.

First innovation is that umpires will be allowed to grant five penalty runs to the batting team if the bowling team uses saliva on the ball. Five penalty runs will be given only if and when two warnings are given but still bowling unit uses saliva on the ball. As per the advice of ICC’s medical expert, Dr. Harcourt, use of sweat is much safer to shine the ball than saliva. ICC has also instructed umpires to be a bit lenient in initial days as players will get used to new conditions. If saliva is being applied on the ball, umpires will issue a warning to the bowling team’s captain and clean the bowl before it is being used again.

Secondly, team will be allowed to replace players during a test match. If any of the players show signs of virus, the same can be changed with a substitute player among the squad. This rule is applicable only in Test cricket. Match referee will approve the replacement of player which shall be like-for-like replacement as done in the concussion cases. The committee may take this decision back as Dr. Harcourt said that the suspected player can be tested within half an hour. But then that would mean that match has to suspended and all the players and officials would have to go in quarantine.

Furthermore, home umpires and three reviews will be used in test cricket, whereas, two in limited overs formats. All three umpires and other match officials will be from home country and this will be done for the first time since 2002. Best efforts will be made by all cricket boards to employ local umpires and officials from the ICC’s Elite and International Panel. As less experienced officials will be involved in international matches so there is a high chance of errors, therefore, an additional review has been added in Tests, ODIs and T20Is.

Lastly, if there are any code of conduct issues, the hearings will be conducted by a neutral approved match official of ICC through a video link. It brings more interesting elements in the game as Chris Broad might be officiating a match involving his son Stuart Broad against Pakistan and West Indies in a home series.

[pakihead]

Sammy angry on IPL teammates for racist comments

Former West Indies world cups’ winning captain Darren Sammy has shown his anger and questioned the teammates of his IPL team over racist comments. The player has not only been one of the successful players but captain too as he led his team to 2 T20 world cups and at the same time, he has been a key member of other champion teams’ in PSL, CPL, IPL, and T20 Blast. Sammy was part of Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2013 and 2014, players of the team used to call him with a racist word as he was unable to recognize its connotation.

Later on, with the issue of #BlackLivesMatter, Sammy has come on the front foot by questioning his teammates during those 2 years. The word used to call him was “KALU”. At that time, he thought it is a funny word as all laughed when someone called it. In response to that, he also used to laugh and was at ease with such a tag. Sammy said that the word was used for him and his Sri Lankan teammate Thisara Perera. The degraded adjective was used to such an extent that Sammy thought of recognizing it as his new name as he thought that it means strong stallion.

However, the real meaning of the word was revealed while he was listening to a US based comedian, Hasan Minhaj. He has questioned all those members that called him from such name to excuse and apologize in front of public. He says that there might be some people who were not intended to use the word as racist but used it for fun, still there needs to be explanation for that. He said all people are not same and there were some really good teammates who were not racist or doesn’t supported but the ball is in their court to get themselves cleared.

After knowing the meaning of the word, Sammy posted a story on his Instagram account showing his anger and frustration through emoji’. The world’s one of the best T20 all-rounders has asked the franchise and BCCI to comment on it. However, both are reluctant to pass any statements as neither Sammy nor Perera had raised their concerns back in 2013 and even 2014. Nevertheless, the situation demands all the franchises, teams and boards to take this matter into account and advise all its stakeholders accordingly. International Cricket Council (ICC) also needs to devise a policy on such issues as it is not a small concern.