Category: Sports

Pakistan is all set to host the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to begin on  February 19 and end on March 9, 2025.

The names of all players for the mega event have come to light.

The ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy will be played in Pakistan and the UAE. 

According to media reports, the squad of defending champions and hosts Pakistan is likely to include seven batters, four fast bowlers, three spinners and a wicketkeeper.

Captain Muhammad Rizwan will be the sole wicketkeeper in the event, and Usman Khan, who was included in the squad as the second wicketkeeper in the ODI series in South Africa, will likely not be able to get a place on the team.

Among the fast bowlers, Muhammad Hasnain can be the fourth fast bowler along with Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf, while former vice-captain Test all-rounder Shadab Khan is likely to return to the national team as the third spinner in the squad along with Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem.

After being dropped from the team, Shadab Khan played five matches for the Panthers in the Champions One Day Cup, where he scored 120 runs and took five wickets. In the Champions T20 Cup at Pindi Stadium Rawalpindi, Shadab Khan scored 24 runs in 6 matches and bowled only 18 balls.

29-year-old left-handed opening batsman Imam-ul-Haq, who has scored 3138 runs in 72 international One Day matches for Pakistan at an average of 48.27, is likely to make a comeback to the national team in the Champions Trophy.

The Champions Trophy squad also includes the return of aggressive opener Fakhar Zaman. The 34-year-old left-handed batsman has played 82 ODIs for Pakistan and is subject to a central contract fitness by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The selectors did not select him for the tours of Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Fakhar Zaman recently played for the Markhors in the Champions T20, scoring 303 runs in 10 matches at an average of 30.30 with the help of 2 half-centuries.

Probable names for Champions Trophy 2025:

Muhammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Shadab Khan, Salman Ali Agha (vice-captain), Haris Rauf, Muhammad Hasnain, Shaheen Afrid, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem.

An Instagram story posted on Tuesday by Pakistani cricketer  Iftikhar Ahmed has gone viral.

The story showed national white-ball team captain Muhammad Rizwan, vice-captain Salman Ali Agha and former captain Shaheen Afridi getting out while trying to hit sixes during the Australia tour, while the second part of the video showed Iftikhar Ahmed hitting sixes in Australia.

The interesting caption in the first part of the video was, “It’s not easy to hit sixes in Australia.” The caption on the second part of the video was “Unless you are Iftikhar”.

However, it was not clear from the story whether Iftikhar was criticizing Rizwan and other national players or whether there was a message for the selectors. 

Iftikhar last represented the national team in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup 2024, where he was unable to put up a special performance and was later dropped from the team for the tour of Australia and South Africa.

During the T20 World Cup 2024, Iftikhar Ahmed scored only 18 runs in two matches at an average of 11.50.

At the recent Champions T20 Cup, Iftikhar Ahmed represented Markhors, the runner-up at the event.

Iftikhar Ahmed played 10 matches, scoring 169 runs at an average of 21.12, while his best score was 66 and one fifty during the event.

Iftikhar Ahmed hit 4 fours and 12 sixes in 10 matches.

After Rohit Sharma’s departure, many players are eager for the leader’s role despite the presence of multiple seniors in the team. 

Indian media has reported that the search for a strong candidate for captaincy is in full swing, but no decision has been made regarding his future yet. 

Jasprit Bumrah captained the team in Rohit’s absence during the first match, but after Rohit’s departure, many players in the dressing room were eager for the  leader role. Bumrah is unlikely to be given the captaincy after Rohit Sharma’s retirement. 

However, the Indian Express revealed in its report that a certain player on the team proposed an “interim captaincy”, calling him ‘Mr. Fix It’ so that the current situation and the dressing room atmosphere can be controlled.

However, the report did not mention who the candidate for the interim captaincy is, but is considered to be among the senior players on the team.

The team’s young candidates are not very impressed with the player who has shown ambitions for captaincy.

On the other hand, Bumrah may be the only choice for long-term Test captaincy, but Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are also seen as favourites for the captaincy.

Star players, previously dropped from the Pakistan cricket team, are expected to return to the national squad for Champions Trophy 2025.

Geo reported that the only wicketkeeper in the Champions Trophy squad will be captain Muhammad Rizwan, while Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan and Imam-ul-Haq are expected to return to the team.

The ICC Champions Trophy squad will include four fast bowlers and three spinners, while seven batters can also be made part of the squad.

The opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy will be played between Pakistan and New Zealand in Karachi on February 19, and the tournament will continue until March 9, 2025.

Pakistani martial artist Rashid Naseem has created history by setting 40 world records in a year, it has emerged.

As per the details, the Guinness Book of World Records approved 28 of Naseem’s records with certificates in 2024 whereas the results of more than 12 other records in different categories are awaited.

Naseem, who also has 125 individual records to his name, in 2024 achieved great success at various events, bringing honour to his country’s name in Romania, Germany, Italy, Singapore, China and Korea to name a few.

This year, he set records for various martial arts categories, including breaking things with Nunchaku, breaking sticks and other things with his bare hands. He also set records in other fitness categories such as boxing punches.

He clinched records earlier held by India, Germany, England, Egypt, America and China by breaking 169 walnuts in 30 seconds with his elbow, shattering the German record, and 39 cans in 30 seconds with his head.

Naseem also broke 43 coconuts with his head in one minute, 120 chopsticks in a minute with fists and 77 yardsticks in a minute with his head. He also snatched the full extension punch record from England in the boxing punch category, throwing 346 punches in a minute against previously held record of 298. 

He also set the record of 110 jumping jacks with 40 pounds in one minute, 106 with 60 pounds and 93 jumping jacks with 80 pounds.

Naseem also defeated Chinese masters in the Nunchaku category, setting a record of popping 80 balloons with Nunchaku in one minute, breaking 100 clay targets with Nunchaku, breaking marble tiles with Nunchaku and spinning Nunchaku 198 times in a minute.

Apart from this, he set a record in the elbow strike category, successfully hitting the elbow 366 times in one minute.

The atmosphere in the Indian dressing room has turned tense after the humiliating defeat in the Melbourne Test against Australia, with head coach Gautam Gambhir angry with the players’ performance, Indian media has reported.

India tasted an 184 runs defeat in the Melbourne Test on Monday, making it more difficult for the Indian team to reach the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).

The atmosphere in the Indian dressing room was not ideal, with the selectors, players, and coaching staff not on the same page.

Reports said that after the defeat in the third test, the head coach of the Indian cricket team, Gautam Gambhir, lashed out at the players in the dressing room. 

Without naming anyone, Gautam sternky rebuked the players and said that enough was enough; they were doing their own thing in the name of a natural game and were not following the plan given to them. India lost seven wickets in 20.4 overs in the Melbourne Test, then lost the Test match. In six months, the players were given a full opportunity to play the way they wanted to play for the team, but now they will decide how they want to play for the team.

The head coach of the Indian team, while warning the players, said that if any player does not play according to the given strategy, he will be sent off. Batsmen were not performing well in the series against Bangladesh, then the batting line-up also flopped badly in the home series against New Zealand, and now the batsmen have failed in Australia, too.

Australia has a 2-1 lead against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Kangaroos are also strong contenders as a finalist of WTC. Earlier, South Africa qualified for the final, defeating Pakistan in the first Test match on Sunday by two wickets.

If India wants to qualify for the final, they must defeat Australia in the last test match.

Pakistan’s batting superstar Babar Azam has officially ended his partnership with Gray-Nicolls, the iconic British sports brand.

The star cricketer is now set to represent CA Sports, a leading Pakistani cricket equipment manufacturer. 

CA Sports, known for its high-quality cricket gear, has been a long-standing favourite among domestic and international players. The move not only highlights Babar’s desire to support a local brand but also aligns him with a company deeply rooted in Pakistan’s cricketing culture.

Fans have already started speculating about Babar’s new customized CA Sports bat, which could soon make its debut on the field. This collaboration is expected to further strengthen CA Sports’ reputation as a global cricket equipment brand.

Australia’s David Warner has registered for the players’ draft for the first time at the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025, signalling his availability for the tournament. 

Big names in the cricket world are registering for the 10th edition of the PSL. 

New Zealand’s Tim Southee and Australian Test wicketkeeper Alex Carey will also be seen in action in this PSL.

The PSL players draft will be held on January 11, while the league will be held in April.

Apart from this, the venue for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Season 10 draft is being considered for change.

Geo reported that the venue for the PSL Season 10 draft is likely to be shifted from Gwadar to Lahore due to logistical issues.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently announced that the player draft for the tenth edition of the Pakistan Super League would be held in Gwadar on January 11.

The PCB has set a window for PSL 10 from April 7 to May 20.

Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka launched their Australian Open preparations with straight-sets wins on Tuesday at the Brisbane International, but Nick Kyrgios lost on his return from injury.

Former world number one Djokovic, who is chasing a record 25th Grand Slam crown in January in Melbourne, eased to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over wildcard Rinky Hijikata.

The 37-year-old Serb broke Hijikata once in the first set and twice in the second for a comfortable 74-minute win.

Djokovic, now ranked seven in the world, was all business against the young Australian and always looked in control as he set up a second-round clash against fellow veteran Gael Monfils.

“To start the new season with a win is obviously very important,” said Djokovic, who is pursuing an unprecedented 11th Australian Open title.

“But Hijikata was really good tonight, and he made me work for it.”

Australian firebrand Kyrgios lost in three tight sets in his first singles match since June 2023.

Kyrgios went down 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3) to Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in almost two and a half hours as serve dominated.

The 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios, 29, is making his comeback following wrist reconstruction and other injuries over the past couple of years.

Ahead of the Australian Open starting on January 12, big-serving Mpetshi Perricard said Kyrgios had shown enough to suggest that his comeback would be a success.

Kyrgios played and won in the doubles with Djokovic on Monday.

“Playing Nick here wasn’t a good match-up for me,” the 21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard said, asked about playing Kyrgios in front of his home crowd.

“He did some good things, he played with confidence.”

The Frenchman, who has risen from 205 in the world at the start of 2024 to his current ranking of 31, fired down 36 aces.

Women’s world number one Sabalenka kickstarted her bid to win the Australian Open for a third consecutive time with a straight-forward win after a sluggish start.

The Belarusian appeared bothered by the high humidity on Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, particularly during an error-strewn first set against Renata Zarazua.

But after breaking Mexico’s Zarazua at 5-4, the 26-year-old surged through the second set to wrap up the match 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes.

“The first match is always a tricky one,” Sabalenka said.

“It was a tricky start for me, but I’m glad that I closed it out in the first set, and in the second set, whatever I tried to do would work for me.

“So I’m really happy for the first win of the season.”

Sabalenka is bidding to be the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997-99 to win three Australian Opens in succession.

She will play Yulia Putintseva next after the Kazakh’s 6-2, 7-5 win over American Mccartney Kessler.

Former national team Test cricketer Tauseef Ahmed has revealed that Misbah-ul-Haq was not in favour of bowler Muhammad Abbas playing Test cricket.

While talking to Syed Yahya Hussaini on Geo News’ program Score, former off-spinner Tauseef Ahmed said, “During the 2017 tour of the West Indies, the selection committee selected Muhammad Abbas in the squad after his 71-wicket performance in domestic cricket. Misbah-ul-Haq brought the team’s coach, Mickey Arthur, to Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq and said that Abbas’s pace is slow, to which Inzamam-ul-Haq said that Abbas has given a brilliant performance in domestic cricket, you will have to take him to the West Indies.”

“At this stage, the entire selection committee, which included me, Wajahatullah Wasti and Wasim Haider, agreed, after consulting with chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, that Abbas should go on the 2017 tour of the West Indies,” said Tauseef Ahmed.

Right-arm fast bowler Abbas is currently in the headlines after a spectacular performance in the second innings of the first Test against South Africa at Super Sports Park Centurion. He picked six wickets in a resurgent performance that had cricket fans enthralled.