Category: Sports

The National Selection Committee has announced the Pakistan 18 member squad for tours of Ireland and England.

National selectors Wahab Riaz, Muhammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq and Bilal Afzal announced the squad.

Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Abbas Afridi, Muhammad Amir, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Usman Khan are included in squad.

The selection committee has re-included fast bowler Haris Rauf along with Hasan Ali and Salman Ali Agha in the squad while spinner Usama Mir and fast bowler Zaman Khan failed to make thier place.

Azam Khan, who suffered an injury before the series against New Zealand is now fit, while Muhammad Rizwan is also now fully fit and both players are included in the squad.

The 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup starting in June in America and West Indies will be announced after the first T20 against England.

The series against Ireland is from May 10 to 14 while the series against England will be played from May 22 to 30.

Senior journalist and Bureau Chief of Dawn News, Iftikhar Shirazi, has claimed that batting maestro Babar Azam, along with fellow cricketers, told the Chief of Army staff of Pakistan (COAS) General Asim Munir during the April 8 iftar dinner that former Prime Minister Imran Khan is our ideal cricketer and national star who won the World Cup for Pakistan. “It doesn’t feel good that he is in jail,” Babar allegedly said.

COAS Asim Munir invited Pakistan cricket team to an iftar party on April 8 after the training camp of the national cricket team in Kakul.

Babar himself has neither denied nor confirmed the statement as yet.

It has been proposed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to schedule the matches of the Indian team in the same city in the first round of the Champions Trophy. This proposal aims to reduce the travel of the Indian team during their stay in Pakistan, Geo has reported.

According to sources, the PCB has sent the initial draft schedule of the Champions Trophy to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on which the ICC will now take feedback from other countries.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in February in three venues- Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Former England captain and commentator Michael Vaughan has predicted that Pakistan and India will not reach the semi finals of upcoming T20 World Cup 2024.

Tweeting on X (Twitter), Michael Vaughan jotted down his top four teams in the T20 World Cup 2024 and called hosts West Indies, England, South Africa and Australia strong contenders to play the semi-finals.

Yesterday, the Indian board announced its squad for the mega event, in which Rohit Sharma has been given the command of the Indian team while Hardik Pandya has been appointed as the vice-captain.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not announced its squad for the T20 World Cup yet, but the green shirts squad for the series against Ireland and England will be announced tomorrow (Thursday).

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will make the anthem for International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup 2024.

PCB has advertised for anthem sponsorship rights on their official website.

PCB has also advertised for the new Chief Curator, according to which interested and eligible candidates will be able to submit their applications till May 16.

ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played from June 1 to June 29 in USA and West Indies.

Former Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Najam Sethi is angry over the misbehavior of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) staff during a raid on the PCB.

“FIA officials took PCB ticketing head Mehwish with them, Mehwish has done important work for PSL first and then as ticketing head for Pakistan cricket,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“Total worth of 60 crore of tickets were sold in PSL, but Mehwish is accused of corruption of 80,000, such behavior with a PCB professional is regrettable.”

Yesterday, the FIA started an investigation into irregularities in the sale of tickets for various cricket series.

A woman working under Chief Operating Officer Salman Naseer and two other employees were called to the FIA office for questioning. The checks issued for the sale of tickets are being scrutinized.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and England Cricket Board (ECB) has announced their squads for International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup.

India’s squad:

Rohit Sharma will be the captain of Indian team for the T20 World Cup.

Other players include Yeshaswi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Simon (wicketkeeper), Shome Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yazvendra Chahal, Arsdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj.

England’s squad:

Jos Buttler will lead the England team in the T20 World Cup 2024 while the squad also includes veteran Moeen Ali.

Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingston, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley and Mark Wood have been included in the England squad.

Apart from this Jofra Archer made his comeback, he last represented England in March 2023.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is being jointly hosted by USA and West Indies and ICC has announced 3 venues in USA including New York, Florida and Texas for the matches.

South Africa has announced their 15-member squad for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Aiden Markram has been named captain for the first time in an ICC event.

The South African squad includes Aiden Markram (captain), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Björn Fortuyn, Reza Hendricks, Marco Johnson, Henrik Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Enrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabriz, Tabriz. Featuring Tristan Stubbs. Traveling Reserves include Nandre Burger and Lungi Ngidi.

Enrich Nortje and Quinton de Kock were recently excluded from Cricket South Africa’s central contracts. Nortje returned from September 2023 after a back injury while de Kock retired from ODIs after the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Former fast bowler Umar Gul cried uncontrollably while talking about bitter memories during an interview.

Talking to host Fakhar e Alam on ‘A Sport HD”, former fast bowler Umar Gul could not control his emotions while talking about the death of a close friend.

The former speedster said, “I became friends with Kaleem in 2004, he was very close to me. When he saw me, he understood what is in my heart. Kaleem died in a traffic accident two days before Eid in the first year of Corona outbreak in Pakistan.”

“I used to come to Karachi only for him, he was not in Karachi so I decided to take retirement. I have not even mentioned this to my wife till today.”

Umar Gul said, “It has been a month since I came to Karachi for the operation. During this time I did not ask any friend to go out. I still miss my friend a lot. After this accident my life changed, everything has gone from my heart, I don’t want to come to Karachi anymore because I have many memories here.”

In October 2020, Umar Gul took retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20 year long career.

Pakistani cricketers refuse to display betting and gambling advertisement on their shirts in County Cricket.

County has signed a two-year deal with Dafa Bet as an official partner, under which the betting company will put ther logo on shirt collars of the players in all three formats.

Dafa Bet had sponsored Pakistan cricket many times under the name of Dafa News by resorting to surrogate advertising, but after the strictness of the government, surrogate advertising has been stopped in domestic cricket and Pakistan Super League (PSL).

National cricketers had already made their position clear to county authorities. Pakistani cricketers in all teams are away from surrogate advertising, alcohol, pork or adult entertainment advertising.

The English cricket board and counties take care of the religious sentiments of foreign players, refusing to advertise controversial content, but with no cuts in pay. In the past, many players from other countries have also refused to advertise with alcohol and gambling companies, South Africa’s Hashim Amla was the foremost among them.