Good news may be on the horizon for fans of Pakistan fast bowling sensation Naseem Shah. The pacer, who was forced to drop out of the World Cup squad after a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery, will start practicing in the nets in the next few days.
According to the details, sources within Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have said that it is likely that Shah will start practice before the start of the tour of Australia, however, the chances of Naseem Shah’s participation are even now, quite slim.
Naseem Shah has recovered rapidly after undergoing a shoulder operation in the United Kingdom (UK) a few weeks ago, and will soon start bowling practice along with running. It is expected that if the bowler manages to attain required fitness levels, he may soon be seen in action in international cricket.
Pakistan team’s fast bowling coach Umar Gul said, “Naseem Shah is our main bowler and his rehab is going on, we will miss him in the Australia tour.’
Pakistan’s former captain Babar Azam resigned as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team from all three formats (ODI Test & T20) on November 15.
His resignation followed heavy criticism from fans and former cricketers after Pakistan’s poor performance in the ODI World Cup 2023. The team was not successful in reaching the semi-finals, ending their World Cup journey at the fifth spot.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced Shan Masood as the Test Captain while left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi became the T20 captain.
The decision to make Shaheen captain of the T20s has been accepted more easily by the general public after he proved himself a competitive captain in the last two seasons of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). His team, Lahore Qalanders, had the unenviable record of being eliminated every time in the group stage in earlier seasons. However, under Afridi, they won two trophies.
Now the question arises as to why Shan Masood was picked captain in the Test format.
Fans believe there were better options in the team like wicketkeeper-batsman Muhammad Rizwan and Sarfraz Ahmed, who led Pakistan to the Champions Trophy under the captaincy in 2017. The team won 11 consecutive T20 series under his captaincy.
Muhammad Rizwan is also a consistent player in all formats, with a better average and strike rate than Shan’s in all three formats.
Here is the all-time performance of Rizwan, Sarfraz, and Shan in test format (International).
Here is all time performance of these three players in all formats (International).
Shan Masood
Muhammad Rizwan
Sarfraz Ahmed
If the PCB must choose a captain on the player’s performance, then Rizwan must be the captain instead of Shan. But if they are picking a captain because he can speak good English or whatever, then our cricket will never improve, analysts and fans gave said.
In the past, every time Pakistan lost in any tournament, captains, coaches, and selectors were changed without a positive outcome.
Pakistan is set to play a three-match test series against Australia starting from December 14.
The new chief selector Wahab Riaz picked Imam-ul-Haq in the batting lineup despite the batter totally failing during the Asia Cup and World Cup 2023 campaign, while he didn’t select Sahib Zada Farhan by saying that “no place is left in the team”, effectively sidelining a very good right-handed batsman.
They also didn’t pick Muhammad Abbas who took 90 wickets in 25 test matches.
The need of the hour is the selection of captain, coach, or selector, should be on merit, otherwise, we cannot change our system.
Argentinian football superstar Lionel Messi has announced that the jerseys he wore in the FIFA World Cup 2022 will be auctioned.
Messi took to Instagram to say, “These 6 jerseys, including the one I wore in the World Cup final.”Bids for the auction can be submitted online from November 30 to December 14.
According to reports, Messi’s jerseys can fetch over $10 million, making it one of the most expensive auctions in the history of the game. Messi announced that a portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Children’s Hospital in Barcelona.
It should be noted that the record for the most expensive jersey auction of any sportsman is held by former American basketball player Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan’s jersey, worn in the 1998 National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, was auctioned for $10.1 million last year.
The most expensive footballer’s jersey record is held by the late Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona, whose jersey worn in the World Cup quarter-final against England in 1986 was auctioned for $9.3 million last year.
Argentina won the World Cup under Messi for the third time after defeating France in the final of the 2022 tournament.
A father in Kanpur, India, strangled his son to death on Sunday for turning off the TV during the cricket World Cup final between India and Australia.
With India’s defeat in the final, there was mourning across the country, with at least two reported suicides. India walked into the final without losing a single match in the tournament, hot favourites to lift the trophy in front of a home crowd.
India Today has reported that the murder took place in Kanpur, where a man named Ganesh Prasad was watching the final of the World Cup at home. His son Deepak requested his father to prepare food first, and when his father refused, the son turned off the TV.
The father and son had a subsequent quarrel escalating into a physical fight. Prasad strangled his son with the wire of the mobile phone charger, killing him on the spot.
Police have said that as soon as the incident was reported, they reached the spot and arrested Prasad, who was drunk at the time. When the police arrived at the home after being alerted by neighbours, the body of the boy was lying on the stairs. He was immediately shifted to the hospital.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘Panoti’ for the Indian cricket team.
On Sunday, Australia became the world cricket champions for the sixth time by defeating the unbeaten host team India by six wickets in the final of the Men’s ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad.
To watch the final between Australia and India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Bollywood actors, specially arrived at the arena among much fanfare.
The Indian Prime Minister hoped that India would win the World Cup and he would give the World Cup trophy to Rohit Sharma with his own hands, but this wish could not be fulfilled.
While Indian fans are disappointed after losing the final to Australia, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called Narendra Modi a ‘Panoti’ for the Indian cricket team.
According to Indian media, while addressing an election rally in Rajasthan on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi mocked Narendra Modi and said “Well, our boys would have won the World Cup there, but ‘Panoti’ lost.”
On the other hand, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has strongly criticized Rahul Gandhi’s statement. Narendra Modi also went to the dressing room of the Indian cricket team and met the players after they lost.
Bangladesh cricket team captain Shakib al Hassan is once again the center of news. A video is going viral on social media where Shakib can be seen being manhandled by Bangladeshi fans at the airport.
Bangladeshi fans were angry with Shakib Al Hasan, and they tried to confront him upon his return to Bangladesh after a poor World Cup campaign. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/BJ9Hg9f0iZ
According to social media users, Shakib is getting hate from fans due to the poor performance of the team in the ODI World Cup 2023, where they managed to win only two matches out of nine.
X (former Twitter) user posted, “Bangladeshi fans were angry with Shakib Al Hasan, and they tried to confront him upon his return to Bangladesh after a poor World Cup campaign.
Fans were also angry about the controversial call for a time-out that Shakib raised on Angelo Mathews.
Bangladesh managed to take the 8th spot in the World Cup and make their place in the Champions Trophy 2025 which will be hosted by Pakistan.
Reality:
This video was actually from a commercial event in Dubai. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was manhandled during this event, where fans were trying to take selfies with him while some of them also pulled him by his collar after which he almost fell over.
This video was posted on the Facebook page ‘Time Now’ on March 11, 2023, with the caption “WATCH! Bangladeshi Cricketer Shakib Al Hasan Was Surrounded by Hundreds as He Attacked His Fan”.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned transgender women players from playing international women’s cricket. Danielle McGahey became the first transgender woman cricketer to be allowed to play earlier this year after changes to the ICC’s gender rules meant Danielle would no longer be able to play in international cricket.
The 29-year-old batsman hails from Australia but moved to Canada in 2020 and after transitioning from male to female in 2021, she joined Canada in the Women’s T20 America qualifiers in September 2023. McGahey met the ICC’s gender eligibility criteria at the time. McGahey has played six Twenty20 Internationals so far and has scored 118 runs at an average of 19.66 and a strike rate of 95.93.
ICC approved new rules on Tuesday, stating, “Any player who has transitioned from male to female, regardless of surgery or gender reassignment treatment, will not be allowed to participate in women’s international cricket after the will not be allowed.”
The ICC finalized the new policy after a nine-month consultation process. The rules are based on protecting the integrity, fairness, and inclusion of the women’s game, the board said in a release.
International Cricket Council (ICC) has introduced a new five-run penalty to be applicable on the fielding side if a bowler doesn’t bowl the next over within 60 seconds for the third time in an inning.
This decision was taken in an ICC meeting yesterday. This rule will be implemented on trial basis from December 2023 to April 2024.
Previous rule:
In previous rules, if the bowling team bowl only 48 over in given time in one day International (ODI), only four fielders will be allowed out-side the circle till 50 overs. Same rule was implemented in T20 match, if the bowling team bowl 19 overs out of 20 in given time.
New Rules:
According to the new rules, a five-run penalty will be imposed on the bowling side, if they do not bowl the next over within 60 seconds for third time in an inning.
A stop watch will be used to regulate the time taken between two overs. This rule will be used for first time during the three-ODI’s series between England and West Indies starting from December 3, 2023.
The purpose of this rule is to maintain the pace of play during the cricket match.
Imam ul Haq is the next cricketer in line to sign off bachelorhood and get married. Yesterday, social media went wild when pictures posted by fashion designing giant HSY revealed the gorgeous bride Anmol Mehmood, who is set to tie the knot with the cricketer in Norway this month.
Anmol looked dazzling in maroon bridal attire adorned with gold patterns, and a pinch of green to pop off the look Her jewellery comprised of a manga tikka and heavy jhumkay, along with green bangles to top off her look.
Samaa has revealed that HSY charges around Rs1.5 million for a custom made dress. The bride’s jewellery is from Opal by Madiha Ihsan.
Social media users were also provided a sneak peek to the elaborately crafted Mehndi celebrations held in Norway which were set up by Tailor Made Vision.
Wedding festivities are set to commence from November 23 with a Qawalli night in Lahore, and the Nikkah is to be held on November 25. It is reported that cricket stars including Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan will be present during the joyous occasions.
Previously, HSY had crafted the bridal outfit for veteran actress Reema Khan for her wedding.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to shift the Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2024 from Sri Lanka to South Africa, after the governing body’s Board took a unanimous decision following the recent temporary suspension of Sri Lankan cricket.
The ICC Board agreed that the suspension would not affect all levels of cricket, including any bilateral and domestic series and tournaments, but annual funding would remain in place until the suspension ends.
ICC has decided that Sri Lanka can participate in bilateral cricket and ICC events at the international level, while Sri Lanka as an ICC member, was suspended for the violation. The Board is required to conduct its affairs independently and without government interference.
The mega event will start January 13, 2024 while the final will be played on February 4.
South Africa hosted the Women’s Under-19 World Cup in 2023 as well as the inaugural edition of the Men’s Under-19 World Cup in 2020.
