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Category: Sports

  • Throwback: Did Rohit Sharma want to become coach of Pakistan’s cricket team?

    Throwback: Did Rohit Sharma want to become coach of Pakistan’s cricket team?

    From wanting to become Pakistan’s cricket team coach to losing against Pakistan, it’s been a long road for Rohit Sharma.

    After Pakistan’s thumping victory against India, an odd video of Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma surfaced on social media.

    In the video, the reporter asked Rohit, “What would you suggest to Pakistani batsmen so that they come out of this crisis?” Pakistan had just been comprehensively defeated in World Cup 2019 by arch rivals India.

    To this, Sharma sarcastically responded by saying, “If I ever become the coach of Pakistan’s team, I will tell them”.

    On September 4, Pakistan won against India by five wickets in a do-or-die match of the Asia Cup 2022. Sharma scored 28 runs. For Pakistan, Shadab Khan picked up two wickets for 31 runs, while Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Muhammad Nawaz took a wicket each.

    Prior to this, in another India vs Pakistan match which was played on August 28, Sharma got out after scoring only 12 runs.

    In yesterday’s (September 8) match against Afghanistan, Indian cricketer KL Rahul stepped in as captain for the toss. He said that Sharma “wants to take a break”.

    Last year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named Rohit Sharma as the new One Day International (ODI) captain of the Indian cricket team. He took over from his predecessor, batting maestro, Virat Kohli.

  • Afghan players had to take sleeping pills after Pakistan defeat

    Afghan players had to take sleeping pills after Pakistan defeat

    Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi has revealed that the team took sleeping pills after losing Wednesday’s high stakes game to Pakistan.

    Afghanistan started Asia Cup 2022 with back to back wins in group stage against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, in the Super Four stage, they lost all their matches.

    After the toss against India on Thursday, Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi revealed that after losing to Pakistan, his team mates left the ground right after the match. They had green tea and took sleeping pills after reaching the hotel.

    “Left the ground straight after the team talk, had green tea, and then took some sleeping pills! [laughs] All round the boys have played really well,” Nabi said after winning the toss against India on Thrusday.

    Afghanistan came within a hair’s breadth of victory on the September 7 game, picking up 9 of Pakistan’s wickets in 19 overs. Pumped up for the win, the Afghan players watched the game slip out of their hands as Pakistani pacer Naseem Shah hit two back to back maximums in the first two balls of the last over and took the match away from them.

    Read more: ‘People have forgotten that I am also a bowler’: Naseem Shah

    After losing to Pakistan, Afghanistan lost their chance to qualify for the Asia Cup 2022 final.

    They faced India the very next day and were defeated by 101 runs with Kohli’s stellar knock of 122 on 61.

    Bhuvneshwar Kumar achieved his career best figures of 5-4 in his four over spell against Afghanistan.

    Read more: Virat Kohli dedicates 71st century to wife Anushka Sharma

    Bhuvneshwar Kumar achieved his career best figures of 5-4 in his four over spell against Afghanistan.

  • Virat Kohli dedicates 71st century to wife Anushka Sharma

    Virat Kohli dedicates 71st century to wife Anushka Sharma

    Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli finally smashed his maiden T20I and 71st International century against Afghanistan in Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 match on Thursday.

    The master batsman scored an international century after a gap of 1020 days. He now holds the record of second highest number of centuries across all formats. Kohli has also become the 4th Indian to smash a century in all three formats after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul.

    The superstar batsman is now the fastest to achieve the 71 centuries mark. Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting achieved this feat in 523 and 652 innings while Kohli took 522 innings.

    During the innings break, Kohli said, “I feel very blessed, very grateful right now. The last 2-2.5 years have taught me a lot. I am going to turn 34 this November. These celebrations are all from the past. I’ve put a lot of things in perspective. Actually, I was a bit shocked because this was the format I least expected a century in. But look, it’s all god’s blessing. I’ve been working hard. It was a moment that was very special for me and for the team as well.”

    While taking about moral support, he dedicated his 71st century to his wife Anushka Sharma.

    Kohli went on to say, “When you have someone next to you, having conversations, putting things in the right perspective like I have been and Anushka [Sharma] has been by my side through all these times… time away from the game has taught me a lot of things. When I came back I was not desperate. I was grateful for what God has blessed me with. People were talking about me not getting a hundred. But I was looking at how much he’s given me already. So that really calmed me down. That relaxed me. I was just happy to come back. Six weeks off, and I was refreshed. I realized after taking a break how tired I really was physically and mentally. Your competitiveness doesn’t allow you to take that call but I think it was a blessing in disguise for me. I wanted to be the best version of myself for the team and when I came here and batted in the nets, I felt my old rhythm coming back and it was just about getting those performances in the middle as well.”

    Kohli looked at his absolute best in the match against Afghanistan. He completed his half century in 32 balls. He then accelerated and smashed out a century in just 53 balls. With his stellar knock of 122 on 61 balls, Kohli has surpassed Rohit Sharma’s 2017 record of 118 against Sri Lanka.

  • ‘People have forgotten that I am also a bowler’: Naseem Shah

    ‘People have forgotten that I am also a bowler’: Naseem Shah

    At the very end of the nail biting match between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Naseem Shah smashed two sixes on two balls and powered Pakistan into final of Asia Cup 2022 against Sri Lanka on September 11. In the process, he sealed his place in history too.

    At the post match celebrations, an ecstatic Naseem Shah spoke with presenter Ravi Shastri and said that he was confident of hitting the winning runs since he had practiced a lot.

    “There was full confidence that we can win this match. We practice in the net, so we were confident that we would achieve the target,” said Naseem.

    He further added, “I knew the bowler would try to go for a yorker and was confident I could hit sixes. So, I tried and it paid off.”

    After Asif Ali’s dismissal, Naseem Shah went to Mohammad Husnain to change the bat and then won the seemingly lost match for Pakistan.

    The Pakistani pacer went on to say that after hitting those two sixes, people have forgotten that he is a bowler.

    Pakistan skipper Babar Azam praised Naseem Shah’s performance and said that the maximums reminded him of Javed Miandad’s famous six against India in Asia cup 1986 final.

  • No, Afghans are not ‘Namak Haram’; keep your racism in check when criticising Afghan fans

    No, Afghans are not ‘Namak Haram’; keep your racism in check when criticising Afghan fans

    Following Pakistan’s victory against Afghanistan in the Super 4 match at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Afghanistan fans in the stadium were spotted throwing seats at Pakistan fans. A few Afghan fans were also caught on camera physically assaulting Pakistani cricket team supporters.

    The videos are being widely shared on social media with people condemning these acts of hooliganism by Afghan fans at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. However, some people on social media, while denouncing the behaviour of Afghan fans, opted for racist abuse. A few referred to them as ‘Namak Haram’, a racist term often used to address Afghan immigrants living in Pakistan.

    People on social media are coming forward to condemn racist comments. Have a look at the tweets.

    Mohsin Dawar, Member National Assembly from North Waziristan also came forward to condemn the racist comments.

    “Using a cricket match as an excuse to hurl racist abuse against Afghans is peak shamelessness. Pakistan’s decades-old strategic depth policy and interventionist misadventures in Afghanistan are why Afghans have a problem with Pakistan. Introspect before belittling Afghans,” he wrote.

  • Asia Cup: Asif Ali, Fareed Ahmad fined 25% of match fee for misconduct

    Asia Cup: Asif Ali, Fareed Ahmad fined 25% of match fee for misconduct

    Pakistan’s star batsman Asif Ali and Afghanistan bowler Fareed have landed in hot waters after a confrontation with Afghanistan’s pacer Fareed Malik during Wednesday’s knock-out match in Asia Cup 2022.

    A clip of the alteration went viral in which Fareed Malik dismisses Asif Ali, then celebrates right in front of the batsman. Fareed then seemingly says something to Asif, who turns around and raises his bat towards the bowler.

    Match Referee Andy Pycroft summoned both players for a hearing.

    According to ICC report, Asif Alibreached Article 2.6 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “using a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match” while Fareed was found breaching Article 2.1.12, which relates to “inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator) during an International Match.”

    International Cricket Council (ICC) has fined both Asif Ali and Fareed 25 per cent of their match fee for the alteration which occurred in the second last over.

    BanAsifAli was trending on Twitter earlier where the incident had divided users, with some blaming Malik for provoking Ali while others criticized him for losing his cool.

    Here are some of the tweets.

    https://twitter.com/arrqamm/status/1567675328599826438
  • Shaan Shahid hits out at netizen for scrutinising his controversial remarks about Fakhar Zaman

    Shaan Shahid hits out at netizen for scrutinising his controversial remarks about Fakhar Zaman

    Film Star Shaan Shahid recently criticised cricketer Fakhar Zaman’s recent performance on the field during the Asia Cup 2022 series. During the last match between Pakistan and India, Zaman could not perform to his full capacity, for which he was also scrutinised on social media.

    The hashtag of Fakhar Zaman’s name was also among the top trends on Twitter.

    During the match between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup, actor, Shaan was extremely displeased with Fakhar’s performance. He took it to his Twitter, where he denunciated Fakhar’s batting and fielding, in multiple tweets.

    Post his comments, several netizens trolled him for his remarks. The social media user told him that only 2-4 films of his are worth watching out of his filmography ranging over 500 films.

    The Majajan star clapped back at him by saying that there is a difference between arts and sports.

    Earlier this year, the Zaraar hero grilled former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for wishing former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on his birthday and not wishing birthday to former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

    “Happy Birthday @sachin_rt . Hope you’re having a wonderful day,” wrote Shoaib Akhtar while sharing an old picture with Tendulkar.

    Shaan, in the comments section of twitter account, expressed anger at Shoaib for wishing birthday to Sachin, reminding the former pacer that he had not wished former Prime Minister Imran Khan on his birthday.

    “Wah bhai inki to yaad hai .. @ImranKhanPTI ki 5th October ko birthday thee 2021 main .. ek bhi message nahi apkay twitter account per .. bhai?,” wrote Shaan.

  • Rizwan dethrones Babar, tops ICC ranking T20I ranking

    Rizwan dethrones Babar, tops ICC ranking T20I ranking

    Pakistan batsman Mohammad Rizwan is at the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I batsmen ranking list.

    After reigning at the top spot for over 1000 days, Pakistan captain Babar Azam slipped to the number two slot with 794 points. Rizwan now has 815 points.

    Rizwan, who is currently having a stellar run at the Asia Cup 2022, scored 192 runs in the ongoing tournament with 43, 78 and 71 runs against India, Hong Kong and India again respectively.

    Babar Azam has scored 33 runs as yet in the Asia Cup.

    South Africa’s Aiden Markram is at the number 3 spot with 792 rating points while India’s Suryakumar Yadav down one spot to land at number 4 with 775 points.

  • Urvashi unfollows Naseem on Instagram after pacer said, “I don’t know her”

    Urvashi unfollows Naseem on Instagram after pacer said, “I don’t know her”

    The sprinter, Naseem Shah, said in a recent interview that he only focuses on his matches. “I don’t know who Urvashi Rautela is. People usually send me videos but I have no idea,” the young star from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa clarified when asked about the viral video Urvashi shared on her social media.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt-qYgN8zOs&t=8s

    Urvashi took to her Instagram and replied with a strong statement. The Bollywood star stated that her team shared fan made edits without her knowledge on her Instagram handle. She wrote, “Couple of days back, my team shared all fan-made cute edits (around 11-12) without any knowledge of Bollywood actor Urvashi Rautela posted an edited video of her and Naseem Shah smiling at each other.

    Twitterati claimed, initially, Urvashi was following Naseem Shah on Instagram, however, she unfollowed the Pakistan pacer after the latter disclosed he doesn’t know who Urvashi really is.

    After India and Pakistan’s nail-biting group stage match, Bollywood actor Urvashi Rautela posted an edited clip on her Instagram in which footage is cut to make it seem as if Shah has smiled at her and then she smiles back.

    The clip seemed edited as in the first clip, the scorecard was at 1-1 while in the second clip of Urvashi returning the smile, the scorecard jumped upto 97-4.

    A user wrote, “NASEEM WASN’T LOOKING AT HER, THESE ARE HIS EXPRESSIONS WHEN HE ALMOST GOT KOHLI WITH AN INSWING.”

    A user expressed his disappointment after finding out that Urvashi was not there for Panday or Pant but for someone else.

    “Some were saying she was there for Hardik Pandya, others were saying Rishabh Pant, but this lady was clearly ahead of all of us.” tweeted a user.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOYEhJTOwrA&t=115s

    Here are some of the other tweets.

  • Muhammad Rizwan allows Indian female fan to take a ‘doorfie’ instead of selfie

    Muhammad Rizwan allows Indian female fan to take a ‘doorfie’ instead of selfie

    Muhammad Rizwan, a wicketkeeper-batsman for Pakistan, is regarded as one of cricket’s most popular players both domestically and internationally.

    In addition to the fact that he is an excellent golfer, his lovely and humble personality is what has earned him such a large fan base.

    The player has unnecessarily drawn criticism during the current Asia Cup 2022.

    A video of a female Indian cricket fan asking Rizwan to take a photo with her during a practise session has been shared by sports journalist Brashna Kasi. Rizwan reluctantly consented to take a photo with the woman but stood at a visible distance, making it clear it wasn’t a selfie and leading the fan to mockingly refer to it as a “doorfie”.

    The fan claimed in the video that Rizwan had informed her that he never poses for photos by himself with female fans.

    This, however, is nothing new since Rizwan has repeatedly stated that he feels uncomfortable with women. In actuality, the beloved cricketer has never been seen in any of his photos with a female fan.

    We must “respect his boundaries and leave him alone,” as Kasi put it.

    Rizwan explained why he never poses for photos with women in an interview with local media earlier this year.

    When asked why he is so shy around women, he replied: “It is not about being shy but some things are personal and every player has their own personal [reasons].”

    He stated that he greatly respected ladies and did not deem himself “worthy” of taking pictures with “mothers and sisters,” even if they requested one.