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  • Shaheen Shah Afridi declared ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year

    Shaheen Shah Afridi declared ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year

    Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has been named as ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year. He is the first Pakistani and the youngest ever player to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. Shaheen took 78 wickets in 36 internationals at an average of 22.20 with his best bowling figures of 6/51.

    The 21-year-old was on fire throughout 2021, knocking some of the best batters over across all three formats of the game. He especially had a year to remember in Tests and T20Is, reaching his peak during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in UAE where he impressed one and all with his sheer speed and skills.

    Shaheen took seven wickets in six matches during the tournament in Pakistan’s run to the semi-final. He ruled the shortest format throughout the calendar year, scalping 23 wickets in 21 matches with his death bowling improving rapidly.

    After a slow start to the year in Test cricket in New Zealand, Afridi turned the tables during the home series against South Africa. He continued his brilliant form throughout the rest of the year in the away tours of Zimbabwe, West Indies and Bangladesh. Overall, he claimed 47 wickets in only nine matches at a staggering average of 17.06.

    Afridi’s perfect spell against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 was the cherry on the top, taking 3 wickets of just 31 runs. Afridi sent then captain Virat Kohli, openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma to the pavillion.

    Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), taking to Twitter, said: “incredible3 The world of cricket is richer and so watchable because of you. A proud moment for the fans who through you can now see a new beginning… @iMRizwanPak @babarazam258 @iShaheenAfridi @ICCAwards.”

    Several people congratulated the cricketer on his achievement, including the PCB and former captain Shahid Afridi.

    https://twitter.com/AhmadDaniyal33/status/1485549184858136583?s=20
  • Babar Azam named ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year

    Babar Azam named ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year

    Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam has been named the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year for his achievements as a captain of Pakistan cricket team and his individual performances.

    Babar scored 405 runs in six matches at an average of 67.50 with two centuries. He played only six ODIs in 2021, but he made vital contributions in the two series that Pakistan played this year.

    He was the second-highest run-scorer with 228 runs and was the Player of the Match in both of Pakistan’s wins in the 2-1 series victory against South Africa. The architect of Pakistan’s chase of 274 in the first ODI, Babar made a century and laid the foundation with an 82-ball 94 in the final ODI where the visitors posted 320 batting first.

    He was the lone warrior for Pakistan when they were swept by England 3-0. He accumulated 177 runs in three games but found no support as none of the other batters managed to score more than 100 in the series.

    Azam’s best performance this year came in a losing cause in the final ODI against England.

    With the series already lost, Pakistan were playing for pride as well as crucial ICC Cricket World Cup Super League points in the third ODI at Birmingham. Put in to bat first, Pakistan posted 331, with Babar scoring close to half of the team’s runs.

    Read More – ICC receives criticism for not naming Babar Azam T20 World Cup ‘Player of the Tournament’

    Not only in ODIs but Babar was also good with the bat in the ICC T20I World Cup 2021. Azam registered the most number of runs in a maiden T20 world cup with 303, which makes him the first batsman to score 300 runs in the T20 World Cup 2021.

    Twitter is flooded with congratulatory notes for the 27-year-old skipper. We have collected a few, have a look:

    https://twitter.com/mdk_gul/status/1485513152708157443?s=20
    https://twitter.com/AhmadDaniyal33/status/1485514895932248067?s=20
  • Bismah Maroof to lead Pakistan in Women’s World Cup

    Bismah Maroof to lead Pakistan in Women’s World Cup

    Bismah Maroof has become the captain of Pakistan’s cricket team for the ICC Women’s World Cup, which will be held in New Zealand. The tournament will be played from March 4 till April 3.

    The selection committee led by Asmavia Iqbal, which includes Saleem Jaffar and Taufeeq Umar, announced the complete squad.

    An experienced all-rounder, Nida Dar has been appointed as Vice-Captain for the ICC Women’s World Cup.

    The committee also announced the comeback of leg-spinner Ghulam Fatima and opener Nahida Khan in the national team.

    Bismah is returning from a two-year break after she gave birth to her daughter in December 2020.

    According to the new parental policy of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), a support person will be responsible for taking care of her child to keep her focus on the tournament.

    Bismah Maroof said, “It is a great honour for me to lead my country into another World Cup. I am thrilled to be back in action and do what I love and have dedicated my life to.”

    She added, “The recent selection matches proved to be fruitful for me and the whole side as we got some match practice under competitive and challenging environment leading into the mega event. The aim is to reach the World Cup semi-finals and I believe this team has the potential to pull it off.”

    Pakistan Women’s cricket team will start their preparations for the pre-departure camp of 10 days in Karachi from January 27 and will leave for New Zealand on February 8.

    Pakistan squad: Bismah Maroof (captain), Nida Dar (vice-captain), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali, Nahida Khan, Nashra Sandhu, Omaima Sohail, Sidra Amin, and Sidra Nawaz

    Traveling reserves: Iram Javed, Najiha Alvi, and Tuba Hassan

    Pakistan’s fixtures at ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022:

    6 March – Pakistan v India at Bay Oval, Tauranga

    8 March – Pakistan v Australia at Bay Oval, Tauranga

    11 March – Pakistan v South Africa at Bay Oval, Tauranga

    14 March – Pakistan v Bangladesh at Seddon Park, Hamilton

    21 March – Pakistan v West Indies at Seddon Park, Hamilton

    24 March – Pakistan v England at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

    26 March – Pakistan v New Zealand at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

  • Riz-wins T20I Player of the Year Award, Fatima Sana is Emerging Player of the Year

    Riz-wins T20I Player of the Year Award, Fatima Sana is Emerging Player of the Year

    Pakistan’s wicket-keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has been named the ICC men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2021, while a young female cricketer of the Pakistan women’s cricket team Fatima Sana has been named ICC women’s Emerging Player of the Year.

    Rizwan, who also won the PCB’s Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year award recently following a stellar year, scored 1326 runs in 29 T20Is at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 134.89. He was also responsible for 22 dismissals behind the stumps in the format.

    At the Men’s T20 World Cup, where Pakistan lost in the semi-finals, Rizwan finished as the third-highest run-getter with 281 runs in six matches. In 2021, Rizwan also became the first batter to touch the 1000-run mark in a calendar year in T20Is, and the 2000-run mark in T20s.

    On the other hand, Pakistan’s Fatima Sana, a seam-bowling allrounder, was named ICC Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year. Sana, 20, claimed 24 wickets and scored 165 runs in 16 games across ODI and T20I cricket in 2021.

    https://twitter.com/PCBofficials/status/1485466852700700673?s=20

    Apart from playing West Indies at home, she also toured South Africa and the West Indies, and played the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. Her most eye-catching performance came in an ODI in Antigua in July, when she hit an unbeaten 28 off 19 and then took her maiden international five-wicket haul to help Pakistan to a win.

    Twitter was flooded with the congratulatory messages for both cricketers

    PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja congratulated Rizwan on a “well deserved achievement”. He lauded the cricketer, saying:

    “Your humility, attitude and hard work defines you,” and wished more laurels and success to him.

    Meanwhile, PCB’s official Twitter account also posted a congratulatory tweet for Rizwan.

    Srilankan cricketer Dimuth Karunarathna, Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan and many took to Twitter to congratulate Rizwan.

    Senator Faisal Javed Khan also congratulated “Pakistan’s star cricketer” on Twitter. He also congratuled Fatima in another tweet.

    Taking to Twitter, Rizwan said that the journey has just started.

    While Fatima said that she is honoured, humbled and overwhelmed.

  • Wasim Akram is the most difficult bowler, reveals former Indian captain Azharuddin

    Wasim Akram is the most difficult bowler, reveals former Indian captain Azharuddin

    Veteran cricketer and former captain of Indian cricket team Mohammad Azharuddin recently hosted a question-and-answer (Q&A) session on Twitter and revealed that former Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram is the most difficult bowler he has ever faced.

    Pakistani journalist Shiraz Hassan asked: “Who is the most difficult bowler you ever faced? And one from Pakistan?” Azhar replied: “Wasim Akram is the most difficult bowler I have ever faced.”

    Earlier, Azharuddin tweeted to ask him questions related to cricket.

    “Ask me a question if you need cricketing advise. Happy to answer today,” he tweeted.

    An Australian cricket page has shared a memory of Akram’s brilliant performance on this day in Australia. “Coming to the crease at 5-90 on January 22, 1990, Akram drove and cut his way to his first Test century, a brilliant 123 against Australia at Adelaide Oval in a drawn match where he also hit fifty and took a 5-fer in the first innings,” the page captioned the video.

    Shaniera Akram also took to Twitter to laud her husband.

    Known as the “King of Reverse Swing” or the “Sultan of Swing”, Akram is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of cricket. The 55-year-old left-arm pacer has taken 502 One-Day Internatinal wickets and 414 wickets in Tests for Pakistan.

  • Peshawar Zalmi’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore ‘happy’ to be in Karachi, isolating in hotel room

    Peshawar Zalmi’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore ‘happy’ to be in Karachi, isolating in hotel room

    English cricketer Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who will be playing for Peshawar Zalmi, has arrived in Karachi for the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and he has said in a video message that he is happy to be here.

    The right-handed batter is in the madatory quarantine in the team hotel room in Karachi and has recorded a message for his fans.

    “It’s been a long journey but happy to be here and can’t wait to go out of the isolation in three-days time and meet up with the lads and get going in the competition,” said Tom in a video shared by Zalmi.

    Pakistan national team pacer Wahab Riaz is leading the Peshawar franchise. According to former Pakistan cricket team captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Zalmi along with Lahore Qalandars have the best team combinations.

    Peshawar had earlier announced that the franchise has retained Liam Livingstone, Wahab Riaz, Haider Ali, Sherfane Rutherford, Shoaib Malik, Saqib Mahmood, and Tom.

    The 2017 champions also picked fast bowler Arshad Iqbal, wicket-keeper-batter Kamran Akmal, and spinner Usman Qadir.

    Akmal, however, was unhappy over being picked in the Silver category and announced his withdrawal from the tournament.

    But Peshawar Zalmi and Kamran Akmal resolved the dispute between them a few days later as Akmal agreed to play for Zalmi in the seventh edition of the PSL.

    Usman Qadir joined Zalmi from Multan Sultans.

    Zalmi will kick off their PSL 7 campaign by taking on Quetta Gladiators on January 28 with the tournament set to be starting from January 27 at the National Stadium Karachi.

  • 40 staff members of hotel reserved for PSL 7 bio-secure bubble test positive for Covid

    40 staff members of hotel reserved for PSL 7 bio-secure bubble test positive for Covid

    40 staff memebers of the hotel reserved for the seventh edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) bio-secure bubble have tested positive for Covid-19.

    Read More – Five Covid-19 cases reported in three different franchises ahead of PSL 7

    Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Salman Naseer had said that all international players are coming to Pakistan to play the league.

    Salman also said that the league will kick-start on Thursday, the pre-decided day on January 27 and singer Atif Aslam will be performing in the opening ceremony.

    Salman also revealed that 40 staff memebers of the hotel reserved for the bio-secure bubble have tested positive for Covid-19 in the pre-testing phase while two players and two team officials have also been tested positive for the virus. The crew is now isolating after testing positive.

    It has also been reported that eight staff members of National Stadium Karachi have tested positive for Covid-19 and with that 17 staff members are Covid positive, including security officers.

    Meanwhile, 95 per cent of PSL players and officials have tested negative for Covid-19.

  • Shadab Khan admits he provoked Sarfaraz Ahmed to scold cricketers on field

    Shadab Khan admits he provoked Sarfaraz Ahmed to scold cricketers on field

    Pakistan’s all-rounder Shadab Khan has recently admitted in an interview that he used to provoke former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to scold cricketers when they were fielding.

    Shadab recently appeared on Hum News’ Morning Show and talking about his favourite captain Sarfaraz, he shared: “He (Sarfaraz) used to get angry during the field. Not only on Babar but any player who did not put effort in the field, I used to go to Saifi Bhai (Sarfaraz) as I mostly fielded beside him and tell him to scold the players.”

    Wicket-keeper-batter Sarfaraz is famous for his temper. The former captain has often received criticism for his strict on-field conduct even as Pakistan’s skipper, dishing out swear words to his teammates. But the right-handed batter had earlier defended his actions, stating that what happens on the field is restricted to it and not beyond that.

    Shadab recently opened up to his fans during a question-and-answer (Q&A) session on Twitter and spoke about a wide range of topics, including cricket and his teammates.

    Khan also revealed that his favourite captain for the seventh edition of the PSL would be former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz, who is playing for Quetta Gladiators.

    He also revealed that Sarfraz is the one who gave him his nickname Shaddy.

  • Will Shaheen Afridi become Captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team? Shaheen speaks out

    Will Shaheen Afridi become Captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team? Shaheen speaks out

    Star pacer of the Pakistan cricket team Shaheen Shah Afridi praised the captaincy of the national team’s all-format skipper Babar Azam and wished for him to continue in this role for at least 10-15 years. The speedster said that he has no plan to captain the team as Babar is leading the team brilliantly.

    Read More – PM Khan predicts winning team of PSL 7

    In a pre-Pakistan Super League (PSL 7) media conference, Lahore Qalandars’ newly appointed captain Afridi was asked whether he would like to do the captaincy of the Pakistan team in the future.

    “I don’t have any plans for now as Babar is leading the side so well. Under his captaincy, the team gelled strongly and performed. I wish he continues as captain for at least 10-15 years,” he responded.

    “In the future, if any opportunity comes to me, I would love to do it for my country. But, for now, I want Babar to continue for long,” he added.

    It must be noted here that Shaheen and Babar will be leading their respective franchises Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings for the first time in PSL 7.

  • U19 CWC: Pakistan qualifies for quarter-finals after beating Afghanistan

    U19 CWC: Pakistan qualifies for quarter-finals after beating Afghanistan

    The Under 19 Pakistan cricket team has qualified for the quarter-finals of the U19 Cricket World Cup after winning two matches, defeating Afghanistan by 24 runs in the second match at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Trinidad.

    Pakistan skipper Qasim Akram elected to bat first and his side scored a good total of 239 runs. Last match’s star Haseebullah Khan failed to impress fans, scoring only two runs while Muhammad Shehzad scored 43.

    Shehzad shared a 60 partnership with number three Abdul Faseeh who made 68 off 95 balls with the skipper Qasim adding 38 from number five.

    Maaz Sadaqat played a gem of an innings with 42 not out off just 37 balls, including seven fours, to drag his side up to 239 for nine from their 50 overs.

    Despite a slow start, Afghanistan took the contest deep, although their innings was characterised by some wild running between the wickets, with three runouts as well as a number of near misses. The Afghan team managed to score 215 for the loss of nine wickets.

    Awais Ali, who took six wickets in the match against Zimbabwe, took three wickets by conceading only 36 runs in nine overs.

    The Green Shirts’ next game of the group stage is against Papua New Guinea, scheduled to be played on Saturday, January 22.