Current Final

Category: Sports

  • Shaheen Shah Afridi jumps to top five in Test rankings

    Shaheen Shah Afridi jumps to top five in Test rankings

    Pakistan’s young fast bowler Shaheen Sha Afridi has jumped to the top five of the ICC Test bowling rankings for the first time following his five-for against Bangladesh in Pakistan’s eight-wicket win in the first Test in Chittagong.

    Afridi, who finished with a match haul of seven wickets, moved up three places to number 5, overtaking James Anderson, Kagiso Rabada and Neil Wagner in the process.

    Each of the three bowlers Afridi has overtaken will have an opportunity to make gains of their own. Wagner could have the first crack if he makes New Zealand’s XI for the second and final Test against India in Mumbai. Anderson is likely to line up for the first Ashes Test next week, while Rabada will spearhead South Africa’s pace attack during their home Tests against India later this month.

    Meanwhile, Afridi’s new-ball partner Hassan Ali also moved five places to 11th, his best-ever position so far, following seven wickets in the Chittagong Test. This included figures of 5 for 51 that hastened Bangladesh’s collapse in the first innings after Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim put on 206 runs for the fifth wicket.

    Read More – Hassan Ali equals Waqar Younis, Imran Khan’s record in Bangladesh Test

    Among batters, Tom Latham and Dimuth Karunaratne made significant gains for their efforts in Kanpur and Galle respectively. Latham, who made 95 and 52 in New Zealand’s thrilling draw, jumped five places to No 9, while the Sri Lankan captain was two spots higher at seven following scores of 147 and 83 in Sri Lanka’s 187-run win in the first Test.

    Over in Bangladesh, the nature of Pakistan’s come-from-behind win had a few other gainers too. Abid Ali’s 133 and 91 helped him jump 27 slots to a career-best 20th rank, one place above Mushfiqur. Among the other gainers was Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam climbed two places to 23rd after picking up a seven-for in Pakistan’s first innings.

    Pakistan will play the next Test match against Bangladesh from December 4 to 8.

  • Imad Wasim wishes Babar ‘good luck’ for PSL 7 as Karachi Kings’ captain

    Imad Wasim wishes Babar ‘good luck’ for PSL 7 as Karachi Kings’ captain

    Pakistani cricketer and former captain of Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings, Imad Wasim, has extended his good wishes to the newly appointed captain of the franchise, Babar Azam, for the upcoming seventh edition.

    Taking to Twitter, Imad thanked Salman Iqbal, saying: “I want to take a minute to thank @Salman_ary bhai and the whole @KarachiKingsARY family for entrusting me with the captaincy for 4 seasons! It’s been wonderful n I look forward to even bigger things for the team in the future.”

    Wishing well to the the all-format skipper Babar, he said: “Gudluck and best wishes to my brother @babarazam258.”

    Cricketer Umar Akmal also congratulated his cousin.

    The Kings, under the leadership of Imad Wasim, clinched their first PSL title in 2020.

    The seventh edition of PSL will be held in January and February 2022 with all matches taking place in Pakistan.

    Both Lahore and Karachi will host 17 matches each, with the finals to be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

  • Sania Mirza visits Nishtar Park Lahore, plays tennis with Aisam-ul-Haq

    Sania Mirza visits Nishtar Park Lahore, plays tennis with Aisam-ul-Haq

    Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, who is also Pakistani superstar cricketer Shoaib Malik’s wife, visited Sports Board Punjab’s State of the Art Tennis Stadium in Nishtar Park Sports Complex (NPSC) Lahore on Tuesday and played tennis with Pakistani tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq.

    On her visit, Sania played practice tennis matches for one and a half hour with Pakistan’s international tennis stars Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan.

    On the occasion, Sania appreciated the top standard facilities provided at SBP Tennis Stadium. “SBP Stadium is equipped with all modern facilities and it will help a lot in producing several top class tennis players in future,” she added.

    The 35-year-old athlete said Pakistan has plenty of tennis talent and SBP’s tennis stadium and academy are playing key roles in further nurturing the emerging male and female tennis players.

    Her visits to Karachi and Lahore have grabbed the attention of the Shoaib-Sania fans.

    In one of the videos shared earlier, she praised the taste of Karachi’s biryani. “Though I am from Hyderabad in India, the taste of Karachi’s biryani is the best.”

  • Babar Azam named captain of Karachi Kings for PSL 7

    Babar Azam named captain of Karachi Kings for PSL 7

    The all-format captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Babar Azam, will lead Karachi Kings in the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which is starting in January next year.

    Read More – 2020 Sports Roundup – Some losses, some gains

    The franchise confirmed the long-rumoured development on its official Twitter account on Tuesday.

    “Big announcement for Karachi Kings fans! Our national team skipper, the one and only Babar Azam, will now be the captain of Karachi Kings as well!”

    “This is such an honour for me that the whole team management, including Imad Bhai, has entrusted me with the captaincy of our beloved Karachi Kings team. This means the world to me,” Babar said in a video message attached with the tweet.

    “I have been playing for the Karachi Kings for the last five years, and this is like my home and family away from home.

    “I will work as hard as possible to take the team to even greater heights than what we’ve already achieved so far. My promise is that I will give it my all to make sure we keep on growing towards bigger and better things,” Azam said.

    The players’ draft for the seventh edition of the PSL is due for the second week of December while the tournament is likely to start in late January. Karachi and Lahore are expected to host 17 matches each with the playoffs and the final at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

    Earlier, under the leadership of all-round spinner Imad Wasim, the Kings won their first title, playing against their arch-rivals Lahore Qalandars in 2020.

  • Messi wins record seventh Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo slams false claims

    Messi wins record seventh Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo slams false claims

    The Paris Saint Germain (PSG) star Lionell Messi has grabbed another record seventh Ballon d’Or on Monday night.

    Messi, 34, effectively retained the trophy he last won in 2019 — controversially, the award was not handed out by France Football last year because of the coronavirus pandemic — after a year in which he ended his long wait for an international honour, winning the Copa América with Argentina, and left Barcelona, the club where he had spent all of his career, for Paris St.-Germain.

    “It’s incredible to be here again,” Messi said. “Two years ago I thought it was the last time. Winning the Copa América was the key.”

    “I don’t know how many years I have left,” he added, “but I hope many more.”

    The Argentinian footballer also took to his Instagram to express his joy on winning the award again. He also thanked people who supported him.

    Messi finished with 613 points in the voting, only 33 more than the runner-up, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski. In 2019, the last time the trophy was awarded, Messi beat Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk by only seven points.

    Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at the editor of France Football who claimed the Manchester United forward’s only ambition is to “retire with more Ballons d’Or than Lionel Messi”.

    Ferré told the New York Times: “Ronaldo has only one ambition and that is to retire with more Ballon d’Or [awards] than Messi. I know because he has told me.”

    However, Ronaldo has disputed that version of events and took to Instagram to claim that Ferré “lied” during the interview.

  • Pakistan beats Bangladesh in first Test with a convincing win

    Pakistan beats Bangladesh in first Test with a convincing win

    Pakistan has beaten Bangladesh in the first Test match of the two-match series by 8 wickets in Chittagong on Tuesday.

    Courtesy of openers Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique, the Pakistan opening pair formed a 151-run opening stand before Shafique was dismissed on 73. Meanwhile, Abid Ali fell short of his fourth Test century by 9 runs as Taijul Islam caught the Pakistan batter in front of the wickets.

    The openers capitalised on their century partnership and took it further to 151 runs before Abdullah was dismissed by Mehidy Hasan.

    Earlier, resuming Day 4 at 39/4, overnight batter Mushfiqur Rahim (16) was bowled by pacer Hassan Ali and the hosts lost their fifth wicket with the lead still being under 100. Yasir Ali had to retire, hurt after playing a knock of 36 and this brought Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan together at the crease.

    Shaheen Shah Afridi went on to take five wickets as Bangladesh was bowled out for 157, setting a 202-run target for the visitors.

    Meanwhile, leading the way to the win, Babar Azam and Azhar Ali sealed the deal for the side with a winning partnership and with back-to-back boundaries, Pakistan takes a 1-0 lead.

    Pakistan stands on 24 points on the points table of the ICC World Test Championship.

    Abid Ali bagged the Player of the Match award after his prolific innings against the hosts in Chittagong.

    Meanwhile, in the post-match ceremony, skipper Babar Azam said: “The way Bangladesh played in the first innings that was really good but Shaheen and Hassan were outstanding. That’s the beauty of Test cricket that it allows you to make a comeback. We didn’t have much time to prepare for the Test but we gave our best. I am really pleased with the way Abdullah Shafique built his innings. Abid Ali was outstanding, scoring tough runs to pull the team out from difficult position.”

  • Sensational Shaheen Afridi takes another fifer, stuns Bangladesh batters

    Sensational Shaheen Afridi takes another fifer, stuns Bangladesh batters

    Pakistan will need 202 runs to win the second Test match as spinner Sajid Khan and pacer Shaheen Afridi stunned the Bangladeshi batting order to dismiss the hosts for 201 runs on Day 4.

    The fourth day of the first Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh resumed on a good note for the visitors on Monday when fast bowler Hassan Ali provided the Men in Green an early breakthrough followed by Sajid Khan’s dismissal of Mehidy Hasan.

    Bangladesh, batting to survive and give Pakistan a fighting total, were five wickets down before they reached three figures on the scoreboard.

    Earlier, Afridi in a video message, said that he wants to give his hundred per cent and he credited his fellow pacer Hassan Ali that he is enjoying the bowling spells with him. He said that we want to give our best to achieve the best for the national side.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan is hopeful to defeat the hosts with Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique’s exceptional opening partnership. The national side only need 93 runs to win the first Test on the fifth day of the match.

  • ‘Lahore, Lahore hai’: Sania Mirza falls in love with Lahore

    ‘Lahore, Lahore hai’: Sania Mirza falls in love with Lahore

    Indian tenis ace, Sania Mirza, who is currently in Pakistan, has fallen in love with the city after she has been showered with love in the heart of Punjab.

    Read More – ‘Pakistan or India?’: Sania Mirza finally puts the banter to rest by revealing who she supports

    Several videos of her visit to Karachi and then Lahore are circulating on social media.

    In one of the videos, she can be seen saying Jinhay Lahore ni vekhya O jammiya nahi with her fans. Her husband can also be seen in the video.

    In another video, Sania can be heard saying that she received this much love on her wedding and whenever she visits Pakistan. She also thanked her Pakistani fans who came to meet her.

    The star tennis player was in Pakistan to launch her signature perfume Splash in a collaboration with a Pakistani brand.

    She was also seen in Karachi with her husband and son Izhaan on the launch of her and Shoaib’s perfume.

  • Pakistan’s bowling consultant Philander to leave amid Omicron fears

    Pakistan’s bowling consultant Philander to leave amid Omicron fears

    Pakistan cricket team’s bowling consultant, South African Vernon Philander is set to leave the Pakistan team midway through the on-going Test against Bangladesh after suspension of flight operations in South Africa amid the spread of new coronavirus variant, Omicron.

    According to reports, Philander will leave Bangladesh for South Africa between Monday and Tuesday night.

    It is pertinent to mention that the Pakistan team is currently playing a two-match Test series against Bangladesh and initially Vernon Philander was scheduled to leave Dhaka for Cape Town on December 1 after the first Test.

    However, due to the suspension of flight operations in South Africa amid the spread of the new variant, he will be separated from the Pakistani squad today.

    It may be recalled that in view of the spread of coronavirus variant, Omicron, Pakistan imposed travel bans on six African countries, including South Africa.

    The United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and the European Union have also imposed travel bans on African countries over the threat of a new Corona variant.

    Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Liton Das digged in and helped the side to take the lead of 159 runs before lunch. Both teams are trying to win the first Test. Pakistan needs four wickets, while Bangladesh is trying to set a bigger total to defeat the visitors.

  • ‘Pakistan or India?’: Sania Mirza finally puts the banter to rest by revealing who she supports

    Indian tennis player Sania Mirza and her cricketer husband Shoaib Malik were seen engaging in a cute banter over which side Mirza supports: India or Pakistan.

    During the recording of programme ‘Time Out with Ahsan Khan’, the host asked Mirza what is the worst question any journalist or any host has asked her.

    She replied, “One question that I am asked all the time, which is very bad and stale and I don’t want to be asked again is, “Who do I support when India is playing against Pakistan?”


    In a video, Malik can also be seen teasing his wife over this. He questioned Sania: “One second, this is not over yet. Who do you support when India and Pakistan play?”

    Sania in a witty reply questioned her husband back and asked him who he supports during India versus Pakistan tennis matches.

    Playing safe, the all-rounder said: “Of course I support my wife,” while adding that he loves his country.

    Mirza instantly said, “Same,” while requesting not to ask her this question again.

    The star tennis player is currently in Karachi.