Captain Steve Smith raised a composed century to push Australia to a 22-run first innings lead in the second Test against Pakistan but the home side's hopes of pushing their advantage were washed away by rain on day four on Thursday.
The leaden-footed Australians found themselves bamboozled by Pakistan's wily spinners and their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand can expect similar treatment from Misbah-ul-Haq and his men in a three-Test series starting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday insisted that Virat Kohli's IPL captaincy will not have an impact in the World Cup as he enjoys a good record as the skippers in One-Day Internationals.
Pakistan spinners Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah took nine wickets in the second innings as the hosts beat Australia by 221 runs in the first Test on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
England beat Pakistan by 330 runs to win the 2nd Test at Old Trafford to level the four-match series 1-1 on Monday.
Australia were staring at a 2-0 series defeat after Pakistan's bowlers exposed their frailties against spin and reverse swing on day three of the second and final test in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Sri Lanka needed a little over 26 overs to chase down a 153-run victory target for a series-levelling seven-wicket victory in the second Test against Pakistan on Monday.
Judge Vyas observed that it was for the first time that a dozen persons were being convicted for conspiring in a terror attack before they could do any damage.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Australia and Pakistan, in Brisbane, on Thursday.
Given the relative paucity of cricket this year, Test cricket has emerged as a healer for deprived fans, notes Dhruv Munjal.
Pakistan's spinners scythed through Australia's top order in the second innings to get them close to victory in the first Test after twin centuries from Younus Khan and youngster Ajmal Shehzad helped the hosts set an improbable target.
It wasn't exactly a happy day for sportspersons as 3 former India captains Mohammed Azharuddin, Bhaichung Bhutia and Dilip Tirkey suffered heavy defeats with Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's thumping victory being the only saving grace.
With home advantage comes home expectation as Eoin Morgan leads arguably the strongest England side in the history of the tournament which has seen a co-host triumph in the last two editions.
Mahela Jayawardene scored four streaky runs in his last Test, as Pakistan's bowlers dismantled Sri Lanka's first innings on the opening day of the second and final match, in Colombo, on Thursday.
Gul is the sixth individual to have been designated as a terrorist by the Centre in the last fortnight.
Sri Lanka took the upper hand after the third day of the opening Test at Galle on Friday, reducing Pakistan to 118-5 after Kaushal Silva's second Test century took the hosts to 300 in their first innings.
A 30-second spot during the final to be broadcast by Rupert Murdoch's Star Sports is expected to cost nearly 10 million rupees ($155,267), far higher than the 1 million rupees that advertisers pay on average for most Indian shows, said a person involved in buying ads.
Afridi, a former Pakistan captain, said his country's drab show took away all the excitement from what was expected to be a high-voltage Group B encounter.
The 34-year-old replaced Iftikhar Ahmed, who managed only 44 runs in four innings in the recent tour of Australia where Pakistan lost both Tests.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
The Indian opener tops the Champions Trophy MVP table. But Hasan Ali, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma aren't too far behind, note Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji.
Uncapped left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar has joined the test squad from the Pakistan A team currently in Hamilton.
Hitting a patient century on Test comeback, former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik credited his wife and tennis star Sania Mirza for his success.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the 50 Most Valuable Players in the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Pakistan, who briefly topped the Test rankings last year, have now lost six straight Tests, one to West Indies in Sharjah, two in New Zealand and three in Australia.
How Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa deals with the ensuing reshuffle of lieutenant generals would be interesting to watch, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
While the ladies dazzled the red carpet at the 26th Star Screen awards, the show saw a lot more fun and glamour.
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur has insisted that veteran cricketers Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan have earned the right to decide when they want to draw curtains on their international careers. Both the batsmen, who underwent a stern examination by Josh Hazlewood and Jackson Bird, were dismissed in the space of five overs on a rain-shortened opening day of the Boxing Day Test against Australia, leaving visitors on 142-4 when play was finally called off before Tea.
Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes produced a record 273-run partnership in an unbroken opening stand to help Bangladesh whittle down Pakistan's huge lead to 23 runs at the close of the penultimate day of the opening Test at Khulna on Friday.
Pakistan cricket has got more bad news ahead of the World Cup after all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez failed to clear the informal bio-mechanics test in Chennai.
Pakistan's experienced batsman Younis Khan dug deep for his 24th Test century and his seventh against Sri Lanka to rescue his struggling side who closed on 261-4 on the opening day of the first Test on Wednesday.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has urged his top order "to go big" in the third Test against England at Edgbaston starting on Wednesday. England levelled the four-match series at 1-1 with a crushing 330-run win in the second Test at Old Trafford - a margin of victory that was testimony to the tourists' batting woes. It was all a far cry from Pakistan's 75-run win in the first Test at Lord's, which featured an inspiring century from Misbah. Poor starts have been a problem for Pakistan in this series.
16 Indian batters have scored a century on Test debut. Many did not score a hundred again in their Test careers. Rajneesh Gupta's fascinating facts on the members of the elite club of debutant centurions.
Amid controversy over Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's dual office, a Pakistani court has constituted a larger five-judge bench to hear a contempt petition against him on September 5 for not relinquishing his political post of co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.
The 50 over format is now seen as an unexciting rigmarole that most would happily give up watching, argues Dhruv Munjal.
A Pakistani judicial commission on Wedneday left for India to collect evidence and question officials as part of efforts to prosecute Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
An eight-member Pakistani Judicial Commission will arrive in Mumbai on Thursday to record statements of key persons involved in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack probe.
The International Cricket Council might have confirmed that the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir can return to cricket after the expire of their bans, but a divided house seems to have emerged in Pakistani cricket.
The security agencies in Pakistan are clueless about the whereabouts of these 19 most wanted terrorists. Some of them have been hiding in Pakistan and others are believed to have fled the country.
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