Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz has heaped praise on Boxing Day Test centurion Azhar Ali, saying the opener is `one of the greatest batsmen` the country has ever produced. Azhar (unbeaten at 139) struck his 12th Test century and first Down Under besides sharing an unbeaten 115-run stand with Asad Shafiq (50) to guide Pakistan to 310-6 at the end of the rain-curtailed second day's play of the second match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday.
Ali rebutted reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan instructed the players to avoid celebrations in the match against India at Manchester.
Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali shared an unbroken partnership of 132 to lift England to 414 for five and a lead of 311 runs over Pakistan on the fourth day of the third test at Edgbaston on Saturday. Bairstow was unbeaten on 82 and Moeen 60 not out at the close with England in a good position to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series if they can bowl out the touring side on the final day.
Pakistan will meet Group A toppers England in the first semi-final on Wednesday at the same venue.
Afridi reckoned a good start could take the 1992 champions all the way to the July 14 final at the Lord's.
Pakistan's Rahat Ali removed England's top three batsmen as the first Test at Lord's hurtled towards an exciting climax on Sunday's fourth day. At lunch, England were 90 for three in their second innings, needing a further 193 runs to reach their victory target of 283. James Vince was a Test-best 41 not out and the recalled Gary Ballance 15 not out after Rahat had taken three wickets for 36 runs in eight overs. England captain Alastair Cook launched the chase with a four off the very first ball of the innings when he cut a loose Mohammad Amir delivery to the boundary.
The application accuses Hasina and others of orchestrating a violent crackdown on student protestors, resulting in widespread casualties and human rights violations.
"I am concerned but I don't think wickets itself are a reflection of performance. Take for example, India pacer (Mohammed) Shami's case in England. He bowled well but couldn't get wickets. I have spoken to him (Aamir) and told him that he is our strike bowler and has to pick wickets too. Hope he does that tomorrow," Sarfraz told reporters.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who is a popular name among T20 leagues around the world, was not picked along Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga.
Put into bat in a stop-start, rain-hit match, India posted a commanding 336-5, with Rohit Sharma (140) smashing his second century of the tournament.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan is not going anywhere. That being the case, why is the hesitation to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban? asks Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
The prosecution complaint, ED's equivalent to chargesheet, has urged the court for confiscating attached assets totalling to Rs 1.22 crore in the case, besides other punishment under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after 37 World Cup 2023 games.
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.
As many as 174 members voted in favour of the motion in the 342-member House while members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were absent during the voting.
The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending a non-cooperation programme to demand the government's resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists.
Pakistan's stand-in captain Mohammad Hafeez hit a fighting fifty to set up a comprehensive six-wicket victory against Australia in the second one-day international on Sunday that levelled the five-match series.
A couple of losses for hosts England has only brightened the 1992 winners' prospects of a semi-final berth.
History has not seen a cricketing rivalry as fierce as this this century, every ball bowled every run taken, coming with no quarter given. Ahead of India's five Test tour of Australia, Norma Astrid Godinho/Rediff.com takes a walk down memory lane, recounting India's sojourns Down Under from 1947 to 2021, in a 4-part series.
Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Irfan has been suspended for a year and fined 1 million rupees ($9,500,00) after failing to disclose two approaches made by bookmakers during this year's Pakistan Super League (PSL), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Wednesday.
Their arrival itself was mired in drama and a mercurial Pakistan would look to bring the focus back on their cricket when they take on an enigmatic Bangladesh.
Convicted spot-fixer Muhammad Aamir was selected in the Pakistan cricket team that will tour England for a four-Test series for the first time since the spot-fixing scandal broke in 2010. However the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is still awaiting for Aamir's visa approval from the UK High Commission. 24-year-old Aamir has made an impressive comeback in shorter formats and ironically his probable return to Test cricket will happen in the same country where he was arrested for indulging in spot-fixing along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif. Chairman of selectors Inzamam ul Haq said that the board had given clearance to pick Aamir in the side as they had been told his visa would arrive on Monday.
India launched their campaign in the Champions Trophy with a resounding 124-run victory over Pakistan, in Birmingham on Sunday, extending their dominance over the arch-rivals in major International Cricket Council tournaments.
Special envoys of China, Russia and Pakistan have met the top officials of the Taliban's interim government as well as Afghan leaders Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul and discussed the formation of an inclusive government, combating terrorism and humanitarian situation, a top Chinese official said on Wednesday.
India on Thursday resumed its diplomatic presence in Kabul by deploying a team in its embassy in the Afghan capital, over 10 months after it pulled out its officials from the mission following the Taliban's capture of power.
Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Amir shone as Pakistan defied the odds to overwhelm arch-rivals India by 180 runs and pull off a major upset in the ICC Champions Trophy final.
An insatiable David Warner blasted a career-best 179 and dominated Australia's highest ever one-day partnership with fellow centurion Travis Head to help secure their 57-run victory in the fifth and final match against Pakistan on Thursday.
Pakistan's seam attack dragged their side back into the first Test against New Zealand on Saturday by capturing seven wickets before lunch, bowling the hosts out for 200 on the third day. Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali and Mohammad Amir shared the wickets as the hosts were bundled out with a lead of 67 runs. New Zealand had bowled Pakistan out for 133 before tea on Friday at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund is appointed as Prime Minister with two deputies Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Molavi Abdul Salam Hanafi.
Imran Khan knows Pakistan is holding a strong hand and doesn't have to flaunt it while claiming victory. But Pakistan has learned from the experience of the 1990s -- high risk of going out on a limb, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
IMAGES from Day 3 of the 1st Test between England and Pakistan played at Lord's on Saturday
It is a tribute to a system so robustly meritocratic that this team represents India's diversity better than any other institution: The Union Cabinet, our chief ministers, the civil services, the leadership of our armed forces and security agencies, the judiciary and more than all of these, our typical newsroom. That is the biggest message from this breathless rise of Indian cricket, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Yasir Shah proved Pakistan's match-winner as they ended a six-Test losing streak to beat West Indies by seven wickets in the first Test in Jamaica on Tuesday.
England have by far been the best team in the tournament.
Australia's Matthew Wade struck his maiden one-day century to help secure a comprehensive 92-run victory over a disjointed Pakistan in the first one-day international in Brisbane on Friday.
'I somehow felt that Muzaffar Ali was in Aligarh to feel the pulse of the Muslim youth, especially in the darker and harsher times that India is passing through,' notes Mohammad Sajjad.
An inspired Pakistan hammered a blundering India by 180 runs to lift the ICC Champions Trophy, riding on a scintillating hundred from rookie opener Fakhar Zaman and a sensational bowling spell from Mohammad Amir.
Moeen Ali made a superb century to lift England to 328 all out after Pakistan had taken four early wickets on the first day of the final Test at The Oval on Thursday.
Ross Taylor ended a poor run of form to score his 16th test century and bat New Zealand into a potentially series-winning position at the end of the fourth day of the second Test against Pakistan at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Monday. Already 1-0 up in the two-match series courtesy of an eight-wicket win in Christchurch, New Zealand declared their second innings at 313 for five, just after Taylor reached the milestone, and set Pakistan a victory target of 369.
All-rounder Colin de Grandhomme took six for 41 in the best haul for a New Zealand cricketer on debut as the hosts dismissed Pakistan for 133 before tea on the second day of the first test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Friday. The 30-year-old seamer, a surprise selection in the squad, also became the eighth New Zealander to take a five-wicket haul on debut. New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Jeet Raval, who is also on debut, will begin New Zealand's reply after tea was taken early.
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