West Indian spinner Sunil Narine has once again been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action in the ongoing Pakistan Super League, a development that could jeopardise his IPL participation.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has said that the option of flying out off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to Australia for the cricket World Cup was available if Pakistan reached the semi-finals.
Suryakumar Yadav has been reported for a suspect illegal bowling action, becoming the fifth bowler to be called in the just concluded Champions League Twenty20 tournament.
Pakistan women cricket team's head coach New Zealander Mark Coles has resigned on Thursday, months before the ICC World T20 in Australia.
The uncertainty over Pakistan's participation in the World Twenty20 finally ended on Friday after the country's cricket team received government clearance to travel to India following assurances of security from the host nation.
There were demands that India should boycott the game against Pakistan in the World Cup in Manchester on June 16 in the wake of last month's Pulwama terror attack in which more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
Banned Pakistani off-spinner Saeed Ajmal vowed to correct his illegal bowling action and return to cricket before next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi was, on Tuesday, named Pakistan's new Twenty20 captain until the 2016 World T20, and Misbah ul Haq retained Test and ODI skipper until the 2015 50-over World Cup.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's relations with the International Cricket Council, headed by former BCCI chief Shashank Manohar, hit a new low after the Indian women's cricket team was docked six points for not playing bilateral series with Pakistan between August 1 to October 31 as per agreement.
Pakistan's new chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq is not happy with the state of pitches being used for a top ongoing domestic one-day tournament and also with the quality of cricket on display in the event.
Former captain Intikhab Alam, who heads the Pakistan Cricket Board's domestic cricket operations, said on Wednesday that they are planning to have the suspended Saeed Ajmal undergo the bio-mechanic tests with a corrected bowling action before the World Cup so he is available for selection for the mega event next year.
Banned off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has been included in Pakistan's provisional World Cup squad of 30 players but it is subject to him clearing the informal biomechanics test in the United Kingdom.
The national team manager Intikhab Alam has blamed captain Shahid Afridi for Pakistan cricket team's recent poor performances, including at the World Twenty20 in India. The report states that Afridi was involved in 'needless controversies' during the World T20. In the five-page report submitted to the PCB and fact-finding committee of the PCB, Alam said that the team failed to sustain the stress and the pressure associated with the world event. "The recent Asia Cup and the ICC World T20 have made it evident that we have critical gaps both in batting and bowling and our fielding keeps on leaking runs, thus releasing pressure. In bowling, with the exception of Muhammad Amir, we do not have a bowler who can win us matches. "Our death bowling also is way below par. And the same goes with our batting line-up, where we do not have reliable pinch hitters and the top and power hitter to clinch us games," Alam wrote in his report, leaked to media.
Uncapped left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar has joined the test squad from the Pakistan A team currently in Hamilton.
Former leg-spin great, Abdul Qadir has advised flamboyant Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi to say goodbye to cricket and slammed Umar Akmal, saying he lost his place in the national team because of his own mistakes. Qadir, known for his candid comments, said at a function in Lahore that Afridi had aged and was no longer fit for top level cricket. "I don't think cricket is any longer the forte of Afridi and he should say goodbye," Qadir said. He also didn't mince any words on the exclusion of batsmen Ahmed Shehzad and his son-in-law Umar Akmal from the list of probables for the tour to England. "To me Shehzad is simply more of an actor than a cricketer while Umar Akmal has lost his place in the team because of his own mistakes," he added. Umar, who is married to Qadir's daughter, has in recent months been at the centre of controversies raising questions over his commitment to the game.
Inzamam-ul-Haq says the tenure has been the most challenging of his professional career as he was subjected to 'hurtful criticism'
There are no major, big-ticket banners proclaiming the same, restaurant and coffee shop helpers express surprise when you say we are here to cover the World Cup and even those who have an inkling that the tournament has begun are awaiting the knock-out stage of the tournament.
The ICC Board accepted the resignation of former president Mustafa Kamal, effective from April 2, and confirmed that no replacement would be appointed for the remaining weeks of his term.
Misbah-ul-Haq said at the Champions Trophy unveiling on Thursday: 'I think the Indian team players also would like to play against us but it is politics which is not allowing a bilateral series. It is the Indian government which is not allowing it'
Experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal's scathing attack on the Pakistan team management could hurt his chances of making a comeback to international cricket.
Thakur, who is expected to meet Board president, Jagmohan Dalmiya at his residence later in the afternoon, said that an announcement on support staff is on the cards.
Test cricket returned to Pakistan for the first time in ten years with the Sri Lankan team playing two matches in Rawalpindi and Karachi, with the hosts winning the second match to clinch the series 1-0 after the rain-curtailed first game ended in a draw.
Pakistan's manager and chief selector Moin Khan has shot back at his critics insisting senior batsman Younis Khan was dropped from the one-day squad only for the Australia series and that he was always in reckoning for the Test rubber.
Flamboyant allrounder and former captain, Shahid Afridi believes that Pakistan cricket think-tank has erred by having too many expectations from out of favor batsmen, Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal. "I don't know but it was wrong to expect them to be like Virat Kohli or Ab de Villiers and perform like them," Afridi said on Geo News channel on Monday. Shehzad and Umar considered to be two of the country's best young batting talent have been axed for the tour to England on disciplinary grounds and were not called for the training and skills camps set up by the cricket board. PCB Chairman, Shaharyar Khan made it clear that it was the decision of the new selection committee to sideline the two youngsters. Afridi said there was no doubt that Shehzad and Umar needed to work hard on their cricket and approach. "I also agree there should be no compromise on discipline. But I think it is best if we stop expecting too much from them and just let them be and let them play the way they do. With more experience I am sure they will be much better," he added.
All is not well with Telengana and its Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao
Left in the lurch after India shortened its tour, South Africa will now host Pakistan for a three-match ODI and two-match Twenty20 series from November 18, the two countries' boards announced on Tuesday.
Pakistan cricket on Monday plunged into crisis as the Islamabad High Court, which had restored Zaka Ashraf as chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, declared in its detailed judgement all decisions taken by the Najam Sethi-led management committee since February as "null and void".
The environment ministry till May 2014 (still under UPA) ordered that cases like Vedanta's expansion plans need to consult people. But in December 2014, the NDA government reversed this position and in March 2015 the environment ministry extended Vedanta's environmental clearance till December 2018. This it did even while the question of the need for public hearing by projects in different kinds of industrial parks was being contested in the courts. This allowed the company to carry out construction.
The national selection committee ignored senior Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal for the coming one-day series in Sri Lanka.
'Six of us were not talking during the World T20 in 2009 but we still managed to win the title.'
If you don't have power in a game you are masters of, the world will walk all over you, notes Shekhar Gupta.
India pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals team mate Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were on Sunday cleared of charges by a Delhi court in the spot-fixing and betting scandal in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League in 2013. A flashback of the events that unfolded in the episode.
Following badminton World No 1 Lee Chong Wei's provisional ban, Rediff.com brings you ten top sports persons who gave in to drugs - one of the mighty perils that has affected modern sporting culture.
