Fast bowler Sohail Khan earned a surprise recall while Pakistan selectors ignored senior players Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal in their final 15-member squad for the World Cup.
A PCB official said the suspended off-spinner has been named in the preliminary squad as he was in the process of correcting his action and would soon appear for an ICC biomechanics test.
The Asia Cup to be played in Bangladesh from February 24, will be played in the T20 format for the first time in the tournament's history. The tournament which precedes the vital World T20 to be held in in India in March, has a rich history with India and Sri Lanka winning it five times each. Pakistan have been victorious on two occasions while Bangladesh's best finish has been their runner-up performance in the 2012 edition. Team India will be led by MS Dhoni and the tournament will also see Virat Kohli returning after taking a break from the recently concluded three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Dhoni will be chasing history to become the most successful skipper in the tournament history. The Indian skipper and former Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga have both recorded same number of nine victories and four defeats in the Asia Cup All the matches will be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur. The qualifying rounds involving Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Oman has begun from Friday.
West Indies, put in to bat, struggled throughout their innings as 18-year-old Pakistan leg-spinner Shadab Khan took three wickets for seven runs off his four overs to land the man of the match award on his international debut.
The apex court, however, dismissed a PIL filed by NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, seeking a court-monitored fresh probe in the Pandya murder case.
India and Pakistan meet in their opening World Cup match at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday. Ahead of what promises to be a thrilling contest here's a fact-file on the teams.
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.
A couple of losses for hosts England has only brightened the 1992 winners' prospects of a semi-final berth.
Rodrigues, Kaur, Mandhana and Sharma were also a part of the now-defunct Kia Super League (KSL) in 2019, the ECB's domestic T20 tournament that made way for the Women's Hundred.
Experienced Pakistan players Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Sami received surprise call-ups to the national side for the two T20 matches against the touring Zimbabwe team after spending close to three years in the wilderness.
Mominul Haque struck a patient 80 before falling to the final delivery of the day as Bangladesh capitalised on poor Pakistan fielding to reach 236 for four on the opening day of the first Test in Khulna on Tuesday.
Australia knocked Pakistan out of the ICC World Twenty20 with a convincing 21-run victory, setting up a virtual quarter-final against hosts India to be played in Mohali on Sunday.
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.
Rohit Sharma produced an elegant hundred before Kuldeep Yadav flummoxed the Pakistani batsmen as India inflicted a humiliating 89-run defeat via the Duckworth-Lewis method on their arch-rivals.
Pakistan's Yasir Shah claimed seven second innings wickets in a spectacular display of leg-spin bowling to destroy Sri Lanka.
India went on to maintain its 100 per cent winning rate against Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup after defeating them by 29 runs in the semi-final clash at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
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.
Images from Sunday's World Cup match between Pakistan and South Africa, at Lord's.
Sarfaraz says Pak ready for World Test Championship challenge
Coach Waqar Younis said the leg-spinner is being considered as a replacement for injured fast bowler Mohammad Irfan for the World Cup quarter-final match against Australia.
Pakistan go into the World Cup having suffered 10 successive ODI defeats and were also beaten by Afghanistan in the warm-up match of the World Cup.
Arthur described coaching the Pakistan team as a fulfilling period of his career.
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir broke down during the national conditioning camp and offered to leave the game before being accepted by protesting players, who had reservations training with him.
Mohammad Hafeez struck his maiden Test double hundred as Pakistan feasted on Bangladesh's limited bowling resources to post a commanding 537 for five wickets on day three and take charge of the opening match at Khulna on Thursday.
Their path to the semi-finals looking relatively easier in comparison, Australia will fancy their chances when they lock horns with a struggling Pakistan side whose hopes hangs by a thread in the ICC World Twenty20, in Mohali, on Friday.
Pakistan crushed Bangladesh by 328 runs on Saturday to win their final Test with a day to spare.
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.
Sarfraz and his men must heed the advice from someone who famously galvanised a traditionally fractious side to World Cup glory in 1992.
New Zealand secured their third straight win to book a spot in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 after beating Pakistan by 22 runs at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali in their Super 10 stage match on Tuesday.
After bagging lucrative deals at the Indian Premier League Players' Auction, the Indian team will be eager to deliver when they face arch-rivals Pakistan in the second semi-final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Christchurch, on Tuesday.
A Pakistani court on Saturday summoned four witnesses for cross- examination in the trial of seven Pakistanis, including Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks, for July 6.
The road to the knockout stage for Sarfaraz Ahmed and his men is just an improbable mathematical calculation and that too provided Pakistan win the toss and bat first.
Rajneesh Gupta profiles the cricketers playing the World Cup 2019.
England beat Pakistan by 44 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis scoring method in a rain-affected first One-Day International in Southampton on Wednesday.
Pakistan side put its World Cup campaign back on track with an upset 29-run win via Duckworth/Lewis method over South Africa
Tamim Iqbal scored a double century and Imrul Kayes 150 in a record opening stand of 312 as Bangladesh overhauled a huge first innings deficit to force a draw with Pakistan in the opening Test at Khulna on Saturday.
Karachi-based port worker, who had seen 10 lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists leaving in a boat hours before the brazen Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, was cross-examined in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Wednesday.
Drafted into the team for the first time in the ongoing cricket World Cup, Pakistan wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed made an instant impact with a record-equalling six catches and 49 runs in the team's upset win over South Africa in Auckland.
Asad Shafiq's seventh hundred and a belligerent 96 from Sarfraz Ahmed helped give Pakistan a sizeable lead against Sri Lanka on the fourth day of the opening Test at Galle on Saturday.
Pakistan will not only have to win the remaining three matches, starting with New Zealand, but also hope that the results in other matches favour them to salvage any hopes of a semi-final berth.
