Azhar, who finished the day unbeaten on 62 off 169 balls, helped Pakistan recover from the loss of two early wickets to trail New Zealand by 135 runs with seven wickets remaining.
A battle royale is in the offing as heavyweights Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals clash in a high-profile IPL encounter, in Chennai, on Tuesday.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable performances of IPL 2024
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord's on Thursday, June 2, 2022.
New Zealand Cricket officials have commissioned international security consultant and expert Reg Dickason to visit Pakistan later this week to carry out a thorough security and COVID-19 assessment before advising them whether they should send their team to Pakistan.
Jasprit Bumrah's appointment as India's stand-in Test captain is a 'courageous decision' based on his 'tactical nous', and his leadership duel with England skipper Ben Stokes is providing a fascinating sidelight to an entertaining game in Birmingham, said the legendary Ian Chappell.
Virat Kohli's World record 50th ODI hundred, a scintillating century by Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami's brilliant pace bowling powered the hosts past New Zealand in the first semi-final with a 70-run victory at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
India were 227 for eight in their second innings at stumps on the third day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Edens Garden on Kolkata on Sunday. India, thus, took an overall lead of 339 runs over New Zealand with two wickets in hand. Rohit Sharma made 82 while Wriddhiman Saha was unbeaten on 39 along side Bhuvneshwar Kumar (8 not out).
Tom Latham led New Zealand's solid response with an unbeaten 111 against Sri Lanka's first-innings total of 244 on the third day of the second and final Test in Colombo.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and women's all-rounder Amelia Kerr picked up national player-of-the-year awards at a ceremony in Auckland on Thursday.
India captain Virat Kohli and senior batsman Rohit Sharma retained their number one and two position respectively in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen, while pacer Jasprit Bumrah remained at the third spot in the bowler's list.
India pacer Prasidh has been laid low by a lumbar stress fracture that will require the Rajasthan Royals bowling spearhead to go under the knife.
Sri Lanka got off to a strong start in their chase for a 268-run victory target after skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne frustrated New Zealand with a 133-run opening stand on Day 4 of the first Test.
30 wickets across two games... a good day for the bowlers at last...
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index of IPL 2024 after Game 31.
South Africa's bowlers chipped away at the wickets to stay on course for a huge victory against New Zealand.
Opener David Warner smashed his seventh one-day international century for the year to fire Australia to a resounding 117-run win and a 3-0 series sweep of New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
The most interesting aspect of the contest is the form of batters from both sides which has been the reason of their success so far.
Black Caps can only improve by lifting the title in Melbourne next month.
Kyle Jamieson was impeccable with his lines and lengths right from the onset.
New Zealand's drubbing of India was hailed as one of their best in Black Caps' history by the media. New Zealand head into their next match in Christchurch, starting Saturday, with the chance of claiming a rare Test series sweep over India.
Given the Indian batting line-up's weakness against swinging deliveries, New Zealand could go in with an all-pace attack with the pitch likely to offer pace and bounce.
Captain Kane Williamson returns to the side after missing the second Test
Images from the T20 World Cup match between Afghanistan and New Zealand, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.
Did Rashid's cameo outshine all the other knocks?
Veteran New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has been dropped for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan, while Kane Williamson and Trent Boult have been recalled after they were rested for last month's series against West Indies.
Wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler has moved on from the bitter run-out episode with Ravichandran Ashwin, his franchise Rajasthan Royals said after the premier India off-spinner joined the Englishman in the team for the upcoming IPL 2022 season.
Shan Masood was wrongly adjudged LBW in 2nd Test vs New Zealand in Dubai last month.
Images from the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, in Delhi, on Thursday.
They were bowled out for 138 in their first innings after lunch, still 381 runs behind New Zealand's 519 for seven declared and Kane Williamson had no hesitation in imposing the follow-on.
Images from Sunday's IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, Abu Dhabi.
Fast-bowling great Richard Hadlee expects swing bowlers to dominate the final of the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) between India and New Zealand in Southampton next month.
The likes of Virender Sehwag, David Miller and Glenn Maxwell have not managed to live up to expectations for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 8.
The batsmen's inadequacies in adverse conditions were laid bare as India crashed to an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat against a ruthless New Zealand side that wrapped up the opening Test in just over three days, in Wellington, on Monday. Starting the day on 144 for four, India were all out for 191 in 81 overs in their second innings, a shade better after their dismal 165 in the first innings, which eventually proved decisive.
After putting a stop to their prolonged losing streak, Delhi Daredevils will look to carry forward the momentum when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League encounter in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Looking to keep their winning run intact, table-toppers Rajasthan Royals face a stern SunRisers Hyderabad test in their fourth match of the Indian Premier League in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
Images from Day 2 of the ICC World Test Championship Final between India and New Zealand, at The Hampshire Bowl, in Southampton, on Saturday.
"This is the Jadeja we haven't seen before. Today he was brilliant," Manjrekar said in the video.
After storming to the title in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians pacer Jasprit Bumrah said they desperately wanted to break the jinx of winning the title every two years.
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.
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