'Everyone is calling us from our village and congratulating us on Amir's performance in the final'
Pakistani pace spearhead Wahab Riaz and leg-spinner Yasir Shah have been reported to be involved in a scuffle during a practice session in Brisbane on Wednesday following which the team management is likely to take action against the duo. As per a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official, both the players hit each other following an argument while playing football on the eve of the opening Test of the three-match series against Australia starting from Thursday.
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.
Pakistan would continue with the system of central contracts for its players except for those with fitness or bowling action problems
'If they want us to announce our retirements we will do it, but we can't waste an opportunity to earn good money.'
Pakistan retained under-fire skipper Misbah-ul Haq and out-of-form Muhammad Hafeez, but dropped tall left-arm pacer Muhammad Irfan from the 28-man probables' list for the two-Test series against South Africa.
After criticising Misbah-ul-haq severely in the recent past, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar took a U-turn.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani said that the Sri Lankan delegation will visit the grounds and hotels where the teams will stay in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad besides meeting the board, police and security officials.
'All credit goes to my bowlers, Muhammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, they bowled really well'
India defeated Pakistan by six wickets in a Super 10 Group 2 match to record their first win in the ICC World Twenty20 in Kolkata on Saturday. Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 55 to guide India home in their chase of 119.
The Management Committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board appointed former wicketkeeper Moin Khan as head coach of the national team for the upcoming Asia Cup and World T20 Cup tournaments in Bangladesh, ignoring former Test captain Waqar Younis for the top job.
Pakistan's chief selector Haroon Rasheed has had a pep talk with the national team members and is confident that they can still qualify for the final in the ongoing Asia Cup.
Young Pakistan left-arm spinner Raza Hasan faces a possible two-year ban from all forms of cricket after testing positive for cocaine following a dope test carried out at the WADA-accredited laboratory in India.
A war of words has broken out between three big names of Pakistan cricket with veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi describing former stars, Muhammad Yousuf and Shoaib Akhtar as 'heckle and jeckle'.
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 selectors will have no surprises in store when they announce the Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka on the next 48 hours apart from recalling talented opener Ahmed Shehzad.
Pakistan national cricket team selectors are in a dilemma over the selection of the final 15-member squad for the World Cup.
Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar says he is he is not the least bit surprised by Pakistan's poor run in the ongoing World T20 Championship.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is set to appeal against the ICC-imposed provisional suspension of leg-spinner Yasir Shah for failing a dope test last November in the series against England. A PCB official said it has been decided not to ask the ICC to have a test of the B sample collected from Yasir after his sample A tested positive for a banned substance leading to the ban.
Former Pakistan captain Muhammad Yousuf says Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muraliatharan would never have been allowed to play top league had the current ICC rules on chucking been in place during their time.
The 16-man squad includes batsmen Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan and fast bowler Jake Ball, who have 11 Test caps between them, as well as three uncapped players in paceman Craig Overton, spinner Mason Crane and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.
Former Pakistan cricketers Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar have expressed dismay over the national team's meek surrender in the Twenty20 series in New Zealand and said the crisis before the ICC World T20 in India was 'worrisome'.
Left-arm spinner Raza Hasan has filed an appeal against the two-year ban slapped on him for returning positive in a dope test by Pakistan Cricket Board.
Having been at the receiving end of chucking accusations during his playing days, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar advised Saeed Ajmal to legally challenge the new protocol of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on bowling actions.
Bugti, former chief minister of Balochistan and head of his tribe, was killed in 2006 in a military operation ordered by Musharraf who was president and army chief at the time.
Unimpressed by Pakistan cricket coach Waqar Younis' public apology for the team's disastrous World Twenty20 captain, former captains Ramiz Raja and Muhammad Yousuf have said it was a case of too little too late.
Senior Pakistan batsman Younis Khan, toast of the nation three months ago after reeling off four Test hundreds, has become the target of criticism after the team's humiliating World Cup losses with senior players calling on him to retire.
The fitness of Ben Stokes remains an issue. The all-rounder did not bowl in the first Test due to a back problem and could play again as a specialist batsman ahead of Vince.
England, who have won both the one-day and Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka, play a two-day practice match in Colombo before heading to Galle which hosts the first of the three Test matches from November 6.
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.
Former Pakistan players reacted strongly to the national team's 'great escape' in the first Test against England in Abu Dhabi with many saying that the batsmen's surrender in the second innings was appalling.
Cricket aficionados' love, even passion, for their "god" Sachin Tendulkar is unlikely to recede even after his playing days.
Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmdullah finished as the MVP in the recently-concluded Asia Cup T20 tournament ahead of compatriot Sabbir Rahman, who was named as the man of the series. Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle present the latest edition of the MVP rankings.
'...then Bangladesh would have been the world champions a long time ago!'
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