Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera picked five wickets as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 68 runs in the second Test in Dubai on Tuesday and won the series 2-0. Perera had figures of 5-98 as Pakistan, chasing 317 for victory, were bowled out for 248 in the second hour of fifth and final day at Dubai stadium.
Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, on Monday, criticised the national selectors for resting six senior players, including skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, for the upcoming ODI series against Australia, saying a good outing would have boosted their confidence ahead of the World Cup.
England moved relentlessly towards a series-levelling victory over Pakistan on a rain-disrupted third day of the second test in Manchester on Sunday. The hosts bowled out the Pakistanis for 198 before declining to enforce the follow-on, ending the day on 98 for one to lead by a commanding 489 runs with two days remaining at Old Trafford.
Opener Chamu Chibhabha hit 90 as Zimbabwe, aided by bad light, held off a spirited revival from Pakistan to level the One-Day International series with a five-run victory in the second match at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
Pakistan finished the third day of the first Test in a strong position after Yasir Shah took six wickets as England were dismissed for 272 then the visitors reached 214 for eight in their second innings for a lead of 281.
Pakistan's former head coach Waqar Younis regrets about resigning as the national team coach with "unfinished business" and misses coaching the national team.
A fit-again Muhammad Irfan returned to the Pakistan cricket squad announced on Friday.
Pakistan's Yasir Shah claimed seven second innings wickets in a spectacular display of leg-spin bowling to destroy Sri Lanka.
Australia were two wickets from victory at the end of day four of the first day-night test against Pakistan on Sunday, but the tourists were buoyed by a feisty fourth innings chase and a brilliant unbeaten century from Asad Shafiq.
Images from Sunday's World Cup match between Pakistan and South Africa, at Lord's.
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.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
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.
Pakistan champions Lahore Lions registered their first win in the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 main draw as they outplayed Dolphins of South Africa by 16 runs in Bangalore to keep their hopes of booking a semi-final spot alive.
Riding high on a comfortable win over Dolphins in their last encounter, Chennai Super Kings will look to keep the momentum going when they lock horns with Lahore Lions in the Champions League T20.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja's maiden 10-wicket match haul against England in Chennai has propelled him to second position behind teammate and India's star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Test bowler rankings released on Wednesday.
Skipper Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a confident half-century after Sunil Narine stifled Lahore Lions with his magical spin bowling as Kolkata Knight Riders eked out a four-wicket win in a Champions League Twenty20 Group A match in Hyderabad.
Skipper Angelo Mathews and opener Kaushal Silva hit half-centuries to help Sri Lanka take a 166-run first innings lead against Pakistan and push for a series-levelling victory on day two of the second Test on Friday.
Kaushal Silva stayed on course for his second Test hundred after featuring in a century-plus stand with Kumar Sangakkara to help Sri Lanka to 178 for 3 on Day 2 of the first Test against Pakistan at Galle on Thursday.
It has traditionally been a battle between India's batting and Pakistan's bowling whenever the arch-rivals have met on a cricket field and Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi reckons the trend will continue in their World Twenty20 contest on Saturday. The Pakistan captain is looking to bank on his team's winning record against India the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Pakistan have defeated India in all four matches that have played at the Eden Gardens. "We have good memories of the ground," Afridi said. "We have played well at this ground, we know the conditions and the pitch suits us as well." Pakistan were the last team to land in India, putting aside safety concerns that led to the switching of their match against India from Dharamsala to Kolkata's Eden Gardens.
Pakistan marked international cricket's return to the trouble-torn country with a five-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the first Twenty20 International at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.
Supremely confident of his pace attack, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi on Friday said his fast bowlers are capable of sending the Indian top-order packing in the first six overs itself when the two teams lock horns in the Asia Cup T20 group league match, in Fatullah on Saturday. "Pace bowlers are the main form of attack in these conditions. We have got four pacers and they are just cricketers who are considered to be wicket-taking. Our fast bowlers will try to utilise the opening six overs by removing their batsmen as that is considered to be their strength," Afridi said at the pre-match press conference. Afridi though acknowledged that Indian batsmen do play spinners very well. In the spin department, Afridi will be supported by left-arm spinner Muhammad Nawaz, who has done well in the recently concluded PSL. "Indian batsmen usually play spinners very well and they have in-form players in their squad as they have come here playing some good cricket. I think apart from me there is Mohammad Nawaz who performed really well in the domestic cricket as well as in the PSL. The fast bowlers are also in good shape whether it is Amir, Wahab or Irfan.
Images from the World Cup match between New Zealand and Pakistan, at Birmingham, on Wednesday.
Jolted by the shock loss to New Zealand in the opening game, India will be fighting a survival battle quite early in the tournament when they take on arch foes Pakistan in what is being seen as the marquee clash of the ICC World Twenty20 in Kolkata on Saturday. The hosts, who started clear title-favourites, were in for a blow in the first match itself when New Zealand's spinners bamboozled their famed batting line-up on a turning Nagpur track. As a result, the world No.1 side is staring at an early elimination should it lose to Pakistan in the high-voltage game at the Eden Gardens. As is the case with most India-Pakistan contests, this game too has been preceded by its share of drama. The match was originally scheduled to be held in Dharamsala but was shifted here after the Himachal Pradesh government expressed inability to provide security to the Pakistan team owing to protests by ex-servicemen and their families.
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.
World cricket's most intriguing rivalry will once again be renewed when India take on an unpredictable Pakistan with rehabilitated pacer Mohammad Aamir being the focus of attention in a round-robin league encounter of the Asia Cup T20 tournament, in Mirpur, on Saturday.
Images from Wednesday's World Cup mach between Australia and Pakistan, at The County Ground, in Taunton.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup
Photos of the third quarter-final match between Australia and Pakistan being played at the Adelaide Oval on Friday
Pakistan's Yasir Shah claimed five wickets to put the breaks on England's scoring on Day 2 of the 1st Test at Lord's in London on Friday.
Pakistan's Mohammad Amir got a muted reception at Lord's on the second day of the first Test on Friday as he bowled for the first time in a test since being banned for spot-fixing.
In the normal circumstances, Raina, who last played for India in 2018, would be playing in the IPL but instead he is enjoying cooking for his family.
Mohammad Aamir is part of the Pakistan family and will always have the support of his team mates as he prepares to return to Lord's six years after the scandal that derailed his career, fast bowler Wahab Riaz has said.
England Test skipper Alastair Cook believes his batsmen are well-prepared to deal with Pakistan's fiery attack next month after getting plenty of practice in the middle against a weakened Sri Lanka side.
Images from Day 4 of the third Test between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney, on Friday.
Captain Steve Smith raised a composed century to push Australia to a 22-run first innings lead in the second Test against Pakistan but the home side's hopes of pushing their advantage were washed away by rain on day four on Thursday.
In the end, one of the most eagerly awaited matches of the tournament proved a damp squib as India utterly dominated every aspect of a stop-start, rain-interrupted 124-run victory.
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur says his team is calm ahead of the big match against arch-rivals India and says he will field a wicket-taking attack on Sunday
Sri Lanka clinched the one-day international series against Pakistan after their bowlers, led by Thisara Perera, routed the tourists to secure a seven-wicket victory in the deciding third and final match on Saturday.
Sri Lanka off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal scythed through Pakistan's batting order to pick up his first five-wicket haul as the visitors were bundled out for 138 on the opening day of the second test on Thursday.
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