Day: November 4, 2021

Pakistan’s explosive middle-order batter, Asif Ali has been nominated for October’s player of the month award for his match-winning knocks in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Namibia’s David Wiese are the other two players nominated for October’s accolade, with all three players enjoying fine starts to the tournament in UAE and Oman.

Asif Ali’s T20 World Cup fireworks in Pakistan’s lower order have earned him a nomination, with a blitz of 27* from 12 balls in a win over New Zealand followed up by an extraordinary performance against Afghanistan, hitting four sixes in the 19th over to seal an important third victory at the tournament.

Shakib Al Hasan was vital in Bangladesh’s negotiation of the first round, also playing three Super 12 matches before succumbing to an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the tournament. Across six T20Is, Shakib scored 131 runs at 21.83, though it was perhaps with the ball where the left-arm spinner was more lethal, taking 11 wickets at just 11.18, with an economy of a miserly 5.59.

Namibian all-rounder, David Wiese, rounds out this month’s nominees, after playing a pivotal role with both bat and ball in the Eagles’ progress to the T20 World Cup’s Super 12 stage. Scoring 162 runs at an average of 27, with a strike rate of 132.78, Wiese has made an immediate impact in Namibia’s middle order, with knocks of 66* and 28* against the Netherlands and Ireland crucial in his team’s historic run through the first round. With the ball, Wiese has taken seven wickets at an economy of 7.23, making a case as one of the tournament’s premier all-rounders.

Source: Pro Pakistani

India’s 66-run victory over Afghanistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup has sparked a debate in the cricketing fraternity as many fans believe that the outcome of the match was pre-determined. Fans took to social media to voice their opinion with ‘#fixed’ and ‘#WellPaidIndia’ becoming some of the top trends on the popular social media platform, Twitter.

One of the talking points on social media was the video of the toss. Many people have pointed out that Indian captain, Virat Kohli, told Afghanistan captain, Mohammad Nabi, to bowl first after the latter won the toss.

While it is clearly heard that there was a brief conversation between the two captains regarding the decision after the toss, many people believe it is Kohli who addressed Nabi and told him to bowl first.

It is actually Mohammad Nabi who told Kohli about his decision to bowl first after winning the toss. This is a common practice in cricket where the toss-winning captain tells the other captain about his decision before announcing it on the microphone.

By listening closely, it is clear that Nabi had informed Kholi that he “will bowl first” to which the Indian skipper replied “okay” and not the other way around.

There have been similar incidents in previous matches held in this particular T20 World Cup as well and this tradition has been in cricket for ages. Even during Pakistan’s encounter against Afghanistan, Babar had asked Nabi about his decision right after the toss.

Source: Pro Pakistani

FA delegation of Pakistan Soccer Futsal Federation led by Chairman Islamabad Soccer Futsal Association, Chaudhry Saleem Zia, visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and held a meeting with Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President ICCI, to discuss the promotion of futsal.

Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh, Senior Vice President, Muhammad Faheem Khan, Vice President ICCI, Baser Daud, former President, Ch. Muhammad Ali, Executive Member ICCI, Adnan Malik, Secretary General Pakistan Soccer Futsal Federation, Asia Aslam, President (Women’s Wing) Islamabad Soccer Futsal Association, Rana Tanveer Ahmed, President Islamabad Soccer Futsal Association and Moin ud Din, Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Soccer Futsal Association, were present in the meeting.

During the meeting, the delegation briefed the President ICCI Muhammad Shakeel Munir about the Pak-US Futsal series. They informed that the USA’s Futsal team would visit Pakistan from December 1 to 7, 2021 to play a three-match series, one each at Islamabad, Lahore, and Sargodha.

Speaking at the occasion, Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, assured the delegation of his full support to make the series successful. He appointed Muhammad Faheem Khan, Vice President, ICCI as Coordinator. He vowed that ICCI would continue to play its positive role in the promotion of sports activities.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Babar Azam’s father, Azeem Siddique, has requested the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to make immediate arrangements for the treatment of injured woman cricketer, Bisma Amjad. Siddique took to the popular social media platform, Instagram, to voice his concerns for the cricketer.

Siddique said that if other arrangements cannot be made then the PCB can pay for the treatment through Babar’s match-fee that he had received for Pakistan’s match against India in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Siddique said, “[If] any individual who wears Pakistan’s star is helpless then the entire nation is helpless.” He requested PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja, to take immediate action for the treatment of Bisma.

Last month, Bisma suffered a head injury during Pakistan’s practice session in Karachi and was shifted to a nearby hospital immediately. Bisma suffered from a concussion as the ball hit her head. According to reports, PCB refused to pay the medical bill of Rs. 54,000 which resulted in a lot of backlash on social media.

PCB revealed that they are looking after the well-being of Bisma but according to the rumor mill, the bill has still not been paid. It is also reported that Bisma’s condition has not improved and has been suffering for the past three days. Further details behind her health will be revealed after further scans.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced the schedule of the home series against West Indies.

The two-time T20 World Cup champions will tour Pakistan for three T20Is, and as many One-Day International (ODIs) in December, the cricket board said in a Twitter post.

The three T20Is will be played on 13, 14, and 16 December while the ODI series will be played on 18, 20, and 22 December. All matches will be played at the National Stadium, Karachi.

Note that the West Indies women’s cricket team is already in Pakistan for ODIs to be played in Karachi on 8, 11, and 14 November, following which both sides will travel to Zimbabwe for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier to be held from 21 November to 5 December.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Former Pakistan captain and star all-rounder, Shahid Afridi, has said that his daughters do not have any presence on social media.

Taking to Twitter, Afridi said that none of his daughters have social media accounts.

“I would like to clarify that none of my daughters have any social media accounts; please disregard any ‘accounts’ or ‘news’ that are associated with my daughters,” Afridi said on Twitter.

He also attached a screenshot of a fake Twitter account created in the name of his daughter, Ansha Afridi. The clarification was due as several social media accounts and pages had been created in Ansha’s name over the past week.

Born on 3rd December 2005, Ansha is Afridi’s second child after Aqsa Afridi, who is going to be engaged to Pakistan fast bowler, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Ansha is very active in social work and is often spotted alongside his father in welfare works.

Source: Pro Pakistani

India’s chances of making it to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup appear slim as they lost their opening two matches of the Super 12s stage of the tournament and sit at fourth spot in Group 2.

Despite the rivalry, cricket fans want India to do better and progress to the next stage of the tournament. Of course, the Men in Blue can still advance to the semifinals but they need nothing short of a miracle to move to the last four.

However, India’s progress doesn’t lie in their hands now. In fact, their hopes now rest with others performing extraordinarily poorly in a couple of scenarios.

In this regard, Federal Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry, took to Twitter earlier today and suggested another scenario to India for qualifying for the next round.

The Minister shared an image that read:

India can still reach the semifinals if they send fake emails and New Zealand leaves UAE due to security issues.

The state-level jibe is connected to the incident in which New Zealand pulled out of the Pakistan tour just 20 minutes before the start of the first ODI due to an alleged security threat.

Once the dust settled after the incident, the Information Minister revealed that the threat emails that led to the cancelation of the New Zealand tour to Pakistan were in fact sent from India.

The emails were sent from an associated device in India using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that showed the IP address located in Singapore.

The device used to send the emails had 13 other email addresses. The email ID linked with these particular emails used the name ‘Hamza Afridi’ which was purposefully used to malign Pakistan.

The Information Minister had said that the whole saga hinted at the involvement of Indian agencies.

India had a dreadful start to their T20 World Cup campaign. They lost their first match to Pakistan by 10 wickets and then lost the second match to New Zealand by 8 wickets. They won the third match against Afghanistan by 66 runs in a controversial manner.

India currently sit at the fourth spot in Group 2 with two points and a net run rate of +0.073. Afghanistan and New Zealand sit at third and fourth spot with four points each and run rates of +1.481 and +0.816 respectively.

Since Pakistan have already qualified for the semifinals of the tournament, the second spot is up for grabs as the top two teams from each group will play in the semifinals.

Source: Pro Pakistani