Tag: Sports

Legend Pakistani pacer, Wasim Akram, has revealed that he has no intention of taking up any coaching role with the national team anytime in the near future.

During a recent interview with Cricket Pakistan, the former captain said that one of the biggest reasons for not taking up any role with the national team is that he can’t tolerate the abuse coaches get online.

Akram went on to say that although the passion of Pakistani cricket fans is understandable and their anger is justifiable, the foul language which they use when the team doesn’t perform well is unfathomable.

He added that the Pakistani fans must understand that although a coach can devise any plan before the match, it is up to the players to implement that plan on the pitch.

Wasim Akram represented Pakistan in 104 Tests and 356 ODIs, claiming 414 and 502 wickets respectively. After retiring from the national side, he moved behind the mic and became a commentator.

Although he has mentored Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as a bowling coach in the IPL and worked with Islamabad United, Multan Sultan, and Karachi Kings in the PSL, the former left-arm pacer has never accepted any coaching role with the national cricket team.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Four Balochistan players participating in the National T20 Cup have tested positive for COVID-19 and they have been placed in a 10-day quarantine. All the other players participating in the tournament were asymptomatic and tested negative, and will continue to participate in the tournament.

As a result, the second match on 6 October between Northern and Balochistan has been swapped with the Northern and Southern Punjab match. This means that the Northern vs. Balochistan match will now be played on 9 October under floodlights.

Balochistan-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa match on 7 October will be played as scheduled. Balochistan will beef up its squad with players from their Cricket Association Championship three-day tournament side. The player transfer will be from bubble-to-bubble but the replacement players will undergo CT-PCR testing as per the PCB’s COVID-19 protocols.

Pakistan players and support staff for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will participate in the National T20 on 6 and 7 October. On 8 October, they will shift to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup bubble being set up by the PCB as per the ICC regulations.

The PCB continues to monitor the situation and is retesting all participants and their families. It has also been decided the frequency of testing will be increased for the remainder of the tournament.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan’s all-format captain, Babar Azam recently became the youngest and fastest batter in the world to reach 7,000 T20 runs. He achieved the milestone in only 187 T20 innings as he surpassed West Indian batter, Chris Gayle, who had reached the landmark in 192 innings.

The 26-year old made his T20 debut in 2012 and despite an underwhelming start to his T20 career, Babar became one of the top batters in T20 cricket. He is currently the second-ranked T20I batter in the world and is Pakistan’s third-highest run-scorer in the shortest format of the game.

He is also only the third Pakistani batter to score more than 7,000 T20 runs. Veteran all-rounder, Shoaib Malik, and Mohammad Hafeez are the other two to have achieved the feat.

Babar’s most impressive attribute is his immaculate consistency over the past few years. Babar reached his first 1,000 T20 runs in 36 innings and since then he has kept on scoring heavily, taking less innings to score his next 1,000 runs in T20 cricket. This shows Babar’s formidable run-scoring form and his constant hard work to improve his batting even further.

The stylish batter will be looking to improve even further and become the fastest batter in the world to score 8,000 T20 runs. He will need to score his next 1,000 T20 runs in less than 26 innings to break the record currently held by Chris Gayle.

Babar has scored 7,055 runs, including 6 centuries, the most by a Pakistani batter and 59 half-centuries, at an average of 46.11 and a strike rate of 128.85 in 187 innings so far.

Source: Pro Pakistani

According to various reports, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is on the hunt for a new Chief Executive Officer after the resignation of Wasim Khan. Wasim stepped down from his post recently after serving as CEO of the board for almost three years.

According to sources, the PCB Board of Governors (BoGs) have recommended that the new CEO should be local and should have experience in playing domestic and international cricket. The board recommended that it would be beneficial for Pakistan cricket if the new CEO has a deep understanding of the grassroots of cricket in the country.

It was also recommended by the BoGs that the new CEO should draw a considerably lower salary as compared to Wasim Khan and they believe that a former player will fulfill all the criteria.

Recently it was claimed by various media outlets that former CEO, Wasim Khan was drawing a huge salary and was enjoying hefty perks during his stint with the board. However, Wasim refuted the claims and said that the figures were exaggerated to malign him.

Earlier it was reported that PCB’s newly elected chairman, Ramiz Raja, was keen on removing the post altogether and instead appoint a new Director of Cricket to oversee the domestic and international cricket in the country.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Left-handed top-order batter Saud Shakeel will captain future Pakistan hopefuls on the tour of Sri Lanka, which will comprise two four-day fixtures and three 50-over matches in Kandy and Colombo from 28 October to 14 November.

Saud played in three One-Day Internationals against England earlier this summer, while other internationals named in the 19-player squad include Abdullah Shafique (T20I), Arshad Iqbal (T20I), Haider Ali (ODI, T20I), Naseem Shah (Test), Usman Salahuddin (Test and ODI) and Zahid Mahmood (T20I).

To maintain consistency in selection, the selectors have also retained players who have recently been part of the national side but have been unable to break into the playing line-up. These include Kamran Ghulam, Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Haris.

With an eye on next year’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2022 in the West Indies, the selectors have included in the squad Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s teenage wicketkeeper Salman Khan and top-order batter Qasim Akram of Central Punjab.

Player Support Personnel: Ijaz Ahmed (head coach and team manager), Rao Iftikhar (Assistant coach), Mohtashim Rashid (fielding coach), Mohammad Javed (trainer), Faisal Rai (analyst) and Hafiz Naeem (physiotherapist).

Source: Pro Pakistani