Pakistan Stun South Africa, Win By 19 Runs (DLS) In Rain-Hit Match

June 8, 2017

Jun 8: A rejuvenated Pakistan put their miserable hammering by arch-rivals India behind them with a shock 19-run win over South Africa at Edgbaston on Tuesday that kept their Champions Trophy semi-final hopes alive.

Pak

Just three days after suffering a humiliating 124-run defeat by title-holders India at Edgbaston in their opening group match, with former skipper Shahid Afridi among those slamming a "clueless" display, Pakistan's return to the Birmingham ground saw them make a mockery of the rankings which had them bottom and South Africa top in this eight-team one-day international tournament. Having conceded 319 for three against title-holders India, Pakistan restricted South Africa to 219 for eight after losing the toss.

After the spinners did the initial damage, paceman Hasan Ali took three for 24 in eight overs.

David Miller's unbeaten 75 kept the Proteas in the game.

When fast bowler Morne Morkel took two wickets in three balls, Pakistan were faltering at 41 for two under the floodlights in this day/night fixture.

But Babar Azam (31 not out) and Shoaib Malik (16 not out) took Pakistan to 119 for three off 27 overs when heavy rain stopped play at 7:41pm.

That left them well ahead of their target score of 101 so that when the umpires finally decided more than two hours later that a resumption was impossible, Pakistan had beaten South Africa under the Duckworth/Lewis method for the second successive ICC 50-over tournament following a 29-run win at the 2015 World Cup.

It left Group B wide open, with three teams on a win apiece after South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 96 runs at the Oval last week.

"It's a very important win for us," said Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed.

"We were good in all departments today.

"Steve Rixon (the Pakistan fielding coach) was very happy today, we didn't field well the other day, today we were much better."

Hasan, the man-of-the-match, added: "We all worked very hard on our fielding."

- 'Under pressure' -

South Africa captain AB de Villiers, who suffered the first golden duck in his 212 career ODI innings during the Proteas' top-order collapse, said: "They bowled pretty well, put us under pressure."

De Villiers, struggling with a hamstring problem, added: "The hamstring is okay, felt a little tweak, but we'll check it out tomorrow (Thursday). I don't think it's too serious."

Pakistan's Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan, in for the injured Wahab Riaz, took the new ball.

But it was the spin duo of Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez who did the early damage.

Left-armer Imad struck second ball when Hasim Amla (16) was lbw.

Off-spinner Hafeez then had Quinton de Kock (33) lbw on the sweep.

The two spinners combined when de Villiers departed by slicing Imad to Hafeez at backward point -- a wicket greeted by huge cheers from the large Pakistan contingent in a crowd of more than 18,000.

Hasan, as Imad had done, struck second ball when Faf du Plessis (26) played on.

He then took two wickets in two balls with a couple of brilliant deliveries to reduce South Africa to 118 for six in the 29th over.

He took the outside edge of JP Duminy's bat, with Babar holding a good diving slip catch, and then knocked over Wayne Parnell's off-stump.

Miller, however, received good support from Chris Morris (28) and Kagiso Rabada (26) in stands of 47 and 48 respectively.

Pakistan's collapse to 164 all out against India would have given South Africa hope, despite their below par total.

But Fakhar Zaman, making an ODI debut in place of the dropped Ahmed Shehzad, got Pakistan's chase off to a brisk start.

The left-hander eventually fell for 33 when, deceived by Morkel's slower ball, he edged to Amla at slip.

Two balls later, Azhar Ali (nine) carelessly uppercut Morkel to Pakistan-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who took three for 18 in seven overs.

Tahir took another good catch, at long leg to dismiss Hafeez (26) off an uppish pull against Morkel.

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June 13,2020

Islamabad, Jun 13: Pakistan cricket team’s former captain Shahid Afridi, who has tested positive for coronavirus,  appears to have contracted the virus during his recent visit to Muzaffarabad city of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) where Pakistan has been sending its corona positive patients.

The former Pakistan cricketer was seen attending gatherings in Muzaffarabad last month without wearing a mask and not maintaining social distancing. He spewed venom against India during his rallies. 

Afridi visited PoK to also express his solidarity with the people there who have been left to fend for themselves in combating COVID-19 as Pakistan has refused to provide any COVID fighting equipment like PPE kits and ventilators to the area’s handful of hospitals. 

In fact, Pakistan has been using the PoK as a “dumping ground” for COVID-19 affected persons from all across the country as authorities want to keep Punjab province free of corona positive persons. 

The locals held massive protests against Pakistan for setting up quarantine centres and shifting patients from parts of Pakistan to PoK. 

People are immensely suffering in Pakistan occupied Kashmir due to spread of coronavirus as the region lacks proper medical facilities and has a handful of COVID-19 testing labs. There is also lack of expert medical staff to conduct COVID-19 tests. 

A large number of people here are presumed asymptomatic and they are fast spreading the virus because of lack of medical care. 

Pakistan has reported over 1,25,000 coronavirus cases and 2,463 casualties. In Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the COVID-19 cases have increased to 534, whereas in Gilgit-Baltistan 1,030 have been  reported. 

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January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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January 27,2020

Hamilton, Jan 27: In awe of Jasprit Bumrah, New Zealand wicketkeeper Tim Seifert says the Indian speedster's subtle variations have been difficult to pick in the ongoing T20 series and his side needs to a learn a thing or two about adapting from the visitors.

India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International in Auckland on Sunday to grab a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Bumrah returned with figures of 1-21 from his four overs as Indian skipper Virat Kohli changed his bowling plans from the first game.

"Even in the first game, Bumrah bowled slower balls that were going wider. Normally, death bowlers get into straighter lines, plus yorkers and mix it with chest height. He kind of changes things a lot and is tougher to play," Seifert said.

"...the ball was holding a lot more which made it tougher. So sometimes as a batsman you have to move away from the stumps and see if they bowl straight. I was backing myself to do something different instead of just standing there at the wicket," said the stumper, who remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 balls.

"It was tricky and the ball was holding a little bit. When Kane (Williamson) got out in the over against Yuzvendra Chahal, we knew it was the over to push because they had Bumrah coming back," he added.

He said New Zealand batsmen need to take a cue from their Indian counterparts on how to adapt to different conditions quickly.

"...Indian batsmen showed how to get under the ball and time it. They showed it a couple of times that and on the slower wickets you just have to keep it like that. Once you lose your shape, you are not in position," he said.

"Try to get them (bowlers) off line or off balance, try to get into that position to hit good balls. That's T20 cricket as well. Sometimes it's going 100 per cent but some times you have to take a breath and re-assess. Indian batters did that well."

Seifert believes New Zealand bowlers did reasonably well in the two games but they have been outplayed by the Indian batsmen.

"To be honest, in the first game they were 110-1 and they had wickets in hand. We didn't bowl too badly in that first game. In the second game, we only got 130 and it is tough to bowl at Eden Park (with that total)," he said.

"170 was the target in mind but once you get 130 on the board, that was going to be very hard at Eden Park against a team that is very strong and playing really well. But our spinners were outstanding. Good balls have gone to boundary.

He said coming into the T20 series on the back of a lost Test rubber in Australia also didn't help New Zealand's cause in the first two games.

"Boys are coming off a Test series (in Australia) and a lot of them haven't played T20 cricket for a while," he said.

"But for some like me, I have had the Super Smash for the last two months, so I have played a lot of T20 cricket. They have two games under their belt now so hopefully they will have a better understanding."

Asked if New Zealand would want to play on India's strength of chasing, Seifert replied, "Even in ODI cricket, India have chased down big totals but I think on that wicket it was going to get slower and slower.

"But with that small target on Eden Park, something special has to happen with top six (for a collapse). One batsman got fifty and the other was batting very well. We needed top five-six in the first 10 overs," he said.

The Black Caps are still confident of bouncing back in the series.

The third T20 will be played here on Wednesday before back-to-back matches in Wellington and Mt Maunganui. Seifert said they would like to replicate the 2019 tour of India, where New Zealand came out 2-1 victorious in the three-match series.

"We have lost the first two games but we haven't played badly. We definitely haven't played our best though while India has played very well. If we lose the series on Wednesday, it is not the end of the world. But if we can turn things around, and win, we will take things from there," he said.

"We won the series 2-1 last time, so we have to treat it like a three match series again. But we have to treat it like the first two are must-win games."

"We are not playing our best at the moment. There are 20-odd games before the World Cup, and that tournament is the pinnacle, so we will get there (in preparation),” he signed off.

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