Pakistan whitewash West Indies 3-0 with 8-wicket win in Karachi

Agencies
April 4, 2018

Pakistan produced another imperious performance to beat the West Indies by eight wickets in the third and final Twenty20 international in Karachi on Tuesday, completing a 3-0 clean sweep of the series.

The West Indies fared better with the bat compared with the first two matches, reaching 153-6 in their 20 overs after winning the toss. Opener Andre Fletcher scored a 43-ball 52 -- his team`s only half-century on this tour.

It was not enough, however, as Pakistan got to the total comfortably, with opener Babar Azam scoring a rapid 40-ball 51.

The hosts raced to 61 in the sixth over with left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman smashing two sixes and six boundaries in his 17-ball 40.

He miscued a drive off Rayad Emrit and was caught behind, but Azam and Hussain Talat continued Pakistan`s domination with a 52-run stand.

Talat finished with 31, and Asif Ali scored 25 not out as Pakistan chased down the target in 16.5 overs.

Earlier, Fletcher added an invaluable 72 runs for the second wicket with Marlon Samuels who scored a 25-ball 31 with two sixes and as many boundaries.

Denesh Ramdin cracked a fiery 18-ball 42 not out with four boundaries and three sixes -- two in the last over from Usman Shinwari -- as the West Indies scored 57 in the last five overs.

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan finished with 2-27 while Mohammad Nawaz, Shinwari and Faheem Ashraf took a wicket each.

Two players made their T20 debuts on Tuesday -- teenage paceman Shaheen Afridi for Pakistan and Andre McCarthy for the West Indies.

Pakistan won the first match by 143 runs and the second by 82 runs. Karachi hosted all three T20s, the first international matches in the city in nine years.

The series is the latest in a number of steps taken recently to help revive international cricket in Pakistan, which was suspended for years after a 2009 militant attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

The victory on Tuesday also strengthened Pakistan`s position at the top of the world T20 rankings, with a four-point lead over second-placed Australia.

Since Sarfraz Ahmed took over as skipper in September 2016, Pakistan have notched up series wins over England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and a World XI side.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Jun 20: Bengaluru FC (BFC) have signed Brazilian striker Cleiton Silva for a one-year deal, the ISL club said in a statement on Saturday.

As per the agreement, BFC have the option of extending Silva's contract for another year.

The 33-year-old, who started his career with Brazilian side Madureira, moved to Thailand where he spent the better part of the decade playing for Muangthong United and Suphanburi, apart from stints in Mexico and China.

Silva, who also operates on the wing, became the first foreign player to reach the 100-goal mark in Thailand and finished top scorer of the Thai League 1 for two seasons. He also tops the charts of the all-time leading scorers of the League.

His biggest success came at Muangthong where he racked up 57 goals in 79 appearances and won three major trophies in as many seasons at the club.

The Brazilian, who was in talks with the Blues last season before the deal didn't materialise, said he was glad to have finally made the move.

"I've signed with Bengaluru FC because I want to be a champion and this is a club that is always after titles. I have that opportunity once again at BFC. I want to make the club and its fans happy. I have been following the club for some time now because we were in talks a while ago. And I liked what I saw. I am looking forward to making my way to Bengaluru and am excited to meet my new teammates, the fans and embrace the city," said Silva.

Silva, thus, became BFC's first new foreign signing of the season after the club had handed extended deals with Juanan Gonzalez, Dimas Delgado and Erik Paartalu.

Bengaluru FC coach Carles Cuadrat said Silva's addition was an important one, given his penchant for scoring.

"Cleiton has a proven track record when it comes to scoring and this is an area we needed to strengthen on the squad. The goals aside, he even has an eye for a quality final pass and we're looking forward to working with him," he said.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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