Pakistan

10:10 AM GMT Fawad Alam is back in Pakistan’s Test squad after more than a decade out of the red-ball team. The left-hand middle-order batsman is part of the 16-member squad that will face Sri Lanka in two Tests in Rawalpindi and Karachi later this month. Azhar Ali (capt), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam,

4:51 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Following the five-hour-long Pakistan Super League 2020 draft at Lahore’s National Cricket Academy, here’s what the six 18-man squads – including two supplementary players – look like. Quetta Gladiators Platinum: Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Jason Roy Diamond: Shane Watson (mentor), Ahmed Shehzad, Ben Cutting Gold: Umar Akmal (ambassador), Mohammad Hasnain,

10:07 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Pakistan have named at least four allrounders, including the 14-year-old Mohammad Shahzad, in their 15-man squad for the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa early next year. The in-form Rohail Nazir will continue to led the side, while 16-year-old quick Naseem Shah, who recently made his Test debut in Australia,

2:19 PM GMT The dismal tour of Australia has hurt the “pride of the nation” according to Test captain Azhar Ali. The Tests ended in innings defeats; the T20Is were not any better even though the perception was Pakistan, ranked No. 1 in the format going into the series, would compete better. “We are a

10:03 AM GMT Naseem Shah, the 16-year-old Pakistan fast bowler who made heads turn during the recent senior-team tour of Australia, is expected to return to the national Under-19 ranks and link up with the rest of the squad as they prepare for the Under-19 World Cup early next year in South Africa. “He is

11:49 AM GMT Babar Azam‘s graduation to the top rank of Test batsmen, via a superb century in Brisbane and an equally stirring 97 at Adelaide Oval, which earned him a standing ovation, was a rare ray of light for Pakistan through the murk of a 2-0 series thrashing at the hands of an opposition

3:25 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff For the fifth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), teams were permitted to retain up to eight players from their previous roster. The category restrictions for retentions was a maximum of three Platinum, three Diamond, three Gold, five Silver and two emerging players. All six teams will go into

1:55 PM GMT Deivarayan Muthu Yasir Shah might not have Shane Warne‘s numbers when it comes to legspin, but the Pakistani has now achieved something that his childhood hero couldn’t during his 15-year Test career. When Yasir dragged seamer Josh Hazlewood over mid-on in the 86th over of Pakistan’s first innings, he became a Test

8:00 AM GMT Pakistan 6 for 96 (Starc 4-22) trail Australia 3 for 589 dec (Warner 335*, Labuschagne 162) by 493 runs If the opening day was wretched for Pakistan, the adjectives to describe the second are best left unprinted. There was no humiliation spared, no skillset left unexposed as Australia’s batsmen – led by

3:42 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff ‘Don’t judge a pitch until both sides have batted’ is an old adage in cricket. While it would be early to call the Adelaide Oval a flat deck, it is still noteworthy when one of Pakistan’s best seam weapons on tour says there has not been much help from the

5:09 PM GMT Hasan Ali is injured again, days after recovering from a back injury that took seven weeks to heal. The latest one is a rib fracture that is set to rule him out for at least another six weeks. This automatically rules him out of the two home Tests against Sri Lanka next

9:12 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Pakistan will be hosting Test cricket for the first time in more than ten years, that too against a full-strength Sri Lanka line-up, in December 2019. Dimuth Karunaratne will lead the Sri Lanka side, with experienced batsmen Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal present in the 16-member squad. The team leaves

10:01 AM GMT Yasir Shah may have just “woken up the best.” This is the general sense in the Australian camp after his haughty celebration following Steven Smith‘s dismissal for the seventh time in last week’s first Test in Brisbane. It’s fair to say that Smith was perhaps not at his most focused when he

9:43 AM GMT Pakistan captain Azhar Ali will consider changes to his batting line-up in addition to the likely recall of Mohammad Abbas after his side’s defeat to Australia in the first Test, in which the visitors offered up numerous promising phases but still left the Gabba bruised and smarting from an innings defeat. Haris

2:55 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Regret from an uncharacteristically careless early swipe in the first innings led Babar Azam to a second Test hundred, cementing his growing reputation among the world’s foremost all-format batsman. Azam’s hundred, alongside Mohammad Rizwan’s 95, provided some resistance on the fourth day at the Gabba, though ultimately not nearly enough

Nov 23, 2019 Australia 580 (Labuschagne 185, Warner 154, Burns 97, Wade 60, Yasir 4-205) beat Pakistan 240 (Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52) and 335 (Azam 104, Rizwan 95, Hazlewood 4-63) by an innings and five runs Australia were made to work harder than appeared likely in securing an innings-and-five-run victory on the fourth day at

10:18 AM GMT Mohammad Abbas is still Pakistan’s “main man” according to Waqar Younis and will be seriously considered for the second Test in Adelaide after the visitors turned in a listless bowling display in his absence at the Gabba, leaving them facing the likelihood of an innings defeat inside four days. The decision to

4:45 PM GMT Subhan Ahmed, one of the PCB’s longest-serving officials, has decided to part ways with the board, after 25 years. Ahmed was currently the board’s chief operating officer but over the years has been a central figure in the administration in a number of roles – and until Wasim Khan’s arrival, he was

9:49 AM GMT Naseem Shah was denied a first Test wicket by the calling of a no ball after the fact, but he had consolation in a generous assessment by David Warner, who made the most of the second chance to bat through day two of the Gabba Test for Australia. “He’s quite skiddy, got

8:00 AM GMT Pakistan 240 (Shafiq 76, Azhar 39, Rizwan 37, Starc 4-52, Cummins 3-60, Hazlewood 2-46) v Australia Australia finished the opening day of their Test summer in a strong position on one of their happiest hunting grounds, although for periods either side of a five-wicket surge in the afternoon they were made to

7:36 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Pakistan’s most capped player in women’s internationals Sana Mir has taken a break from international cricket to “plan and reset” her future “objectives and targets,” a PCB statement said on Wednesday. Mir will miss next month’s ODIs and T20Is against England in Malaysia. Mir, or the PCB, did not specify

11:47 AM GMT When Pakistan began their tour match against Australia A in Perth last week, Naseem Shah‘s foremost concern was to show the world why he had been called up to the national squad at the age of 16, and to push for a place in the pace attack for the first Test. His

4:36 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff The PCB has filed a claim for damages against IMG Reliance, in relation to its decision to pull out of a deal to produce television coverage of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) earlier this year. IMG Reliance pulled out days after a terrorist attack killed 44 Indian paramilitary troopers on

7:45 AM GMT Misbah-ul-Haq knows the secret to getting Steven Smith out, and calls it the batsman’s “blind spot”. It isn’t much of a secret at all: simply hit the same spot, hitting at or near the top of the off stump, that troubles every batsman in international cricket. The first trick, of course, is

8:53 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan believes Sarfaraz Ahmed‘s axing does not necessarily spell the end of his international career. Imran, who is currently Pakistan’s prime minister, has almost completely stayed away from any public comment on the nation’s cricket team since he took over the top job. But, taking a

8:00 AM GMT Alex Malcolm Pakistanis 7 for 386 dec (Shafiq 101*, Masood 76, Azam 63, Pope 5-100) drew with Cricket Australia XI 7 for 246 (Merlo 78, Spoors 58, Hope 50*, Abbas 2-22) Pakistan head into the first Test in Brisbane having only claimed seven wickets against an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI in their

8:00 AM GMT Pakistanis 7 for 386 (Shafiq 101*, Masood 76, Babar 63, Bhatti 56*, Pope 5-100) v Cricket Australia XI Asad Shafiq continued his terrific form ahead of the first Test in Brisbane with his second successive century against an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI attack in the last two-day tour game at the WACA.

Play 02:38 From Lower Dir to top tier, the Naseem Shah story Waqar Younis has backed Pakistan’s young pace bowlers not to be intimidated in the two Tests against Australia but has warned them about getting carried away by the conditions they are likely to face. Pakistan, who have never won a series in Australia,

8:44 AM GMT Pakistan are set to host a Test series for the first time in ten years, against Sri Lanka next month. The two-match series will be played in Rawalpindi and Karachi, on December 11 and 19 respectively. The Test series was originally scheduled to be played in October – with the limited-over series

5:10 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff With the Pakistan Super League (PSL) returning in full to Pakistan next season, 28 foreign players including Dale Steyn, Colin Munro, Alex Hales and Jason Roy registered themselves to be drafted in the fifth edition as platinum players. Australia’s Ben Cutting and Chris Lynn have also expressed their interest in