Pakistan

11:42 AM GMT Pakistan are the world’s No. 1 T20I team, but they are just a defeat away from being dislodged from the top of the rankings. They presently have 270 points, just one more than Australia at No. 2. Anything other than a 3-0 win in the upcoming T20I series over Bangladesh – even

4:22 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik insists he is not getting ahead of himself following his call-up for the series against Bangladesh, and will “not set any long-term goals”. Most notably, that meant he wouldn’t commit to saying whether he aimed to be part of Pakistan’s World T20 squad, saying that was

11:46 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Pakistan Under-19s 77 for 3 (Irfan 38*, Naylor 1-12) beat Scotland Under-19s 75 (Uzzair 20, Wasim 5-12, Tahir 3-23, Afridi 2-32) by seven wicketsScorecard It was all rather one-sided in Potchefstroom as Pakistan steamrolled Scotland to get their Under-19 World Cup Group C campaign off to a rousing start. Medium-pacers

Misbah-ul-Haq speaks to the press © PCB Perhaps the most accurate word to describe Misbah ul Haq‘s time as Pakistan’s captain was foresight. It is the reason he never seemed to panic. If Plan A didn’t work out, he had Plan B, C, all the way through to Z. After that, you felt he could

12:16 PM GMT Mohammad Hafeez last played a T20I in November 2018. Since then, he has featured in various T20 competitions at home and abroad, and his record in that period has been modest: 509 runs in 26 matches at an average of 21.20 and a strike rate of 107.38; 16 wickets at 33.75, and

10:11 AM GMT The experienced pair of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez will return to the Pakistan side for the T20I series against Bangladesh next week. Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz have been left out, with pace bowler Muhammad Musa keeping his place in the shortest format, while batsman Ahsan Ali and fast bowler Amad

4:58 PM GMT Pakistan are not fans of the idea of four-day Test cricket, with the current leaders of the coaching staff, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis both opposing reducing Test cricket to four days. They join a growing chorus of coaches and former players, including former Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur, as

9:59 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Rashid Khan and Haris Rauf turned it on in the new year playing for Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars. First, the Afghanistan legspinner nearly turned the game, turning a simple Sydney Sixers chase into a very nervy finish Rashid Khan’s got a hat-trick on Josh Hazlewood’s birthday! #BBL09 pic.twitter.com/4alJfpWzCY —

4:28 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Babar Azam, the Pakistan batsman, has signed a deal that will see him return to Somerset as the club’s overseas player for five weeks next summer. Babar, who scored 578 runs at an average of 52.54 to finish as the leading run-scorer in the Vitality Blast last summer, will be

9:36 AM GMT Naseem Shah has been withdrawn from Pakistan’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup. Mohammad Wasim, the 18-year-old fast bowler who has been an Under-19 regular in recent months, has replaced him. Naseem, the 16-year-old fast bowler who has played three Test matches since making his senior international debut in November, was named

Pakistan must be careful about managing Naseem Shah’s workload © Getty Images Sixteen-year-old Naseem Shah‘s participation in the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa early next year is not certain yet, with the senior team management not in favour of releasing him for age-group cricket. The junior team management, understandably, wants the star fast bowler

11:38 AM GMT Danyal Rasool Pakistan’s days of hosting international cricket away from home are over, according to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani. Hours after Pakistan wrapped up a Test series win against Sri Lanka in Karachi, the first time any Test cricket has been played in the country since 2009, Mani insisted that there was

8:00 AM GMT Pakistan 191 (Shafiq 63, Babar 60, Kumara 4-49, Embuldeniya 4-71) and 555 for 3 dec (Abid 174, Masood 135, Azhar 118, Babar 100*) beat Sri Lanka 271 (Chandimal 74, Afridi 5-77, Abbas 4-55) and 212 (Oshada 102, Naseem 5-31) It took Pakistan just 16 balls on the fifth morning to take the

Dec 21, 2019 Pakistan 191 (Shafiq 63, Babar 60, Kumara 4-49, Embuldeniya 4-71, Vishwa 2-31) and 395 for 2 (Abid 174, Masood 135, Azhar 57*, Kumara 2-88) lead Sri Lanka 271 (Chandimal 74, Afridi 5-77, Abbas 4-55) by 315 runs This is what you’re supposed to do to an opposition at home. In Rawalpindi, Pakistan

8:25 PM GMT Danyal Rasool in Karachi Very little is worth toiling away on the Pakistan domestic circuit for, but, the fact this comes close is the greatest compliment you could pay Abid Ali. The start of an international career – that for the best part of a decade looked destined not to materialise –

2:18 PM GMT Sri Lanka’s bowlers didn’t bowl tight enough. Aside from Lahiru Kumara, they also failed to build pressure and bowl in partnerships. This was the verdict of assistant coach Rumesh Ratnayake at stumps on the third day, in which Sri Lanka conceded 338 runs and claimed only two wickets. Pakistan progressed at a

8:00 AM GMT Pakistan 191 and 57 for 0 (Abid 32*, Masood 21*) trail Sri Lanka 271 (Chandimal 74, Dilruwan 48, Afridi 5-77. Abbas 4-55) by 23 runs On a day that threatened to mirror the script of its predecessor in the first hour, Sri Lanka dug in and clawed their way to, and then

4:59 PM GMT Danyal Rasool in Karachi Asad Shafiq has defended Pakistan’s decision to bowl first upon winning the toss despite the side being bowled out for 191. Shafiq, who top-scored for the hosts with 63, said he “hadn’t ever” seen the ball spin the way it did on the first morning here in Karachi,

8:00 AM GMT Sri Lanka 64 for 3 (Abbas 2-21) trail Pakistan 191 (Shafiq 63, Babar 60, Kumara 4-49, Embuldeniya 4-71, Vishwa 2-31) by 127 runs A flat surface had been expected at Karachi. Instead the first day delivered 13 wickets, eight of them in a manic final session, as Pakistan first nosedived to 191

11:10 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Shaheen Afridi will play for Hampshire in next year’s Vitality Blast. Shaheen, who has become an important part of Pakistan’s seam attack in all formats over the past 18 months, is expected to be available for the duration of the T20 competition as an overseas player. “I am delighted to

12:33 PM GMT Halfway through the Test series, several Sri Lanka players have expressed confidence that Pakistan is safe to tour. Not only that, captain Dimuth Karunaratne now even regrets pulling out of the ODI leg in September. Pakistan and Sri Lanka had originally been slated to play the ongoing Test series in September, and

2:38 PM GMT Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s head coach and chief selector, has criticised fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz for the timing of their retirements from Test cricket. He revealed that the PCB was mulling a policy to ensure that players remain available to play for Pakistan across formats. Amir gave up Tests in July,

2:26 PM GMT Day 1: 68 overs of playDay 2: 17.5 oversDay 3: 5.2 oversDay 4: Called off without a ball (teams remained at hotel)Day 5: Predictable draw Nine sessions of the Rawalpindi Test were effectively washed out but a full house still turned up for the final day’s play and they were treated to

4:48 PM GMT Twelve years in domestic cricket, 7116 runs in 106 first-class games, averaging 57.43 in the last three seasons. In contention for two years, Abid Ali finally managed to play a Test on a historic occasion with Pakistan hosting the longer format for the first time in 10 years. Having made his first-class

Babar Azam performs the sajda as Abid Ali looks on © AFP For four days, it had been a dreary Test, rain making constant interruptions, temperatures forever threatening to dip into single figures, a bitter breeze blowing over the exposed terraces, right across the ground. But Rawalpindi locals were undeterred. They kept braving the frigid

A spectator waits for the conditions to improve © AFP Stumps Sri Lanka 282 for 6 (de Silva 87*, Dilruwan 6*, Afridi 2-58) v Pakistan A scintillating onslaught from the weather overnight proved yet again to be the definitive performance in the Rawalpindi Test, which did not see a single ball bowled on day four

1:05 PM GMT Mushtaq Ahmed has promised to “revive” the career of Yasir Shah, who has been released from Pakistan’s squad after being left out of the XI for the first Test against Sri Lanka. Mushtaq, the former Pakistan legspinner, is with the PCB as a consultant, contracted to work with spinners at all levels,

8:00 AM GMT Only 18.2 overs were possible on a dark, wet day two at Rawalpindi. During the 82 minutes of play – split across the morning and afternoon sessions – Dhanajaya de Silva moved to 72 not out, Sri Lanka added 61 to their day one score and lost just the wicket of Niroshan

5:19 PM GMT After conceding 89 runs in the first, wicketless session in Rawalpindi, Pakistan remarkably got back in the game in the second. They had bowled 48 balls on a full length in 26 overs in that opening session, conceding 47 runs off these deliveries and straying on leg stump as well. Wayward in

8:00 AM GMT History will record the significance of the day instead of the trivialities contained within it, though that is a shame, as the cricket was really rather good. On a day where the breaks between sessions appeared to herald official changes in momentum, the ebbs and flows never really allowed either side to