Day: April 15, 2024

The training camp for selection of Pakistan Hockey Team for Azlan Shah Hockey Cup began at Karachi today.

According to Head Coach of the Hockey team Ayaz Mehmood, around thirty five 35 players participated in today’s training.

He said that Pakistan team will leave for Malaysia on 2nd of next month to participate in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup which will start from 4th of next month in Ipoh.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Midfielder Zain-ul-Abideen has signed up for Afghanistan’s football club, Abu Muslim FC, for the Afghan league which is scheduled to start soon.

Zain is all set to feature for the Farah-based club in the third season of the Afghanistan Champions League, where he joins fellow Pakistani winger, Shayek Dost, and center-back, Abdullah Shah.

The midfielder is the latest addition to Pakistan-based footballers who will be participating in the ACL. The previous was left-back, Junaid Shah, who penned a contract with Paktia Wahidi FC for a year where he will represent them in the league and different cup competitions.

Shayek paved the way for the green shirts in December as he became the first Pakistani footballer to sign a contract in this season’s ACL. His defensive prowess was hailed by many, as he helped the Pakistani left-back, Junaid Shah, in defensive situations against Cambodia. Shayek ran up and down the field, helping the team in transitional play.

One of the reasons why Abu Muslim FC signed Dost is due
to a defensive issue the club encountered last season. The club came second in the previous season of ACL, with defensive woes being the reason they didn’t win the competition.

A total of 12 teams played in last season’s ACL, but only two finished the competition without a loss.

Abu Muslim wants someone who restricts the other team from scoring freely. Their attacking statistics were almost identical to the team above them, but the defending statistics were twice as bad.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan’s former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has lauded the meteoric rise of Mohammad Rizwan in international cricket while acknowledging that the Multan Sultans’ captain is the best wicketkeeper in the country.

While speaking on a talk show, Sarfaraz highlighted that Mohammad Rizwan has elevated his game to another level and is currently one of the best batters in the world.

‘Mohammad Rizwan has become more mature with time. The way he has been playing, everything about him has improved, ‘So, I think, currently he is the better wicketkeeper batter’ Sarfraz remarked.

Rizwan’s consistency has also elevated the gameplay of players around him considering Usman Khan’s stellar performance in the Pakistan Super League 9.

Sarfaraz highlighted that when a player gets consistent chances in international cricket then he can improve but the player must work on himself, especially in the off-season.

The 2017 Champions Trophy winner said that when youngsters get experience in the international arena they can eventually
gain confidence. He urged the likes of Azam Khan, Mohammad Haris, Haseebullah Khan, Rohail Nazir, and Saad Baig to work on themselves and gain further experience in the domestic cricket, so that they can serve Pakistan at the highest level in the future.

He emphasized the importance of four-day cricket pointing out that it can nurture a cricketer during the initial phase of their career highlighting that it can propel their skill, temperament, and technique before they reach the international stage.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The tenth edition of the Pakistan Super League is likely to be conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in April next year due to the jam-packed first three months of 2025.

Many franchise owners have raised concerns over this due to the unavailability of marquee foreign players who will opt for the Indian Premier League that starts at the end of March every year, which means that the quality of the players and the viewership of PSL could see a major dent unless PCB decides to directly compete with the IPL.

PCB has already rejected the proposal of the franchise owners to conduct the league in September 2024 considering that England is likely to tour Pakistan in that month while the men in green will travel to Australia for an away series in November later this year.

The country is set to host a tri-nation series for the first time in 20 years in January 2025 that will include teams like South Africa and New Zealand.

Following the tri-nation series Pakistan will travel to the land of the Kiwis for an
away series and will then host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 during February and March.

The jam-packed schedule in the first three months of 2025 will force PCB to conduct the PSL season 10 in a month where other international cricket leagues will take place as well which means that one way or the other the schedule of the league will collide with other leagues.

PCB and all franchise owners are constantly having meetings due to the problematic situation of scheduling the PSL season 10. It is yet to be seen whether the PCB takes the risk of scheduling the league season alongside IPL or not.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan allrounder Khushdil Shah has expressed that he hopes to return to the Pakistan team and is working hard to make an impact in white-ball cricket once more in the international arena.

Khushdil, 29, played his last T20I match in October 2022 against England, since then he has been dropped from both limited-overs formats, although he was named man of the match in his last ODI outing.

In a recent interview, Khushdil Shah stated, ‘Based on my T20I performance, I have been dropped from the ODI team which was disappointing for me. However, I did receive the man of the match award the last time I played, I am working hard to earn my place back in the team.’

Despite, match-winning performances in the 50-over format, the left-hander was dropped from the team based on his bad run of form in the T20I cricket format.

The left-hander’s propensity to throw his wicket away in crucial moments and failure to finish matches in the shortest format of the game led to him being left out of the T20 squad.

In 29 T20I o
utings, the left-hander has scored 309 runs with an average of 20.6, it was evident that the batter was struggling in form considering his role as a finisher in the T20I team was not justified.

Pakistan has already announced their 17-man squad against New Zealand in the five-match T20I series and it seems that Khushdil Shah is not in the plans of the current setup.

Source: Pro Pakistani