SPORTS Thursday, 4 February, 2016
Pakistan launches highoctane suPer league in uae DUBAI
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AGENCIES
AKISTAN is set to launch its first franchise-based Twenty20 league in the UAE on Thursday as its cash-strapped cricket board seeks to boost revenues and reverse the national team’s slide in the game’s shortest format. The long-awaited first edition of the Pakistan Super League follows two previous attempts that fell through over a lack of sponsorship and the suspension of international cricket at home in the wake of a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team almost seven years ago. With Pakistan’s once-dominant Twenty20 side sliding to a lowly seventh place in world rankings following a their recent series loss against New Zealand, organisers are keen for local talent to hone their skills alongside the world’s best players including Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen and Shane Watson. Featuring 69 local and 29 foreign stars, the five-team, 24-match league will be held from February 4-23 across two stadiums in Sharjah and Dubai Pakistan’s “home away from home” since the 2009 terror attack. The teams were sold to private consortiums for a sum of $93 million across 10 years, with $200,000 salaries for top-
tier players and relatively handsome paydays for middle-tier and emerging talent. The winning side, meanwhile, will bring home $1 million. Former captain and legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram said the league was vital for Pakistan to match the fast-rising standards of other Twenty20 teams. “Look at where Indian cricket is now because of the Indian Premier League,” he said, referring to the brash, glitzy tournament first launched in 2008 whose model has been emulated by other leading teams including Australia and the West Indies. “By rubbing shoulders, by competing against and by sharing the dressing rooms with high profile players all the Indian players have benefitted and I envisage the same in the PSL,” added Akram, who is the bowling coach for Kolkata’s team. “We have been struggling to match other teams,” agreed Shoaib Malik, a former captain who was part of Pakistan team which lost a Twenty20 series in New Zealand 2-1 last month. “The PSL provides a launching pad for the future generation of players as four emerging players in each team will learn a lot which is good for the future of Pakistan cricket,” he added. Not everyone is as optimistic, with organisers privately admitting that in order to be viable the tournament will
Stop blaming each other after every defeat: Younis Khan LAHore AGENCIES
Pakistan veteran batsman Younis Khan has urged his side to stop blaming each other for their poor performances and called on the top management to boost their confidence. Younis’ comments came in the wake of the Pakistan’s recent defeat in limited-over formats against England and New Zealand. The former skipper believes that dropping the players would not make any difference and insisted that players should be given respect, Indian media reported. Considering the role of top management as crucial, Younis admitted that there was a lack of encouragement in the team which needs to be improved. The middle-order batsman, who took retirement from ODIs last year, is Pakistan’s highest run scorer in Tests with 9,116 runs at an average of 53.94.
need to return to Pakistan for greater gate and TV revenues, while rampant piracy puts a question mark over the profitability of kit merchandising.
With lower salary caps than leagues elsewhere, it will also need to steer clear of the ever-present threat of fixing that has hit its predecessor leagues in India
Louis Van Gaal has finally found the right attacking balance SportS DeSk The shock of Manchester United finally scoring in the first half at Old Trafford for the first time since September on Wednesday wasn’t just immediately undercut by their second soon after, but because they fully deserved it too. Manchester United genuinely beat Stoke City at a canter. By half-time they could have even been 4-0 up, and watching United confirm victory in the 53rd minute before then spending the next 37 gently keeping Stoke at bay harked back to the days of a certain knighted Scot. Far from being the norm,
this was an anomaly. And if Manchester United are to have any chance of overtaking either Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur (let’s face it Manchester City won’t drop out of the top 4 and Leicester City are on a one team mission to rejuvenate the magic of football with their majestic consistency) it’s plainly obvious that they now need to go on a winning run to really increase the pressure on the teams above. As a stark reminder of Manchester United’s topsy-turvy campaign, infuriatingly, West Ham United are still just a point behind too. Far from a tinkerer, Van Gaal has previously proven that he is happy to stick with a team in order to give them time, and he’s likely to do that once again now that United have scored the unprecedented amount of 6 goals in 2 games.
and Bangladesh, resulting in bans for the likes of international stars Shanthakumaran Sreesanth of India and Mohammad Ashraful of Bangladesh.
Mohsin stars as Pakistan defend 212
SportS DeSk
AGUERO STRIKES AS MAN CITY STAY IN TOUCH SportS DeSk Sergio Aguero’s 12th goal in 10 Premier League games gave Manchester City a narrow 1-0 victory at Sunderland on Tuesday in their first game since Pep Guardiola’s arrival as manager was announced. The visitors went ahead 16 minutes into the game with a classy bit of finishing from Aguero and at that stage the travelling fans might have expected their side to cruise to a similar scoreline to the 4-1 win recorded when the two sides met earlier this season. But Manuel Pellegrini’s team failed to test Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone enough and the home side could easily have sprung a shock had they done better with three clearcut chances before half-time. The second half was almost completely dominated by Sunderland, but they were unable to breach City’s defences as the visitors preserved the three-point gap that separates them from leaders Leicester City, their next opponents. A day that began with newspaper headlines trumpeting
Guardiola’s arrival from Bayern Munich at the end of the season ended with Pellegrini celebrating victory in his 100th Premier League game at the City helm. With City having reached the League Cup final and made progress in the FA Cup in recent weeks, Pellegrini had called on his players before the game to step up their challenge for the league title. He backed that call up by fielding his strongest side available and that meant returns for Joe Hart, Martin Demichelis, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Aguero, who started alongside FA Cup hat-trick star Kelechi Iheanacho. Sunderland handed full debuts to January defensive reinforcements Jan Kirchhoff and Lamine Kone, both of whom impressed, as manager Sam Allardyce prepared for a night when his side would have expected to be under the cosh despite home advantage. Sunderland made a solid start, but were undone by a piece of Aguero brilliance. The Argentine started and finished a move that culminated in him taking a right-wing cross from Jesus
Navas, wrong-footing right-back Billy Jones and deftly lifting the ball home across Mannone from 10 yards. City threatened occasionally, but it was Sunderland who stepped up thereafter and both debutants might have got on the scoresheet. First Kone headed wide from Jeremain Lens’s free-kick in the 34th minute with the goal at his mercy be-
fore, six minutes later, Kirchhoff slid in to direct a good chance wide at the near post from a left-wing cross. Seconds before half-time, Sunderland looked certain to score only for Hart to deny Jermain Defoe from point-blank range with a world-class save. Jones’s follow-up from a couple of yards out smashed off the post.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
CMYK
Hasan Mohsin starred with bat and ball as Pakistan Under-19s defended 212 to beat Sri Lanka Under-19s by 23 runs and finish top of Group B. Pakistan will take on West Indies in the quarter-finals while Sri Lanka will meet England. Sent in to bat, Pakistan made slow progress at first, and their run rate was still below four an over when Wanidu Hasaranga dismissed Salman Fayyaz (33) in the 41st over to end his 61-run stand with Mohsin. Wickets fell steadily at the other end, with none of bottom five getting into double figures, but Mohsin ensured he dragged Pakistan to a competitive total, and was ninth out for a run-aball 86 with eight fours and a six. Pakistan were bowled out for 212 in the 49th over. Opening the bowling with his gentle seam-up, Mohsin then gave Pakistan two early breakthroughs, dismissing both Sri Lankan openers. Sri Lanka slipped to 63 for 4 when the in-form pair of Charith Asalanka and Shammu Ashan got out to soft dismissals against the spinners, but Kamindu Mendis and Vishad Randika got the chase back on track with an 84-run stand for the fifth wicket. Just when Sri Lanka seemed to be cruising home, though, Mendis holed out to long-on for 68 (104b, 5x4), and Hasaranga and Randika (46 off 71) followed him soon after. Damitha Silva kept Sri Lanka in the hunt for a while with an unbeaten 21, but the lower order fell away around him, with legspinner Shadab Khan picking up the last two wickets to finish with figures of 3 for 31.