Tuesday, 21 April, 2015
waqar says Pakistan needs to Change how it Plays CriCket DHAKA
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Khan, leg-spinner Yasir Shah and batsman Sohaib Maqsood – were earlier declared unfit and ruled out of the tour with injuries. Pakistan lost the three-game ODI series with a seven wicket defeat in the second match on Sunday after by it
lost the first game by 79 runs last week. The third ODI is scheduled to be played at the Shere-Bangla stadium on Wednesday, April 22. Pakistan also play a solitary Twenty20 game and two Tests on the month-long tour of Bangladesh.
Pakistan cricket greats slam team over Bangladesh defeat KARACHI AGENCIES
Pakistani greats on Monday slammed the team’s first ever series loss to Bangladesh, with former captain Javed Miandad terming it the “lowest point” in his country’s cricketing history.
record teams to compete in u-19 cricket
KARACHI: A record number of 96 teams will be seen in action when the Inter-district Under-19 Cricket Championships start from Wednesday (April 22) in 16 different regions of the country. According to the draws released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the two-day round matches of each region will be played simultaneously. The team finishing on top at the end of the league-round fixtures will be declared champions of their region, except in Fata where 10 teams are divided two pools of five with the group winners competing in the final. The regions competing are Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Quetta, Larkana, Islamabad, Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Sialkot, Abbottabad, Fata, Dera Murad Jamali and Azad Jammu Kashmir. AGENCIES
AGENCIES
day after Pakistan lost their first ever ODI series against Bangladesh, coach Waqar Younis gave in to criticism from Pakistan cricket fans, accepting that the team was facing problems. “I accept what the critics are saying: Pakistan cricket is facing problems,” said the former Pakistan fast-bowler on Monday. “We need to change the way we play cricket. We have been playing defensive cricket for too long; it will take time to get out of this (mindset),” he said. Younis blamed a lack of fitness for the team’s disappointing performance on the Bangladesh tour. “Our biggest problem is fitness, over which no compromise can be made,” he said. But he added that there was no need to look back “if you want to move forward with young players”. Waqar’s statements follow news from the Pakistan camp of what appears to be yet another fitness-related setback. Sources told a news channel that fast-bowler Rahat Ali had suffered a hamstring injury and skipped the team’s training session on Monday. The Pakistan team has faced a string of injury setbacks in recent weeks. Four World Cup squad members – pacemen Ehsan Adil and Sohail
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Bangladesh thumped Pakistan by seven wickets in the second one-day international in Dhaka on Sunday, their fourth series win over a full-member nation after victories against Zimbabwe, the West Indies and New Zealand. “Losing to Bangladesh is the lowest point but if we do not take
big measures our cricket will decline further,” batting legend Miandad said. Miandad, who last year resigned from the post of director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) praised Bangladesh. “Bangladesh is not the same Bangladesh they used to be and I think they can now upset any team
because they are getting better and better with each day,” he said. “I did a little bit of coaching in Bangladesh and told them of some basics, like they were weak on short pitch deliveries, and praise to them that they adhered to the basics and now their game is improving day by day,” he added, referring to his 2002 coaching stint with the Tigers. Wicketkeeping great Wasim Bari deplored a lack of planning ahead of the series. “There is no strategy in the Pakistan team, no planning and that is why they were exposed,” Bari said. “Bangladesh have kept their World Cup momentum very well while we have gone down,” the former chairman of selectors added. Bangladesh ousted higher-ranked England to finish as losing quarter-finalists in the World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand in February-March this year. Another former skipper Rashid Latif feared more such results in the future. “We have played around 90 players in the last five years and worse still we never allowed batsmen to settle on one position.” “We had 19 different opening pairs and there were a lot of changes in the bowling pairs as well and that’s why our team is not settled,” he added.
Following are the number of competing teams in each region: KARACHI (7): Zone-I, Zone-II, Zone-III, Zone-IV, Zone-IV, Zone-V, Zone-VI, Zone-VII. LAHORE (6): East Zone Whites, East Zone Blues, West Zone Whites, West Zone Blues, North Zone Whites, North Zone Blues. HYDERABAD (6): Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Badin, Thatta, Shaheed Benazirabad. FAISALABAD (5): Faisalabad, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Kasur, Jhang. RAWALPINDI (5): Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Attock, Chakwal, Mianwali. MULTAN (7): Multan, Sahiwal, Okara, Khanewal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Vehari, Lodhran. QUETTA (6): Quetta, Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Nushki, Kalat, Turbat. LARKANA (6): Larkana, Sukkur, Khairpur, Dadu, Shikarpur, Jacobabad. ISLAMABAD (5): East Zone, Central Zone, West Zone, North Zone, Gilgit-Baltistan. PESHAWAR (5): Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swat, Dir Lower. BAHAWALPUR (6): Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rahim Yar Khan, Layyah, Rajanpur, Muzaffargarh. SIALKOT (7): Sialkot, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Narowal, Mandi Bahahuddin. ABBOTTABAD (7): Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Mardan, Swabi, Dir Upper, Buner. FATA (10): Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Bannu, South Waziristan, North Waziristan; Kohat, Khyber Agency, Mohmand Agency, Kurram Agency, Bajaur Agency. DERA MURAD JAMALI (3): Naseerabad, Sibi, Loralai. AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR (5): Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Kotli, Poonch, Bagh.
india to tour Zimbabwe for short series in July The Indian cricket team will visit Zimbabwe for a short series after an equally brief sojourn to Bangladesh this summer. The two tours will immediately follow the on-going IPL 2015. The Indian team is scheduled to play three ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals in Zimbabwe. The series has not been officially announced by either board - the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) - but it is understood that it is part of the Future Tour Programme bilaterally signed by the two boards earlier this year. Even the official broadcasters of ZC are not aware of the exact dates of the matches as yet but it is learnt that the games will be played during the first half of July. The total time of stay for the team in Zimbabwe will be just about two weeks. The Indian team will fly to Zimbabwe after completing their assignment in Bangladesh where the team is slated to play one Test and three ODIs.The series will end by the third week of June. A week later, they will fly to Harare. RetuRn of West IndIes? The year’s other major assignments include three away Tests against Sri Lanka and four home Tests against South Africa. Sandwiching the two series is the Champions League Twenty20 which, if not cancelled, will be played in September. The final of the tournament is scheduled for September 24. The West Indies players, apparently, are willing to return to India to complete the series that they left midway because of a pay dispute with their board last year but the BCCI officials are not able to find a window for them. From October, India will be busy hosting South Africa who will be playing five ODIs, two T20Is besides four Tests. The bilateral exchange programme with South Africans so far involved only three Tests but from now on the countries will play four Tests, home and away. After the South Africa series, India are slated to play Pakistan in the UAE but there is nothing final about it. Needless to mention, the series will depend on a lot of factors. SPORTS DESK INDIA’S ITINERARY June: 1 Test, 3 ODIs in Bangladesh July: 3 ODIs, 2 T20’s in Zimbabwe August: 3 Tests in Sri Lanka September: CLT20 October-November: 4 Tests, 5 ODIs, 2 T20Is vs SA in India December: 3 Tests, 5 ODIs vs Pakistan in UAE
ZIMBABWE CRICKET TEAM SET FOR PAKISTAN TOUR IN MAY KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan on Monday said that his Zimbabwean counterpart had assured him that Zimbabwe will tour Pakistan in mid-May. Both officials had met on the sidelines of the recent International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings. “The president of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) told us that the team will come to Pakistan but before that, their security team will pay the country a visit,” said Shaharyar. “Their board will confirm their tour once their security team gives the go-ahead.” The chairman also discussed the possible venues for the tour.
“Ideally, we want to host matches both in Lahore and Karachi, but there are some problems regarding Karachi. We’re trying to get approval from the ICC to allow us to host the match in the Southend Cricket Club, which is a safe venue.” The PCB chief further revealed that while Najam Sethi’s appointment as the next ICC president is inevitable, the post would be given to an iconic cricketer once Sethi completes his tenure. Shaharyar further said that he has urged the ICC to work on recommendations of its taskforce, headed by Giles Clarke, for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the PCB’s Governing Board expressed its displeasure over the selection of
Saeed Ajmal after the bowler was seen struggling against Bangladesh as Pakistan lost the opening two matches of threematch ODI series to condemn the side to their first-ever series defeat against the minnows. Ajmal is nowhere near his best, and struggled to make any impact with the remodelled action, which has not gone down well with the top brass. It has been learnt that the selection committee, led by Haroon Rasheed, was keen to test Ajmal, while Shaharyar gave his approval for the bowler. The members felt that PCB’s top management and selectors should have thought about Pakistan first instead of facilitating an individual. “The governing board wants the selection committee to answer
as to why he was selected,” a governing board member said on con-
CMYK
diction of anonymity. “The selectors have made Ajmal look silly,
he never looked comfortable in the two ODIs with his new action. Did he perform anywhere in domestic cricket to show everyone that he has regained his magic with the ball?” There was also severe criticism of the selectors for picking injured players in the squad after it emerged that Ehsan Adil was carrying an injury, while Sohaib Maqsood played through the World Cup with wrist pain. “This will not be tolerated and everyone involved in the process would have to answer it,” added the official, saying that the topic was discussed in detail. “Why can’t our stakeholders single out unfit or injury-prone players before going on any tour? It looks embarrassing to name replacements on a regular basis.”