PAKISTAN THRASH INDIA TO WIN 21ST ASIAN JUNIOR SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIP

Chennai News Desk

PAKISTAN ’s junior Squash side on Sunday breezed past arch-rivals India in the final to win the 21st Asian Junior Team Squash Championship here at the Indian Squash and Triathlon Academy.

Pakistan’s Noor Zaman locked horns with India’s Krishna Mehra in the first encounter of the enthralling final that lasted tense four games with the former, consequently emerging victorious 3-1.

The two players went hard at each other in the hard-fought first game but Noor held his nerves calm to triumph 1210 to attain the early lead.

Mehra, however, soon responded with an 11-9 win in the second game only for Noor to ante his level up and run away with the victory by soaring in the last game 3-1. Following Pakistan’s magnificent start, squash sensation Hamza Khan – a two-time Asian Junior champion and a

Fit-again Afridi to lead defending champions

Lahore in HBL PSL

ISLAMABAD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Shaheen Shah Afridi will stage a comeback to competitive cricket after three months out with a freak knee injury to lead defending champions

Lahore Qalandars in the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL), beginning from Monday.

Afridi led Lahore to its maiden title last year in Pakistan’s premier domestic T20 tournament that has once again attracted several foreign T20 specialists in a six-team event also featuring two-time champions Islamabad United and past winners Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings, Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi.

Afridi, the lanky left-arm fast bowler, has been Pakistan’s bowling mainstay for the last five years since making his international debut in 2018. But a knee injury during the final of the T20 World Cup against England saw him undergo a long strenuous rehabilitation program before finally getting ready for the PSL.

“There were times when I wanted to give up,” Afridi said. “I was working on only one muscle and it was not improving. Often during the rehabilitation sessions, I used to say to myself ‘this is enough, I cannot do this anymore.’”

Afridi used to watch his bowling videos on YouTube to keep himself motivated and ‘push a little more’ but was frustrated to miss international cricket because of injury.

In Afridi’s absence, England whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in the Test series during its historic comeback tour to Pakistan last December, while New Zealand twice came close to beating Pakistan in the drawn two-Test series.

British Junior champion – competed against Paarth Ambani.

It was an easy affair for Hamza as he dominated Ambani and secured a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Following the national junior side’s remarkable achievement, the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) took to Twitter and congratulated the nation.

“Congratulations Pakistan. Weldone Team Pakistan we are proud of you. Pakistan is once again Asian champion and beat India in the final of Asian Junior Squash Team Championship 2023 Chennai (India). Pakistan beat India 2/0,” wrote PSF as they shared pictures of national players posing with the silverware.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan booked a berth in the final after beating Malaysia in the semi-final, while India beat Korea.

HBL PSL 8: Players, coaches gear up for exciting rivalries

The HBL Pakistan Super League has placed itself as one of the most sought-after events and one of the factors that make the league so exciting for the viewers are the rivalries between the six franchises.

It is not only the fans who look forward to them, but the players and coaches also enjoy being in the middle of those high intensity contests. The PCB Digital spoke to various players and coaches about how it is to be involved in rivalries.

Islamabad United captain Shadab Khan said on Sunday: “We plan ahead of the season on how we have to approach the upcoming tournament and we have done that already.

“On a personal note, I enjoy playing against Karachi. It is one of the matches that I don’t want to lose as a captain or a player. It is not like I say this in the team huddle or something. It is just my personal desire to not to lose to them, especially when we play in Karachi.”

Karachi Kings captain Imad Wasim said: “This rivalry [Lahore v Karachi] is good [for the HBL PSL]. It is the biggest game and now Karachi-Peshawar and Lahore-Quetta are new rivalries.

“But, the entire nation wants to see Karachi-Lahore. We enjoy playing against them. It is the biggest rivalry for us without a doubt. This season, we will play with more intensity against them.”

Karachi Kings’ Mohammad Amir said: “Lahore v Karachi is always a match to look forward to and when you perform in it, your profile increases manifold as a cricketer. Karachi has been domi-

HBL presents sports event of year – HBL PSL Season 8

KARACHI STAFF REPORT nating this battle so far and I will try to make sure it stays that way.

The highly anticipated sporting event, HBLPSL, kicks off today with a match between Multan Sultans taking on Lahore Qalandars in Multan. The tournament matches will be held in Multan, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Lahore.

The final will be played on 19 March 2023 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

HBL is about ‘enabling dreams’ and this synchronizes perfectly with HBLPSL’s philosophy to provide an enabling environment for the emerging cricketers of Pakistan. Through HBLPSL, HBL remains committed to playing its part in promoting Pakistan through sports across the world.

“A lot of credit for this hype goes to the media with how they come up with player-by-player match ups and the team rivalries. It is very important to keep the fans engaged.”

Karachi Kings head coach Johan Botha said: “It [Lahore v Karachi] is a great rivalry. I can remember from the HBL PSL 5 every player just wanted to be the best player on the ground that night. Our senior players spoke about it how they wanted to be the players to take the team across the line.

“They [Lahore Qalandars] are coming in as defending champions. In the past they were sort of the bottom team and we were a bit cocky and we thought we couldn’t lose against them. We were a good team and played really good cricket.