First Test: Pakistan win toss, put Sri Lanka into bat

ABU DHABI : Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and decided to field against Sri Lanka in the first Test match here at the Sheikh Zayed International Stadium on TuesdayPakistan entered the Test with three pace bowlers to take advantage of some grass on the pitch, playing Saeed Ajmal as the only spinner.Pakistan preferred left-arm paceman Junaid Khan, who made his debut against Zimbabwe last month, over the much experienced Wahab Riaz.Sri Lanka also followed the same pattern, giving Nuwan Pradeep his Test debut with Rangana Herath as the only spinner.Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan.Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain), Angelo Mathews, Tharanga Paranavitana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Prasanna Jayawardene, Rangana Herath, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep.Umpires: Tony Hill (NZ) and Rodney Tucker (AUS), Tv umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match referee: David Boon (AUS)

Read More

Shahid Afridi withdraws retirement decision

KARACHI : All-rounder Shahid Afridi on Tuesday reversed his decision to retire from international cricket, saying he wanted to play for Pakistan since the chairman of the cricket board has been replaced.President Asif Ali Zardari last week appointed banker Zaka Ashraf chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to replace Ijaz Butt, who had developed serious differences with Afridi in May."Since the board chairman has changed, I take back my retirement decision and am available to play for Pakistan," Afridi told reporters. "I had said I will never play with Butt as chairman, so things have changed now.The 31-year-old all-rounder announced his sudden retirement from international cricket after being dumped as one-day captain following a row over selection with team coach Waqar Younis on tour in the West Indies in May

Read More

First Pak-Sri Lanka Test begins today

ABU DHABI : Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq is hoping his team can build on their recent good performance while Sri Lanka are looking to end their drought when the two sides meet here in the first of three Tests from today.The 37-year-old Misbah took over as Test captain following a spot-fixing scandal in England last year and has since batted superbly to help Pakistan draw series against a formidable South Africa and the West Indies.He also lifted Pakistan to away wins over New Zealand and Zimbabwe and hopes to carry on the good work against Sri Lanka, who have lost their last two series against England and Australia -- both 1-0  since Tillakaratne Dilshan took over earlier this year.Misbah hopes his team will continue their recent winning streak."The morale is good, and everyone knows his role," Misbah said on Sunday."Cricket is a team game and since everyone knows his role we have been consistent in Tests and building on.Misbah leads a batting line-up which is a mixture of youth and experience with veteran Younis Khan and talented players like Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq.Since taking over as captain Misbah has scored 704 in eight Tests at 78.22 and will be Pakistan's mainstay against the Sri Lankan spin duo of Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv -- both trying to overcome the loss of legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.Sri Lanka have not won a Test, losing three and drawing eight Tests, since Muralitharan bade farewell to Test cricket after taking a world record of 800 wickets.But Misbah said Sri Lanka were still a good team."Sri Lanka no doubt is one of the best teams, especially in these conditions so we have to play well to beat them," said Misbah.Dilshan, 34, is looking to improve his captaincy as well as his batting form after contributing just one half-century against Australia, an 83 in the final Test at Colombo last month."We have a very young bowling unit and I think they are getting experience, so I hope they are now ready to do their job and establish the team in the Tests," said Dilshan.

Apart from Dilshan, Sri Lanka have the experience of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara -- both in the twilight of their careers and all-rounders Angelo Mathews, Tharanga Paranavitana and Prasanna Jayawardene to put solid totals on the board.Ironically, bowlers from the both the sides will have to toil hard as wickets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been on the slower side, but could help spinners on the final two days.Pakistan have a better pace attack with Umar Gul (125 wickets) boosting the department after being rested in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, with left-arm pacemen Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan, and Aizaz Cheema in support.Pakistan will also look to Saeed Ajmal in the spin department.The remaining two Tests will be played in Dubai (October 26-30) and Sharjah (November 3-7). The Test series will be followed by five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match.Test squads:Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan.Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews, Tharanga Paranavitana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal, Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal, Kosala Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Kaushal Silva.Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Rodney Tucker (AUS)Tv umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)Match referee: David Boon (AUS)

Read More

Akmal brothers involved in Afridi’s removal: Haider

KARACHI : Former Pakistan wicket-keeper Zulqarnain Hadier said Monday that Kamran Akmal and Umer Akmal were involved in the removal of former skipper Shahid Afridi. Haider added that the Akmal brothers were involved in politicking in order to secure their place in the Pakistani side. The former wicket-keeper was Xclusive and alleged that Waqar Younis would also take part in lobbying against certain players. Commenting on Mazhar Majeed the agent at the center of the spot fixing controversy, Haider said Majeed would be seen with several players and he was interested in making him his agent but was stopped by senior players. Haider also thanked former sports minister Ijaz Jhakrani for including him in the team on the basis of performance.

Read More

Butt says he ignored fixing requests

LONDON : Former Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt told a court in London on Monday that he had ignored requests by his agent to fix cricket matches against England.At his trial with fast bowler Mohammad Asif, Butt, 27, said he did not fulfil his duty to inform the cricketing authorities of an alleged corrupt approach by his British-based agent Mazhar Majeed.But he insisted that he had rejected the agent's suggestions to deliberately lose wickets at last year's Twenty20 World Cup and score no runs in an over in a Test against England last summer."Never in my whole life have I intended to do anything like that, play a match in a certain way. I always do what is required to the best of my ability," he told Southwark Crown Court.Butt said that the agent rang him late at night on the eve of the final day of the Oval Test in August 2010, in a conversation that was recorded by an undercover journalist for the now-defunct News of the World newspaper.The cricketer said Majeed had asked him, referring to a maiden over in which no runs are scored: "You know the maiden that we're doing for the first over? You know the third over you face, do one more maiden".Butt said he replied to Majeed: "Bro, just leave it, OK."He told the court: "I intended to say, 'that's enough, I've heard enough of that conversation'."When the agent again allegedly called Butt the following morning making a similar request the cricketer replied using the Urdu and Punjabi term "theek hai", meaning "OK".Butt told the jury this meant he was trying to end the conversation quickly."I was trying to get rid of the conversation, not to offend anyone... I was absolutely not interested in what he was talking about," he said.

Read More

India thrash England again in huge win

NEW DELHI : World champions India rattled England once again with bat and ball to win the second one-dayer by eight wickets on Monday and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.Seamer Vinay Kumar returned with his best international figures of four for 30 as a lacklustre England were shot out for 237 in good batting conditions at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi.Virat Kohli then smashed an unbeaten 112, his seventh one-day century, and Gautam Gambhir made 84 not out as the under-strength hosts surpassed the modest target under lights in the 37th over.Tempers flared in the second session between England's fielders and India's batsmen, forcing the umpires to intervene on at least three occasions India, depleted by the absence of seven World Cup-winning stars due to injury or poor form, will wrap up the series if they win the third match in Mohali on Thursday.The hosts had won the first game in Hyderabad by 126 runs last Friday.A series win will help Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men make amends for the disastrous tour of England recently where they were blanked 4-0 in the Test series before losing the one-dayers 3-0.Kevin Pietersen's 46 was the top score for England as wickets tumbled at regular intervals after captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat on an easy-paced pitch.Fast bowler Tim Bresnan gave England a lifeline when he removed both openers, Parthiv Patel and Ajinkya Rahane, by the seventh over to make India 29-2.But Delhi team-mates Kohli and Gambhir delighted some 30,000 home fans with an 209-run winning partnership to take India home.England had made a disastrous start, losing openers Cook and Craig Kieswetter before a run had been scored.Cook slashed the fifth ball from Praveen Kumar to point, while Kieswetter edged Vinay to Kohli at slip in the second over.The shackles were broken when Praveen conceded 17 runs in his third over as Jonathan Trott smashed three consecutive fours and Pietersen also helped himself to a boundary.Trott made a fluent 34 with seven fours when he was caught behind off Vinay to reduce England to 48-3 by the 10th over.Ravi Bopara helped Pietersen add 73 for the fourth wicket before India hit back by removing both batsmen in the space of four deliveries.Bopara was leg-before to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for 36 and Pietersen was caught behind chasing a wide ball from seamer Umesh Yadav.Samit Patel and Jonathan Bairstow carried the total past the 200-run mark from a shaky 121-5, adding 86 for the sixth wicket before both fell in quick succession.Patel (42) was trapped leg-before by Yadav and Bairstow holed out in the deep off Ravindra Jadeja after making 35

Read More