Pakistan

Islamabad United 178 for 6 (Munro 58, Azam 44, Amir 2-30, Musa 2-48) beat Karachi Kings 173 for 7 (Haider 59, Sharjeel 34, Raees 2-26, Wasim 2-38) by four wickets Colin Munro‘s 28-ball 58, backed up by a power-packed 28-ball 44 from Azam Khan, helped Islamabad United get their PSL 2023 campaign off to a

Former Pakistan opener Imran Farhat and fast bowler Naved-ul-Hasan are set to join Afghanistan’s high performance centre in Kabul as batting and bowling coaches respectively. Both were given year-long contracts in which they will also oversee the 2023 domestic season. Since the Taliban took over in the country, Afghanistan cricket has revamped its corporate and

Pakistan 165 for 5 (Muneeba 102, Dar 33, Kelly 2-27) beat Ireland 95 (Prendergast 31, Richardson 28, Sandhu 4-18) by 70 runs Bespectacled players have taken quite the centre stage in the last few months. After memorable Test debuts in the men’s arena for Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed and Australia’s Todd Murphy, Pakistan’s Muneeba Ali made

Muneeba Ali knows that cricketers don’t get days like the one she had against Ireland very often. Only one of them will become the first woman from their country to score a T20I hundred. When more centurions come, they will join an elite club. It’s only once every couple of years that a cricketer can

Multan Sultans fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani has been ruled out of the remainder of the Pakistan Super League 2023 due to a fracture on his right little finger. Dahani picked up the injury in the opening game against Lahore Qalandars when a ball that Sikandar Raza powerfully punched the ball down the ground struck his

Peshawar Zalmi 199 for 5 (Kohler-Cadmore 92, Babar 68, Hamza 1-13) beat Karachi Kings 197 for 5 (Imad 80*, Malik 52, Neesham 2-26) by 2 runs By the final delivery, Karachi Kings needed nine to win, but you still wouldn’t believe Peshawar Zalmi had triumphed until it was officially over. Not until a heroic Imad

The PCB’s controversial decision to drop Mohammad Rizwan for Sarfaraz Ahmed for the two-Test series against New Zealand was among the biggest talking points throughout the series. Rizwan, however, said he felt that, on current form, he “didn’t deserve to play” for Pakistan at the time. “You can ask the head coach Saqlain Mushtaq what

Asif Afridi has been banned for two years for two separate breaches of the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Code. The ban will come into effect on the date the left-arm spinner was provisionally suspended – September 12, 2022, meaning his period of ineligibility ends two years after that date. The offences are understood to have occurred in

Mickey Arthur, who is in line to become the team director of the Pakistan men’s national team, has reached out to Yasir Arafat, the former fast bowler, for the role of bowling coach. It is understood that the PCB wants three separate coaches – for batting, bowling and fielding – to work with Arthur after

Former Pakistan captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq sees the likely rehiring of Mickey Arthur by the PCB as “a slap on Pakistan cricket”. Arthur is likely to come on board as the Pakistan men’s team director. Misbah blamed former Pakistan players for damaging the credibility of the system and forcing the PCB, led at the moment

Mickey Arthur and the PCB are close to agreeing a deal that will result in Arthur’s return to the Pakistan men’s side – but as team director and not, as previously, head coach. Talks between the two had ended three weeks ago when the PCB announced it was moving on in its search for a

The relationship between Pakistani cricket and politics has thrown up another candidate set to straddle the two, with fast bowler Wahab Riaz named as the caretaker Sports Minister of Punjab. Wahab, who is currently playing for Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League, will take his oath of office once he returns home. There is

Haider Ali, the Pakistan batter, will join Derbyshire for the 2023 county season. Haider, 22, has played 35 white-ball matches for his country, including two appearances at the recent ICC T20 World Cup, where Pakistan were runners-up to England. In 33 T20I appearances, he has scored 499 runs, including three half-centuries, one of which came

The PCB will honour former women’s Test batter Kiran Baluch and former captain Sana Mir by naming enclosures in the Bugti Stadium, Quetta, after them. Former men’s captains Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan are among the other players, from a list of 10, to have their names put on enclosures in the stadium. This

Ben Stokes has been named ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year, after leading England’s stunning revival in the format. Babar Azam collected the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy awarded to the ICC’s Men’s Cricketer of the Year, while Nat Sciver won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy as Women’s Cricketer of the Year. “I’d like to

In the Platinum category, Lahore Qalandars picked Sam Billings for Rashid Khan; Peshawar Zalmi replaced Rovman Powell with Richard Gleeson; Islamabad United picked Gus Atkinson and Tymal Mills for Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Alex Hales. Multan Sultans replaced David Miller with Izharulhaq Naveed. Quetta reserved their pick for Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga, who will depart the

The Pakistan Cricket Board has invited the country’s private and government departments besides three military institutes to be part of the domestic circuit. The PCB has initiated a restructuring of domestic cricket, and a return to the 16-team hybrid first-class model featuring both regions and departments. The PCB has already abolished the previous six-team model

Former Pakistan batter Haroon Rasheed has been named chief selector by PCB chairman Najam Sethi, who said that the rest of the selection panel would be named later. Rasheed played 23 Tests and 12 ODIs for Pakistan between 1977 and 1983 and apart from his previous role as a selector, has also served as PCB’s

The ICC has rescinded the demerit point it had handed out to the Rawalpindi pitch after Pakistan’s first Test against England last December. The surface used at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was deemed “below par” by match referee Andy Pycroft, the second successive Test pitch at that venue to have been given that rating. However,

Pakistan will not pull out of their upcoming bilateral series against Afghanistan, like Australia did, with PCB chairman Najam Sethi saying that “cricket and politics should be kept separate”. The series in March, however, will now comprise three T20Is and not ODIs and will be played at an offshore venue, with the Afghanistan and Pakistan

Baig, who had only recently recovered from a shoulder injury, fractured the index finger on her bowling hand during the second ODI against Australia on Saturday. She will be replaced by batter Sadaf Shamas in the Pakistan squad for the rest of the series and the women’s T20 World Cup starting next month. Shamas was

Rawalpindi will host the most number of games in PSL 2023, which gets underway on February 13 in Multan with a contest between Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars, the defending champions. A total of 11 matches will be played in Rawalpindi, while Karachi (nine), Lahore (nine) and Multan (five) will host the remaining games. The

The Pakistan women’s T20 league, meant to run alongside the PSL next month, will not go ahead as planned. The new PCB management committee, headed by Najam Sethi, decided to shelve the league, with the aim of holding it in September. The new league – which will bear a different name – will be a

Shadab Khan, the Pakistan allrounder, has signed to play for Sussex in this year’s Vitality T20 Blast As previously reported by ESPNcricinfo, Sussex have been working to land a number of overseas signings, with Shadab expected to be available for the duration of the Blast. Sussex will be the 24-year-old’s second county, having turned out

Sohail isn’t the only injury enforced absence for Pakistan in the second innings on Friday. Fakhar Zaman will not take the field either owing to a hamstring issue. It inhibited him immediately after reaching his eighth ODI hundred, and he went on to add just one run to his tally. Tayyab Tahir, who was called

Pakistan cricket is bracing itself for a wholesale review of its team structures, which could result in changes to the captaincy, after the end of a disappointing home season. Senior officials in the board’s new management set-up have indicated their willingness to signal to players and coaches that they will “challenge the status quo if

Mickey Arthur will not be returning to Pakistan cricket, after talks with the PCB failed to find a way to make any arrangement work. The PCB had been in discussions with Arthur for a new stint as head coach over the last few weeks. But the PCB announced on Tuesday that Arthur’s long-term contract with

Mark Coles is back as head coach of the Pakistan women’s team, and will join the squad on their ongoing tour of Australia. The New Zealander takes over the responsibility from interim head coach Saleem Jaffar, who was originally working as the team’s bowling coach with fellow former Pakistan men’s international Taufeeq Umar as batting

The PCB has appealed against the ICC’s decision to award a demerit point for the Rawalpindi pitch used for the first Test against England last month. That surface was eventually declared “Below par” by match referee Andy Pycroft, the second successive Test pitch at that venue to have been given that assessment. At the time,

Sarfaraz Ahmed has said that his fifth-day century that almost helped Pakistan pull off an epic chase against New Zealand in Karachi on Friday was the best in his Test career. Speaking at the post-match presentation after bad light forced a draw with Pakistan needing 15 more runs to chase down 319 and New Zealand