Sports

LAHORE: Former Test off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq’s appointment as Pakistan team’s interim head coach is likely to be extended till the ICC T20 World Cup being held in the UAE and Oman from Oct 17 to Nov 14. The PCB had appointed the 44-year-old Saqlain only for the New Zealand home series which was cancelled after the visiting team left Pakistan …

KARACHI: It rarely happens when batting ace Babar Azam is outshone by a compatriot whenever the Pakistan captain strikes a century. But that was precisely the scenario on Thursday during a high-scoring thriller National T20 Cup clash in Rawalpindi. Haider Ali is not part of the 15-man national squad for the Twenty20 World Cup but still he gifted himself an …

MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia is all set to postpone the scheduled one-off maiden Test match against Afghanistan indefinitely this week to prompt the Asian nation to ‘rethink’ their approach to women’s sport, Cricket Tasmania boss Dominic Baker said on Wednesday. The match against the Afghan men’s team was scheduled for Nov 27 in Hobart. “It’ll be formally postponed indefinitely this week. …

LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) expects the uncertainty over the team’s Ashes tour due to Australia’s stringent Covid-19 quarantine measures to continue till the last moment, chairman Ian Watmore has said. England players have threatened to pull out of the tour unless they get assurances that their family members will be allowed to join them in Australia …

KARACHI: Shahnawaz Dahani reminded the national selectors in resounding fashion on Wednesday that he deserves to be in the 15-man Pakistan squad — rather than being a travelling reserve — for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup. The fast bowler spearheaded Sindh’s swift demolition act of Balochistan with a rich bag of four wickets as the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team opened a …

LAHORE: Former spinner Mushtaq Ahmed believes that England’s cricketers would happily tour Pakistan and says his country deserved better having travelled the other way at the height of the pandemic. Mushtaq, who has a foot in both camps after serving as England’s spin-bowling coach in 2009-2015, voiced his frustration after English cricket chiefs controversially cancelled tours for their men’s and …

Delhi Capitals leapt to Ravichandran Ashwin’s defence after Australian spin legend Shane Warne slammed the star all-rounder’s “disgraceful” single in a feisty Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter. Ashwin had a verbal exchange with Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee after he grabbed an extra run following a throw that ricocheted off his partner Rishabh Pant’s arm. Usually …

LAHORE: The national selectors are faced with a conundrum. Some players picked for the Pakistan’s Twenty20 World Cup next month are not finding form at the National T20 Cup. But those who are being tipped to replace them in the UAE-bound squad haven’t been performing either. The National T20 Cup, underway in Rawalpindi, had assumed greater importance in terms of …

KIEV: Newly crowned world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk expects a rematch against Anthony Joshua in February or March and has his sights on a title unification bout, his team said on Tuesday. The Ukrainian defeated Joshua in a boxing masterclass at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday in front of 67,000 fans, earning a unanimous points decision …

LONDON: England captain Joe Root says he is ‘desperate’ to play in the Ashes series but cannot yet commit to tour Australia due to uncertainty over coronavirus (Covid-19) protocols. Players and team management have yet to learn the exact conditions under which the five-Test series will take place, with those who have young families particularly concerned about the potentially stringent …