Connect with us

Pakistan

Pakistan keep hopes alive by ending South Africa’s unbeaten run

Published

1 year ago

on

  • Pakistan beat South Africa by 33 runs.
  • Match was shortened due to rain.
  • Babar Azam fails to impress again.

SYDNEY: Pakistan kept alive their slim hopes of reaching the T20 World Cup semi-finals with a 33-run victory over South Africa in a rain-shortened Super 12 match on Thursday, bringing the tournament’s only unbeaten record to an end in the process.

On the ropes at 43-4 early in their innings, Pakistan rallied behind spectacular half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan to post 185 for nine and delight the lively crowd of 30,000 roaring them on at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

South Africa would still have fancied their chances but Shaheen Afridi (3-14) claimed two early wickets and Shadab removed Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram, who had built a promising third-wicket partnership of 49, in quick order.

The skies opened soon afterwards with South Africa on 69-4 after nine overs and an hour later they resumed with a revised target of 142 from five more overs under the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method only to fall well short at 108 for nine.

The Proteas remain in second place behind India in Group 2 despite the loss and will secure one of the two semi-final spots if they beat the Netherlands in their final Super 12 match on Sunday.

To have any chance of progressing, Pakistan must beat Bangladesh in Sunday’s second match at Adelaide Oval and hope the Dutch have staged an upset or Zimbabwe manage to stun India in the final group match in Melbourne.

Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the last four were already hanging by a thread coming into the match and they looked over when top order batsmen Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Shan Masood all departed cheaply.

Mohammad Haris, thrown straight into the fray after coming into the squad as an injury replacement for Fakhar Zaman, had, however, showed his team mates the way with a blistering 28 off 11 balls that started with two sixes and a four.

Iftikhar, who hit 51, and Shadab, who clubbed 52 off 22 balls, followed his lead with a partnership of 82 for the sixth wicket to transform the innings, which ended with a rain shower, a few boundaries and a flurry of wickets.

While Pakistan skipper Azam’s miserable tournament continued with six runs that left his tally at 14 from four innings, his South African counterpart Bavuma shrugged off the early loss of opening partner Quinton de Kock for a duck.

Bavuma, whose previous three innings at the tournament had earned him 14 runs, hit a dogged 36 before being caught behind off Shadab’s first delivery.

Markram was bowled for 20 two balls later and after the rain break seamers Afridi, Mohammad Wasim and Naseem Shah successfully shackled the South Africans while chipping away with regular wickets. 

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

PM Shehbaz will meet with Saudi ministers and speak at the WEF special session today.

Published

6 hours ago

on

By

On the third day of his visit to the Kingdom, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will speak at the World Economic Forum Special Meeting’s final plenary, which is titled “Rejuvenating Growth.”

Other speakers at the concluding plenary, in addition to the prime minister, are Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim, British Secretary of State David Cameron, WEF Geneva President Brørge Brende, and WEF Head of Middle East and North Africa Maroun Kairouz.

Meetings with Saudi ministers of trade, energy, the environment, and agriculture are also scheduled for the third day of the prime minister’s visit. He will probably also meet with his counterpart from Malaysia.

Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, will be present at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development, which gets underway here today.

Continue Reading

Latest News

The nomination of Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister raises concerns.

Published

6 hours ago

on

By

A lot of doubts have been raised by Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, being appointed deputy prime minister.

No reference to the Constitution, regulations, or any other law was mentioned in the Cabinet Division’s notification of the appointment.

What powers Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used to designate Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister has come under scrutiny in light of this.

There are questions about the legal foundation for the deputy prime minister’s nomination as it appears from the notification’s phrasing that rules for the position have not yet been established, according to insiders.

Likewise, the announcement is vague about the deputy prime minister’s proposed authority.

Deputy prime minister would be purely symbolic, according to government sources, and would not be authorized to carry out prime ministerial duties. In Pakistan, the deputy prime minister has previously been nominated.

The PPP administration appointed Chaudhry Parvez Elahi as deputy prime minister.

Observe that Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was appointed deputy prime minister on Sunday with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s consent; the Cabinet Division formally announced the appointment.

Dar holds the position of Pakistan’s fourth deputy prime minister. Previous appointments to the position of deputy prime ministers included Parvez Elahi, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Begum Nusrat Bhutto.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Audio leaks case: FIA, PTA, and PEMRA pleas seeking Justice Sattar’s recusal dismissed

Published

6 hours ago

on

By

The Islamabad High Court fined each of the three government departments Rs. 500,000 on Monday after dismissing their arguments against a bench trial over audio leaks.

The court may also hold the heads of the aforementioned departments—the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)—culpable for contempt.

In the audio leak case, four government agencies—the PEMRA, PTA, FIA, and Intelligence Bureau—filed separate petitions with the IHC, pleading for Justice Babar Sattar’s recusal and asking for the case to be heard by the same bench that has previously decided a case of a similar nature.

The petitioners contended that in order to prevent a different ruling, Justice Babar Sattar should recuse himself from the case that was decided in 2021. The petitions of Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan, and Najamul Saqib, the son of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, should also be brought before the same bench.

During the current hearing, Justice Sattar also issued a summons to IB Joint Director General Tariq Mehmood, directing him to come before the court for the case’s subsequent hearing.

Following the issue’s discovery in 2023, the judge has been considering the aforementioned petitions.

The government agencies contended in the petitions in the case before Justice Sattar that Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had already resolved an analogous issue in 2021. Thus, in order to prevent a conflicting ruling and for the sake of justice, they asked the judge to recuse herself from the case.

The departments are requesting that Justice Sattar recuse himself after six IHC judges—among them, himself—complained in writing to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) about intelligence agencies interfering with the court’s decision.

On March 25, the judges called for the calling of a judicial convention to address the issue of purported meddling by intelligence agents in the judicial activities or “intimidation” of judges in a way that jeopardised the judiciary’s independence.

Continue Reading

Trending