Author: Mishaal Mubarak

Think about all of the batting giants you can in Test cricket. A list full of players like Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, and Alastair Cook will appear in your mind. All retired now. Heroes of the past. But then there is one from them, who is rising through the ranks, day by day, swiftly and very steadily. He still has not hung his boot and by the sounds of it, does not intend to do so anytime soon. Besides having scored a slew of runs in his career so far, he plays the longest format more frequently than others.  It’s…

For the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief, his brainchild, the Champions Cup, holds the key to many of Pakistan Cricket’s current problems. Mohsin Naqvi, who assumed the role of the PCB chairman last year, has not shied away from admitting that the country is suffering from a talent deficiency. But it’s not the kind of talent deficiency that tolls bells of damnation for cricket in the country, it’s basically the lack of knowledge of the talent within the domestic circuit. Champions Cup, as per the PCB chair, can help Pakistan overcome this knowledge gap.  “We had a lot of…

At a dead end. With challenges pushing them more into the wall. The Pakistan team is cornered right now from everywhere. And thats exactly where they tend to turn the situation around. They like having few options left. They thrive under such conditions. But cricket, at large, is not a game of luck. Especially Test cricket. Unlike the younger formats, Test cricket is not intimidated by juju and unpredictability. If you need applause from the purest format of the game, you need to make intelligent decisions.  Intelligent decisions are where the men in green have been lacking. Apparently, they don’t…

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah, has been elected as the next chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Shah, who will assume office on the first of December, 2024, was the only candidate for the position after the current chairman Greg Barclay, who had held the office for two terms since 2020, revealed that he will not seek another term. Since there were no other nominees for the position, Jay Shah was announced as the chair unopposed, without an election.  “I am humbled by the nomination as the Chair of the International Cricket Council.…

Pakistan Test team has got 99 problems and, as much as they would have wished it was not, losing points for maintaining slow-over rates has become one of them. After the conclusion of the Rawalpindi Test, match referee Ranjan Madugalle found Pakistan six overs short of the time allowance adjusted target. According to Article 16.11.2 of the World Test Championship (WTC) playing conditions, one point is docked for each lost over. This means the men in green have lost six points from their already scanty points kitty. The visitors, also, could not do justice to the required over rate and…

Hardly do mega-events in cricket, let alone women’s cricket, get as much hype as the forthcoming Women’s T20 World Cup has received. The political instability in Bangladesh followed by offers and rejections from different boards to host the tournament was nothing too different from a rollercoaster ride. This rollercoaster ride, however, seems to be coming to an end as things find solid ground once again. International Cricket Council (ICC) announced revised fixtures for the Women’s cricket mega-event, which will now take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting from 3rd October.  The ten-team tournament will begin with the hosts,…

Comedy can be thrilling. But only for a brief moment. The thrill evaporates as soon as the laughter fills the air. Both genres have a lot in common. That being said, a shift between them is not very difficult to transpire as is evident from the way Pakistan Cricket Team’s scripts have started coming in. They were full of thrilling stuff at one point. Plot twists upon plot twists. Teeming with suspense and mystery. But now it’s pure comedy, of the elite kind, though. You can’t help but laugh. Much like the thrillers they used to direct and produce at…

Nicholas Pooran calls himself a child of franchise cricket. And rightly so. Pick a random T20 tournament during whichever time of the year you want, the odds are very high that you will find the West Indian hitter not only playing there but absolutely nailing it. Nailing it is what has become second nature to him. In the past couple of years, he seems to have cracked the code for T20 cricket. How else do you hit more than 100-meter-long sixes? How else do you take on the opposition as if it’s a video game? So far this year, he…

Pakistan and Bangladesh are battling it out in the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Both teams have pace-heavy attacks featuring for them. If you started watching cricket in 2022, you would have counted both teams as nuts. Who plays fast bowlers on belter pitches that offer no assistance to them whatsoever? Its really kamikazeing their careers. But here’s a little spoiler for you. Cricket has been around for centuries before 2022 and you happened to see the Rawalpindi pitch in its most un-Pindi version.  Rawalpindi notoriously became known for its flat wicket during England’s tour of Pakistan in 2022. Playing in Pakistan…

There is a first time for everything. But not all first times need to be experienced. Some of them are better left unencountered. Ask Babar Azam, who ticked off his first first in this series, but if given a choice, he would rather let it pass.  Failing yet again to score big during the first Test match against Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Babar’s no-run streak has survived another innings. It has been almost two years since the last time he scored a 50-plus run. Although Pakistan has only played seven Test matches since then, for a batter…