Author: Mishaal Mubarak

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was to be hosted in Bangladesh before the nation found itself grappling with a country-wide political strife, which saw hundreds of civilians being killed. However, weeks of anti-government protest and the eventual dissolution of the Bangladesh Parliament forced the International Cricket Council (ICC) to start looking for an alternative venue. For the past couple of weeks, the uncertainty around the tournament’s venue had only been growing. ICC’s decision not to make things official until the last moment only made the situation more interesting.  But that has come to an end now, as the ICC has…

A plethora of changes was expected when Pakistan were disgraced out of the recent T20 World Cup. Surprisingly, not a lot of major changes were seen within the team. But that does not change the fact that fans and pundits of the game in the country, have their anger simmering on low heat. The calm after the World Cup in Pakistan was, perhaps, a negotiation between the team and the fans. You get a rejuvenated team that plays up to its potential. We get a couple of months of quiet. But, as they say, the moment of truth has finally…

Starting Wednesday, the cricket world will largely revolve around red-ball cricket fixtures and how they will affect each team’s chances of making it to the WTC final. Thats not normal for cricket in this day and age given that the Hundred just ended a few days ago, the T20 World Cups are popping up one after another and the attention is now, more than ever, on the shorter formats. But somehow the next few months will see the excitement around Test cricket surging. England and Sri Lanka, who have a match to play in Manchester a few hours from now,…

Thats the thing about Bazball. It’s abrupt. It’s unexpected. And most importantly, it’s insane. For instance, in a situation where every match is crucial for your team’s survival in the World Test Championship (WTC) final race, you (being a socially certified sane person) would definitely not get a player on board who has not played an international Test match since 2022. Would you? Yeah, you might. But would you get that player to open the innings in one of the most unforgiving away conditions, completely opposite from what an opener would prefer? You wouldn’t, right? Thats why it’s called Bazball…

Pakistan’s rare jam-packed Test season is just a few sleeps away. While there has been a lot going around the series lately, with matches being shifted and players being released, Pakistan team management has not delayed the announcement of the playing XI for the first Test match which will begin on August 21 against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.  Led by the new captain Shan Masood, who will be captaining the side for his second assignment, the Pakistan team has decided to field four pacers with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah leading the attack and Mohammad Ali and Khurram…

South Africa did not just have West Indies to face in Guyana, bad weather and their diminishing World Test Championship (WTC) final chances were cause of equal worry for the Proteas. But everything fell right where the Temba Bavuma-led team wanted it to in the second Test match against West Indies, where Keshav Maharaj made his magic run again, bringing his series wickets tally up to 13. The 40-run victory over West Indies is South Africa’s second in six Test matches of the ongoing WTC cycle. With the first Test match ending in a stalemate, this victory means the South…

Pakistan team has released the mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed from the squad for the first Test match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi. The decision, which was confirmed by a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Press Release on Saturday, was made to allow the rookie spinner to feature in Pakistan Shaheen’s team for the second four-day game against Bangladesh A. In addition to Abrar, the uncapped batter, Kamran Ghulam was let go from the senior team squad as well. “Wrist spinner Abrar Ahmed has been released from the Pakistan Test side and he will now represent Pakistan Shaheens in the second four-day match…

Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batter, Niroshan Dickwella, has been suspended from playing all forms of cricket for an indefinite period after he failed to comply with World Anti-Doping guidelines, failing a doping test. The news was confirmed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and further investigation will take place while the Islander batter will serve his time out of cricket. As stated by SLC, the test was conducted during the recently concluded season of the Lankan Premier League (LPL).  Reportedly, Dickwella has been found to have used cocaine during the tournament in which he captained the runner-up team, Galle Marvels who lost…

David Warner bade adieu to Test cricket earlier this year in Sydney against Pakistan. That meant Australia needed to recruit someone to fill his opening position. However, to everyone’s surprise, Australia’s number four batter, Steve Smith, seized the opportunity to open for the Kangaroos. That sounds more outrageous when one thinks that Smith was averaging just slightly shy of 62 at number four. But given his brilliance as a batter, no one had any doubts about the right-handed dominating every position he chose to bat at.  Things, however, have been far from ideal for the Sydney-born since he moved up…

Pakistan will put on their white jersey after nearly eight months when they will face the Bangladesh team at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. This will also be the first International fixture for the men in green ever since their shambolic T20 World Cup campaign in June. On top of all, this series is crucial for Pakistan to bag if they don’t want their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final to get quashed.  Pakistan’s new way to approach a new way Although there has been a curfew-esque silence in Pakistan, reports have been sneaking out of the Pakistan Cricket…