Mayank Agarwal to lead Punjab Kings in IPL 2022

Punjab Kings have officially named Mayank Agarwal as the skipper of the side for the IPL 2022. The Punjab-based franchise made the announcement in a social media post. 

“I am honoured and happy to be leading Punjab Kings in the IPL 2022. Let’s do it this time,” Mayank said. 


PBKS head coach Anil Kumble said that the batter has been an integral part of the setup. “Mayank has been an integral part of the side since 2018 and of the leadership group for the last two years. The new squad we selected at the recently concluded auction has exciting young talent and outstanding experienced players,” he said. 

"We want to create a strong foundation for the future with Mayank at the helm. He is hardworking, enthusiastic, a team player with all the attributes required of a leader. I look forward to working with him as captain and believe that he will lead this team to a successful campaign."

It was earlier reported that the franchise was keen on handing the captaincy to the right-handed batter after KL Rahul had left the side. 

"In all likelihood, Mayank will captain the side. The announcement is expected later this week," an IPL source said as quoted to PTI earlier. 

"Dhawan is a welcome addition to the side and was always on the radar at the auction. He is a champion player but it seems Punjab were keen on Mayank as captain ever since KL Rahul left the team," he added.

Mayank was earlier retained by the side while Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada and Jonny Bairstow were some of the notable additions to the squad. The aggressive batter Shahrukh Khan also returned to the team after he was bought in the mega auction.  

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Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf ruled out of first Test against Australia

Pakistan have suffered a blow ahead of the first Test match against Australia which is slated to take place in Rawalpindi, starting March 4, 2022. Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali have been ruled out of the fixture due to injuries and the selectors have included middle-order batter Iftikhar Ahmed and fast bowler Mohammad Wasim Jr. The two players will be under a mandatory three-day isolation at the team hotel upon their arrival in Islamabad before joining the rest of the team after clearing their respective Covid-19 tests. “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa captain Iftikhar Ahmed and fast bowler Mohammad Wasim Jnr have been included in Pakistan’s Test squad for the first match of the three-match series against Australia,” a PCB statement said. “The two have replaced Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali who have been ruled out of the Rawalpindi Test (first of the series) due to injuries,” it added. “Faheem and Hasan will rejoin the squad in the coming week and after completing their three-day mandatory isolation integrate with the rest of the squad during the first Test, both are expected to regain full fitness before the second Test that will be played in Karachi 12-16 March,” it further said. The two sides will then move to Karachi where the second Test is scheduled to take place from March 12, 2022 while the third and final clash will be held in Lahore from March 21, 2022. Updated squad: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (VC), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, and Zahid Mahmood

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PSL 2022 | Shaheen Shah Afridi wins Lahore Qalandars their first trophy

Lahore Qalandars are the champions of Pakistan Super League season 7. The Shaheen Shah Afridi-led team comprehensively defeated Mohammad Rizwan’s Multan Sultans by 42 runs to win their first PSL trophy on Sunday, 27 February. Defending 181, Lahore reduced Multan to 50/4 in the first 8 overs, which essentially paved their way into the game. However it was not as simple as that. The few overs in the Multan chase were chaotic. Runs were flowing from the bat, the ball was not swinging enough for captain Shaheen Afridi and easy chances were getting dropped behind the wicket. The captain’s tantrum Put this in the context that Multan Sultans had just defeated Lahore in the Qualifiers to get their straight ticket into the finals. This got Afridi very frustrated and he just about threw a tantrum after bowling his first two overs. With the captain going for 16 in his second over, he went straight into the umpire’s face arguing over a marginal decision that happened six balls ago. Afridi was erroneous in his fielding placements, chasing the ball every time it got hit for a boundary. Sultans batsmen - Rizwan and Shan Masood were having a good laugh in the middle over the situation and had scored 29 from the first three. The comeback With the captain just about going into meltdown, Lahore needed a senior pro to pool in all his experience and make something happen. And they did. The 41-year-young Mohammad Hafeez castled the Multan captain to bring the home side back into the game. He saw Rizwan shuffling and trying to access the leg side and darted in a full delivery into the middle and leg stump. Rizwan, looking to sweep the ball, got beaten by the pace and departed at 14 off 12 via a needless dismissal. The run-out They say one brings two and it did indeed. It took exactly 6 balls of pressure and a young batter in the non-striker’s end to effect the next dismissal. Shan Masood’s strategy after Rizwan’s dismissal was to keep ticking off singles, till Multan could see off some tough overs before launching in an all out assault. In the final ball of the 5th over, Masood tapped a fuller length ball to cover with soft hands and stormed out for a single. A run at that short a distance needed utmost commitment and trust of the non-striker, something that the 23-year-old Aamer Amzat did not have on his senior partner. Amzat hesitated before saying no, and chose not to move a single step off his crease. This ended up leaving Masood in the middle of the pitch, before Fakhar Zaman picked the ball, took his own sweet time, and then threw it straight into the stumps. Masood departed on 19 off 15, hurling abuses at his partner as Multan went into a frenzy. The collapse Three more wickets came in the next six overs as Multan found it difficult to negotiate the likes of Zaman Khan and Hafeez. More 36/1 in 4 overs, Multan were reduced to 63/5 at 10.4 with established players like Rilee Rossouw going back to the hut without doing much damage. Ex-Lahore Qalandar player Tim David tried his best to revive the situation, but the climbing run rate was too much for the Singaporean-Australian batter. With the required rate going close to 15 in the 13th over, David played some exquisite shots, before holing one out to Fakhar Zaman in the deep trying to hit Shaheen Afridi for a six. Barring David, Khushdil Shah tried wrestling Zaman Khan who was exceptional on the day and only managed to score 32 off 23 before getting cleaned up by a quick and straight delivery from Haris Rauf. The finish By this time the mood of the game had changed and Lahore knew that there was no defeating them. Shaheen Afridi bagged two more wickets at the death alongside Haris Rauf and finished the Multan innings. Another late revival in 1st innings Earlier in the day, Lahore got the most ominous start possible, with Fakhar Zaman failing in the second straight playoffs game. The left hander, trying his off-spinner Asif Afridi for a six over mid wicket, ended up getting caught on a boundary line catch from Shahnawaz Dahani which stalled the Lahore momentum for the first few overs. Down by 25/3 in 4.2 overs, Mohammad Hafeez held the innings together, expertly pacing his innings throughout the game. Hafeez had a blazing start to the innings hitting Rumman Raees for 3 fours in an over and then slowed down to see off the tough phase of the game. He targeted the Multan bowler in phases before entering the 14th over, where he started to take around 9-10 runs per over. The injection of the fearless Harry Brook helped the momentum with the Englishman finding his range in the final. He remained not out at 41 off 22 while Hafeez departed after an exceptional 69 off 46 balls. After Hafeez’s departure, it was once again Namibian David Wiese who smashed 28 off 8 balls to take Lahore to a safe score. Conclusion We have said this once and we will say this again, Lahore Qalandars are a proper team that feed off the energy of each other on the pitch. On the days their superman Fakhar and Shaheen lost control, Mohammad Hafeez, Wiese and Zaman Khan shone through to win a high pressure game in front of their home crowd. And that showed in the post match presentation as well where Fakhar Zaman won the batter of the tournament and Zaman Khan was rewarded with the emerging player trophy. Lahore’s first PSL win was as deserved as it gets and the premier T20 tournament in Pakistan would be glad that they were able to finish it without any interruptions. The 2022 PSL will go a long way to mend Pakistan’s relationships with other cricketing nations and give players confidence to return to a country that loves its cricket through and through.

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India cleansweep Sri Lanka with Shreyas Iyer’s 3rd consecutive fifty

It was more like Shreyas Iyer vs Sri Lanka than India against Sri Lanka in the T20I series that concluded in Dharamshala on Sunday, 27 February. The Kolkata Knight Riders captain scored his third unbeaten half century of the series to see through India's 12th straight T20I win - a record equalling feat in world cricket. Unfazed in the chase of 147, Iyer played a composed knock at #3 of 73 off 45 balls, anchoring the innings through. Speaking after the game, Iyer stated that he feels he is best suited to bat at the number three position and he will really enjoy this moment and not think of anything about the possibilities that future holds. While it was not a difficult chase by any stretch of the imagination, India were jolted by two quick wickets of Rohit Sharma and Sanju Samson. Sharma’s issues against 140+ bowlers came to fore yet again as Dushmantha Chameera dismissed him for the sixth time in 30 balls. Samson did not make his chance count as well, scoring just 18 runs before getting out to Chamika Karunaratne. It is at this critical juncture that Iyer held the game. There were definitely possibilities of landslide in that situation, but Shreyas’ form was too much to handle for the visitors. Iyer - the main character of the chase found support in Deepak Hooda (21 off 16) and Ravindra Jadeja (22 off 15) to ease the work for him. Sri Lanka bowlers have to take the onus that in back to back matches, they have had good starts removing the batters early and then have completely failed to utilise the situation. To be fair to them, they did not have the services of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana - two of their best bowlers in the middle phases of the game. Earlier in the innings, it was once again captain Dasun Shanaka who took Lanka to a respectable scored after being left hapless even till the 15th over of the game. Shanaka scored a stunning 74 off 38 balls and completed his half century after coming agonisingly close to it in the last game (47 off 19). Shana spoke at the presentation and put the blame straight onto the batters and stated that they have not put their hands up and the bowlers need good enough runs on board if they want to defend against a side like India. Even though against a weaker side, there are many takeaways from the Sri Lanka series for India. The Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid-led think tank have been able to put players out of their comfort zone and make them take on situations that go against their usual template of role. For example Harshal Patel has been asked to bowl in the powerplay overs, Ravi Bishnoi has bowled classic leg spinning deliveries giving the ball a fair amount of flight while the batsmen have shuffled places throughout the series. The byproduct of all that is that India have won their 12th T20I game in a row and have given Rohit Sharma his third straight victory in the home T20Is. With World Cup not very far away, Sharma and co are successfully building a team that can improvise under tough circumstances and can change plans depending upon the situation of the game - something that had become quite rigid under the Kohli regime. With the commencement of this white ball series, India will now go on a break as an international team and join back after the Indian Premier League as they take on South Africa and England back to back in their preparation of the T20 World Cup.

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PSL 2022 | This hilarious Imran Tahir antics will leave you in splits

Imran Tahir is known for many things. Exceptional reading of the game, his ability to beat batsmen in flight and of course for his top of the world sprinting celebration. Even at 42, Tahir plays the game like it is his first day in the field. It seems that Tahir has added another asset to his repertoire, something that has absolutely floored the watchers of the game. And it is nothing but his hilarious antics in the field. Playing for Multan Sultans in the PSL Final, Imran Tahir managed to review an LBW call that hit dead centre of the bat - an event that the umpire would not have been unsure about in a million years. The incident came in the 13th over of the game with Mohammad Hafeez in the crease. Lahore Qalandars had a struggling start to the innings and were reduced to 25/3 inside the powerplay. Tahir and co. kept on the pressure and did all they could to eke out wickets. However, a resilient Mohammad Hafeez stood his ground and worked his way through 69 off 46 balls, a crucial innings that arrested the collapse of the challengers looking to win their first PSL title. Tahir bowled a full delivery to Hafeez in the 13th over which the player defended comprehensively only for Tahir to go upstairs. The failure of review did not stop Tahir from going into his classic celebration in the very next ball after he thought he had edged Hafeez back to the keeper. The umpire and the batsman could not believe Tahir’s antics and started laughing in the middle of the pitch adding to a lovely moment in the PSL final. At the time of writing, Lahore had dragged the game back to level ground owing to some late hitting from David Wiese and Harry Brook who put on a rapid 43 runs off just 16 balls to help Lahore get up t0 180 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.