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PAK vs AUS | 2nd ODI | Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq earn Pakistan an astounding win to level series

The second ODI of the ongoing Pakistan-Australia series witnessed a high-scoring affair on Thursday. The hosts outscored the Aussies at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, to pull off a record run-chase to level the series at 1-1.

Pakistan opted to bowl first, and initially, their decision seemed to have backfired. However, Australian batters left no stone unturned and showed some outrageous strokeplay to record a mammoth total of 348 runs. 

Although Aaron Finch again became a victim of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Travis Head and Ben McDermott went about their business with an aggressive approach, sending the ball towards every corner of the ground. While Head fell 11 runs short of a second consecutive ton, McDermott brought up his maiden ODI century.



Marnus Labuschagne and Marcus Stoinis provided Australia with the much-needed impetus in the middle and slog overs. Even though the visitors lost wickets regularly while trying to score quick runs at the end, Sean Abbott managed to hit quite a few boundaries as Australia gave Pakistan a target of 349 runs.

With a momentous task to achieve, Pakistani openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq delivered what was asked for. The swashbuckling pair of southpaws had one eye on the scoring rate while ensuring they did not throw away their wickets with the other.

After Fakhar got dismissed, Babar Azam arrived at the wicket to lay his contribution to the run-fest. The talismanic skipper took the matter into his own hands as fours and sixes rained upon at Lahore. Imam smashed his second hundred on the trot but soon departed with the score reading 229/2.

However, Azam continued in his miraculous fashion with a marvellous strike-rate. He tormented the Aussie bowlers to bits and joined the list of century-scorers in the game. Eventually, he perished for a fantastic 114, with Pakistan still needing 41 runs to close in on the record run-chase.


Mohammad Rizwan also joined in with a handy 23-run knock, but the Khushdil Shah finish brought a sigh of relief into Pakistan's camp. Khushdil, in partnership with Iftikhar Ahmed, went past Australia's total as Pakistan chased the target in the penultimate over and levelled the series 1-1.


The two teams will now face off in the series decider, scheduled on April 2 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. 

Brief scores:

Australia- 348/8 (50 overs)

Ben McDermott 104 (108), Travis Head 89 (70)

Shaheen Shah Afridi 69/4;

Pakistan 352/4 (49 overs)

Babar Azam 114 (83), Imam-ul-Haq 106 (97);

Adam Zampa 71/2

Pakistan beat Australia by 6 wickets 

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IPL 2022 | KKR vs PBKS | Match 8 - Preview, Prediction, Probable XI, Fantasy XI

The 8th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 will see Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) facing off against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 1st at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Match Preview KKR after winning their opening game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets, went on to lose their second game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by a couple of wickets. Their batters failed to make an impact as KKR were bundled out for just 128 runs. Their bowlers, however, did an excellent job, taking the low-scoring match to the last over before Dinesh Karthik chased it down for the Royal Challengers. Shreyas Iyer used the bowlers pretty well, and it will be intriguing to see how he will use them against a side full of power hitters. On the other hand, Punjab Kings already announced their dominance in the tournament after chasing down the mammoth score of 206 with an over to spare against Royal Challengers Bangalore. All of their batters, except Raj Bawa, contributed with the bat, which made the chase easy against RCB. Their bowlers, however, were pretty expensive in the death overs against RCB and must be looking to improve it. Kagiso Rabada has joined Punjab Kings, and it will be a massive boost to their bowling attack. With both sides looking to clinch a win, a mouthwatering clash beckons in Wankhede on Friday. Match Details Match: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, Match 8 Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Date & Time: April 1st at 7:30 PM IST and local time Live Streaming: Star Sports Network and Disney+Hotstar Pitch Report The track at the Wankhede is a good one for batting. Two matches have been played at this venue, and both games were won by the team bowling first. The bowlers won't have much room for error. We can expect a high scoring match on Friday. Pitch Stats Matches Played: 7 Matches Won Batting First: 2 Matches Won Bowling First: 5 Average 1st Inning Score: 194 Average 2nd Inning Score: 182 Injury Update/Players Punjab Kings South African pacer Kagiso Rabada has completed his quarantine period and is available for selection against Kolkata Knight Riders. Squads Kolkata Knight Riders Shreyas Iyer (capt), Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, B Indrajith, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Aaron Finch, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine Punjab Kings Mayank Agarwal (capt), Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odeon Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell Probable Playing XI Kolkata Knight Riders Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy Punjab Kings Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (wk), Liam Livingstone, Raj Bawa, Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Sandeep Sharma Fantasy XI Suggestion 1 Wicket-Keeper: Bhanuka Rajapaksa Batters: Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana All-Rounders: Andre Russell, Odean Smith Bowlers: Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Chahar Captain: Shikhar Dhawan Vice-Captain: Bhanuka Rajapaksa Fantasy XI Suggestion 2 Wicket-Keeper: Bhanuka Rajapaksa Batters: Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane All-Rounders: Liam Livingstone, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy Captain: Shreyas Iyer Vice-Captain: Odean Smith

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IPL 2022 | Shane Watson opens up on Simon Katich unceremonious exit from SRH

Former Australian all-rounder and assistant head coach of the Delhi Capitals, Shane Watson, has reckoned that alarm bells rung in the case of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) after his former teammate Simon Katich left the franchise immediately after the mega-auction ahead of IPL 2022. Katich, who was appointed as deputy to head coach Tom Moody by the Sunrisers management, stepped back from his role following the event in Bengaluru back in February. Officially, Katich claimed bio-bubble fatigue as the reason behind his departure.However, reports in Australian media suggested that the former batsman was unhappy that the pre-planned strategy before the auction didn't see the light of the day during the event. "Katich disagreed with how the team was being managed and felt that pre-auction plans were disregarded," said reports in Australian media. Sunrisers had an apalling start to their IPL 2022 campaign against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), where they were totally outplayed in all facets of the game. Speaking to the Grade Cricketer, Watson delved into the Katich issue and the state of the SRH management. "Alarm bells started when Simon Katich left just after the auction. That's normally not a great sight because Katich is one of the most generally good people. It's really injustice really if people really go against what they say. So obviously something has gone down there that Katich stepped away immediately and won't be a part of it. That's a warning sign to start with," the Delhi Capitals assistant coach stated. The Hyderabad franchise has been embroiled in controversy since the last season when they not only sacked but also dumped their most successful player David Warner midway through the season. While Watson did concede that SRH doesn't look particularly strong in the absence of David Warner and Rashid Khan, their performance against the Royals suggests a lot going around in their set-up off the field. "The make-up of their team is not incredibly strong and then how they have performed in the first game. Yes, Rajasthan Royals have a very good squad, and they played really well, but it's not looking great. It feels like there is a lot of stuff around the team that is obviously not helping everything on the field," Watson added. He also touched upon the influence on the team environment when a top player like Warner is treated as he was by the management. Sunrisers will look to shrug off their poor performance from the first game when they take on Lucknow Supergiants on April 4.

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Babar Azam, David Warner, among 284 marquee overseas stars in the 2022 Hundred Draft list

Champion openers David Warner and Chris Gayle are among the 284 foreign internationals who have thrown their hat in the ring for the upcoming 'The Hundred' draft ahead of its second edition. The inaugural season of 'The Hundred' competition was initially scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) eventually postponed it due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last summer, the inaugural edition finally got underway, with Southern Brave clinching the men's title and the Oval Invincibles bagging the women's competition. Last month, the top-brass announced players that they retained ahead of the season. The marquee list included superstars from men's and women's cricket, including Glenn Maxwell, Rashid Khan, Ellyse Perry, and Alyssa Healy. The remaining spots in the eight-team competition will be filled via the draft, which is scheduled to take place next week. It was originally scheduled for this week but was eventually pushed to the next in order to avoid a clash with the state funeral services of the legendary Shane Warne, who tragically passed away earlier this month. Warner and 'Universe Boss' Gayle, who have set their base price at 125,000 pounds, are joined by Pakistani superstar skipper Babar Azam, South African left-arm leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, the West Indian trio of Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran and Sunil Narine, Australian batting all-rounder Mitchell Marsh. As many as 250 local domestic uncapped players have also thrown their hat in the ring, including uncapped batsman Joe Clarke, who has set himself a base price of 60,000 pounds. The 100,000-pound bracket includes South African superstar Quinton de Kock, Australian pacer Kane Richardson, West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell, while legendary all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Aussie white-ball captain Aaron Finch, former Proteas leg-spinner Imran Tahir and Pakistan left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir are placed in the 75,000 pounds reserve price category. As many as 534 players have registered themselves for the draft. Former England Test player Joe Denly is one of the 21 England internationals available for the draft. Others include Olly Stone, Liam Dawson, Matt Fisher, Dom Sibley, Luke Wright, Toby Roland-Jones, Keaton Jennings, Alex Lees, Danny Briggs, Pat Brown, Scott Borthwick, Dom Bess, Haseeb Hameed, Steven Finn, Mark Stoneman, Gary Ballance and Tom Banton. The Men's edition of The Hundred will get underway from August 03.