PSL 2021 | Colin Munro, Iftikhar Ahmed anchor Islamabad to 8-wicket win over Karachi

Islamabad United were on a carnage on Monday after they thumped Karachi Kings by 8 wickets while chasing a stiff target of 191 in 20 overs.

Islamabad suffered an early blow after Usman Khawaja was sent back in the hut by Abbas Afridi for 12 off 16 and it was then followed by Muhammad Akhlaq’s wicket who was undone for 1 by Maqsood.

The United side was struggling at 41/2 in the sixth over when opener Colin Munro was joined by Iftikhar Ahmed in the middle.

The two batsmen resisted well against the Karachi bowlers and then went after the target with precision.

Munro who has been in some good form in the tournament remained unbeaten at 88 off 56 while Ahmed scored a 39-ball 71* during the course.

Kings bowlers especially Thisara Perera, Arshaq Iqbal and Abbas Afridi were taken on by the batsmen and were hit for runs all around the park.

Earlier, Karachi rode on some fine batting from Babar Azam and Najibullah to put 190/4 in 20 overs on the board.

Babar notched up yet another half-century to score 81 off 54 while Najibullah remained not out for 71 in 42 deliveries.

With this win against Karachi, Islamabad United now have six wins and 12 points from 8 matches and are sitting at the helm of the points table.

Karachi captain Imad Wasim admitted that the side didn’t really have many options in the bowling department and he himself wasn’t able to complete his four overs because he had sustained an injury in his finger.

“We don't have many options with the ball, to be frank. It was harder for the spinners and I couldn't bowl all my overs because my finger was injured, and we need to talk about this to be honest. We were 15-20 runs short, and we should've targeted the bowlers a lot better. We played poorly, didn't take our catches, and if we don't play well enough, we can't expect results to go our way. Nothing to lose, so we'll definitely try to come back hard,” he said.

Winning captain Shadab Khan put his weight behind the balance that the team has.

“It's a team game and when our top-order fails then our lower order performs well, so I think everyone understands their roles well,” Shadab said.

While Karachi will take on Peshawar Zalmi on Tuesday, Islamabad would be up against the same opposition on Thursday in their next respective fixtures.

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WTC final | Scott Styris gives Rohit Sharma no chance in bowling-friendly conditions

Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris has said that Indian opener and one of the vital cog of the Indian batting lineup Rohit Sharma will struggle against if there will be movement in and off the pitch during the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand. He pointed out that Sharma does not move his feet around too much while facing the new ball and that could well lead to his downfall in England. “It is pitch dependent… I think I can’t stress that enough. I think if the ball is moving around then Rohit will have his struggles. Rohit doesn’t really moves his feet a lot early in his innings. If that’s the case, then the swinging ball could be a problem for him,” Styris said during Star Sports’ show ‘Game Plan.’ Notably, Rohit Sharma missed the India’s tour of New Zealand early last year due to injury and hence his batting at the top of the order has not been tested in conditions helpful for swing and seam bowling. Rohit, in the past, has struggled against left arm pacer and New Zealand have two of the best such bowlers going around in the world cricket. Trent Boult has been the New Zealand’s go to man in the longest format with the new ball while Wagner has been used as an enforcer who can purchase wicket with a relatively older ball. Styris outlined the role Wagner has played in the rise of New Zealand cricket and in the World Test Championship and said that the Blackcaps would sue him in the middle phase of the innings to get attacking at India’s skipper Virat Kohli after the new ball spells from Boult, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson. “There is no secret to New Zealand’s fast bowling plan if you like and that is Southee, Boult and either Jamieson or de Grandhomme will be the third seamer and they bowled till about the 22nd to 28th over with a new ball,” he said. “And then Neil Wagner comes into the equation. So, when you talk about Wagner, it’s his ability to be aggressive and be a genuine wicket-taking option for somebody like (Virat) Kohli in those middle overs till the new ball comes around.” India lost the last series against New Zealand and the skepticism over batting shared by Styris is not new for the Kohli’s side. Add to that the big stage of final of a global tournament and it sets up for a riveting contest come June 18 in Southampton.

ICC Test Championship Final: Winners to bag hefty sum of USD 1.6 million along with mace

The inaugural World Test Championship final is just a few days away with New Zealand slated to take India a first of it’s kind. The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced that the winners of the final will bag home USD 1.6 million alongside the Test Championship Mace while the losing team will be awarded USD 80,000. In case of a draw or a tie, the total prize money of USD 2.4 million will be split among the two teams. For the first time in this format that there will be world champions. The ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice during an interaction with the media said, "It (the WTC) has come to symbolise the best team in Test cricket, and with the Test championship now being used as the vehicle to identify the best team in Test cricket, the mace is on offer," Further, in a statement, it was described by the world governing body that the Test mace which was earlier awarded to the teams topping the Test rankings will now be awarded to the team winning the ICC Test Championship title. In case the match ends in a stalemate both teams will be sharing the trophy. Meanwhile, the Aussies who narrowly missed out on a final berth will be awarded USD 450,000 for finishing third while England and Pakistan will be awarded USD 350,000 and USD 200,000 respectively. The other four teams part of the competition including Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh will receive USD 100,000 each. The WTC final will be contested at the Rose Bowl in Southampton from 18th June. June 23 has been kept as a reserve day in case the time lost in the regular hours of play cannot be made up on the same day. If the reserve day comes into the equation it will comprise of a maximum of 83 overs plus the last hour of play.

ICC amends point system for next World Test Championship cycle

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said that it will tweak the points system of the World Test Championship from the second cycle of the competition. In an interaction with journalists, ICC interim CEO Geoff Allardice said that teams will be awarded a ‘stanadrised’ number of points for each win instead of the prevalent system where a series was allotted a maximum points. The point system ran through a controversy last year when the ICC changed the crietrio for the rankings on the points table to preexisting points system to percentage of points in wake of cancellation of multiple series due to Covid-19. “We have looked at this at the end of this cycle as well and we have the second cycle starting in a month and a half and there will be some tweaks to the points system. We can put in a standardised number of points for per Test match, so that it doesn’t matter whether it’s a two Test series or a five-Test series, so same number of points will be available for each match that’s played. But every team will be judged on percentage of points its wins and not on total,” Allardice said. Allardice also accepted the argument made by Indian coach Ravi Shastri that the fate of the World Test Championship should have been decided by a three-match series instead of a one-off Test match, but cited constrained cricketing calendar behind not opting for a series that would take a month time. “In a perfect world, a three Test series would be a great way to decide the WTC but reality of international cricket schedule is such that we are not going to get a month. Blocking out a month for all team tournament final isn’t realistic, so that’s why one match final was decided upon. Why it’s quite exciting is it brings in something new. We have a one-off Test match to decide we have the best Test team in the world,” Allardice reckoned. Explaining the reason behind ICC approving a reserve day for the World Test Championship fina, Allardice said that the body was looking to avoid the situation of teams playing with diffrent priorities and not a common goal of outrightly winning the contest. However, he said that the reserve day will be in effect only if there will be overs lost due to bad weather and if neither team can register victory, a draw would be a ‘fair result.’ “One of the idiosyncracies of Test cricket is that draw is a result. We didn’t want to start the final with one team having to win and one team looking for draw. Both teams start on Friday even and five playing days to get a result and we have a reserve day so that if time is lost, it can made up on the reserve day. It isn’t a six-day Test match. And after five days if we don’t get a winner, whether you like it or not, draw is a fair result in Test cricket,” he concluded. India and New Zealand will lock horns in the WTC final scheduled to start on June 16 in Southampton.

Countering English conditions: Ajinkya Rahane offers batting tips to Indian Women side

India Men’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane offered some insights about batting in England conditions against Duke balls to India Women cricketers when the two sides were under quarantine in Mumbai, as per a PTI report. The report further suggested that the newly-inducted coach of the Women side, Ramesh Powar, who has been a good mate to Rahane over the years, arranged a zoom session with the the vice-captain, where he discussed the keys ot succession England conditions. "Ramesh and Ajinkya have been teammates. Since our girls are playing Test match after seven years, the coach thought that it would be a good idea to have a session where one of the best in the business will talk about Test match batting. It was a 50-minute zoom session that was arranged when both teams were in quarantine in Mumbai,” PTI report quoted an unnamed BCCI official aware of the development as saying. The zoom session lasted for 50 minute and Rahane suggested women to focus on short goals such as the first 15 runs and following it up with another 25 or 30 runs to prosper, instead of keeping the larger goal in mind while batting. "He told the batters that it should be like first 15 runs and then another 25 and another 30 runs. He also spoke that in England, there would be inevitable rain-breaks,” the source said further. Rahane also talked about the importance of switching on and off in between partnership to keep their minds fresh, for which he suggested taking a cup of coffee or tea or a having conversation. "Ajinkya's answer was the ability to switch on and switch off when a partnership is on. Have a chat, drink a cup of coffee, get a massage. So you need to switch off for some time only to switch on at the time when you get in,” the source concluded. India Women will take on the hosts England Women in the only Test of the series between them starting June 16 in Bristol while Rahane will form the Indian Men batting lineup in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton starting June 18.