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Psl 2021 Psz Vs Krk Hazratullah Zazai Bowlers Help Zalmi Make Easy Work Of Karachi Kings

PSL 2021 | PSZ vs KRK: Hazratullah Zazai, bowlers help Zalmi make easy work of Karachi Kings

Hazratullaz Zazai, playing his first Pakistan Super League game made sure that it would definitely not be his last, rather there would be many more to come. The left-hander hit eight fours and four sixes to lead Zalmi to a comprehensive six-wicket win and climb to the second spot in the PSL Points Table.

Be it experienced Mohammad Amir or domestic pace bowlers in Aamer Yamin, Abbas Afridi and Wasqas Maqsood, the talented Afghan didn’t spare anyone as he dealt in boundaries to make a scintillating 26 balls 63. Even when he got out, it was only while trying to hit the winning runs quickly that he missed straighter delivery from Karachi Kings skipper Imad Wasim.

Peshawar was chasing a small target of 109 and Zazai made sure that there were no hiccups even as experienced opener Kamran Akmal departed in the second over of the innings. The 23-year-old paired up with Haider Ali and added 84 runs in just 38 balls for the second wicket. The Afghan, who hit the fastest fifty by an overseas batsman (17 balls) and joint fastest for any batsman in PSL, was chosen as Man of the Match for his brilliant performance.

Hadn’t it been for the three quick wickets within just one run, most likely Zalmi would have won it by nine wickets and a few more balls to spare. Imad picked up two wickets in his first over of the game as Shoaib Malik once again fell for a duck trying to hit a six to finish the match early. Haider was stumped scampering out of his crease as Noor Ahmad bowled it wide outside off for wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton to remove the stumps. Two West Indians Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford stayed till the end to watch Zalmi through.

Karachi captain Imad was clearly upset with the loss but showed his determination by saying, “Nothing to lose now, we have our backs against the wall, and we just have to win now.” “If we think we can't make it, there's no point in playing, so we'll give it our best shot. Let's see how it goes,” he added in his post-match interview.

Earlier in the night, Zalmi skipper Wahab Riaz won the toss and took the new ball himself. In the very first over he struck with a toe crushing inswinger to Babar Azam who was removed for a golden duck.

Sameen Gul, another player playing his first PSL 2021 game then bowled two brilliant swing deliveries to get the wickets of Martin Guptill and Walton. While to Guptill it was an unplayable outswinger, Walton had no answers to an angling inswinger that hit the new man’s pads even before he could react. From there on wickets just kept falling as a third first timer in PSL 2021 for Zalmi, Abrar Ahmed helped himself to three dismissals. In fact, he was the pick of the bowlers for Zalmi with figures of 3-14.

At 73-7 in 16 overs, Karachi were staring at getting bundled out under 100 but for Abbas Afridi, who with the help of his lusty blows got the Kings past 100. He was the top-scored for the blue brigade with an unbeaten 27 from 18 balls.

Reacting to the win and promotion in the Points Table, Zalmi captain Wahab was happy with the win but cautioned his batsmen against their attitude. “The way Zazai batted, he took the pressure off, and he made the opposition-run out of bowling options,” Riaz said during the post-match presentation. “In the last three games we have been losing wickets in clumps and we have to work hard and think about it. The batsmen who are playing have to carry it through, otherwise, good teams don't let you make a comeback,” he added.

Both these teams will be in action once again on Thursday, June 17. While Zalmi would be up against Shadab Khan’s men from Islamabad who have already qualified, Karachi would look to bounce back from three defeats in a row when it takes on Lahore Qalandars, who themselves have been struggling for the last two games. Both these games would be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

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ENG W vs IND W | One-off Test: Know India Women's possible playing XI

The Indian Women’s team led by Mithali Raj would be playing its first Test in eight years when it takes on England Women in a one-off Test in Bristol starting Wednesday, June 16. When India last played a Test match in England, it was in 2014 and on this tour, they have seven players who were part of the historic win seven years ago in Taunton. As things stand, among those seven players, most likely one would miss out. The selection of the playing XI is going to crucial keeping in mind the English condition. OneCricket tried coming out with the best possible India Women XI for the Test at Bristol. Openers: Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma The Indian Women would look to go with the tried tested Smriti Mandhan as the opening batter. But alongside her, sending Shafali Verma could turn out to be a great move considering that she is free-flowing in her approach and can dampen the English pace attack very early. In English conditions, sending Verma might be a tricky choice given that she has not even played an ODI let alone red-ball cricket. But that is the risk that India can take as they have the luxury of experienced Middle order and Smriti at the top as well who can do damage control if Verma falls cheaply. But if Verma does fore as is expected of her, it would give India Women the much-needed advantage. The 24-year-old Mandhana though has experience of both ODI and red-ball cricket as well. Although she hasn’t had much success in three Test innings but has 4000 international runs behind her to give her confidence in England. Middle Order: Punam Raut, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma Once the foundation is set by the two openers, then the experienced middle-order consisting of skipper Mithali with her more than 10000 international runs which include 663 Test runs, Test centurion Punam Raut and explosive Harmanpreet Kaur can join the party. While the 38-year-old skipper has a double hundred to boast of and an average of more than 50, Kaur and Raut are also more than capable of enough of getting the game moving. In fact, Raut’s comeback to the Indian team was on the back of her performances in Days game at domestic level and then the Test hundred against South Africa Women in 2014. Harmanpreet is already pumped ahead of the game as she said in the pre-match press conference that she is looking to emulate the team’s victory in 2014. An explosive batter, she and Deepti also provide bowling options. Deepti is actually the fifth bowler in the squad having already picked up 119 international wickets in 109 international appearances. Yet to play a Test match, the 23-year-old Bengal player is already an Arjuna Awardee. Wicket Keeper: Indrani Roy This Bengal born Jharkhand player received her maiden call up to the national team on the back of a brilliant outing in the Senior Women’s National ODI Trophy in March- April this year. She is most likely to make her debut for India and that too Test cricket directly as her batting skills overpower those of other selected wicket-keepers, Tania Bhatia and Sushma Verma. Originally an opener for her domestic side, the 23-year-old would have to bat down the order in this lineup. She scored 456 runs at an unbelievable average of 76 with two centuries and a fifty. Bowlers: Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Poonam Yadav With the inclusion of Indrani, the Indian team would have seven pure batters and would thus have a chance to play an extra bowler. In that case and to utilise the English weather and pitch conditions properly, India would most likely go for three fast bowlers in the form of the experienced pair of Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey alongside Madhya Pradesh Express Pooja Vastrakar. Jhulan even at 48 can generate enough bounce with the red ball to trouble any batter in the women’s game and Shikha, along with her ability to move the ball, also has a history behind her when she alongside skipper Mithali chased down the English total to seal the win seven years ago. Though Vastrakar hasn’t had much success in the six ODIs she has played so far, not being able to pick even a single wicket. But in the 20 T20Is, the 21-year-old has had 16 scalps. She is quick, can bat and most importantly is accurate and that’s why gets into the playing XI ahead of Arundhati Reddy. As far as Poonam Yadav being picked over Radha Yadav and Ekta Bisht, both left-arm spinners is concerned, it is mainly because she provides the wrist spin option which would be any day beneficial against the English batters as compared to orthodox spin. A case for Jemimah Rodriguez Jemimah Rodriguez might get a game as well. But not in our XI. Although a gifted batter, who could roll her arm as well, the only place she fits in is opening with Smriti Mandhana. But her recent outings (55 runs in five innings) aren’t in her favour and thus getting a go-ahead of someone as dominating as Verma is a bit difficult. Note India would be targeting a record fourth successive win, which no other team has done so far in Women's Test cricket. Would they be able to do it? We will find out. The match would start at 03:30 pm IST and you can catch all the action along with ball by ball commentary and pre-match discussions from 03:00 pm itself on the OneCricket app and website.

PSL 2021 | LHQ VS QTG: Usman Shinwari, Khurram Shahzad keep Quetta Playoffs hopes alive

It took an inspiring performance from the Quetta Gladiators bowlers, Usman Shinwari and Khurram Shahzad in particular to get the team off the losing train and finally get a win, only their second of the season in eight matches. Shinwari, playing his first game in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament was particularly impressive at the start, removing key players like Qlanadras skipper Sohail Akhtar and experienced Mohammad Hafeez. Shahzad was right on the money as well as the Quetta players didn’t let the Qlanadars at any moment feel during the chase that they were in it. Chasing a modest target of 159, the Qlanadars didn’t get off to a good. After having lost their score in the very first over, they lost the other opener, Fakhar Zaman, soon as well. He was played on at a Shahzad delivery in the third over. Post Zaman, Hafeez, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ben Dunk, Rashid Khan and Ahmed Daniyal were removed too. Losing six wickets in just 43 runs gave a feeling of Déjà vu for Qalandars all over again from their previous encounter against Multan Sultans where they lost seven wickets for 30 odd runs. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, Shahzad and Hasnain shared the scalps among themselves. Tim David with a few lusty blows and some support from James Faulkner tried to restore some semblance into the chase, but a fast length ball by Shinwari, which went away from David got his blade’s outside edge and Quetta skipper Sarfaraz didn’t make a mistake grabbing them. It was Shinwari's third wicket of the day and he could have had four had Sarafaraz not dropped Dunk off him. Nevertheless, the left-arm speedster was adjudged Man of the Match for his performance. At 105-8, it seemed all over till tailenders Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf decided to swing the willow hard and fast. In fact, at one point in time, when Haris hit Hasnain for 18 in the 18th over with Qlanadars just needing 19 off 13 remaining balls, Gladaitaors supporters had their hearts in their mouth because they in the past have witnessed their team losing from commanding positions. However, it was one shot too many for Haris as Hasnain uprooted his middle stump on the last ball of his over to finish the proceedings. Reacting to the second loss in a similar fashion, Qalandars skipper Sohail was miffed. “Everyone has to take responsibility, especially the batsmen, otherwise this will be the result. There was a bit of spin but the ball was coming on nicely,” he said in the post-match interview. Earlier in the evening, Qalandars won the toss and decided to bowl first. Proving the skipper’s decision right, Faulkner removed opener Usman Khan in the second over itself. However, the two overseas imports of Gladiators, Australian Jake Weatherald and South Africa’s Cameron Delport added 58 for the second wicket to stabilise the innings. The two were removed in quick succession by Hafeez and Rashid respectively. It was then that Azam Khan’s cameo of 33 from 18 pushed the men in purple ahead. But then the Gladiators lost Azam and Nawaz in the same over and were staring down a similar collapse which has been attached to their identity this season. Skipper Sarfaraz though had some other ideas as he alongside youngster Hassan added 43 runs in the remaining 30 balls to take Gladiators to 158. Sarfaraz remained unbeaten on 34 from 17 balls. Speaking in the post-match presentation ceremony, the wicketkeeper-batsman was elated with the 18 run victory. He said, “This match and the win was really important for us. I'm really proud of the comeback from the boys and the fielding was good which also helped us a lot in building the pressure.” For Quetta to qualify for the Playoffs, they must win their remaining two games and hope that among Karachi Kings, Peshawar Zalmi and Multan Sultans, any two of them lose their remaining matches with handsome margins. They can ensure at least one loss as they face Sultans on Wednesday, June 16 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Lahore though could breathe even now as they just need to win one more game out of their remaining two to ensure their presence in the Playoffs. They next face Karachi in the second game of the doubleheaders day on June 17.

Mithali Raj hopes Tests against England, Australia will shape future women's Test Championship

India Women captain Mithali Raj has expressed hope that the one-off Test match against England Women is ‘just the beginning’ and that it would start a new chapter in the women’s game that would lead to a World Test Championship on line of Men’s game. "It's good to have the Test match in a series. We had the one-dayers and the T20Is. Maybe in the coming years it might also lead to a World Test Championship. You never know. This is just the beginning. I hope we continue to have bilateral series where all three formats are there,” Mithali Raj said on the eve of India Women’s first Test in secen years. She elaborated that the Test match against England women and also their first day-night Test against Australia Women later this year would also lead to starting of bilateral series between two sides comprising of all-format games. “I feel this Test match and even the pink-ball Test, which is in Australia in the coming months, it's just the beginning of having a three-format bilateral series. It probably opens up the channel to have another format added in a bilateral series and that will clearly help the overall standard of women's cricket” Mithali added. She advocated the inclusion of all forms of the game in bilateral series but reiterated that even ‘modern-day’ players want to prove their mettle in the longer format f the game as they know it will test all aspects of their game. "Also, the players - I mean, you ask any modern-day cricketer, they still want to play the longer format because they eventually know that the format tests the skill of a player,” Mithali concluded. India Women will take on England Women in the only Test of the tour starting tomorrow June 16 in Bristol.

PSL 2021 Preview: Multan look to continue momentum against exhausted Quetta

Multan Sultans once again will be up against Quetta Gladiators on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. Both sides haven’t really had a great tournament so far. While Multan only managed to win three out of their first seven matches that they played, Gladiators suffered defeats in six games. But with their last game win over Lahore Qalandars, the Sarfaraz Ahmed led team is hanging by the thread as far as Playoff chances are concerned. Gladiators have already defeated Sultans first leg in Karachi by 22 runs. Usman Khan scored a fine 50-ball 81 to take his team to a total of 176/7 in 20 overs while the bowlers then bundled out the Sultans for 154 to win the match. Gladiators would be looking to repeat the feat when they take on Multan while Rizwan’s troops would be eyeing to level their scores against Sarfaraz’s men. The Multan side would be coming into this match with a comprehensive 8-wicket win over Peshawar Zalmi. Rizwan and Sohaib Maqsood scored individual half-centuries to hand their side a win eventually in the match. Gladiators on the other hand have an aggressive batsman in Azam Khan in the middle-order. The youngster showed his ability with the bat against Lahore Qalandars after he chipped in with a quick-fire 33 off 18. But the batting has become a major problem for Quetta especially in the absence of Andre Russell and Faf du Plessis. Russell suffered a blow on his helmet during the match against Islamabad United and was later taken to the hospital. South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis was also injured in the team’s fixture against Peshawar Zalmi while fielding. Either the top-order fails for Quetta or the middle-order isn’t able to capitalise on the starts given by the top-order batsmen which has been a major cause for the side’s dismal show in the tournament. Match Details Match – Multan Sultans vs Quetta Gladiators – 25th match Venue – Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Time – 09:30 PM IST, 01:00 PM GMT Pitch Report The slowish nature of the tracks in Abu Dhabi might have something for the spinners but the dew factor at night is also a major aspect in the game. While the spinners would play an important role in the middle overs especially in the first innings, the team batting second might get help because of dew. So, if you win the toss, elect to field. Team News Quetta Gladiators: All-rounder Andre Russell and South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis didn’t feature in the clash against the Lahore Qalandars. The two players suffered injuries during the course of the tournament. Moreover, Russell is also a part of the West Indies squad for T20Is against South Africa and has been reportedly released for national duties. Earlier, three Zalmi players, David Miller, Fabien Allen and Fidel Edwards also left the PSL to feature in the bilateral tie between the two nations. Quetta can however enjoy the services of Jack Wildermuth in place of Zahoor Khan as they played the last game with one foreigner short. It is surprising why till now they have not played the Adelaide allrounder so far. Multan Sultans: Mutan Sultans will be without the services of Shimron Hetmyer for the remainder of the PSL as the batsman will be busy playing for the national side in the T20I series against South Africa at home. Sultans would need to tweak their playing XI after Hetmyer’s departure. Asif Afridi and Hammad Azam have joined the squad. Probable XI Quetta Gladiators Usman Khan, Cameron Delport, Jake Weatherald, Sarfaraz Ahmed (C & WK), Azam Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Jack Wildermuth, Hassan Khan, Usman Shinwari, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Hasnain, Multan Sultans Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan (C and WK), Sohaib Maqsood, Rilee Rossouw, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Khushdil Shah, Sohail Tanvir, Blessing Muzarabani, Shahnawaz Dhani, Imran Khan, Imran Tahir Fantasy XI Usman Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (C), Saim Ayub, Jake Weatherald, Cameron Delport, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Azam Khan (VC), Rilee Rossouw, Shahnawaz Dhani, Imran Khan, Imran Tahir