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We're comfortable & confident about Pakistan hosting Champions Trophy in 2025

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said that it is comfortable and confident on hosting the Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. 

"We wouldn't have awarded the event if we didn't think Pakistan was capable of hosting it. We think it is an exciting opportunity for them to be able to host a world event for the first time in a long time. I'm sure, as with all countries, they will put together appropriate security plans to deliver the event. We're comfortable and confident it will go ahead."

This is the first instance after the 1996 World Cup that Pakistan will be hosting a global event. The decision from the ICC has already raised eyebrows of some and the questions have started to raise on India’s participation in the tournament. 

The governing body's chairman, Greg Barclay has said that it is going to be a challenging issue. 

"We know it's a challenging issue," Barclay said. "From my point of view, I can't control geo-political forces. I just hope cricket can be a force to help improve relations between countries. One of the great things sports can do is to help bring nations together. If we can do something in a small way to contribute to that, that's fantastic."

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Watch | Bangladesh vs Pakistan T20I series culminates with a controversial final over

There were all the makings for a huge controversy in the third and the final T20 International of the Bangladesh vs Pakistan series. Despite the match being a dead rubber, the final T20I was closely contested with Pakistan needing 8 runs to win from the final 6 balls. With Taskin Ahmed not being able to complete his full quota of overs, Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah was forced to bowl himself in the final over. What followed was sheer madness, and possibly one of the most entertaining last overs in recent times. The Bangladesh skipper started off with a length delivery against former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed who was playing his first game of the series. The right hand batter tried to sweep the ball hard down to the mid wicket region but ended up copping a blow on his chest. 8 off 5 required Almost a repeat of the first ball, but this time Sarfaraz connected. He sat down and swiped his bat hard but failed to get any elevation on the ball. Mohammad Naim standing at deep mid wicket did the rest, picking up a regulation catch. 0 and a wicket in the first two balls till now The third ball of the over, Mahmudullah had to bowl to Haider Ali, who was 37 balls in and had scored 45 runs at that point. The right arm slow medium bowled a shortish ball on the off stump, which Haider Ali pulled off his back foot. He did not get the desired connection and landed the ball straight to long on where Najmul hasan Shanto fumbled, but completed the catch in second attempt. 0,W,W in the first three balls. Now, two new batsmen were in the crease and in three balls 8 runs should have been tricky. But it was not. Facing the first ball of the innings, Iftikhar Ahmed hit a huge six down the ground against an over-pitched delivery to balance the equation; rather tilt it towards Pakistan. 0,W,W,6 Pakistan required 2 off the last two balls. Things were very easy from here on, but in an utter moment of madness, Ahmed sliced a full and wide delivery to backward point. Bangladesh went delirious and the commentators could not believe what they were seeing. When the camera panned to Pakistan captain Babar Azam while Ahmed took a long walk back, he looked furious with his batter to have thrown the opportunity away like that. Some slurs were hurled and some bottles were thrown as Pakistan looked to have messed things up. 0,W,W,6,W 2 needed off the last ball. This should have been finished in only one ball. All three results were possible. A win, a loss and a possible Super Over with Bangladesh’s worst bowler having taken the final over. And this is where the controversy began. Mahmudullah ran into bowl at Mohammad Nawaz, fresh in the crease. He bowled it into the stumps to everyone’s surprise and got the ball to come in from good length. Nawaz, at the last second, moved away from the line of the ball and left it alone. The ball crashed into the stumps and the crowd at Mirpur went up in celebration. Only, it wasn’t to be. Nawaz claimed that he was not ready and Mahmudullah in a moment of incredible self control and generosity, agreed to not stick to his appeal of a clean bowled!! 0,W,W,6,W,(bowled out) Pakistan knew that they need to run a single to make this safe, and Khushdil Shah standing that the bowler’s end decided to start early. Before the bowler could finish his stride, he took a couple of steps out to maximise the advantage. Mahmudullah stopped before rolling his arm and turned towards the wicket. He could have run Khushdil out and chose not to, once again in a maddening moment of sportsman spirit. 0,W,W,6,W,(bowled out),(mankad) A part-timer can only hold out for so long. Mahmudullah bowled a full delivery in the final (legal) ball of the innings and got slapped for a drive through extra cover. It appeared that his luck had run out finally as Pakistan clean sweeped the series 3-0 to cap off the tour. On the other hand Mahmudullah and his men sunk further extending their losing streak in the white ball format.

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SMAT 2021 Final: All hail King Khan as Tamil Nadu defeat Karnataka in a thrilling last ball finish

Karnataka’s pacer Prateek Jain was shattered when Tamil Nadu’s Shahrukh Khan pulled off something incredible in Delhi on Monday. Needing 5 off the last ball, the aggressive right-hander connected a length ball with all authority and deposited it over square leg boundary for a maximum to seal the win for his side by 4 wickets. Tamil Nadu are the champions of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. After some good work from the spinners early on in the game, Tamil Nadu were handed a target of 152 runs in 20 overs by Karnataka and the kind of batting line up that they have in the unit, it seemed to be an easy task initially. But it wasn’t. The Tamil Nadu batting didn’t go all guns blazing in the first phase of the chase and they could only manage to gather 60 in the first 10 overs. Captain Vijay Shankar who had come in at number four and joined N Jagadeesan in the middle. The two batters put up a stand of 44 runs for the third wicket but the ever increasing asking run rate forced Shankar to play one in the air. The stroke didn’t bring much for the Tamil Nadu team and instead it cost the skipper’s wicket when the team score read 95. Shankar was caught by Suchith off Cariappa for a 22-ball 18. The right-hander’s departure was then followed by Jagadeesan’s dismissal on the very next delivery after he was out in the same manner for 41 off 46 reducing Tamil Nadu to 95/4 in the 16th over. The batting side had two new batters including Shahrukh at the crease with more than 50 runs required. While TN lost a couple of more wickets, Shahrukh kept his cool right till the end and eventually concluded the game for the side. He returned unbeaten at 33 off 15, a knock that included three maximums and one four. KC Cariappa returned with impressive figures of 2/23 in 4 overs for Karnataka. The last rites Tamil Nadu needed 16 off the last over after Shahrukh had hit an important six on the last delivery of the previous over. While Prateek had the ball, Sai Kishore was on strike for Tamil Nadu. The left-arm pacer bowled a fuller delivery outside off and Kishore threw his bat on this one to collect a vital boundary and bring the equation down to 12 off 5. Tamil Nadu then scored five runs in the next three legit deliveries including a couple of wides. Shahrukh then managed to get a couple on the fifth ball and the equation was down to five required off one ball. It was down to the wire and the way Prateek had executed his yorkers, it seemed to be a difficult task for the batting side to go over the line. All three results were possible but Shahrukh had his own plans. Prateek just missed the yorker a bit and the right-handed batsman took full advantage of that to hammer a maximum and clinch a win. Sai Kishore rips through Karnataka Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar would be proud of himself that he handed the ball to Sai Kishore in the power play overs. The spinner bowled three overs out of the first six and rattled the Karnataka top-order which included the scalps of Rohan Kadam and Manish Pandey. He removed Kadam with a traditional spin for a two-ball duck and later breached Pandey’s defence to clean him up for 13 off 15. Karnataka lost a total of three wickets in the powerplay as Karun Nair was dismissed by Sanjay Yadav for 18 off 14. Kishore eventually picked up three wickets for 12 runs in 4 overs. The Manish Pandey-led side managed to score 151/7 in 20 overs, courtesy some good batting performance from Abhinav Manohar who struck 46 off 37 and then a late surge from Praveen Dubey who chipped in with a 25-ball 33. Shahrukh later revealed what was going through his mind when he faced that final delivery. “There were a lot of things in my mind, but I tried to keep it simple. The ball was rough and the wicket was slow, so I wanted to connect it off the middle. I was waiting to hit it over long-on, and I got the room to get it over square leg,” he said during the post-match presentation.