• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Zahid Mahmood Replaces Shadab Khan In T20i Squads Against South Africa Zimbabwe

Zahid Mahmood replaces Shadab Khan in T20I squads against South Africa, Zimbabwe

Pakistan have brought in wrist spinner Zahid Mahmood as the replacement for Shadab Khan for the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Shadab Khan had injured his toe during batting in the second ODI against South Africa.

The leg spinner had made his T20I debut against South Africa earlier this year and impressed one and all with three big wickets. He picked up the wickets of Janneman Malan, Heinrich Klassen and Dwaine Pretorious in his four-over spell.


Apart from Zahid Mahmood’s selection, Pakistan team management under the leadership of skipper Babar Azam and coach Misbah ul Haq has also rewarded Fakhar Zaman for his explosive batting in the second ODI. He has been added to the T20I squad for the series against South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Earlier, he was named only in the squad for the ODI series against South Africa and as per the statement released by the PCB, both these changes were required by the team management and approved by the national selection committee.

The T20I series against South Africa has been scheduled to be played from April 10 to April 16 which will be followed by their tour of Zimbabwe for a three-match long T20 series and two-match long Test series against the hosts.

Pakistan won the first game of the ODI series against South Africa in Centurion while faced a defeat in the second ODI in Johannesburg albeit Fakhar Zmana gave them hope of an unlikely win with a brilliant 193.



Discover more
Top Stories
news

IPL 2021: Sunrisers' T Natarajan recalls MS Dhoni's advice on variations

T Natarajan has gone strength to strength with each game he plays and his most potent weapon against aggressive batsmen has been yorkers. He burst onto the scenes after a successful stint with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last edition of the Indian Premier League. He had troubled greats of the game such as AB de Villiers and MS Dhoni who have been known for their belligerence in the latter half of the innings. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Natarajan has recalled the events leading up to and after the wicket ball of MS Dhoni. He said that Dhoni was severe on one delivery that was pitched in his arc, but he bounced back strongly to dismiss him on the next ball. Natarajan also recalled the conversation he had with the CSK skipper Dhoni after the end of the game and the suggestions he got from him. The left-arm seamer said that Dhoni encouraged him that with the experience he will learn more and more crafts while using cutters and slower variations will bring rewards to him in the shortest format of the game. “I pitched one in the slot and he hit me for a big six - 102 metres or something. The next ball I got his wicket - I was just thinking about that previous ball. After coming back to the dressing room, though, I was happy. After finishing the match, I also had a chat with him. Speaking to somebody like Dhoni itself is a big thing. He spoke to me about fitness and encouraged me, saying that I will keep getting better with experience. He said, use slow bouncers, cutters, and variations like that. It has been useful for me,” Natarajan told ESPNcricinfo. Natarajan debuted in the last edition of the IPL for the Sunrisers and was one of the find of the season for the franchise that was missing their very important member in Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His excellent death bowling and control over yorkers fetched him a place in the Indian T20I team, followed by spots in both the ODI and Test team on the tour of Australia.

news

IPL 2021: Ricky Ponting's speeches reminds Prithvi Shaw of Chakde India

With the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League starting on 9th April, one of the star players of Delhi Capitals, Prithvi Shaw recalled his memories with Ricky Ponting and said that whenever Ricky Ponting speaks, Prithvi is reminded of Chakde India and the role of Shah Rukh Khan in that movie. Ponting is currently the head coach of Delhi Capitals and shares a good rapport with the youngsters in the team. During a recent video interview shared by the Delhi Capitals on their youtube channel, Prithvi Shaw revealed that when Ponting gives his speeches he gets a proper Chakde India feeling. “When Ricky sir speaks, the songs play in the background, the Shahrukh Khan song,” said Shaw. It must be noted that Chakde India is a popular Bollywood movie where SRK plays the role of a hockey coach and how his inspirational coaching style helps the Indian Women’s hockey team to win a Hockey World Cup. During the course of the movie, Shahrukh Khan gives several motivational speeches, none better than the “Sattar Minute speech” in the team locker room. Shaw said that Ponting is not only the boss in the team but a reassuring figure on the field and a friend off it which helps the players keep a good mental space. “The boss is back. He is a very nice person. On the field he's like a boss, off the field he's like a friend. I am very happy he is back and let's see how it goes," commented Shaw during the interview. Not long ago, Ponting revealed the work ethics of Prithvi Shaw during an interview with cricket.com.au. Ponting recalled how Shaw reiterated from batting in the nets when he wasn’t scoring many runs in the previous edition of the tournament. He had also called Shaw one of the most talented players he has ever come across. “He [Prithvi Shaw] had an interesting theory on his batting last year – when he's not scoring runs, he won't bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time,” Ponting said. “He had four or five games where he made under 10 and I'm telling him, ‘We have to go to the nets and work out (what's wrong)’, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, I’m not batting today’. I couldn’t really work that out," Ponting further added. Shaw comes into the IPL on the back of a stupendous run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He smashed more than 800 runs in just 8 matches with 4 hundreds under his belt including a double century. He looked in complete command and will definitely look to make an impact come IPL 14.

news

Hurt to read Taslima Nasreen's vile remark against my son: Moeen Ali's father

Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen made some controversial comments on England and CSK’s new recruit Moeen Ali. Nasreen said that the all-rounder would have joined ISIS if he was not playing cricket in a tweet and later deleted it. "If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS," Nasreen had first tweeted. She later clarified that her statement was sarcastic after she faced some heat on social media. Nasreen’s remarks didn’t really go well with Moeen’s father Munir Ali and said that he was deeply hurt and shocked. Munir further added that the Bangladeshi writer’s tweet was an ‘Islamophobic statement’. "I am hurt and shocked to read Taslima Nasreen's vile remark against my son Moeen," Munir was quoted as saying by Indian Express. Moeen’s father had a piece of advice for Nasreen after he asked to pick up a dictionary and learn the meaning of the word sarcasm. “If I get to meet her someday, I will tell what I really think of her face. For now, I would ask her to pick a dictionary and see the meaning of sarcasm,” he further added. Munir further stated that he couldn’t believe that the writer had chosen his son for her “agenda”. “Of all the people to pick on for her agenda, I can't believe she has chosen my son. Everyone in the cricketing world knows the person he is,” Munir said. Moeen has been an integral part of the England setup and was the member of the World Cup-winning team in 2019. The all-rounder has joined CSK for the IPL 2021 after being released by RCB earlier.