Pak win the series after 17 months....

Pak beat zinbabwe in 2nd odi by 6 wickets and also win the series by 2-0....after 17 months last beat srilanka by 3-2 in december 2013......

Read More

Pakistan triumph as cricket comes home through Zimbabwe

Look at the crowd in Gaddafi Stadium 60 thousands plus people watching this match Pak vs zim.
 The occasion of international cricket's return to Pakistan was made merrier by the opening pair of Mukhtar Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad as they tore into and broke down Zimbabwe's challenging 172 for 6, to ensure the side, playing at home after six years, won by five wickets.
Their 142-run stand equalled the opening partnership between Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal against Bangladesh in the 2010 World T20 but the one at the Gaddafi Stadium will be counted as more special. The March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus, outside this very cricket stadium, had taken international cricket away from them.
The full house was fully entertained by the newcomer Mukhtar, who made 83 off 45 balls. His dozen boundaries were hit off a bowling attack which lacked a leader and a strong attacker but Mukhtar did what he had to do. He was severe on everything straight and on his legs, nine of his 12 fours coming through fine-leg, midwicket and long-on. He reached 50 off 34 balls and left the more recognised Shehzad far behind.
Shehzad didn't miss out though, getting to his fifty in the 12th over. He struck some brutal hits down the ground but was generous enough to let Mukhtar do all the hitting. The pair fell in consecutive overs - Shehzad gave a catch to point, while Mukhtar hit straight to long-on - but the crowd was fully entertained for one hour by the pair.
After the Mukhtar-Shehzad partnership, Pakistan lost three more wickets before captain Shahid Afridi struck a straight boundary to complete the win with three balls to spare.
The start of the evening, too, will remain memorable. The crowd started to enter the stadium more than two hours before the first ball and it was a full house when Shahid Afridi and Elton Chigumbura strode out to the toss, held seven minutes earlier as the Pakistan president Mamnoon Hussain met with both squads. Afridi gave one last pep talk before the hosts raced to the turf.
The first ball was a fuller length delivery from Anwar Ali that crashed into Hamilton Masakadza's pad. The pace bowler didn't appeal, but an appeal wouldn't have been out of place given the drama of the occasion. Masakadza then got to work with a string of boundaries but he failed to keep the crowd's noise down. A gap of six years for an international game kept them animated even as they fanned themselves with the four and six placards.
Masakadza got seven fours and a six in his 27-ball 43, cutting, lap-sweeping and forcing fours through point, midwicket, fine-leg and mid-off. His only six was a high pull off Bilawal Bhatti over square-leg in the third over. Vusi Sibanda was nondescript at the other end with 13 off 15 balls.
Their 58-run stand ended in the seventh over when Sibanda top-edged Mohammad Sami for 13 and next ball, Pakistan's comeback man - playing his first international match since July 2012 - got Masakadza to inside-edge on to the stumps. The noise was at a maximum but despite that, and the regular wickets, their fielding errors slightly blotted the occasion. A few outfielders dived over the ball, Sarfraz missed two stumpings, including that of Chigumbura when he was on eight, and Riaz dropping a skier off his own bowling.
Charles Coventry, another comeback story of the day, was given caught-behind though TV replays showed the ball appeared to hit his bicep on the way to the wicketkeeper. Chigumbura, meanwhile, kept the pace set by Masakadza with timely boundaries. Zimbabwe's tally of 58 in the last five overs was mostly his doing.
Chigumbura's late onslaught began with a top-edged four off Bhatti before fours were squeezed past point and inside-edged. He added blasts over point, midwicket and extra cover off Riaz's third over before flicking Sami's full-toss to reach his second T20 fifty, making 54 off 35 balls.
Sikandar Raza struck a high six over midwicket before falling in the 17th over but he helped Chigumbura add 42 for the fifth wicket in just 4.2 overs.
Malik was the most economical bowler with 1 for 12 from three overs while Sami took 3 for 36. Riaz finished with two wickets but he was too wayward for a bowler leading the attack.
Zimbabwe's bowlers too were poor for most of the Pakistan innings, though Cremer looked happy with his two wickets while Williams and Brian Vitori took one wicket apiece.
For the fans and the team, it was a joyous occasion, a chance to cherish a match played in their home. International cricket in Pakistan came to a halt in Lahore and it is here that Zimbabwe's tour got underway, with a win for the home team

Read More

Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan in Trouble After Karachi Attack on Bus...

Tour on, says PCB; Zimbabwe say not yet

Zimbabwe's proposed tour of Pakistan witnessed another day of confusing signals from both sides. The PCB twice, in separate statements, asserted unambiguously that the tour was on while ZC insisted through the day that no such decision had been taken.Late-night reports from Pakistan that the Zimbabwe team was to land in Lahore on May 19 only added to the sense of confusion. They also revealed the importance of this visit for Pakistan, where no Full Member has toured since the attack on the Sri Lankan team in March 2009.The PCB issued a statement at 9-30 pm local time, quoting its chairmanShaharyar Khan welcoming what he referred to as Zimbabwe Cricket's decision to undertake the tour of Pakistan from next week. "After last evening's unsettling news that Zimbabwe Cricket had 'postponed' its visit to Pakistan, I received a call from my Zimbabwean counterpart William Manase and he most kindly informed me that his Board was still willing and ready to send their team to Pakistan," Shaharyar's statement said."This evening we were informed that Zimbabwe Cricket had decided to stick to its plans of sending their team to Pakistan. We welcome this affirmative response, and assure Zimbabwe Cricket again that [of] the best possible security," the statement said.The press release followed statements made by Shaharyar to reporters in Lahore in the afternoon. He said he had had verbal communication from Manase, the ZC chairman, confirming the visit. "Manase called me three times to reaffirm that Zimbabwe would be touring Pakistan as per schedule," Shahrayar was quoted as saying.The PCB's COO, Subhan Ahmed, said preparations for the tour were in full swing. "This morning we had a meeting of the organizing committee to tie all the loose ends. The ticket sales shall commence from tomorrow. From the inquiries and feedback that we are getting, people are really eager to come and watch the revival of international cricket in Pakistan."The statements and the mood they conveyed were in direct contradiction to the sense prevailing within ZC, whose website contained a press release quoting CEO Wilfred Mukondiwa that no decision to tour had been made. "There are consultations going on at the moment with relevant authorities. We do not have a final position as yet," Mukondiwa said.Friday's confusion echoed developments on Thursday, when ZC issued a press release saying they were suspending the tour to Pakistan on the advice of the country's Sports and Recreation Committee, who, after consulting the Foreign Affairs Ministry, deemed it "unsafe" to travel to Pakistan. The SRC is the organisation which has to okay all national team tours and without their permission, ZC could not send a team.Less than 30 minutes after that release, ZC's communications manager Lovemore Banda sent a second email retracting the statement and explained that discussions were still "ongoing." Late on Thursday afternoon, Banda confirmed that meetings were still taking place. The situation remained the same on Friday afternoon, with ZC involved in consultation all day and no resolution reached.Zimbabwe named a squad of 16 players, including one new cap, to travel to Pakistan. Although some players were wary of visiting Pakistan, they all remained available for selection despite the international player body FICA advising them not to go. FICA's own security report called the risks of touring Pakistan "unmanageable."However, ZC were satisfied with arrangements made for their safety after an advance party, including managing director of cricket Alistair Campbell, visited Pakistan last week. The group were given a tour of the stadium and facilities as well as a thorough explanation of the security plan put in place to protect Zimbabwe's cricketers. Campbell told journalists in Pakistan he was "very excited," about his country being the first Test-playing nation to re-open the door to Pakistan, and hoped it would help bring cricket back to the country.That trip came before a terrorist attack on a bus in Karachi on Wednesday, which killed over 40 people and brought concerns over visiting Pakistan back into the spotlight, even though Zimbabwe's tour schedule is exclusively confined to Lahore. If the series goes ahead, it could be officiated by PCB-appointed match officials in the event that ICC officials do not travel to Pakistan. The ICC is still awaiting confirmation of the series from both boards before it can take a call over security for its officials.

While police widened the scope of investigation into Wednesday’s brutal attack on a bus carrying Shia Ismailis, Sindh Rangers claimed to have arrested 145 suspects in targeted operations in the city.A spokesperson for the paramilitary force said on Thursday that the raids had been conducted in Sohrab Goth, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Orangi Town and other areas and those held included alleged target killers and members of banned outfits.

Read More