Islamabad draw Lahore out of PSL, Karachi make it to playoff stage

DUBAI: Karachi Kings qualified for the play off stage of the inaugural edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) as Islamabad United defeated Lahore Qalandars by five wickets in Dubai on Wednesday evening, ARY News reported.

Lahore Qalandars had to overcome Islamabad United in order to qualify for the play off stage of the competition following Karachi Kings’ loss to Peshawar Zalmi earlier.

Lahore Qalandars scored 150 in 20 overs at a loss of five wickets.

Islamabad United achieved required 151 runs target in the 19th over drawing Lahore out of T20 league.

It should be noted that Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars, before their matches, were at fourth and fifth place at the points table respectively.

If Kings had beaten Zalmi, they would have progressed to the play off stage regardless of the result of the match between Lahore and Islamabad.

The Karachi side could not defeat Peshawar and their fate rested on the result of tonight’s match.

However, Karachi qualified as they had beaten Lahore in the round robin stage of the competition.

Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators will play the first playoff match on Friday.

The second playoff match will be held between Karachi Kings and Islamabad United on Saturday.

Hodge powers Peshawar Zalmi to five wicket win over Karachi Kings

DUBAI: An unbeaten 85-run knock by Brad Hodge helped Peshawar Zalma beat Karachi Kings by five wickets in their Pakistan Super League (PSL) encounter on Wednesday evening, ARY News reported.

Karachi Kings won the toss and chose to take guard. Karachi Kings scored 152/7 in their 20 overs.

Lendl Simmons missed out on his half century as he mad 49 runs from 37 balls with the help of six boundaries and two sixes. Ravi Bopara made 23 runs from 22 balls.

Shahzaib Hasan and Bilawal Bhatti contributed 18 and 15 runs respectively with the blade.

Aamer Yamin, Hasan Ali, Imran Khan Jr., Shahid Afridi and Darren Sammy all dismissed one batsman.

Peshawar Zalmi, chased the target of 153 runs in 18.3 overs. Hodge was the stand out batsman of the lot as he took the match away from Karachi side by making 85 runs from 45 balls with the help of six boundaries and six sixes each.

Jim Allenby scored 31 runs from 29 balls with four boundaries to his name while Darren Sammy contributed 11 runs with the bat.

Bilawal Bhatti took two wickets for the side.

Karachi Kings can still qualify for the play off stage of the competition provided if Islamabad United beats Lahore Qalandars in their upcoming game. Karachi Kings will be knocked out if Qalandars manage to beat their opponents.

If Lahore Qalandars lose to Islamabad tonight, Karachi Kings will progress as they had beaten them in the round robin stages

Karachi Kings bring in Owais Shah

KARACHI: Karachi Kings decided to bring in English cricketer Owais Shah for the rest of their Pakistan Super League (PSL) campaign.

The English batsman will help the franchise in their bid to qualify for the playoff stage of the cricketing league.

In an interview to Khaleej Times, Shah said that the presence of cricketing greats from across the world would inspire youngsters.

“Their presence will be a great inspiration for the youngsters. The cricket-mad country can unearth new Imran Khans, Javed Miandads, Wasim Akrams, Waqar Younises and last but not the least Shahid Afridis”, he said.

He added that it would be a boost to cricket if Pakistan manages to resolve security issues and stages the tournament in its own country.

“It is the best platform to groom players and attract them to healthy activities”, Shah said.

The English cricketer hailed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for organizing PSL and said that it was well-received everywhere.

Passion, aggression makes you do funny things: Wahab

KARACHI: After being fined over his on-field spat with Ahmed Shehzad of Quetta Gladiators during a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match, Wahab Riaz of Peshawar Zalmi said that passion to win and aggression at times makes you do funny things.

In his Twitter message, the fast bowler stated that passion to win and aggression at times makes you do funny things. He advised the youngster to not repeat or get influenced by his actions on the field.

Wahab Riaz of Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators’ Ahmed Shehzad were punished over their on-field spat during their Pakistan Super League (PSL) game on Sunday evening.

The left arm pacer could not control his emotions after dismissing Ahmed Shehzad and the batsman threatened to hit him with his bat.

The fast bowler also pushed the batsman and heated words were exchanged between the two cricketers as well.

Both players were fined 40 and 30 percent of their match fee over their actions on the field.

Zalmi and Gladiators have both stated that the on-field spat between the batsman and the bowler should not have happened in the first place.

Quetta Gladiators down Lahore Qalandars in nail-biting PSL clash

DUBAI: Quetta Gladiators defeated Lahore Qalandars by two wickets in a nail-biting Pakistan Super League (PSL) clash in Dubai on Tuesday, ARY News reported.

Chris Gayle with his 60 off 34 balls helped Lahore Qalandars set 202 runs target.

Quetta Gladiators achieved the required target on last ball of the innings at a loss of eight wickets.

Bismillah Khan scored 55, Kevin Pietersen 34 and Sangakara smacked 37.

Muhammad Nabi’s brilliant stroke for four brought Quetta Gladiators last-ball win against Lahore Qalandars.

Tamim shines as Peshawar Zalmi beat Islamabad United

SHARJAH: Peshawar Zalmi defeated Islamabad United by seven wickets in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) T20 played in Sharjah on Friday, ARY News reported.

Decision to field first after winning the toss proved fruitful for Peshawar as they clinched fourth win in the league.

On the other hand, Misbah ul Haq’s return could also not help Islamabad steer to winning track. They scored 152 runs at a loss of six wickets with Khalid Latif hitting 59 and Misbah 32.

Wahab Riaz and Muhammad Asghar took two wickets each.

In the second innings, Muhammad Hafeez and Tamim Iqbal gave Zalmi blistering 36-run start.

Tamim’s unbeaten 80 led Peshawar Zalmi to their fourth PSL win against Islamabad United by seven wickets.

Pakistan beat India, win hockey gold in South Asian Games

GUWAHATI: Pakistan defeated India and bagged gold medal in the final of men’s field hockey in 12th South Asian Games (SAG) played at Indian city of Guwahati.

Pakistan’s Awais-ur-Rehman scored the decisive goal in the added time of first-half as Pakistan completed hat-trick of the SAG hockey titles.

The hockey final, played in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Moullanna Tayebullah Stadium of Guwahati.

Pakistan team gained momentum after Rehman’s strike in the first half and played an attacking hockey but found a strong wall in Indian goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya.

The two Asian power houses of men’s field hockey were clashing in the final at the regional games for the fourth time.

Pakistan beat India in both the 2004 and 2010 finals in Colombo and Dhaka, respectively, while India won the gold in 1995 in Madras.

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif have congratulated the hockey team on winning the gold medal.

Perera hat-trick in vain as India level T20 series

RANCHI: Sri Lanka all-rounder Thisara Perera claimed a hat-trick but could not deny India a series-levelling 69-run victory in the second Twenty20 in Ranchi on Friday.

The 26-year-old paceman dismissed Hardik Pandya, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh from successive deliveries before Sri Lanka, chasing 197 to clinch the series with a match to spare, were restricted to 127 for nine.

The run chase by the tourists got off to a terrible start with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3-14) luring Tillakaratne Dilshan out of his crease with the first legitimate delivery and Mahendra Singh Dhoni removing the stumps in a flash.

Sri Lanka were then reeling at 16 for three before Dinesh Chandimal (31) and Chamara Kapugedera (32) staged a rally.

Milinda Siriwardana (28 not out) and Dasun Shanaka (27) also chipped in with useful knocks but they proved in vain in Dhoni’s home town.

Smarting from their humbling in the series opener in Pune, India made an excellent start as openers Shikhar Dhawan (51) and Rohit Sharma (43) shared a quickfire stand of 75 in seven overs after Sri Lanka had opted to field.

Dhawan, who survived a strong lbw appeal early on, hit three successive fours in Kasun Rajitha’s second over and took only 22 balls to race to his maiden international half-century in this format.

Dushmantha Chameera then had Dhawan caught behind before he took a brilliant diving catch off his own bowling after outfoxing Sharma with a slower delivery.

Boundaries temporarily dried up but, with five overs remaining, Pandya (27) hit spinner Sachithra Senanayake for back-to-back sixes and Raina (30) struck four boundaries in one Chameera over.

Perera then had Pandya caught at long on, Raina at backward square leg and the scoreless Yuvraj at long-on to become the fourth man to grab a Twenty20 international hat-trick, following Australian Brett Lee and New Zealanders Jacob Oram and Tim Southee.

Visakhapatnam stages the final match on Sunday.

Waugh hits back at Shane Warne over ‘selfishness’ remarks

SYDNEY: Steve Waugh Friday hit back at Shane Warne after he reignited a long-running feud between two of Australia’s greatest players, saying he was doing his job as captain when he dropped the leg-spinner in 1999.

Earlier this week, Warne blasted his former teammate and skipper as “the most selfish cricketer I’ve played with”, still holding a grudge after Waugh axed him for the final Test on a tour of the West Indies 17 years ago, a game Australia won.

It sparked a backlash against Warne on social media with Waugh issuing a short statement the following day that said: “I’m not justifying his comments with an answer.”

But he opened up on Friday, explaining the decision to drop Warne was tough but part of his job as Australian captain.

“To be fair, not only Shane, any player I had to tell was dropped wasn’t easy,” he told Triple M commercial radio.

“It wasn’t easy telling Adam Dale he was dropped for a Test match or Greg Blewett. There were a number of players I had to tell they weren’t playing, Andy Bichel.

“As a captain that is the hardest thing to do. But it’s also why you’re captain, because people expect you to make the tough decisions for the benefit of the team.

“You have got to do that at times and you have got to be prepared not to be liked by everyone.”

Warne, speaking on an episode of reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here”, on which he is a contestant, said he was “really disappointed” at the decision to drop him and he felt like Waugh was making him “a scapegoat”.

“I don’t like Steve Waugh for a lot of other reasons, but that was the reason,” he said on why they fell out.

Waugh, who played 168 Tests, 57 as captain, said a key lesson he learned as captain was to take risks and follow his gut feeling.

“I guess the main thing as a captain and leader, as long as people respect your decision that is all you can ask,” he said.

“You have got to take a bit of a risk sometimes. It’s not always the obvious thing to do.

“Sometimes it can be gut feel, it can be based on facts… at the end of the day you are a leader because people expect you to make a choice.”

Waugh has previously admitted the decision to dump Warne cost him his friendship with the spin king, but in his book “The Meaning Of Luck” said it helped shape and define him as a captain.

Sunderland sack Johnson after child molestation admission

LONDON: England international Adam Johnson has been sacked by Premier League Sunderland after he pleaded guilty to molesting a child, the club said on Thursday.

“In light of Adam Johnson’s guilty pleas, the club has today terminated his contract with immediate effect,” Sunderland said in a statement. “The club will make no further comment.”

Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of molesting a child, but denied two other charges, when he appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old winger, who has played 12 times for England, also admitted one count of grooming a girl under the age of 16, a court official said.

Sportswear firm Adidas said in a statement on Thursday that it had cancelled its boot contract with the mid fielder.

Johnson, who began his career at Middlesbrough and also played for Manchester City, joined Sunderland for 10 million pounds ($14.46 million) in 2012 on a four-year contract.

He has been a regular for the north-east side this season and scored in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool last week.

When asked about the winger’s future at a news conference earlier on Thursday, manager Sam Allardyce said: “He’ll not be available for this weekend. We will see how it goes after that.”

Johnson’s case is expected to last two weeks.

MUMBAI: Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf was handed a five-year ban by the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Friday over his involvement in an illegal betting scandal that blighted the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

Controversy plagued the sixth edition of the lucrative Twenty20 league with former India paceman S. Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan cricketers arrested on suspicion of accepting money to concede a fixed number of runs.

All three were given life bans by the BCCI.

The Chennai and Rajasthan franchises were subsequently suspended from the IPL for two years after key officials from both teams were found guilty of illegal betting.

The investigating Mumbai Police also named Rauf in the chargesheet but the umpire’s lawyer said his client had done nothing wrong.

“Mr Asad Rauf has been banned for a period of five years from umpiring or playing or representing cricket in any form or anyway being associated with the activities of the Board and its Affiliates,” the BCCI said in a statement on Friday.

The 59-year-old, who last officiated an international match in the 2013, did not appear before the BCCI disciplinary committee and sent a written statement instead, the board added.

The panel found the umpire guilty of facilitating betting, disclosing inside information and receiving gift or payment that brought the game into disrepute.

A Lahore-born first class cricketer, Rauf has officiated in 49 tests and 98 one-day internationals. The BCCI ban does not extend beyond India.