Foreign players have tentatively endorsed the return of international cricket to Pakistan after their whirlwind trip to Lahore for Sunday’s heavily guarded Pakistan Super League final. Players including winning captain Darren Sammy detailed a journey involving bullet-proof buses and closed roads, before they were rushed straight back to the airport with no time for celebrations. … Read more
Pakistan on Monday hailed the successful staging of the Pakistan Super League final as a step towards restoring international cricket in the country after a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009. With nerves jangling after a recent resurgence of militant violence, tight security blanketed Lahore’s sold-out Gaddafi Stadium but the game went … Read more
Pakistan staged its biggest cricket match in almost a decade Sunday, as a packed stadium in Lahore watched the final of a Twenty20 league organisers hoped would restore faith in the country’s ability to safely host foreign teams. The scoreboard showed a one-sided win for domestic side Peshawar Zalmi over rival Quetta Gladiators — though … Read more
Quetta and Peshawar will have a host of foreign players available for Sunday’s Pakistan Super League final in violence-hit Lahore despite security fears having already scared off a host of international stars. Quetta Gladiators had already seen English trio Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Tymal Mills as well as South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw and Nathan … Read more
Kamran Akmal fired Peshawar Zalmi into the Pakistan Super League final Friday but left his foreign teammates facing a dilemma over whether or not to travel to violence-hit Lahore for Sunday’s title match. England trio Chris Jordan, Samit Patel and Dawid Malan as well as West Indies stars Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels are all … Read more
Karachi Kings upset defending Pakistan Super League champions Islamabad by 44 runs in Sharjah on Wednesday as a host of foreign stars refused to travel to violence-plagued Lahore for the final citing safety fears. Paceman Mohammad Amir (3-7) and spinners Imad Wasim (3-18) and Usama Mir (3-24) sent Islamabad crashing to 82 all out in … Read more
England one-day specialist Luke Wright has joined Kevin Pietersen and other foreign team-mates in withdrawing from the Pakistan Super League final on March 5 over safety fears regarding the final being in Lahore. Wright, who has played 50 One Day Internationals for England and more than 50 Twenty20 internationals, has played just one match for … Read more
Quetta Gladiators pulled off a nerve-racking last-over win over Peshawar Zalmi by just one run in the first play-off in Sharjah to qualify for the Pakistan Super League final. Defending a 201-run target, Quetta’s spinner Mohammad Nawaz took three wickets off the last three balls to send a packed 19,000 stadium into a frenzy. Peshawar … Read more
The Pakistan Super League entered the play-offs on Sunday with title-holders Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi progressing as security fears dominated build-up to the March 5 final in Lahore. Karachi Kings beat Islamabad United by six wickets in a must-win game in Dubai, eliminating Lahore Qalandars from the next round. For the first time in … Read more
Shahid Afridi lifted the gloom enveloping the Pakistan Super League with a whirlwind half century on Sunday but even his pyrotechnics failed to secure victory for his Peshawar team. Afridi smashed a 28-ball 54 with five sixes and three boundaries but he fell in the last over as Peshawar, needing 17 to win, lost to … Read more
Pakistani cricket officials have vowed to stage the final of their Twenty20 league in Lahore next month, despite a powerful Taliban suicide bomb blast which killed 13 people there this week. The first two rounds of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) are being played in Dubai and Sharjah, but organisers had planned the March 5 … Read more
Pakistani cricket officials said Monday they would make an example of openers Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif if found guilty in a corruption probe that threatens to torpedo the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The pair, suspended after being accused of meeting a suspicious person linked to an international betting syndicate, could face up to a … Read more
The troubled Pakistan Super League witnessed its lowest ever score on Sunday as focus shifted back to the action after the glitzy Twenty20 tournament was torpedoed by allegations of spot-fixing. Peshawar Zalmai outlasted Lahore Qalandars by three wickets after bowling out their opponents for just 59. However, Peshawar struggled to make the winning target of … Read more
Pakistan cricket officials said Saturday fast bowler Mohammad Irfan was one of three more players under investigation after Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif were provisionally banned in a widening spot-fixing scandal. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Irfan and two others had been questioned following the decision to suspend Khan and Latif and boot them … Read more