NZ vs PAK: Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq ruled out of 1st Test


The touring Pakistan team have been served massive blows with captain Babar Azam and opener Imam-ul-Haq being ruled out of the first Test against New Zealand scheduled to start on December 26 in Mount Maunganui. Both of them were hit on their hand in the practice session. While Babar Azam had fractured his right thumb while Imam failed to recover from a fracture in his left thumb.

With Babar Azam getting ruled out, the newly-promoted vice-captain of the side, Mohammed Rizwan, will be captaining the Pakistan Test team in Mount Maunganui.  Rizwan has played only nine Tests in his career and will be the 33rd captain of Pakistan in the longest format of the game when he steps out for the toss.

The touring selection committee has added Imran Butt in the 17-member-squad for the first Test.  Butt has been a prolific run-scorer for his side, Balochistan, in the domestic Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20, with 934 runs at an average of over 62 with four centuries and three half-centuries. 

Pakistan have already lost the T20 series by 2-0 with a match remaining to be played in the three-match series and they will certainly miss Babar Azam, who is also the best batsman in the lineup and the coach Misbah-ul-Haq did not hide his disappointment on his injury.

“Although it will be nearly two weeks to Babar’s injury when the first Test starts, it will be hard on him and the team to play him without any net sessions. I remain confident and optimistic that other players will rise to the occasion in Mount Maunganui and use the opportunity to rise to the occasion and put the disappointment of the T20I series behind them,” Misbah said.

Pakistan squad for Tests

Mohammad Rizwan (captain for 1st Test), Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Butt, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah. 

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AUS vs IND: Joe Burns cleared to play Boxing day Test, Will pucovski ruled out

Young Will Pucovski who was hit by a bouncer in the tour game against India is yet to recover from the subsequent concussion and as a result, has been ruled out of the second test between Australia and India starting December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Absence of Pucovski would come as a relief to Joe Burns who himself was struck on his elbow by Jaspit Bumrah in Adelaide, but bounced back strongly in the second innings, hitting a fifty. Burns has been cleared of any severe injury and is set to open at the MCG while Pucovski is going through symptoms of concussions. “Pucovski had lingering headaches, as he has endured in the past after head knocks, had yet to return to the nets and was doubtful to be declared fit for selection for Saturday's match,”, The Age reported citing an unnamed source close to Pucovski. Joe Burns has been cleared of serious damage to his arm, while concussed young gun Will Pucovski has been ruled out of a Boxing Day Test debut. There were fears Burns, who was sent for scans, could join Australia’s extensive injury list. But the Queenslander has been cleared of a broken arm and is set to open at the MCG,” The West Australian reported. With Burns clearly in for the next test, it remains to be seen if David Warner can reclaim fitness before the Boxing Day test or the makeshift opening pair of him and Matthew Wade will continue in Adelaide as well. Warne was flown to Melbourne on a private jet as covid-19 cluster started emerging in Sydney, but there is a lack of clarity on the level of his fitness and availability for the next test.

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Great Australian Bowling Attack: How its story began exactly 10 years ago

December 26, 2010, would forever be remembered as one of the darkest days in Australian cricket. It was day 1 of the Boxing Day Test that year, played against England as the fourth game of the Ashes series. The contest stood at 1-1 coming into this all-important game. By the end of the day's play, Australia's chances of regaining Ashes had evaporated. Batting first, Australians witnessed an unimaginable batting collapse - being bowled out for 98, that too on the most prominent day of their annual cricket calendar. England had already reached 157/0 by the end of the day. Eventually, Australia lost that series 3-1, their first home Ashes loss since 1986/7. This was the exclamation mark proclaiming the definitive end to the Australian era - the period of their utter domination in world cricket. The decline had been well underway after the 2007 World Cup. Now it had reached its nadir. As we approach the Boxing Day Test match for 2020, is there a link between that infamous collapse 10 years ago and Australia's demolition of Indian batting line-up at Adelaide that saw one of the best batting line-ups bundled out for 36? Yes there is! Let us explain. When Australia suffered that humiliating 3-1 loss to England, they seemed in a complete mess. There was no light visible at the end of the tunnel for the proud cricketing nation. While they still had some decent batsmen, the bowling cupboard looked completely bare. Mitchell Johnson suffered so badly in that Ashes that he was mentally scarred. But at least he came up with one match-winning performance in that series. Others failed to do even that. No one in Australia knew where they would find decent fast bowlers. The spin department was even worse off. The search for Shane Warne's successor had led to innumerable spinners being tried at the Test level but all of them came a cropper eventually. When Australia played their first Test series after that Ashes debacle, in Sri Lanka, at Galle, they picked a former groundsman from the Adelaide Oval as their spinner. His name was Nathan Lyon. When he came into bowl his first over, the batsman facing him was an all-time great batsman against spin bowling - Kumar Sangakkara. The first ball Lyon bowled in his career was nicely flighted and it drifted in from round the wicket angle to the left-hander. The ball pitched, spun, took the edge and was caught at slip. This was a perfect sign of things to come. Today, the off-spinner stands on the cusp of 400 Test wickets. Australia were able to win that series 1-0. Their next Test assignment was a two-match series in South Africa later that year. For the second match of the series, searching for their next great fast bowler, Australia brought in a 17-year old kid who had amazed everyone with his speed, above 140 kph, at this tender age - Pat Cummins. The teenager had already impressed in limited-overs cricket. In his debut Test, at Johannesburg, Cummins justified all the hype by picking up a six-wicket haul in the second innings and then hitting the winning runs to complete a fairytale start to his career. Next Test series that year for Australia was on home turf, against New Zealand. The team was still trying to find new fast bowlers. The squad for this series included three young uncapped pacers - James Pattinson, Ben Cutting, and a left-arm seamer called Mitchell Starc. Cutting missed out but Pattinson and Starc made their debuts. While the former picked up a five-for, Starc didn't make much of a mark. But Australia saw potential in him. They persisted with him. However, things didn't progress in a linear ascending curve for Lyon, Cummins, and Starc. Lyon had to struggle and face failures while Cummins started suffering from injuries that didn't let him play another Test for more than five years. Starc couldn't cement his place in the side and had to be on the sidelines for long periods. When Australia demolished England in the 2013/14 Ashes series, it was with a bowling attack that had Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, and Peter Siddle. Only Lyon remained in the side from the young guns. And he fully established himself as a leading spinner in the world only after a 12-wicket haul in the first Test against India in the 2014/15 series, at Adelaide Oval. However, in that very match, Peter Siddle had a disappointing outing. For the next match, Australia replaced him with debutante Josh Hazlewood. His entry into the team was due to a brilliant showing in the ODI series against South Africa which preceded the Test series against India. He picked up a five-for and debut and has never looked back. Starc became the successor to Johnson after his retirement about a year later. So, there you have it, Hazlewood, Starc, and Lyon were all together. Cummins made his re-entry into Test cricket in the third Test of the series in India, in 2017. Immediately, he made an impact, picking up a four-for in the first innings on a flat pitch. Later that year, when Australia thumped England at home again, the attack that did the damage was Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins, and Lyon. Today, it's this attack that is embarrasing teams around the world. They demolished England in the Ashes last year, then Pakistan and New Zealand at home, and now, India. Today, when Australia look at the upcoming Boxing Day Test full of optimism, they should cast their mind back at the mayhem a decade ago. It was on that fateful day that the old order of Australia fully crumbled, forcing the administration of cricket in that country to look for new options, new players, and new stars. Today, those new stars have established Australia back at the top of the ladder - a position they relinquished back then.

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BBL | Sixers vs Strikers: Sixers way too superior for the Strikers

It turned out to be an utterly dominating performance from the Sydney Sixers as they eased past the Adelaide Strikers by 38 runs in the 11th match of BBL 10 and registered their 2nd victory of the tournament in 3 games. After a pretty poor start in the batting department, it was Dan Christian who turned the match on its head as the Sixers scored 116 from the last 8 overs. The Strikers started off in a scintillating fashion in the powerplay as they raced off to 51 in the first 4. However, the Strikers lost their way after losing the 1st wicket and there was no way back from there. Wickets kept tumbling and in the end, the Strikers fell well short of the victory target. Earlier in the day, it was the Adelaide Strikers who won the toss and opted to field. The pitch at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart yet again had some life for the fast bowlers and the Strikers used it to good effect. The pace bowling trio of Peter Siddle, Wes Agar and Daniel Worral was quite exceptional with the new ball and the Sydney Sixers were under the pump from the outset. All the top 3 batters including Josh Philippe, Jack Edwards and James Vince never really managed to get going as they were consistently beaten by some exceptional swing bowling by Daniel Worral in particular. It was a sight to behold as the fast bowlers came running in and the lateral movement which was on offer never really allowed the Sixers to get settled in the crease. Philippe was the first to go as an attempted ramp shot ended up in the hands of the keeper. Two more wickets fell in quick succession and the Sixers were falling behind the game. It was in the 13th over when Daniel Christian turned the complexion of the game with some lusty power hitting. He struck 22 runs in 13th over which was studded with a couple of fours and sixes each and it looked he was batting in a totally different pitch. There was no respite for the great Rashid Khan as well as he was also plundered for a couple of sixes as Christian completed his half-century in just 15 deliveries, the 2nd fastest half-century in BBL history. Just after completing his fifty, he was held out in the deep of the bowling of Wes Agar. However, that innings was enough to help them claw their way back into the match and was supported quite brilliantly by Daniel Hughes. He held the innings together and smashed a few lusty blows in the final few overs. Jason Holder and Jordan Silk chipped in with crucial knocks in the final two overs as the Sydney Sixers posted a more than competitive 177 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. The target of 178 was always going to be a challenging one for the Strikers. They needed a great start and that was provided by the opening duo Philip Salt and Jack Weatherald. Right from the outset, Salt and Weatherald kept whacking the bowlers all around the park and raced off to a 50 runs partnership in just 4 overs. The Adelaide Strikers’ bowlers were well and truly under pressure but the wicket of Philip Salt opened the floodgates and there was a procession from thereon. Yet again it was Dan Christian who started the procession, this time with the ball in hand. Soon wickets kept tumbling one after the other as Ben Manenti joined the fun and took two quick wickets in the form of Jack Weatherald and Matt Renshaw. Captain Alex Carey couldn’t get going either and was castled by a beautiful inswinger from Carlos Brathwaite. Steve O'Keeffe also joined in the act and got himself into the wickets column with the scalp of Matthew Short. The equation from there on was way too much for the Strikers. Jonathan Wells and Liam Scott occupied the crease for a while but the big shots weren’t coming and the pressure kept mounting. Eventually, Scott was dismissed by Keefee in the 16th over as the Strikers needed 69 to win from the last 4 and it was always going to be an uphill task from there. Wells and Rashid Khan tried valiantly but the target was way too much in the end and they were unable to execute the big shots. Rashid was dismissed in the final over when the match was already done and dusted. Some exceptional bowling by the Sixers in the middle and the late overs eventually propelled them to an utterly comprehensive victory in the end.

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NZ vs PAK 2nd T20: Williamson, Seifert lead Blackcaps to series win after Hafeez's heroics

A valiant effort with the bat from Mhammed Hafiz was enough for the touring Pakistan side as an unbeaten partnership for the second wicket between Kane Williamson and Tim Seifert guided Blackcaps to an unassailable 2-0 lead in Hamilton. Chasing a modest target of 164 at the Seddon Park, the Blackcaps were off to a rapid start as Martin Guptill looked like turning back the clock to the time when he was batting and big shots were coming off sweetly off his bat over long-off. He started to time the ball brilliantly from the second over and took 12 runs off Haris Rauf through a big six and a boundary. He hit another big one off Faheem Ashraf in his first over but the all-rounder was smart enough to change the pace of the ball and flummoxed Guptill in to play pull shot too early. The next man in was the returning skipper Kane Williamson who had come back after becoming a father and he brought his biggest skill-calmness on the field for the home side. On the other hand, Tim Seifert was going all guns blazing as the Kiwis reached a middling total of 45/1 at the end of the powerplay. The tourists would have hoped for a controlled phase of play after the field restriction was lifted but Seifert had other plans in his mind. He took Wahab Riaz for three sixes and whatever the control Shadab Khan-led side had till that moment was gone in a jiffy. With 19 runs off the seventh over, Kiwis were up and running and the run rate came back under control. They needed both Williamson and Siefert to not throw their wickets away and they were not in any mood to do so. Williamson was batting in his usual touch and all the balls he could afford to guide towards the third man boundary were guided for four from the position just under his eyes in his signatory ways. Williamson reached his fifty in 37 balls, although he was slowed down after a brief period of time after reaching 49 runs with the bat. While Seifert had no mercy on the Pakistani bowlers and kept on plundering them on loose balls as he reached his second consecutive fifty in just 32 balls. His onslaught only got better as he kept on finding boundaries and in the end, the hosts were proven too good for the touring Pakistan team and the target was achieved in the last over with unbelievable ease. Earlier, Pakistan captain Shadab Khan won the toss and elected to bat first and utilise the good pitch at the Seddon Park. Pakistan openers Mohammed Rizwan and Haider Ali started with a bang and the much famous pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult were attacked in the first two overs. But soon enough, they were given a reality check by the Kiwi new ball pair and they found movement in the air to check the touring batsmen. Haider Ali was the first man to go after he tried to take on Southee and the pacer held on to his nerve and backed his skills to hit the length that troubled Ali while attempting to go over the top. The next man in, Abdullah Shafique, could not match the skills to ride on the bounce Southee was generating and ended up getting out in a much embarrassing fashion. Southee was top through the top of his rhythm and he started to swing the ball and took a Test match like field placings with slips and gully. Williamson persisted with Southee with the amount of swing he was able to extract and the move paid dividend when Rizwan edged one through to the keeper Seifert while attempting to drive an away going delivery of Southee that was reminiscent of Kiwis’ bowling in Test cricket. Mohammed Hafiz, who has been growing like an old wine (in T20s), came to bat at the number four position and got off to a decent start with two back to back boundaries of Kyle Jamieson. He continued his boundary hitting streak against Scott Kuggeleijn and was keeping Pakistan in the game albeit wickets had fallen at the other end. The old nemesis of Pakistan’s batsmen on the tour so far was evident today as well as James Neesham got the better of Shadab Khan with a ball that bounced more than Pakistan’s skipper may have expected. Wickets kept tumbling at the other end, but an unfazed Hafeez was on the money and was keeping Pakistan in pursuit of a big score in Hamilton. Khushdil Shah who came to bat at the number six position found it extremely tough to get going and it was putting a lot of pressure on Hafeez to go for big shots as well keeping his wickets intact with no better batsmen remaining in the pavilion to rescue the side. In the process of a masterful T20 inning, Hafeez surpassed Shoaib Malik to become the best Pakistan batsman in the shortest format. He stamped his authority by depositing Kuggleijn for two back-to-back sixes to reach a much-deserved fifty that Pakistan badly needed to stay in the contest. There was no stopping Hafeez as every form of bowling, from the leg-spin of Ish Sodhi to left-arm pace of Trent Boult were taken to the cleaners. He needed 18 runs in the last over of the innings to be bowled by Jamieson, and he got stuck into the young man, but could not quite complete a century he richly deserved for single-handedly taking Pakistan to a total which the bowlers could have hoped of defending from a situation of doom and gloom for the tourists. Pakistan were without Babar Azam for the T20 series and the effect was telling on the level of performance of the Pakistan team as New Zealand took full toll of their problems and shortcoming and handed out a massive drubbing in the format Pakistan were expected to put up a great fight.