Cricket

LONDON: Pakistan faces an uphill task against Bangladesh on Friday if they want to qualify for the Cricket World Cup 2019 semi-finals, requiring victory with an unrealistic 316-run margin if they wish to finish among the top four. Currently, Pakistan is struggling with their net run rate (NRR), which was dented hugely after the team’s mammoth defeat against the West ...

LONDON: They live in a right-handed world, historically stigmatised and challenged by tasks as simple as using scissors – but when it comes to taking wickets at the World Cup, being a southpaw seamer is a distinct advantage. Mitchell Starc leads the way at the top of the World Cup bowling charts, with 24 wickets in eight matches so far ...

LEEDS: Chris Gayle removed Afghanistan top-scorer Ikram Alikhil with his tame off-breaks as the West Indies secured just their second win of a chastening World Cup campaign on Thursday. The Caribbean side scored 311 for six in their 50 overs in Leeds and although the Afghans put up a brave fight, they ultimately went down by 23 runs. Gayle, almost ...

LONDON: It’s Friday morning and Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza wins the toss and decides to bat first in their last group game against Pakistan at Lord’s. Such a call from Mashrafe, if he beats Sarfraz Ahmed at the spin of the coin, would end any faint hopes Pakistan have of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals. So bleak is the ...

England win the toss and bat! “I think the pitch and overheads,” [are the decisive factor}, says Eoin Morgan. “The pitches have got tougher, slower, lower as the match goes on, and it’s a trend that the pitches haven’t been as good as the last few years. It’s a bit like a quarter-final, we train hard, play hard, today is ...

India’s 87-Year-Old fan Charulata Patel took social media by storm with many of her photographs and videos going viral in the backdrop of the team’s victory over Bangladesh on Tuesday. After the match, which India won by 28 runs at Edgbaston to qualify for semi-finals, captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma met Charulata Patel and sought her blessings ...

CHESTER-LE-STREET: As the group stage of the World Cup edged closer to wrapping up, hosts England take on New Zealand in a bid to cement their place in the semifinals at The Riverside in Durham today.  For England, the return of opener Jason Roy proved to be a turning point as they handed India their first defeat of the tournament ...

It’s still hard to know what to think about this Pakistan team. The win over Afghanistan was not the performance of champions and yet, somehow and some way, they are still in contention for a semi-final spot and you can never write them off. Look at the history of our team and it has always been like this. Two years ...

Sri Lanka held off a West Indies charge at Chester-le-Street on Monday to win an exciting battle by 23 runs in World Cup 2019. Both teams came into the match aware they could not reach the semi-finals but the West Indies came close to pulling off the highest successful chase in World Cup history. Earlier, Sri Lanka batted brightly to ...

LONDON: Seasoned pacer Wahab Riaz will continue to train with the Pakistan team despite suffering from a fractured finger, a team official said on Monday. Raza Kitchlew, Pakistan team’s media manager, said that Wahab would continue to attend the team’s training sessions in the lead up to Pakistan’s last group match – against Bangladesh – at Lord’s on July 5. ...