Pakistan's Irfan and Misbah equalize ODI series 1-1

The Centurion ODI last night between visiting Pakistan cricket team and hosts South Africa was a thriller right from start to end. And the mood set by Pakistani fast bowler Irfan culminated in superb performance by Misbah to win the second ODI by six wickets with 28 balls remaining.

Pakistan's Irfan 's 4/33 (left) and Misbah's 57 (right) won the 2nd ODI at Centurion

Winning the toss, South Africa chose to bat. But it wasn't a day for the hosts like the previous ODI as Pakistan's seven footer pace bowler Irfan struck one after the other and sent back four South Africans back to pavilion for 33 runs. Amla was first to crumble at 17, while Ingram was sent back for a duck. De Villiers was back too with four while Plessis  was packed up for 17. Irfan extracted significant bounce from the Centurion surface in an extended seven-over spell.

It was only Behardien (58) and Peterson (44) which stood on the crease and supported their crumbling team and were instrumental in reaching a score of 191. Pakistan's Junaid, Saeed Ajmal and Hafeez bagged two wickets each.

Coming to bat, Pakistan's batsmen this time 'played' responsibly and did not show any signs of slackness which they normally do and supported the efforts of the bowlers by batting well. Although opener Nasir was back with just 10 runs, while Hafeez scored 31 and Younis added 32. However, it was 57 by Misbah and 35 by Shoaib Malik which finally won over the match for Pakistan with 6 wickets and 28 balls remaining.

Irfan, which produced his career best 4/33 was rightly declared the player of the match.

Pakistan now plays its 3rd ODI at Johannesburg on March 17th.

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Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: First Test Free Live Streaming 22-26 June

Misbah-less Pakistan plays its first test match against hosts Sri Lanka from Friday 22 June to 26 June at Galle, Sri Lanka.

Pakistan has shown a far from satisfactory erformance in the four ODIs it played against Sri Lanka and let the hosts win it 3-1. Had the rain not washed away the fourth ODI, the result may have been 4-1 in favour of Sri Lanka too.

As for Pakistan's Misbah, who has been suspended by ICC for "serious over-rate offence" in the 5th ODI, names of Faisal and Ayub are being taken as Misbah's replacement. Pakistan were found to be three overs short of their target even after time allowances were taken into consideration.

As reported by Cricinfo, the suspension will cost Misbah the chance to break the Pakistan record for most consecutive Tests as captain. Misbah was on 15 Tests, with nine wins, five draws and one defeat. Abdul Hafeez Kardar was captain for 23 matches in a row, while Imran Khan and Waqar Younis had led Pakistan in 16 consecutive Tests.

As for Sri Lanka, allrounder Thisara Perera and fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara have been included in 15-man squad for the first Test against Pakistan. Besides, allrounder Jeevan Mendis, who is yet to earn a Test cap, has also been picked. Angelo Mathews has been named vice-captain, replacing Thilan Samaraweera .

The likely opposing squads are:

Sri Lanka: KC Sangakkara , DPMD Jayawardene , TM Dilshan , HAPW Jayawardene , KMDN Kulasekara , TT Samaraweera , UWMBC Welagedara , HMRKB Herath , AD Mathews , NT Paranavitana , S Randiv , NLTC Perera , LD Chandimal , BMAJ Mendis , Nuwan Pradeep

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez , Misbah-Ul-Haq (suspended) , Younus Khan , Mohammad Sami , Umar Gul , Saeed Ajmal , Taufeeq Umar , Faisal Iqbal , Abdur Rehman , Asad Shafiq , Azhar Ali , Adnan Akmal , Junaid Khan , Aizaz Cheema , Afaq Raheem , Mohammad Ayub

The match is scheduled from Friday 22 June to 26 June 2012. Each day match will commence at 10:30 local time / 05:00 GMT

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

Link#1    Link#2    Link#3    Link#4    Link#5
* Links will be activated shortly before the match

* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Misbah not to lead Pakistan squad in Galle Test against Sri Lanka

After Pakistan team was ruled to be three overs short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration, its captain Misbah ul Haq has been suspended from leading his team in the first test match against the hosts Sril Lanka at Galle.

Suspended Misbah [left] - vice captain Hafeez [right]

Pakistan's vice captain Muhammad Hafeez will now lead the Pakistan squad against the hosts in he first test that starts at Galle on Friday.

The ICC observed that this was a “serious over-rate offence” in limited-over cricket.

It may be recalled that Pakistan lost the five ODI series against Sri Lanka by 3-1, afer a sensational and last minute win by Sri Lanka Monday at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Pakistan wins first ODI by six wickets against Sri Lanka

Pakistan won the first ODI against hosts Sri Lanka by six wickets at Pallekele, Sri Lanka Thursday despite the match being hit by rains.

electing to bat, the hosts gave a target of 136 to the visiting Pakistani team. A 24 for three wickets by Umar Gul and 19 for three wicket by Muhammad Sami restricted the hosts to mere 135 for eight. From Sri Lanka side, Thirimanne's 42 helped his side to reach a score of 135.

Pakistan when came to bat, lost its opener Azhar for just 3. But Younas came in to steady the loss. Misbah and Hafeez added a 51 run partnership, followed by another partnership with Umar Akmal of 55 runs. However Misbah was run out when Pakistan was just short of three runs from victory. It was Shahid Afridi who came to score the winning shot to seal victory for Pakistan.

But the day belonged to Misbah, Hafeez and Akmal besides bowlers Gul and Sami.  

The second one-dayer will be played in Pallekele on Saturday while the last three matches will be played at Colombo on June 13, 16 and 18.

Watch Live Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Free Streaming First ODI 7 June 2012

The visiting Pakistan cricket team plays its first ODI of a series of five ODIs against hosts Sri Lanka on 07 June, 2012. 

Both countries hae already played two T20I with a levelled score. 

In 2011, Pakistan played five ODis against Sril Lanka at the UAE, winning the series 4-1. But now Sri Lanka has the advantage of home ground, temperature and climatic conditioning, which will be to a great disadvantage to the touring Pakistan cricket team.

The likely opposing teams for the ODI being played on Thursday, 7 June at Pallekele International Stadium are as under:  

Pakistan ODI Squad : Misbah ul Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz, Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Sami, Asad Shafiq, Aizaz Cheema, Azhar Ali, Imran Farhat

Srilanka ODI Squad : Jayawardena (captain), Dilshan, Sangakkara, Mathews, Malinga, Chandimal, Nuwan Pradeep, Herath, Fernando, Kulasekara, Jeevan Mendis, Parera, Tharanga, Thirimanne, Seenanayke

With the return of Misbah, Younis, Asad and Azhar Pakistani squad is back to its full strength. However, cricket fans believe that Malik not be included for the ODI nor Imaran Farhat.

The match is scheduled for June 7, 2012 at 09:00 GMT at Pallekele International Stadium

The links for the free live streaming are given as herein under:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming
[via Jaho Jalal]

Pakistan Cricket: Hafeez appointed T20 captain, Misbah retained for Test and ODI

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Thursday that Misbahul Haq has been retained as captain for the one-day and Test teams, while Muhammad Hafeez has been appointed vice-captain for both formats and captain for the T20 team.

With the new appointments, the squads for T20, Test and ODIs will be as under:

Test squad: Muhammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Ali, Misbahul Haq (Captain), Younus Khan, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Sami, Faisal Iqbal, Junaid Khan, Afaq Rahim, Muhammad Ayub Dogar and Ijaz Cheema.

T20 squad: Khalid Latif, Ahmed Shehzad, Muhammad Hafeez (Captain), Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shakeel Ansar, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Umer Gul, Sohaib Tanveer, Saeed Ajmal, Raza Hassan, Haris Sohail, Muhammad Sami, Hammad Azam and Nasir Jamshed.

ODI squad: Muhammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younus Khan, Misbahul Haq (Captain), Umar Akmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Umer Gul, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rahman, Muhammad Sami, Asad Shafiq, Ijaz Cheema, Azhar Ali and Imran Farhat.


[via Express Tribune]