Islamabad United qualify for PSL playoffs after beating Quetta Gladiators

Islamabad United's Azam Khan (R)and Faheem Ashraf (L) celebrate a boundary score during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 cricket match between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on March 5, 2023. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
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Updated 05 March 2023
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Islamabad United qualify for PSL playoffs after beating Quetta Gladiators

  • Colin Munro smashes 63 off 29 balls, Azam Khan scores 35 off 25 deliveries
  • Umaid Asif emerges as pick of the Gladiators’ bowlers, takes three wickets

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad United registered another victory over the Quetta Gladiators on Sunday, beating Sarfaraz Ahmed’s squad by two wickets in another Pakistan Super League (PSL) 8 clash to qualify for the tournament’s playoffs.

Set a target of 180 runs to win after the Gladiators finished at 179-6 off their 20 overs, United were off to a poor start before Colin Munro came to their aid. Opener Alex Hales and Rahmanullah Gurbaz departed for 12 and 0 respectively.

Munro smashed 63 from 29 balls, which included four massive sixes. However, he didn’t get much support from United’s middle-order, as Shadab Khan and Mubasir Khan departed for scores of 8 and 5 respectively.

In came the in-form Azam Khan who played another crucial knock, scoring 35 off 25 balls, his innings featuring two sixes and an equal number of fours. All-rounder Faheem Ashraf, who also took two wickets, helped finish the match, scoring 39 runs from 31 balls. His innings included six boundaries.

Umaid Asif was the pick of the bowlers for the Gladiators, finishing with figures of 3/37 while Muhammad Nawaz ended up with 2/17 from his four overs. Naveen-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed and Naseem Shah each picked up a wicket.

With five victories and 10 points, United finish at second place, two points ahead of the Multan Sultans. The Gladiators remain at the bottom of the table.


Abhishek blitz knocks Lucknow out of IPL playoff race

Updated 20 May 2025
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Abhishek blitz knocks Lucknow out of IPL playoff race

  • Lucknow became the fifth team to bow out of the playoff contention leaving five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals to battle for one remaining spot
  • Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are already through to the playoffs starting May 29

LUCKNOW, India: Opener Abhishek Sharma struck 59 off 20 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets on Monday to end their opponents’ chances of reaching the IPL playoffs.

Chasing 206 for victory, Abhishek set up the chase with his blitz laced with four fours and six sixes as Hyderabad achieved the target with 10 balls to spare in Lucknow.

Abhishek departed in the eighth over before Heinrich Klaasen, who hit 47, and Kamindu Mendis, who retired hurt on 32, guided the team to the brink of victory with their fourth-wicket partnership of 55.

Lucknow became the fifth team to bow out of the playoff contention leaving five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals to battle for one remaining spot.

“Definitely it could have been one of our best seasons but coming into the tournament we had a lot of gaps, injuries,” said disappointed Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant.

“As a team we decided to not talk about that but it became difficult to fill those gaps.”

Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are already through to the playoffs starting May 29.

It was a consolation win for Hyderabad, who were already out of the playoffs although captain Pat Cummins said the win “gives (us) a lot of confidence for next year.”

The left-handed Abhishek took on the attack after he lost his opening partner Atharva Taide, who became New Zealand quick Will O’Rourke’s first wicket on his IPL debut.

Abhishek hit five sixes, including three in succession off Ravi Bishnoi, to reach his fifty in 18 balls and followed it up with another hit over the fence.

Leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi cut short Abhishek’s knock and Hyderabad lost another left-hander Ishan Kishan on 35 before South Africa’s Klaasen and Sri Lankan left-hander Mendis controlled the chase.

Shardul Thakur denied Klaasen his fifty and Mendis hobbled off with a foot injury before Nitish Reddy and Aniket Verma sealed the win.

Earlier Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram laid the foundations for Lucknow’s 205-7 in their opening stand of 115.

Marsh top-scored with 65 in a knock laced with six fours and four sixes and Markram hit 61 before Nicholas Pooran contributed with his 26-ball 45 to boost the total.

The rest of the batters failed to get into double figures including another flop for Pant, who fell caught and bowled for seven off Sri Lanka seam bowler Eshan Malinga.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Pant has failed to fire since Lucknow splashed a record $3.21 million on him at the November auction, scoring just 135 runs from 11 innings this IPL season.

Lucknow pace bowlers including Avesh Khan and Mayank Yadav struggled with injuries leading into the tournament and during the season as well.

Malinga stood out with figures of 2-28 in his four overs.

Pooran missed out on his fifty in an attempt to steal a single in the 20th over which witnessed two run outs and another wicket.

The IPL is into its final phase and restarted Saturday after it was paused due to a conflict between India and Pakistan.

Since the pause in the IPL, the tournament has been rescheduled with the final now set to take place on June 3.


Thailand, UAE and Nepal into Super Three of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers

Updated 17 May 2025
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Thailand, UAE and Nepal into Super Three of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers

  • Up for grabs are two places in the global qualifier, the next stage of qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup to be held in England

THAILAND: Women’s cricket is developing fast in Asia.

Nine teams, divided into three groups, started the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia qualifier in Bangkok on May 9. On Sunday, May 18, UAE Women will face Thailand Women in the first match in the Super Three phase. This involves the three group winners, Thailand, UAE and Nepal, playing off for the prize of two places in the global qualifier, the next stage of qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup to be held in England.

At the outset of this qualifying event, Mohideen Kader, CEO of the Cricket Association of Thailand, welcomed the competing teams to the Land of Smiles. The ICC has chosen Bangkok to host Asian qualifier events for the Women’s T20 World Cup on several occasions in the past.

This reflects Thailand Women’s dominance of Asian cricket at this level over the past decade and more. Its team has reached the main ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifier on every occasion since 2013 when the squad traveled to Ireland. In 2020, the team qualified for the main Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia by reaching the final of the previous qualifier held in Scotland.

The current team faces strong opposition from UAE Women, who are the defending champions of the Asia qualifier, as they beat Thailand in the final of the last event held in Malaysia. This was in September 2023, the UAE winning by six runs, when they defended a total of 70 in a match dominated by the bowlers. The UAE also has a good overall record in this tournament, having reached the global qualifier three times since 2018.

Additionally, the UAE beat Thailand in the semifinals of the ACC Premier Cup, also held in Malaysia in February, when a remarkable 16 Asian teams played to qualify for the Women’s Asia Cup. The four group winners were UAE, Malaysia, Thailand and Nepal with UAE beating Thailand and Malaysia overcoming Nepal.

The current tournament introduced an exciting new format of three groups of three teams. Top seeded Thailand was drawn with Kuwait and Bhutan in Group A. UAE faced the improving Malaysians and Qatar in Group B, while Nepal took on Hong Kong, China, and Bahrain in Group C. Prior to the tournament, Thailand looked to be too strong in Group A, Malaysia looked like they might surprise the UAE in Group B, whilst Nepal and Hong Kong, China, in Group C, were only separated by one place in the world rankings, so posing a difficult outcome to predict.

Unfortunately, the first week of the tournament was badly affected by rain. Sixteen out of the 18 group matches were either abandoned or played over a shortened format. This has led to final placings which may well have been different had all matches been played to conclusion. Thailand managed to qualify from Group A even though two of their matches were rained off, while UAE won Group B, also with two wins and two no results.

The fear of rain also brought some notoriety to the tournament. The UAE coach, Ahmed Raza, brought a halt to his team’s innings after 16 overs by instructing 10 of his players to retire out in quick succession. The score had been on 192 for no wicket after Esha Oza had scored a brilliant hundred in partnership with T Sathish. However, rain was threatening and the UAE wanted to ensure that the match against Qatar was completed. The time saved by closing the innings early, enabled the UAE the chance to bowl out Qatar for 29 in 11 overs.

Group C was the last one to be decided on May 16. Hong Kong, China, seemed to have gained the advantage when they beat Nepal in a five-over match after the teams’ earlier encounter had been abandoned. It was not to be, as Nepal managed to beat Bahrain twice. As a result, both Nepal and Hong Kong, China, had five points. Crucially, Nepal had two wins compared with Hong Kong, China’s single victory, which meant they joined Thailand and UAE as group winners in the Super Three.

The matches will be played on May 18, 19 and 20 with the points from the earlier stage carried forward. Thailand and the UAE have six each and Nepal, five. The UAE has a slight advantage, courtesy of an impressive net run-rate. Thailand will play the UAE on Sunday, UAE face Nepal on Monday and Thailand play Nepal on Tuesday. The two successful teams will progress to compete against teams from the other regional qualifiers and the lower ranked teams who played in the previous Women’s T20 World Cup, held in 2024 in the UAE.

It has been evident during the tournament that several teams from the Gulf region are improving. Bahrain, fresh from playing a series against Oman, pushed Nepal hard in both matches, Kuwait and Bhutan generated a wonderful match which displayed the best in women’s cricket at this development level. Bhutan won with two wickets in hand and four deliveries remaining. Kuwait has three or four players girls who have been visiting Thailand for more than a decade for various tournaments. Bahrain and Kuwait have expressed their wish to play regular international cricket with the other Gulf nations.

Given that the UAE women’s team gained ODI status earlier this month, there could be regular women’s ODIs played in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. There is a real possibility that the UAE could eventually qualify for the next Women’s T20 World Cup and even the 50-over version in the future.


Back on the pitch: Pakistan Super League resumes after conflict-forced suspension

Updated 16 May 2025
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Back on the pitch: Pakistan Super League resumes after conflict-forced suspension

  • The Indian Premier League, also suspended due to the outbreak between the countries, will also resume this weekend
  • PSL organizers first proposed moving the tournament to Dubai but later decided to postpone it after foreign players were reluctant to participate in the tournament due to security concerns

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s premier Twenty20 cricket tournament resumes Saturday after a ceasefire between India and Pakistan was achieved. There will be a handful of foreign players returning for the remaining eight games.

The Pakistan Super League was suspended on May 9 but last weekend Pakistan and India agreed to a ceasefire after talks to defuse their most serious military confrontation in decades.

The Indian Premier League, also suspended due to the outbreak between the countries, will also resume this weekend.

PSL organizers first proposed moving the tournament to Dubai but later decided to postpone it after foreign players were reluctant to participate in the tournament due to security concerns. Around 43 foreign cricketers — competing on six PSL teams — were flown out of Pakistan from an air base in Rawalpindi.

Rawalpindi will host the remaining four league matches between May 17-19 before Lahore hosts the playoffs from May 21, including the final at Qaddafi Stadium on May 25.

Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikander Raza is among some of foreign players who have returned to Pakistan. Raza, who plays for Lahore Qalandars, is available for Lahore’s crucial last league game against Peshawar Zalmi on Sunday before he flies to England for test duty starting next week.

Raza will not be available for Lahore if the two-time champions qualify for the playoffs due to his test commitments.

He said that if the PSL resumed, he planned to return to Pakistan, even for just one match.

“I was very clear in my head that I was always going to go back,” Raza told The Associated Press as he trained with his teammates at Islamabad Club ground on Thursday.

“This PSL is not just about winning a trophy, there’s a lot more to it. All the overseas (players) that have come back, whether they’re in Pakistan or India, I think credit must be given to them because cricket unites and the whole purpose of sports all around the world is to unite cultures, countries.”

Lahore will also have Sri Lanka batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan for its must-win last league game against the Babar Azam-led Peshawar side after Tom Curran and Daryl Mitchel were ruled out due to injuries.

Raza said it was tough for the families of all the players living abroad after there was escalation at the borders.

“Whether it’s Pakistan or India, what happened was tough for everybody,” Raza said. “Sometimes when you’re on the ground, things may not be as bad, but (for) people back home watching TV, sometimes it’s very hard to control what media tells you.”

Lahore team director Sameen Rana said it was important that the PSL returns to finish the season.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and the conditions which were happening on the ground was not the best, it’s unfortunate,” Rana said. “But from our perspective . . . the important thing is that the PSL is resuming, and that’s what matters.”

Defending champions Islamabad United has brought in Alex Hales of England and Rassie van Dussen of South Africa after initially picking both of them in the supplementary draft while Ben Dwarshuis of Australia is flying back to rejoin the team.

Islamabad, the three-time PSL champions, won five games in a row at the start of the season before four successive defeats.

Finn Allen of New Zealand and Rilee Rossouw of South Africa are rejoining first-place Quetta Gladiators, who have 13 points, three points ahead of Karachi and Islamabad.

Karachi is expecting to have its captain David Warner back from Australia in time to lead the team against Peshawar on Saturday.


Foreign cricketers head home as India-Pakistan tension disrupts world’s biggest T20 league

Updated 10 May 2025
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Foreign cricketers head home as India-Pakistan tension disrupts world’s biggest T20 league

  • The lucrative Indian Premier League was suspended for one week Friday
  • The Pakistan Super League was postponed less than 24 hours after the Pakistan Cricket Board had announced it would try to move the remaining games to Dubai

NEW DELHI: The military tension between India and Pakistan has put the biggest Twenty20 cricket league in the world on hold while another one has been suspended for indefinite period.

The lucrative Indian Premier League was suspended for one week Friday while the Pakistan Super League was postponed less than 24 hours after the Pakistan Cricket Board had announced it would try to move the remaining eight games of the league to Dubai.

Leading foreign cricketers on both sides of the border have already started leaving for their respective countries and the Board of Control for Cricket in India is yet to announce the revised schedule.

There were reports in Indian media on Saturday that IPL organizers have shortlisted three southern cities — Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad — to host the remaining 16 games, provided it gets Indian government approval to resume.

The packed international cricket schedule could see some of the leading foreign players miss the remaining IPL games if the league extends beyond its scheduled May 25 final.

The IPL is the most popular cricket tournament in the world and runs between March and May. This year it has featured 65 international cricketers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, England and Afghanistan.

Several dozen foreign cricketers who weren’t picked in the IPL auction were drafted into the PSL, which was due to end May 18.

The decision to postpone IPL on Friday came after a night of artillery exchanges between Indian and Pakistani soldiers across their frontier in Kashmir, amid a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region.

On Friday night and Saturday, overseas cricketers and broadcast staff were given permission to fly out to their respective home countries, reducing the chance that the tournament would be resumed. There are about 70 overseas players in the IPL this season.

The BCCI said the decision to suspend the tournament was made “in the collective interest of all stakeholders.”

“While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country,” the BCCI statement said.

The suspension came after the match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala in northern India was abandoned Thursday evening when the power went out during a government-mandated blackout. Players from both teams returned by train late Friday to New Delhi.

Punjab’s next game against Mumbai Indians had already been moved from Dharamsala to Mumbai because of the closure of several airports in the Indian northwestern corridor.

In Pakistan, foreign players were flown out of Islamabad in a special chartered flight hours before both countries were engaged in missile and drone attacks on each other’s military bases in the most serious confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades.

On Thursday, an Indian drone fell inside the complex of the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium hours before the start of a PSL game in which several cricketers from New Zealand, Australia, West Indies, South Africa and England were due to compete.

PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also interior minister in the Pakistan government, held meetings with foreign cricketers and six franchise owners of the PSL before initially saying the tournament was being moved to Dubai before suspending it.

“Cricket, while being a unifying force and a source of joy, must take a respectful pause,” the PCB said in a statement.

The PCB said it acted on advice from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The PCB had earlier confirmed the relocation of eight remaining PSL matches to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, citing growing concerns among overseas players and the need to prioritize their safety. But the latest announcement said the PSL was being postponed and gave no indication whether this year’s edition would resume at some point.

England cricketer Sam Billings, New Zealand’s Colin Munro, South African Rilee Rossouw and Jason Holder of West Indies were among 43 foreign cricketers competing in the PSL.

“We have sincere regard for the mental well-being of participating players and the sentiments of our foreign players, and we respect the concerns of their families who want to see them back home,” the PCB said.


Extraordinary developments are affecting cricket’s top echelons

Updated 08 May 2025
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Extraordinary developments are affecting cricket’s top echelons

  • Political tensions threaten to further stoke the rivalry between India’s and Pakistan’s cricket teams

Cricket’s changing landscape is generating unanticipated situations. These are occurring not just because of cricket but also because of geopolitics. These are most notable on the Asian subcontinent where increased tensions threaten to cause further fissures in the rivalry between India’s and Pakistan’s cricket teams.

The 2025 Asian Cricket Council Cup is scheduled to be held in September in T20 format, involving eight countries. These are the five full members of the ACC — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan — plus three that emerged from a qualification process. They are the UAE, Hong Kong and Oman. Teams have been divided into two groups of four, the top two teams from each group qualifying for a single-group Super Four stage. 

It has never been made clear which country or countries would host the tournament. In July 2024, the ACC’s Invitation for Expression of Interest indicated that India would be the hosts. Later reports suggested that India and Sri Lanka would be joint hosts. Now, rumours are rife that the tournament may be cancelled or switched to a neutral venue. More extreme suggestions are to expel Pakistan from the tournament and disband the ACC, replacing it with a different composition that excludes Pakistan.

Security is, of course, the overriding concern and in the current febrile atmosphere where trust between the parties is broken, this will be difficult and expensive to provide.

The Indian team’s coach, Gautam Gambhir, is reported to have said “that India should refrain from playing against Pakistan till terrorism is stopped and something is done.”

This view seems to gel with those of Rajeev Shukla, the vice president of the Board for Control of Cricket in India, who recently declared that bilateral cricket with Pakistan “would never happen.”

Currently, the prospects of the two countries playing cricket against each other are not very propitious. India’s stance is hardening by the day and the Asia Cup would appear to be in jeopardy.

Matters are made more complicated by the fact that the ACC’s current president is Mohsin Naqvi, who is also chair of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Pakistan’s interior minister. At the time of his election as ACC president in February 2022, he said that he was “committed to working with all member boards to accelerate the game’s growth and global influence, together unlocking new opportunities, fostering greater collaboration and taking Asian cricket to unprecedented heights.”

Harold Wilson, a former British prime minister, is widely credited with saying, nearly 62 years ago, that “a week is a long time in politics.” This epithet can certainly be applied to the situation in which Naqvi finds himself, given his initial aspirations.

In the past week, the already sticky relations between Pakistan and India have worsened significantly. How difficult it must be for him now to balance the presidency of the ACC with statements as interior minister about how Pakistan might react to any acts of aggression by India.

While pondering the deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan and their unfortunate impact on international cricket, I received an email from a Pakistani whom I met at the Chiang Mai International Sixes in 2023. Syed Usman Javaid led a team, called the Doosras, to play in the tournament. After talking with him, it was clear that the team was not like a usual cricket team in Pakistan. It is a community, character and leadership-building initiative that welcomes people from all backgrounds.

The trip to Thailand was the Doosras first international venture and I featured their experience in a column titled “Amateur Cricket Shows Game Can be Force for Good.” In his email, Usman informed me that, after the Thailand trip, the Doosras initiated a five-month training and fitness program for team members — with the incentive of a tour to Sri Lanka at the end. This took people who could not run 300m at a stretch to compete and complete 10-kilometer races at the Islamabad night marathon.

In 2025, the Doosras have their eyes set on Nairobi, Kenya, where they aim to take part in the Rhino Cup in June to help raise funds for Rhino preservation. This will also involve work with a local NGO to use cricket for character development, creating connections with people in Kenya and playing three one-day games. Amid all the current political wrangling on the subcontinent, it is heartening that altruistic motivations can prevail.

Some distance from the subcontinent, it was a surprise to learn of a bold move by New Zealand Cricket to become the first national governing body to invest in an overseas T20 franchise. This will be in the Major League Cricket in the United States, which is expected to expand from six to eight teams by 2027. One of these is to be launched by True North Sports Ventures, which is majority owned by MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, the league’s former chief executive.

The investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers is among the private equity investors in the venture and NZC is a foundation investor. It will provide high-performance support and expertise, operational support and expertise in cricket infrastructure and turf management. Toronto and Atlanta have been mentioned as possible venues. If the former is chosen it would represent an expansion into a Canadian market that already has its own T20 franchise.

NZC is very conscious that it has already lost several of its leading players to franchise cricket and may be in danger of losing others. It has always punched above its weight in international cricket but a player drain would endanger that ability. The MLC initiative is a strategic move to aid the sustainability of NZC by diversifying its revenue streams, expanding its global brand and providing controlled opportunities for its players and coaches.

An expanded MLC will lead to an increase in the number of matches played and, possibly, a longer duration of the competition in an already crowded calendar. In 2025, the month-long MLC will start earlier than in the two previous editions. This is an attempt to occupy a slot between mid-June and mid-July that does not clash with The Hundred in England and Wales in August and the Caribbean Premier League between mid-August and mid- September.

In pursuing its objective of expanding the game’s reach, cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council, has chosen not to regulate or control the number of franchise leagues. At the same time, the participation of the two countries with the greatest power to attract audiences in international events is in jeopardy. In turn, this has serious implications for the ICC’s future revenue generating abilities.

In the face of the reality of challenging issues faced at the apex of cricket, it is always comforting to be reminded that, at grass roots level, the game is played and followed for the purposes of human enjoyment and development, as is the case with the Doosras.