His penchant for bizarre dismissals notwithstanding, Misbah ul Haq has excelled in both forms of the game and is an ideal candidate to take over as Pakistan's Test captain, believes former captain Rameez Raja. With the Pakistan Cricket Board deciding to review the performance of skipper

Wasim Jaffer slammed a majestic unbeaten 192 as India took firm control of the second cricket Test against Pakistan by laying the foundation for a mammoth first innings total here today. The 29-year-old Jaffer notched up his fifth Test century as he stole the limelight with some breathta

Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar who was admitted to a local private hospital with a chest infection is feeling better, the team management said today. "He is better," media manager Ehsan Malik said. Malik said the attending doctor would reassess Shoaib's condition at 1600 hrs a

With only three days to go for the start of the second Test against India, Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is down with a viral infection and has been taken to a local hospital for a check up. Pakistan team media manager Ehsan Malik said that Akhtar has throat infection and fever. "

As Shoaib Malik feels the heat for his "uninspiring" leadership in the ongoing series against India, he has found support from former Pakistan teammate Imran Farhat who thinks the young captain has it in him to steer the unpredictable side. "At 25, I think Malik is very youn

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik today blamed his pace attack's below-par show for the loss against India in the fourth and penultimate one-dayer here. "We lacked in bowling. We gave too many runs with the new ball," he rued after losing the do-or-die match against India by six wickets

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik today got a thumbs up from his coach Geoff Lawson who said the youngster was "getting better as a captain with every game". Lawson said both India and Pakistan have two young captains and they needed to be given some time to mature in their rol

Shoaib Akhtar may not have set alight the cricket series yet but the Pakistani speedster has already won an admirer in tennis ace Sania Mirza. Sania, in the city to watch the second Indo-Pak one day cricket match at Mohali tomorrow, said she liked Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi as well

Shoaib Akhtar's erratic temperament has often come as embarrassment to Pakistan but captain Shoaib Malik and coach Geoff Lawson today threw their weight behind the enigmatic speedster and hoped the pacer to fire on all cylinders in the cricket series against India. Shoaib is just back

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has welcomed the inclusion of senior batsmen Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf in the team for the second cricket Test against South Africa starting tomorrow in Lahore. He said Inzamam's return to the Test was a morale booster for him as well as for

South African skipper Graeme said Pakistan's controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was a match winner but also had been a disruptive influence on the team. "Certainly he is a player who has won Test matches for them as a bowler, but certainly we have seen he has been a dis

Even as Pakistan Cricket Board chief Nasim Ashraf meets Inzamam-ul Haq to discuss his future, skipper Shoaib Malik reportedly does not want him back in the team which may become a crucial factor in deciding the former captain's fate. The selection committee is facing a dilemma as they feel

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik today described his team's close defeats against India as sheer bad luck and said the players were high on morale as they were not lacking in cricketing terms. "Man to man both teams were equal in strength and balanced. Team to team we fought on an even k

Pakistan Cricket Board has announced a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh for each player of its team for making the summit clash of the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup. "The PCB Chairman has announced 500,000 each for the players for winning the semi-final. Obviously if we win the final there will be

Shahid Afridi leads the race for the Player of the Tournament award but tomorrow's final of the Twenty20 World Cup gives Yuvraj Singh, lone Indian in hot pursuit, yet another chance to pip the Pakistani to the honour. Afridi has so far polled seven votes to top the table, but there are s

Pakistan's cricket greats are backing their team to win the Twenty20 World Cup title by beating arch rivals India in tomorrow's final in Johannesburg. Be it Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad, Rameez Raja, Rashid Latif or Aaqib Javed, they all believe Pakistan has the spirit and potential to beat In

Confident after Pakistan's six-wicket win over Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup, captain Shoaib Malik thinks his team has to guard against complacency in their crucial semifinal match. "Anything is possible in this form of the game, so we have to guard against complacency all the t

Explosive half centuries by skipper Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan and a splendid bowling performance by Shahid Afridi helped Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs in their Super Eight match of the Twenty20 cricket World Cup here on Monday. After posting a formidable total of 189 for six wicket

Playing down the absence of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik said the presence of explosive striker Shahid Afridi would provide his team some psychological advantage in the much-awaited Twenty20 clash against India on Friday. After the disastrous World Cup in the Wes

Upset at being excluded from the Twenty20 World Cup squad, Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf is now "seriously" considering the offer to play in the rebel Indian Cricket League. Yousuf had put on hold an individual endorsement deal with a Pakistani company saying he needed more ti

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Naseem Ashraf has lauded the country's players for showing patriotism by turning down lucrative offers to join a break-away Indian league. "I am pleased to know players' sentiments and they proved they only want to play for Pakistan. The league is only s

Nothing less than a major Test series win or one-day title and a place among the top three in ICC rankings during new coach Geoff Lawson's two-year contract would be acceptable to the Pakistan Cricket Board. PCB Chairman Naseem Ashraf said Lawson would be given certain targets to meet duri

Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson seems to have nudged ahead of compatriots Dav Whatmore and Richard Done in the race to become the Pakistan cricket coach with captain Shoaib Malik favouring him over the other two candidates. Pakistan's cricket manager Talat Ali, who met with the Chairma

The washout of the one-day international against arch-rivals India in Glasgow had deprived Pakistan of a chance to boost morale and confidence, captain Shoaib Malik has said. "In Pakistan, a match against India is above everything else and the players were also looking forward to it a

Pakistan's senior players Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq are unlikely to find places even among the probables for the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in South Africa in September. The national selection committee is due to submit a list of 30 players by July 7 and sources con

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has come out in favour of Australian Dav hatmore who, he thinks, has the best chance of becoming the national team coach. Whatmore and two other Australians - Geoff Lawson and Richard Done - were the three shortlisted candidates for the position. The

Less than a month before the new central contracts are put into place, differences between the Pakistan Cricket Board and players over the terms and conditions have come to the fore. After a meeting held in Lahore yesterday to discuss the new format for the contracts, PCB and captain Shoai

The new look Pakistan cricket squad prepared to fly out to Abu Dhabi today to play a one-day series against Sri Lanka with new captain, Shoaib Malik exhorting his team to get back to winning ways. Malik also made it clear he was not under any pressure leading the side for the first time in a

Stressing on the importance of teamwork, Pakistan Cricket Board today called upon senior players of the team to provide complete support to new captain Shoaib Malik. In a meeting with the Abu Dhabi-bound squad today, PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf said he hoped the players had learnt their lessons

Younis Khan overcame a difficult pitch with an attractive half-century as Pakistan whipped South Africa by seven wickets in the final ICC Cricket World Cup warm-up match here on Friday. The top-order batsman smashed 79 to help his team surpass South Africa's modest total of 199 with more than