Friday, 12 February 2021

Pakistan's chances in ICC world cup twenty20 2021

ICC Cricket T20 World Cup 2021 Schedule, Team, Venue, Time Table, PDF, Point Table, Ranking & Winning Prediction

By ICS Editor / January 5, 2021 / Cricket, Schedule

ICC Men’s Cricket T20 World Cup 2021 which will be the 8th T20 cricket world has been scheduled between October 2021 and November 2021. The host country will be India. There are two continuous T20 world cup in 2021 and 2022. The ICC Cricket control Board announced on April 2018 that T20 World Cup 2021 will replace to Champions Trophy 2021.

Table of Contents

ICC Cricket T20 World Cup 2021 Schedule

T20 2020 World cup postpone due to the Covid-19 until 2022 but T20 World Cup 2021 schedule should be similar as below.

Match No	Date	Teams	Round	Group
1	18-Oct-21	Sri Lanka vs Ireland	First Round	Group A
2	18 October 2021	Papua New Guinea vs Oman	First Round	Group A
3	19-Oct-21	Bangladesh vs Namibia	First Round	Group B
4	19-Oct-21	Netherlands vs Scotland	First Round	Group B
5	20-Oct-21	Ireland vs Oman	First Round	Group A
6	20-Oct-21	Sri Lanka vs Papua New Guinea	First Round	Group A
7	21-Oct-21	Namibia vs Scotland	First Round	Group B
8	21-Oct-21	Bangladesh vs Netherlands	First Round	Group B
9	22-Oct-21	Papua New Guinea vs Ireland	First Round	Group A
10	22-Oct-21	Sri Lanka vs Oman	First Round	Group A
11	23-Oct-21	FriNetherlands vs Namibia	First Round	Group B
12	23-Oct-21	Bangladesh vs Scotland	First Round	Group B
13	24-Oct-21	Australia vs Pakistan	Super 12	Group 1
14	24-Oct-21	India vs South Africa	Super 12	Group 2
15	25-Oct-21	TBC vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
16	25-Oct-21	New Zealand vs West Indies	Super 12	Group 1
17	26-Oct-21	Afghanistan vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
18	26-Oct-21	England vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
19	27-Oct-21	New Zealand vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
20	28-Oct-21	Afghanistan vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
21	28-Oct-21	Australia vs West Indies	Super 12	Group 1
22	29-Oct-21	Pakistan vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
23	29-Oct-21	India vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
24	30-Oct-21	FriEngland vs South Africa	Super 12	Group 2
25	30-Oct-21	West Indies vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
26	31-Oct-21	New Zealand vs Pakistan	Super 12	Group 1
27	31-Oct-21	Australia vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
28	01-Nov-21	Afghanistan vs South Africa	Super 12	Group 2
29	01-Nov-21	India vs England	Super 12	Group 2
30	02-Nov-21	TBC vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
31	02-Nov-21	New Zealand vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
32	03-Nov-21	Pakistan vs West Indies	Super 12	Group 1
33	04-Nov-21	Australia vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
34	04-Nov-21	Afghanistan vs England	Super 12	Group 2
35	05-Nov-21	South Africa vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
36	05-Nov-21	India vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
37	06-Nov-21	FriPakistan vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
38	06-Nov-21	Australia vs New Zealand	Super 12	Group 1
39	07-Nov-21	England vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
40	07-Nov-21	West Indies vs TBC	Super 12	Group 1
41	08-Nov-21	South Africa vs TBC	Super 12	Group 2
42	08-Nov-21	India vs Afghanistan	Super 12	Group 2

Match No	Date	Teams	Semi-Final\|Final
1	11 November 2021	TBC vs TBC	1st Semi-Final
2	12 November 2021	TBC vs TBC	2nd Semi-Final
3	15 November 2021	TBC vs TBC	Final

Pakistan's chances in Twenty20 World Cup 2021 is quite promising considering the current players and current form of Pakistani's team in Twenty20 cricket. Pakistan boasts talent in the form of players like Muhammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Haider Ali, Muhammad Hafeez in batting and in bowling they have Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan , in the all rounders department we have Faheem Ashraf and Muhammad Nawaz, thus Pakistan in twenty20 cricket is full of talented and capable players.

In batting we have hard hitting batsmen who score freely and hit sixes and fours at will and in bowling we have variety in pace and spin department. As pace bowlers we have some of the fastest bowlers in the world who can reverse swing and ball yorkers at will. We have spinners who can turn the ball hugely and have many variations in their bowling. We have all rounders who can save and rescue Pakistan from losing positions with both bat and ball.

In this way and considering the tournament will be held in India, we have a good all round team and players suitable to the conditions in India. Considering that Pakistan is ranked fourth in ICC Twenty20 rankings and current form of Pakistan teams suggests that they will make it to atleast to the semi finals of the tournament. I consider Pakistan as one of the favourites of the tournament.

Thursday, 4 February 2021

National Stadium Karachi - A Pakistani fortress Stadium

The National Stadium (Urdu: نیشنل اسٹڈیم‎; Sindhi: قومي اسٽيڊيم) is a cricket stadium in Karachi, Pakistan, owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board. It is the home ground of Karachi Kings and Karachi's many other domestic cricket teams. It is the largest cricket stadium in Pakistan with a capacity of 34,228 spectators.

The Pakistani cricket team have a remarkable Test record at the ground, having only lost twice in 40 Test matches (vs. England, December 2000–01, and South Africa, October 2007–08). The stadium has witnessed several memorable moments, such as Viv Richards 181 against Sri Lanka at the 1987 Cricket World Cup, Mohammad Yousuf's record ninth century of the year to break Viv Richards' record of most runs in a calendar year, and Kamran Akmal's famous century against India on a very difficult pitch in 2006, after Pakistan had collapsed to 39 for 6, as part of a memorable come-from-behind victory.

History[edit]

Location of National Stadium in Karachi

The stadium was established in April 1955. At that time, Karachi was the capital of Pakistan, but the only cricket ground was the one at the Karachi Gymkhana which had limited seating capacity. A plan was formulated to develop a new stadium for which a plot of land measuring 174.5 acres was acquired by the Pakistan Public Works Department through the Commissioner of Karachi. After which under the guidance of Mr. Kafiluddin Ahmed, a senior civil engineer from East Pakistan, the stadium was built which became Karachi's fifth and Pakistan's 11th first-class ground.

The inaugural first-class match was played at NSK between Pakistan and India on 20–24 April 1955, and it became a fortress of Pakistan cricket. In 34 Tests between that first match and December 2000, Pakistan won 17 and were never beaten. Their only Test defeat on the ground came in the gloom against England in 2000–01.

The first ODI at the National Stadium was against West Indies on 21 November 1980, and it went down to the last ball as Gordon Greenidge drove Imran Khan imperiously to the cover boundary with three needed. It has been a far less successful limited-overs venue, with defeats outnumbering victories. In fact, in a little under five years from the start of 1996, Pakistan failed to win on the ground. It also staged a quarter-final match in the 1996–97 World Cup.

Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis played their first test match in this stadium.

In September 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board named it as one of the venues to host matches in the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Return of Cricket 2018

PCB ex-chairman Najam Sethi had announced in 2017 that Karachi's National Stadium will host the final match of 2018 Pakistan Super League in March 2018. The condition of the stadium was improved for the final. The historic match, which was played between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi saw the return of international stars to National Stadium after a gap of nine years, ended up being relatively one-sided, as the champions of first edition Islamabad United were crowned champions once again. The event at the stadium was the first major event since 2009 in the port city and it was highly welcomed by crowds and the stadium witnessed packed house for the big game. In order to make it a successful event many security forces were deployed in and around the stadium to maintain the law and order situation, by there efforts the event was held successfully. In 2017 PCB Chairman had announced that West Indies would tour Pakistan for 3 match T20I series which were scheduled to be played in Lahore, the fixtures were to be played in November 2017. However, early in November 2017, reports announced that the West Indies team would not be travelling to Pakistan over security concerns. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi stated that the original schedule was changed due to unforeseen weather, logistic issues and challenges with security. In March 2018, the PCB confirmed that the fixtures would take place in April at the National Stadium in Karachi after the conclusion of PSL 2018. The last time an international cricket match was played at the venue in Karachi was in February 2009, when Sri Lanka toured Pakistan. That series was cut short, following an 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team.

It was the first tour in Pakistan of more than one match against another Test nation since Zimbabwe toured in May 2015.

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan

In May 2019, at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Singapore, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made a request to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to play the two Test matches in Pakistan.In July 2019, the SLC sent a security expert to assess the situation in Pakistan, with Sri Lanka Cricket saying they were "likely" to play a Test match in the country. A further decision was taken by Sri Lanka after a security delegation inspects venues in Lahore and Karachi in early August 2019. The delegation gave Sri Lanka Cricket "very positive feedback", suggesting that Sri Lanka could be open to playing a Test match in Pakistan. On 22 August 2019, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister confirmed their agreement to play a three-match ODI and T20I series in Pakistan in October, but ruled out playing any Test matches. On 23 August, PCB announced dates for the ODI and T20I series. Sri Lanka were to play three match ODI series at National Stadium, starting from 27 September.This was supposed be the first time since 21 January 2009 that an ODI match will be held at National Stadium. But, the first ODI match was abandoned due to heavy rain. It was the first time that an ODI match at the venue had been washed out.^[18] As a result, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) rescheduled the second ODI match, moving it back one day to 30 September 2019, to allow the groundstaff more time to prepare the outfield. As a result, National Stadium had to wait for few more days to host an ODI match.^[19]

In October 2019, the PCB proposed hosting the two Test matches in Pakistan, instead of the UAE, at venues in Rawalpindi and Karachi. Sri Lanka Cricket said that they were "very positive" with regards to the progress of playing Test cricket in Pakistan. In November 2019, the PCB confirmed the dates and venues for the Test series. National Stadium hosted the second test match, starting from 19 December.

Wednesday, 20 January 2021

South Africa tour of Pakistan

South Africa is going to tour Pakistan for the first time since 2007. In 2007 home series against Pakistan the South Africans literally dominated Pakistan beating the home side Pakistan 3-2 in ODI's and 1-0 in test matches. The South African tour of Pakistan in 2007 was Inzamam ul Haq's last international series in test cricket for Pakistan. Inzamam retired from all forms of cricket after South Africa defeated Pakistan 1-0 in test series thus finishing their tour of Pakistan on a winning note. Mark Boucher the current South African coach played that series for South Africa. My concern for Pakistan team is not in the 3 Twenty20 internationals but my real concern for Pakistan cricket team is the two test match series that Pakistan play in their home series against South Africa.

I am showing my concern in test series for Pakistan because we have quite a settled and decent Twenty20 team and also because South Africa are sending their second string twenty20 team to Pakistan. On the other hand Pakistan has quite an inexperienced and weak test team.

Pakistan has a weakness in every aspect of test cricket whether it being batting, bowling or fielding and South Africa has a clear edge and superiority in every department of the game over Pakistan. In batting we heavily rely on Babar Azam and we have a weak and unsettled opening pair. We have Abid Ali as an opener who's performance overseas is not satisfactory. Our bowling is inexperienced and lacking penetration and relying heavily on Yasir Shah. Our squad of 20 players for the test series announced by the selection committee consists of nine debutant uncapped players showing inexperience and extreme weakness.

Cricket is a team game and we cant just rely on one or two players something which Pakistan does in test cricket as Pakistani cricket team relies heavily on Babar Azam and Yasir Shah in test cricket.

My prediction is South Africa will whitewash us in the test series 2-0 and we might win the Twenty20 series 2-1. I wish Pakistan cricket team the best of luck for their home series against South Africa.