Sports Bulletin

Sports Bulletin ReportLAHORE: The Doctor will re-examine pacer Naseem Shah in the third week of this month October, as he will be monitored till the next check-up by the same doctor, who operated on his shoulder. Ihsanullah: Ihsanullah, who has featured for Pakistan in one ODI and four T20Is, suffered an elbow injury. The 20-year-old has been ruled out from international cricket since playing for Pakistan in the ODI series against New Zealand at home this year in April.Ihsanullah had to undergo surgery in a private hospital in Lahore. A doctor was flown in from England to operate Ihsanullah in the first week of September. After the operation, the fast bowler was placed in an elbow brace for four weeks, with a doctor and physio attending him on a daily basis. His condition is satisfactory and the brace will be removed at the end of fifth week. Afterwards, he will proceed with rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.Mohammad Hasnain: 23-year-old Hasnain sustained an ankle injury while playing in the Sri Lanka Premier League in August. He traveled to England from Sri Lanka and had an MRI. The scans revealed the fast bowler requires rehabilitation for his ankle, which is under process since 13 September in England.Naseem Shah: 20-year-old Naseem got injured during Asia Cup, ruling him out of the ICC World Cup 2023. Following the injury, the fast bowler underwent shoulder surgery earlier last week. During the operation, he remained absolutely stable and was discharged from the hospital the next day. He will be attended by two physiotherapists for his rehabilitation initially at the hospital and also later at the training ground and gym. During this entire period, he will be continuously monitored and the doctor who operated on him will see him again in the third week of October.

Abdul Jabbar Faisal ISLAMABAD: Pakistani female cricket commentator, and sports presenter, Zainab Abbas left the Cricket World Cup and reached Dubai after receiving threats in India.According to available information from abroad, Zainab Abbas has left India owing to some security threats, and pressure was mounting on her in India, as she was there to perform her duties during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, a mega quadrennial event of the world.Now, she has reached Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is pertinent to mention here that in her tweet regarding Kashmir 9 years ago, an Indian citizen filed a case for her tweet regarding Kashmir. Zainab was receiving threats in India and she decided to leave the World Cup and reach Dubai.Also, an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed that she (Zainab Abbas) reached Dubai.

Sports Bulletin ReportChennai (India): Hosts tigers India outclassed Australia by 6 wicket in their opening contest of Cricket World Cup 2023 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday, as top class batters Virat Kohli and KL Rahul led their team to victory while chasing a tricky target of 200 despite the early loss of three batters. Chasing a tricky target of 200, India lost three batsmen, who all failed to score, inside two overs before Kohli (85) and Rahul (97 not out) put on 165.Chasing a below-par 200-run target, India managed to cross the line with the loss of four wickets in 41.2 overs. After losing three wickets with only two runs on the board during the first two overs, KL Rahul (97 not out) and Virat Kohli (85) put on 165 runs match-winning partnership to guide the home side to victory.After losing Mitchell Marsh early, David Warner and Steve Smith steadied the ship with a solid 69-run partnership. After that, Indian spinners kept Australia on the back foot by taking wickets at regular intervals.Australian tail waged and the team managed to put on some runs on the board for their bowlers. Steve Smith was the top scorer with 46 runs followed by David Warner who scored 41 runs. Mitchell Starc scored 28, Marnus Labuschagne 27 and Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins 15 runs each.Ravindra Jadeja bagged three, Kuldeep Yadav and Bumrah two each while Mohammad Siraj, Ashwin and Pandya took one wicket each.There was a forced change in the Indian top order as the first-choice and second-ranked ODI batsman Shubman Gill failed to recover from the injury before the start of play. Left-handed batter Ishan Kishan was put in to open the batting along with skipper Rohit Sharma.India XI: R Sharma (capt), I Kishan, V Kohli, S Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), H Pandya, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, J Bumrah, K Yadav, Muhammad Siraj.Australia XI: D Warner, M Marsh, S Smith, M Labuschagne, G Maxwell, A Carey (wk), C Green, P Cummins (capt), M Starc, A Zampa, J Hazlewood.

Sports Bulletin ReportDubai (UAE): Sri Lanka have been fined 10 per cent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate against South Africa in the Match 4 of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup on Saturday, 7 October 2023.Javagal Srinath of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after Dasun Shanaka’s side was ruled to be 2 over(s) short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 5 per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.Dasun Shanaka pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing. On-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Shahid Saikat, third umpire Michael Gough and fourth umpire Alex Wharf leveled the charge. 

Mohammad Rizwan, and Saud Shakeel score half-tons, Saud wins “Man of the Match” awardSports Bulletin ReportHyderabad (India): Pakistan defeated Netherlands by 81 runs in their opening fixture of Cricket World Cup 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday night. Left-handed batter won the “Man of the Match” award on his brilliant knock of 68 runs.Netherlands skipper invited Pakistan to bat after winning the coin’s battle. Green Shirts started their innings with a bumpy start losing three wickets in the first ten overs. However, tables turned quickly during the middle overs when the partnership of Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel yielded 120 runs and helped the team consolidate their position.Openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman did not make much of a mark scoring 15 off 19 and 12 off 14 respectively. Skipper Babar Azam entered the fray in the fourth over and only managed to get five runs off 18 balls before getting caught by Saqib Zulfiqar.The Rizwan-Saud partnership provided the team with much needed stability, taking Pakistan’s tally to 158. Rizwan managed to get 68 runs off 75 balls while Saud pulled off 68 from 52 deliveries. Iftikhar Ahmed managed to get only nine runs off 11 balls before being dismissed by Bas de Leede.Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan were able to hold their ground with Nawaz making 39 (43) and Shadab making 32 (34). Pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf made useful contributions for the final wicket to lift Pakistan to 286 all out in 49 overs.Hasan Ali dealt a blow to the opposition’s opening partnership by claiming the scalp of Max O’ Dowd when the latter had made only five runs from 12 balls. His partner Vikramjit Singh played on for 67 balls making 52 runs before being caught by Fakhar Zaman off the bowling of Shadab Khan.Iftikhar bowled out Collin Ackermann while Mohammad Nawaz claimed the scalp of de Leede who had managed to make 67 off 68 balls – the highest for Netherlands in their innings.Haris Rauf, in an impressive display of bowling prowess, claimed three wickets, that of Teja Nidamanuru, Scott Edwards and Paul van Meekeren while Hasan walked away with two scalps, that of O’Dowd and Aryan Dutt.Pakistan succeeded at bowling out Netherlands for 205 in 41 overs and pulling off a stellar victory with a margin of 81 runs.Scores in brief:Pakistan beat the Netherlands by 81 runsPakistan 286 all out in 49 overs (Saud Shakeel 68, Mohammad Rizwan 68; Bas de Leede 4-62, Colin Ackermann 2-39)Netherlands 205 all out in 41 overs (Bas de Leede 67, Vikramjit Singh 52; Haris Rauf 3-43, Hasan Ali 2-33)Player of the match – Saud Shakeel (Pakistan) 

Sports Bulletin ReportHyderabad (India): Pakistan will face the Netherlands in their inaugural fixture of the Cricket World Cup 2023 today (Friday) here at Rajeev Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, as the Babar XIs are ready to ink history on the soil of India.Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim. Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (c), Max O'Dowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.

Conway (152), and Ravindra (123) hit tons to post a massive victory against defending championsSports Bulletin ReportAhmadabad (India): A couple of notable performances with the bat, Dion Conway (152), and Richan Ravindra (123) guided New Zealand to outclass defending champions England by 9 wickets in the opening match of the ICC World Cup 2023 here at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium on Thursday.Kiwis acting Captain Tom Latham won the toss and decided to field first on a flat surface. Kane Williamson could not play the game owing to a fitness problem. A duo of English batters David Mullan and Jonny Bairstow started the innings and put 40 runs for the first wicket. Milan fell on the bowling of Matt Henry after scoring only 14 runs, wicketkeeper Latham collected his catch. Bairstow 33 runs.Meanwhile, veteran Joe Root played a responsible game, scoring a half-century and adding 70 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Joe Buttler. Buttler looked in good form and scored 43 runs with 2 sixes and 2 fours but was caught by the wicketkeeper in an attempt to cut an inbound delivery from Matt Henry.Liam Livingston also failed to play big innings and fell victim to Trent Boult after scoring 20 runs. Chris Woakes could also not rescue the English team and left-off the ground on score 11 runs while Sam Curran scored 14 runs and became the third victim of Henry. England scored 282 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the allotted overs. For New Zealand, Matt Henry took 3 wickets while Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips took two wickets each.Chasing a target of 283 runs, New Zealand opened the innings with Will Young and Conway. However, after the first wicket, the English bowlers were left desperate for wickets as Dion Conway and Richan Vendra starred for the English bowlers on the day on a batting friendly wicket. Both the players not only showed excellent batting but also played aggressively and scored runs at an average of about 8 runs per over and demoralized the English bowlers.After completing their half-centuries, both became more aggressive and quickly progressed towards the century. Conway soon completed his century off 83 balls and Jadeja followed him with a century off 82 balls. Both the players continued to play well and easily took their team to the target in the 37th over without any further loss to win by 9 wickets.New Zealand’s excellent batting can be gauged from the fact that there were 82 balls left when New Zealand reached the target. Dion Conway scored 152 off 121 balls with 3 sixes and 19 fours while Richan Ravindra scored 123 runs off 96 balls with 5 sixes and 11 fours.

Sports Bulletin ReportAhmedabad (India): The Cricket World Cup 2023 will kick-off today (Thursday) in Ahmedabad, India, as the finals of 2019 fixture England and New Zealand will be in action in the opening match of the mega quadrennial event of cricket world cup.England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young.

45 days, 48 matches: England take on New Zealand in the tournament’s openerSports Bulletin ReportAhmedabad (India): The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 stage is set as all 10 captains gathered today at the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on the eve of the biggest Cricket World Cup ever.Across the next 45 days, 48 matches will take place across 10 world class venues. Beginning with a repeat of the 2019 Final, as England take on New Zealand in the tournament’s opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad tomorrow.Ahead of that match the official ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 official image was taken at the Narendra Modi stadium by celebrity photographer Rohan Shrestha. The 10 captains also shared their thoughts and hopes for the next six weeks with host Ravi Shastri and England winning captain Eoin Morgan in an interactive panel session.Australia captain Pat Cummins said: I don't think there's too many events around the world where you feel like half the world's tuning in to watch and whenever India play Pakistan in a World Cup. It seems like one of those moments. So, although you're personally not involved, you feel like you want to watch it and hear about all the commentary and the passion around the game. So, it's going to be great that it's at this stadium. You can have over 100,000 people.”India captain Rohit Sharma said: “I have said it from the start, you know, every leader sitting here wants to achieve something really special for their country. It is something that is very highly prized; the 50-Over World Cup is something that I have always dreamt of growing up as a child, and I am sure it is the same for all the guys sitting here as well. One thing I can assure, which I am pretty sure everyone knows, is that people are going to love this tournament here; the stadium is going to be jam-packed because people here in India love their cricket as much as they love their team, but they love their cricket as well. But rest assured, it’s going to be a great tournament.”Pakistan captain Babar Azam said: "We received good hospitality, and we were not expecting this, but I think the way people responded to us, everyone enjoyed it. We are here for a week in Hyderabad, so we do not feel like we are in India; it was like we are at home. We enjoyed and had a lot of fun. It’s good, and I think it's a golden opportunity for everyone to give 100% and enjoy the tournament.”England captain Jos Buttler said: “The team’s been mainly together for a long time since 2015, since the start of that sort of revolution that you mentioned, and I think you said right through the game. Now in England, young players coming through play a certain way and are determined to carry on the style, and I think we know it gives us the best chance of success. We will get it wrong at times, but we’ve made peace with that, and it’s something we want to continue to strive to do, to keep pushing the boundaries. Other teams will push you and move it on further, so we always want to try and be at the head of that curve as well."Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said: "As said before, we will have more crowd and more support, we are expecting the same that the people will come there and support us in the stadium. And we have very good quality spinners and the condition is suitable for us and that will be with us and also with the batting. I believe in this World Cup we will give a statement about the batting that we can do very good, play very good cricket."Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said: “I think we have prepared well. If we talk about the last four years since the 2019 World Cup, we are probably the third or fourth team in the qualifiers' point system. So, we have done really well as a group; now it's time for us to put on a good show. Our team is ready, and the country is expecting a little more than what we did previously.”Netherlands captain Scott Edwards said: “I think all games in this tournament are going to be tricky. But obviously Pakistan's a very good side. But, yeah, for us, we're just excited to get this tournament going. That's against Pakistan in Hyderabad.”South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said: “I think that’s something that is relevant to all the teams. A lot of the teams have guys who played in India, have done well in India, so I wouldn’t really say it's an advantage for us. I think all we could do is for the guys who have that experience and knowledge; they can share it among the team or use it in terms of our strategies and plans. But I wouldn’t really say it's an advantage unique to us as a team.”Sri Lanka squad Dasun Shanaka said: “See, exciting times for us. We have been struggling a lot in the recent past with injuries, but at the same time, we have some good records with us. You know, as a group, we are looking forward to the World Cup. Everyone wants to make a statement that we are here to perform well in this tournament.”

Can India win the 2023 World Cup?Let’s talk to a crystal gazer to find that out. You need to listen to Greenstone Lobo, a popular astrologer who had predicted correctly the outcome of the 2011, 2015, and 2019 World Cups. Here is a free-wheeling chat with the ‘Scientific’ Astrologer.Bipin: Since when are you doing World Cup predictions and how do you know that your methods are correct?Greenstone: Since 1996 World Cup, I have been analysing World Cups. When I got them wrong I looked for reasons and found that the inclusion of planets which were beyond Saturn – like Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, one would get better answers. After researching 4 World Cups, I arrived at the year when the next World-Cup winning captain was born – 1981. I went all the way to Ranchi and met the mother of M.S. Dhoni and got his exact birth details. With this info, I was able to predict in my column in a leading Mumbai newspaper that India would go on to win the 2011 World Cup. Bipin: So what factors helped countries win the 2015 and 2019 World Cups?Greenstone: The greatest achievers and captains in sports are born in patches. The 1981 patch was phenomenal and produced two World Cup captains – 2011 won by MSD and 2015 won by Michael Clarke. I just had to identify these patches like these.  Bipin: How do you identify them?Greenstone - I look at clues from other sports and connect them to planetary positions. The 2018 football World Cup was won by 1986-born – Hugo Lloris. The biggest tennis great was 1981 born Roger Federer who was overtaken by 1986 born Rafael Nadal. All 1986 born have the planets Uranus and Neptune in the strongest positions at 25 and 12 degrees respectively. Bipin: So, how do you think it will play out this time? Greenstone – let's look at other sports again – A 1986 born is always succeeded by a 1987 born! The record of Rafael Nadal was better by the 1987-born Novak Djokovic, the 2022 football World Cup was won by a 1987-born Lionel Messi. So, now what is your guess for the Cricket World Cup in 2023? Bipin: India? Greenstone – Yes, you got it! My biggest astrological favourite to win this time is 1987-born Rohit Sharma going on to win the biggest prize in Cricket. Bipin: So, no competitors then? Not really – We need to be aware of 1990-born Captains – Jos Buttler of England, Temba Bavuma of South Africa and Babar Azam of Pakistan, who could have been born earlier than what his official records suggest. Bipin: What! No Australia?Greenstone: I’m categorically ruling out Australia from winning this World Cup. Pat Cummins, a 1993 born cannot win THIS world Cup. Even New Zealand doesn’t have a chance to win this time! Bipin: So what about the player of the series, best bowler etc.?Greenstone: Expect most of the best performances to come to India – the ones who are coming off from injuries will do really well – KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah etc. SKY and Hardik Pandya will rock too. The major trophies will come from these 1992-1994-born players.