Fit-again Afridi to lead defending champions Lahore in Pakistan Super League

Lahore Qalander's bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is pictured during a warmup match in Lahore, Pakistan, on February 7, 2023. (@iShaheenAfridi/Twitter)
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Updated 12 February 2023
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Fit-again Afridi to lead defending champions Lahore in Pakistan Super League

  • Afridi led Lahore to its maiden PSL title last year in Pakistan’s premier domestic Twenty20 event 
  • The PSL has once again attracted several foreign Twenty20 specialists in a six-team tournament

ISLAMABAD: Shaheen Shah Afridi will stage a comeback to competitive cricket after three months out with a freak knee injury to lead defending champions Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League, beginning from Monday. 

Afridi led Lahore to its maiden PSL title last year in Pakistan’s premier domestic Twenty20 tournament that has once again attracted several foreign T20 specialists in a six-team event also featuring two-time champions Islamabad United and past winners Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings, Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi. 

Afridi, the lanky left-arm fast bowler, has been Pakistan’s bowling mainstay for the last five years since making his international debut in 2018. But a knee injury during the final of the T20 World Cup against England saw him undergo a long strenuous rehabilitation program before finally getting ready for the PSL. 

“There were times when I wanted to give up,” Afridi said. “I was working on only one muscle and it was not improving. Often during the rehabilitation sessions, I used to say to myself ‘this is enough, I cannot do this anymore.’” 

Afridi used to watch his bowling videos on YouTube to keep himself motivated and ‘push a little more’ but was frustrated to miss international cricket because of injury. 

In Afridi’s absence England whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in the test series during its historic comeback tour to Pakistan last December, while New Zealand twice came close to beating Pakistan in the drawn two-test series. 

Afridi, who has a tendency of picking up wickets in the batting powerplay, has taken 70 wickets since making his PSL debut during the third edition of the tournament in 2018. He is third behind his countrymen Wahab Riaz (103), who is the only bowler in the PSL history with over 100 wickets, and Hasan Ali (81). 

“PSL is one of the best leagues in the world and the quality of cricket tests you as a bowler,” Afridi said. “I am very excited to be making my comeback here … I am ticking both the bowling workload and fitness requirement boxes.” 

Lahore might rue the absence of hard-hitting England batter Harry Brook, who will be on national duty while star leg-spinner Rashid Khan will also miss the first three games due to his commitment with the Afghanistan national team. 

However, Lahore has drafted in Englishman Sam Billings and West Indian Shai Hoe to bolster its batting line-up which has the experience of Fakhar Zaman upfront. 

The combination of Afridi and Haris Rauf forms the best pace bowling pair in the PSL with the latter having the capability to tie down batters in the latter half of the innings with his pace and impeccable line and length. 

Pakistan all-format skipper Babar Azam, who won the ICC’s ODI cricketer of the year award for the second successive year, had a forgettable last year in the PSL when his team Karachi Kings could win only one of the 10 league games. 

This year Babar will be leading Peshawar Zalmi after he was traded to Karachi while T20 veteran Shoaib Malik and young middle-order batter Haider Ali were traded from Peshawar to Karachi. 

Karachi has the experience of Mohammad Amir in its bowling ranks and has also drafted Australian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and fast bowler Andrew Tye. Although Englishman James Vince might not be available for the entire tournament, left-handed opener Sharjeel Khan will need to shoulder more of the burden of scoring in the absence of Babar. 

Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa has bolstered Peshawar’s middle-order with young wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris and West Indian duo of Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford also among their ranks. 

Islamabad, winners of the first two of the three editions of the tournament, is a team which believes in match-ups and relies heavily on data to find a winning edge. Led by Shadab Khan, Islamabad has power-hitters in Paul Stirling and Asif Ali with young Azam Khan also making good progress in the T20 format after hitting a century in the recent Caribbean Premier League. 

Hasan and Faheem Ashraf are its experienced fast bowlers with Shadab tying down the batters with his legbreak bowling in the middle overs. 

Multan got beaten in the final last year and will open the PSL at home against Lahore on Monday. 

South African pair of Rilee Rossouw and David Miller, Shan Masood and skipper Mohammad Rizwan carry enough experience in the batting lineup, but its bowling resources look thin this year with Shahnawaz Dahani and tall leg-spinner Usama Mir likely to carry the bowling burden. 

It has beefed up the team in the replacement draft by drafting in globe-trotter T20 specialist Kieron Pollard of the West Indies. 

Veteran Sarfaraz Ahmed will be leading Quetta Gladiators for the eighth successive season after failing to qualify for the final in the last three editions since it won the tournament in 2019. 

Sarfaraz is expected to bat higher in the order and has got a red-hot Iftikhar Ahmed also in the ranks. Iftikhar hit six sixes in an over against Peshawar Zalmi’s Riaz during an exhibition PSL match last week in Quetta and also made his mark in this season’s Bangladesh Premier League. 

Karachi and Multan will host the first leg of the tournament before Rawalpindi and Lahore stage the second leg. Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore will host the playoffs and the final on March 19. 


Pakistan's Punjab bans entry to parks, zoos and playgrounds amid pollution

Updated 13 sec ago
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Pakistan's Punjab bans entry to parks, zoos and playgrounds amid pollution

  • The province has set up a ‘smog war room,’ using satellite, drones and AI to monitor and address pollution
  • Environmentalists want government to address fuel quality, renewable electricity and industrial emissions

LAHORE: Pakistan's eastern Punjab province banned entry to parks, zoos, playgrounds and other public spaces on Friday to protect the public from polluted air, and is considering closing down universities after shutting schools earlier this week.

The air quality in Lahore has deteriorated drastically, earning Punjab's regional capital the rank of world's most polluted city from Swiss air purification equipment maker IQAir.

"We are closely monitoring the situation. There's a possibility of closing universities and colleges on Monday to reduce vehicle emissions," said Jahangir Anwar, Secretary of the Environment Protection Department Punjab.

Friday's order from the regional government placed a "complete ban on public entry in all parks ... zoos, playgrounds, historical places, monuments, museums and joy/play lands" until Nov. 17 in areas including Lahore.

In addition to shutting schools, the province has already taken other steps such as suggesting half of employees work from home and banning rickshaws in certain areas.

South Asia annually faces severe pollution due to trapped dust, emissions and stubble burning - the practice of setting fire to fields after the harvest of grain.

Punjab has attributed this year's particularly high pollution levels to toxic air from neighbouring India, where air quality has also reached hazardous levels.

Punjab has set up a "smog war room," using satellite, drone technology and AI to monitor and address pollution. Nevertheless, Anwar says there is not enough equipment to effectively monitor the province, with only four air quality monitoring machines for the entire city of Lahore, "whereas we should have 50.”

Anwar said the department had imported and deployed five mobile monitoring units and plans to deploy eight more by year-end.

Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environment lawyer and member of the Pakistan Climate Change Council, stressed the need for robust data and policy changes.

"Right now, we just simply don't have those monitors, we simply don’t have as robust data as we should have to make decisions," Alam said.

He warned that without addressing fuel quality, renewable electricity and industrial emissions, the problem will continue to worsen.

 


Father accused of killing daughter tells UK jury wife told him to confess

Updated 35 min 46 sec ago
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Father accused of killing daughter tells UK jury wife told him to confess

  • Urfan Sharif is accused of murdering Sara Sharif last year, alongside her stepmother and uncle
  • Police found the girl’s body with multiple fractures, bruises, burns and bite marks at her home

LONDON: The father of a 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl on trial in London for her murder on Friday said his wife told him to confess to killing his daughter.
Urfan Sharif, 42, is accused of murdering Sara Sharif on August 8 last year, alongside her stepmother Beinash Batool, 30, and the girl’s uncle, Faisal Malik, 29.
All three deny the charge and of causing or allowing her death.
A jury at the Old Bailey court was told that all three left the family home in Woking, southwest of London, the day after Sara died and flew to Pakistan.
Sara’s body, which had multiple fractures, bruises, burns and bite marks, was found by police after a tip-off from Sharif in Islamabad.
Giving evidence for a fourth day, he said he was devastated by her death but agreed to leave because Batool had told him Sara had been beaten by another of his children, and he feared the consequences for them.
Before leaving, he wrote a note taking the blame. “Whoever sees this note, it’s me Urfan Sharif who killed my daughter by beating,” it read.
But Sharif told the jury that the confession was dictated by his wife.
“I was merely writing, the wording was not mine,” he said, insisting he took the blame to protect his other children.
Before leaving on August 9, 2023, Sharif left the house keys under the doormat, so the police would not have to break through the door, and had resolved to tell the authorities about Sara when he was out of the country.
A recording was played in court of Sharif’s garbled phone call to police in the UK after arriving in Islamabad.
“I killed my daughter, I killed my daughter,” he said.
Instructing police to the house, he said he “left in a panic” and added: “I promise I’ll come back.”
One month later, Sharif, Batool and Malik returned to the UK and were arrested.


Pakistan PM unveils winter power relief package to cut electricity costs for consumers

Updated 08 November 2024
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Pakistan PM unveils winter power relief package to cut electricity costs for consumers

  • PM Shehbaz Sharif says the initiative will alleviate financial pressure on consumers, stimulate economic activity
  • Relief package will reduce tariffs for domestic, industrial and commercial users for three months starting December

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday a three-month electricity relief package starting in December, aimed at reducing tariffs for domestic, industrial and commercial consumers.

The announcement comes after the government faced widespread protests earlier this year over rising inflation and high electricity costs following the presentation of its first budget in June. Political parties urged the Sharif administration to renegotiate agreements with independent power producers to lower tariffs.

Pakistan’s manufacturing sector has also expressed concerns over the years due to the rising cost of electricity, saying the elevated power tariffs render national exports uncompetitive in the global market.

“The government has decided to offer an electricity relief package for the three winter months of December, January and February, providing substantial reductions in electricity prices for additional usage,” the prime minister said during a ceremony in Islamabad.

“Under this package, domestic consumers will pay a flat rate of Rs26.07 per unit for incremental electricity usage, resulting in savings of Rs11.42 to Rs26 per unit for household users,” he continued. “The package will apply across Pakistan.”

Electricity consumers in the country pay their bills according to the number of units that fall into various slabs, each with its own tariff rates.

Under the new winter package, industrial consumers will benefit from savings ranging between Rs5.72 and Rs15 per unit, according to Sharif, translating to an 18 percent to 37 percent reduction in electricity costs.

Commercial consumers are set to save between Rs13.46 and Rs22 per unit, equating to overall savings of 34 percent to 47 percent.

Sharif also emphasized the broader economic benefits of the initiative, saying it would alleviate financial pressures on consumers and stimulate economic activity in the country.

“With reduced electricity costs, industries will grow across Pakistan, agriculture will flourish, business and exports will expand, production will increase and Pakistan’s economy will strengthen further,” he said.


No official word from India it will participate in Champions Trophy in Pakistan — PCB

Updated 08 November 2024
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No official word from India it will participate in Champions Trophy in Pakistan — PCB

  • Mohsin Naqvi’s statement comes amid Indian media reports their team may not play the tournament
  • PCB chief maintains sports should be free from politics, says Pakistan’s preparations are continuing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Friday there has been no official communication from Indian cricket authorities regarding their national team’s participation in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Champions Trophy scheduled to take place in Pakistan next year, despite recent reports in the Indian media suggesting otherwise.
Political tensions between India and Pakistan mean the two South Asian rivals only face each other at international tournaments. The Indian team last visited Pakistan in 2008 for the 50-over Asia Cup.
India’s refusal to play on Pakistani soil since then forced the PCB to settle for a “hybrid model” during last year’s Asia Cup, in which only four of the 13 matches were held in Pakistan, with the remaining nine played in Sri Lanka.
“For the past two months, there have been reports in Indian media that the Indian team is not coming [to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy],” Naqvi said during a news conference in Lahore.
“As far as what Indian media is reporting, if the Indian media is reporting this, then with that there must also be a letter that the ICC will give us [Pakistan] or the Indian [cricket] board must have announced [this decision] somewhere,” he continued. “So far, no such letter has reached me or the PCB.”
The ICC Champions Trophy, set to take place from February 19 to March 9, 2025, marks Pakistan’s first time hosting this prestigious tournament. The PCB has been preparing extensively, investing in stadium upgrades and infrastructure improvements to meet international standards.
Naqvi emphasized the need to keep sports free from political influence, adding the preparations for the Champions Trophy would continue as planned with hopes for a successful event.
The ICC has previously expressed satisfaction with Pakistan’s preparations, signaling that the tournament remains on track.
The PCB chief said during his media talk he was in contact with the cricket authorities in other countries, saying they were all excited about the upcoming event and wanted to play the tournament in Pakistan.


Pakistan, UAE sign agreements in customs, rail, airport infrastructure, maritime sectors

Updated 08 November 2024
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Pakistan, UAE sign agreements in customs, rail, airport infrastructure, maritime sectors

  • UAE minister of state for foreign trade calls on Pakistani PM Sharif
  • In May, Pakistan said UAE had committed $10 billion in investments

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the UAE on Friday signed four MoUs in the sectors of customs, rail and airport infrastructure, maritime shipping and logistics, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office in Islamabad said in a statement.
The MoUs were signed between the Pakistani ministries of maritime affairs, aviation and railways and the Federal Board of Revenue with the Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports Group.
“As per these MoUs, Pakistan and AD Ports Group would explore potential collaboration in customs, rail, airport infrastructure and maritime shipping and logistics sectors,” the PM’s office said after Sharif met a delegation of UAE investors led by Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE minister of state for foreign trade.
“These MoUs are aimed at improving digital customs controls, developing dedicated freight rail corridors, upgrading Pakistan’s maritime fleet and marine services, as well as Pakistan’s international airports.”
Sharif said the delegation’s visit demonstrated that the UAE government wanted to enhance its “investment footprint” in Pakistan and continue to play a “crucial role” in boosting Pakistan’s economy.
“The Prime Minister highlighted the comprehensive economic partnership between the two nations across sectors such as trade, energy, and investment, which has contributed to growth and prosperity in both countries.”
The UAE delegation’s visit to Pakistan comes as Islamabad is seeking to strengthen trade and investment ties with friendly nations. 
In May this, Pakistan said the UAE had committed $10 billion to invest in promising economic sectors in Pakistan.
Riyadh has also promised a $5 billion investment package that cash-strapped Pakistan desperately needs to shore up its dwindling foreign reserves and fight a chronic balance of payment crisis. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia also signed 34 MoUs worth $2.8 billion last month.