KARACHI, Pakistan: Pakistan’s fast bowlers hit back to leave Sri Lanka at 64-3 at stumps on day one of the second test after the hosts had been dismissed for 191 in their first innings on Thursday.
Pakistan chose to bat but struggled against the pace of Lahiru Kumara and the spin of Lasith Embuldeniya. The 22-year-old Kumara claimed 4-49 with his lively pace and left-arm spinner Embuldeniya justified his selection with 4-71 as Pakistan lost its last five wickets for only 19 runs.
“There’s a small patch in the middle of the wicket so there’s a small turn from that area,” Embuldeniya said. “(It) will play a big role later in the game.”
On a day dominated by pace with a tinge of grass on the wicket, Sri Lanka also ran into early trouble as it lost captain Dimuth Karunaratne (25), Oshada Fernando (4) and Kusal Mendis (13).
Fernando was caught behind off left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi. Mohammad Abbas (2-21) bowled Karunaratne and had Mendis caught low in the slips.
Angelo Mathews was 8 not out while nightwatchman Embuldeniya was unbeaten on 3 when bad light stopped play nine overs before the scheduled close.
Earlier, test specialist Asad Shafiq (63) and the ever-reliable Babar Azam (60), who made a century in the rain-hit drawn first test, scored half-centuries for Pakistan.
Left-arm fast bowler Vishwa Fernando had made early cracks into Pakistan’s batting when he knocked back the off stumps of Shan Masood (5) and Azhar (0), who has now scored just 162 runs in his last 13 test innings at an average of only 12.46.
Azam — the only other batsman after India’s Virat Kohli to be in the top 10 in Test, ODI and Twenty20 rankings — added 62 runs with Shafiq after Pakistan slipped to 65-3 in the first session.
Pakistan’s latest batting hope, Abid Ali (38), hit seven fours, and a pulled six off captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s occasional spin before he was undone by Kumara’s sharp delivery and was out lbw before lunch.
Abid made headlines last week as he became the only male international cricketer to score centuries in both his ODI and test debuts when he reached his ton against Sri Lanka in the drawn first Test at Rawalpindi.
Abid added 55 runs with Azam before Kumara struck in his second spell.
Azam completed his half-century off 75 balls with a cover-driven boundary in offspinner Dilruwan Perera’s first over before Embuldeniya lured him for a big hit and got him stumped.
“(Azam) tried to come down the track and hit me quite a lot,” Embuldeniya said. “I saw him coming down the wicket so I pulled back the length and it turned a lot which helped me to take the wicket.”
Haris Sohail, who struggled against Australia in the only test he played, was given another opportunity, but the left-hander was trapped lbw by Embuldeniya in the last over before tea which Pakistan took at 171-5.
Kumara then ran through Pakistan’s lower order after tea. He was on a hat trick after he hit the top of Mohammad Rizwan’s off-stump and Yasir Shah fell to a toe-crushing yorker off the next delivery. Abbas avoided the hat trick before edging Embuldeniya in the slips.
“We didn’t expect turn on the first day, but they used the conditions very well,” said Shafiq, who top-edged Kumara to fine leg before Embuldeniya wrapped up the innings. “Their fast bowlers also bowled very well and put us under pressure from both ends.”
Leg-spinner Shah returned to Pakistan’s XI after working with spin consultant Mushtaq Ahmed at Lahore on his googlies and bowling action last week.
Pakistan went with an all-out pace attack at Rawalpindi but Shah has returned to replace Usman Shinwari, who is ill.
Karachi hosted the last fully-fledged test in Pakistan in 2009, when Younis Khan scored a triple century in the drawn game against Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan team’s bus came under attack at Lahore in the following test match. The ambush killed eight people and injured several Sri Lanka players and officials and shut the doors on international cricket on Pakistan.
Pakistan out for 191 in 2nd test, Sri Lanka 64-3 at stumps
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Pakistan out for 191 in 2nd test, Sri Lanka 64-3 at stumps
- Pakistan lost its last five wickets for only 19 runs
- Kumara then ran through Pakistan’s lower order and was on a hat trick
Pakistan farmers announce nationwide protest from May 10 over wheat import crisis
- Farmers are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded markets, leading to price slump
- Agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the GDP and accounts for half of the employed labor force in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani farmers on Sunday announced a nationwide protest over the wheat import crisis from May 10, a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promised to address their grievances.
Farmers in Pakistan’s Punjab province, which produces most of the wheat crop, are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crop.
They say the import of wheat in the second half of 2023 and the first three months of this year has resulted in excess amounts of the commodity in the country, leading to reduced prices.
On Saturday, PM Sharif took notice of the matter and formed a committee under the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to address farmer grievances, Pakistani state media reported.
“On the 10th [of May], after the Friday prayers, we are initiating protest from Multan and this protest will be expanded to the whole of Pakistan,” Khalid Khokhar, who heads the Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, said at a press conference.
“Thousands of farmers will come, there will be hundreds of tractors, trailers. Animals, cattle and children and women will also be accompanied.”
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force in the country.
However, the prices of wheat have dropped in Pakistan in recent weeks and are much below the government’s support price of Rs3,900 per 40-kilogram bag.
“We do not have any option other than this. The mafia made Rs100 billion, Pakistan’s $1 billion worth of foreign exchange was spent and the farmers incurred around Rs400 billion losses,” Khokhar said.
“They slaughtered 60 million farmers just for the sake of corruption.”
Pakistan’s Dr. Shahzad Baig makes it to TIME’s 100 world leaders in health
- Before arriving in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which remained successful
- Pakistan, Afghanistan are only two countries in world where polio continues to threaten health and well-being of children
ISLAMABAD: US news magazine TIME has included Dr. Shahzad Baig, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme’s national coordinator, to its list of 100 most influential people across the world in the field of health in 2024.
The list, titled ‘TIME100 HEALTH,’ this week honored individuals from across the world for their services for fresh discoveries, novel treatments, and global victories over disease.
Baig was recognized for his efforts for the eradication of poliovirus, which mainly affects children under the age of ten years by invading their nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio continues to threaten the health and well-being of children.
“On the front lines in the effort to stamp it [polio] out is Dr. Shahzad Baig, national coordinator of Pakistan’s polio-eradication program,” TIME wrote on its website.
“In 2019, polio disabled or killed 147 people in Pakistan; since Baig assumed the position, in 2021, case counts have plummeted, with only six children stricken in 2023.”
Before arriving in Pakistan, Baig was a technical adviser to Nigeria’s polio eradication effort, which succeeded spectacularly, according to the US magazine.
In 2020, the African country became the most recent one in the world to be declared polio-free.
“If Baig has his way, Pakistan will be the next,” it added.
Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying — New Delhi
- Canadian police on Friday arrested three for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying they were investigating their links to Indian government
- The killing soured Ottawa-New Delhi diplomatic ties after PM Trudeau said there were ‘credible allegations’ linking Indian intelligence to crime
NEW DELHI: Canada’s investigation into alleged Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist in Vancouver last year is a “political compulsion,” New Delhi’s foreign minister said after three Indian citizens were arrested over the killing.
Canadian police on Friday arrested the trio for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying they were investigating their links to the Indian government, “if any.”
The killing sent diplomatic relations between Ottawa and New Delhi into a tailspin last autumn after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime.
India vehemently rejected the allegations as “absurd,” halting the processing of visas for a time and forcing Canada to significantly reduce its diplomatic presence in the country.
“It is their political compulsion in Canada to blame India,” the Press Trust of India news agency quoted external affairs minister S. Jaishankar as saying on Saturday.
Thousands of people were killed in the 1980s during a separatist insurgency aimed at creating a Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, which was put down by security forces.
The movement has largely petered out within India, but in the Sikh diaspora — whose largest community is in Canada, with around 770,000 people — it retains support among a vocal minority.
New Delhi has sought to persuade Ottawa not to grant Sikh separatists visas or political legitimacy, Jaishankar said, since they are “causing problems for them (Canada), for us and also for our relationship.”
He added that Canada does not “share any evidence with us in certain cases, police agencies also do not cooperate with us.”
Nijjar immigrated to Canada in 1997 and acquired citizenship 18 years later. He was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
The three arrested Indian nationals, all in their twenties, were charged with first degree murder and conspiracy.
They were accused of being the shooter, driver and lookout in his killing last June.
The Canadian police said they were aware that “others may have played a role” in the murder.
In November, the US Justice Department charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with plotting a similar assassination attempt on another Sikh separatist leader on American soil.
A Washington Post investigation reported last week that Indian foreign intelligence officials were involved in the plot, a claim rejected by New Delhi.
PCB chief announces $100,000 reward for each player if Pakistan wins T20 World Cup
- Mohsin Naqvi made the announcement during his visit to Qaddafi Stadium, where the Babar Azam-led side has been practicing
- The Pakistan side is scheduled to travel to Ireland, England for T20 tours later this month, followed by the World Cup in June
ISLAMABAD: Mohsin Naqvi, chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has announced $100,000 reward for each player in case the national side wins the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup, the PCB said on Sunday.
Naqvi made the announcement during his visit to the Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where the Babar Azam-led side began the national camp on Saturday, according to the PCB.
He stayed there for two hours and held a detailed discussion with Pakistan players on the strategy of upcoming games.
“This reward is nothing compared to Pakistan’s victory,” Naqvi was quoted as saying.
“I hope you will raise the green flag. Play without any pressure and compete hard. God willing, victory will be yours.”
The Pakistan side is scheduled to travel to Ireland and England for T20 tours later this month.
The tours will help the side prepare for the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the United States and the West Indies in June.
IMF says its mission will visit Pakistan this month to discuss new loan
- Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default
- But the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program
KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund mission is expected to visit Pakistan this month to discuss a new program, the lender said on Sunday ahead of Islamabad beginning its annual budget-making process for the next financial year.
Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer-term program.
“A mission is expected to visit Pakistan in May to discuss the FY25 budget, policies, and reforms under a potential new program for the welfare of all Pakistanis,” the IMF said in an emailed response to Reuters.
Pakistan’s financial year runs from July to June and its budget for fiscal year 2025, the first by Sharif’s new government, has to be presented before June 30.
The IMF did not specify the dates of the visit, nor the size or duration of the program.
“Accelerating reforms now is more important than the size of the program, which will be guided by the package of reform and balance of payments needs,” the IMF statement said.
Pakistan narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April from a record high 38 percent last May.
It is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year compared to negative growth last year.
Earlier, in an interview with Reuters, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the country hoped to agree the contours of a new IMF loan in May.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion and request additional financing from the Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
