BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Two supremely talented teams collide in a four-match T20 International series with the West Indies and Pakistan starting Wednesday at Kensington Oval in Barbados before the contest shifts to Providence Stadium in Guyana for the remaining three matches.
This was originally scheduled as a five-match series but last week’s Covid 19 scare during the One-Day International series between the West Indies and Australia forced a two-day delay which has resulted in the loss of one of the scheduled encounters in Barbados. History suggests that the tourists will start as favorites.
Since being well beaten by 84 runs in Dhaka at the 2014 World T20, the Pakistanis have gotten the better of the reigning world champions in nine of the subsequent ten meetings.
But a lot has happened in the three years since they last met in April 2018, and while it is quite possible that Babar Azam’s side, having just come out of a very competitive series in England, will maintain their impressive run against these opponents, they would certainly have noticed the transformation — on and off the field — which suggests that the West Indies are a very different outfit now.
While the team which last faced Pakistan in Karachi missed a host of key players, the West Indies can now truly to be said to be at full strength, with the exception of spinner Sunil Narine who continues to be unavailable due to a reported lack of confidence at this time in his bowling action.
However, having Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo and captain Kieron Pollard, together with a host of other headline names, is no guarantee of success.
West Indies struggled consistently to chase modest totals in a series with South Africa and were found wanting against the spin of top-ranked Tabraiz Shamsi and to a lesser extent, Geroge Linde, losing the series in Grenada in June 3-2.
West Indies rebounded from that series loss to South Africa to breeze past Australia 4-1 in St. Lucia, although their struggles against spin were emphasized in the subsequent three-match ODI series with Australia prevailing 2-1 and West Indies captain Pollard in the immediate aftermath on Monday condemning the pitches prepared for those matches in Bridgetown as an embarrassment and unfit for international cricket.
One of most consistent criticisms of this West Indies T20 squad is that they are too reliant on boundary-hitting and soak up far too many scoreless deliveries for them to be consistently competitive when the big events come around. That was apparent against both the South Africans and Australians.
This is something Pakistan will no doubt want to exploit, especially if the surfaces are helpful enough and the likes of Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Usman Qadir and even the evergreen Mohammad Hafeez are confident enough to challenge the vaunted West Indies power-hitters in the manner of Shamsi and Linde just a few weeks ago.
West Indies ready for Pakistan T20 test in Barbados
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West Indies ready for Pakistan T20 test in Barbados
- West Indies are said to be too reliant on boundary-hitting and soak up far too many scoreless deliveries to be consistently competitive
- West Indies also struggled to chase modest totals in a recent series with South Africa, though they performed well against Australia
Fighting halted on Afghanistan-Pakistan border after skirmishes – Taliban government
- Afghan defense ministry says its border forces retaliated after Pakistani airstrikes by targeting military posts with ‘heavy weapons’
- A Pakistani official says three security posts and five houses of civilians suffered partial damage, with nine individuals wounded
KABUL: Fighting has stopped on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border after Pakistani airstrikes sparked skirmishes, a Taliban government spokesman said Tuesday.
“The situation is calm, the fighting has stopped,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.
Pakistan carried out strikes in the border areas in Khost and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan early on Monday.
Islamabad said it had targeted militants it said were responsible for a recent attack on its soil, but Taliban authorities said eight civilians, all women and children, were killed in the bombardment.
Afghanistan’s defense ministry said its border forces retaliated by targeting Pakistani military posts along the border with “heavy weapons,” with cross-border skirmishes reported by both sides.
A senior police officer in the Pakistani border district of Kurram told AFP that Afghan security forces struck the area with mortar shells.
“As a result, three security posts and five houses of civilians suffered partial damage, with nine individuals, including four security personnel wounded,” the officer told AFP, asking not to be named.
“Silence prevails on the border today, and security forces have reinforced their positions.”
Border tensions between the two countries have steadily escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021.
Islamabad has accused Kabul’s Taliban government of harboring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity.
Kabul has denied the allegations.
Gun battles also regularly erupt over the construction of checkpoints along the disputed border and trade crossings are closed over immigration disagreements.
PCB chief vows to put in full efforts to ensure Pakistan hosts Champions Trophy 2025
- India’s refusal to tour Pakistan for the tournament could see some of its matches shifted to neutral venues
- Political tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan mean both haven’t played a bilateral series since 2013
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would put in its full efforts to ensure the country hosts the Champions Trophy 2025 cricket tournament next year, the board’s chairman Moshin Naqvi said this week, amid fears that some matches of the tournament would be shifted to neutral venues to accommodate the Indian cricket team, which has refused to travel to Pakistan in the past.
Pakistan, which won the last edition of the tournament played in 2017, has the hosting rights for the 50-over cricket tournament. The teams confirmed for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy are Pakistan, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, England, Bangladesh.
However, Pakistan’s efforts to ensure the tournament is played in its entirety on its soil may be hampered by the Indian team’s refusal to tour the country due to political tensions. Last year, India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan to play their Asia Cup fixtures there forced the PCB to settle for a “hybrid model.” As per the model, Pakistan hosted only four matches of the Asia Cup while the other nine were played in Sri Lanka.
Naqvi, who is also the country’s interior minister, embarked on a daylong trip to Dubai last week to attend an International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting where he met Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“Some things are sensitive which I don’t want to get into myself before something happens,” Naqvi told reporters during a press conference in Karachi on Monday. “[We are putting in] full efforts but the rest is up to Allah. But we will not leave behind anything in our efforts to hold the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.”
The PCB chairman said the stadiums in Pakistan’s Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi cities would be upgraded before the mega tournament kicks off.
“We are targeting these three stadiums. Once work on them is completed then I will go toward other stadiums,” he said.
India’s refusal to tour Pakistan disappoints millions of cricket fans on both sides of the border. An India-Pakistan cricket match is always a big-ticket clash, raking in millions of eyeballs across the world and drawing in renowned broadcasters.
Despite India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, the Pakistan cricket team traveled to the neighboring country in September 2023 to participate in the 50-over World Cup there.
It was the first time in seven years that the South Asian country sent its cricket team to India. The last time Pakistan’s men’s cricket team set foot on Indian soil was in 2016 to take part in that year’s T20 World Cup.
The two teams will once again lock horns in this year’s T20 World Cup on June 9. The match is scheduled to take place in New York.
Speakers at Pakistan-hosted UN event demand rights for women in Palestine, Kashmir
- UN’s diplomatic community, women’s rights organizations and academia attend Pakistan-hosted event at UN headquarters
- Panelists demand greater global efforts to end situations of foreign occupation, conflicts facing women around the world
IMF expected to conclude final review today of Pakistan’s $3 billion loan program
- IMF delegation arrived in Pakistan last week to carry out second and final review of its loan program
- Pakistan, IMF to discuss letter of intent, staff-level agreement today, says finance ministry official
ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will conclude its review of Pakistan’s $3 billion short-term bailout program today, Tuesday, which was due to be completed on Monday, a Pakistani finance ministry official said amid Islamabad’s efforts to avoid a macroeconomic crisis and stabilize its fragile $350 billion economy.
The finance ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the visiting IMF delegation had decided to extend the deadline by a day on Monday as the review agenda couldn’t be completed in the scheduled period.
The IMF team arrived in Pakistan last week to carry out the second and final review under the short-term loan program secured by Islamabad last summer. Pakistan has said it has met all the structural benchmarks and targets set by the lender, hoping that a successful completion of the evaluation will be followed by the release of a remaining tranche of around $1.1 billion.
“The review agenda couldn’t be completed in the scheduled period, therefore the mission has extended it for a day for now,” the official told Arab News on Monday. “The letter of intent and staff-level agreement will be discussed tomorrow [Tuesday] now.”
Islamabad has expressed its interest in securing a new loan under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program as it continues to carry out reforms to strengthen its debt-ridden economy.
On Monday, Pakistani financial authorities briefed the IMF mission on the country’s annual taxation targets, ways to abolish subsidies in different sectors, digitization of the tax system and expansion in the tax net, the official said.
“At the moment, Pakistan has been lagging on two fronts that are digitization of the taxation and bringing over 3 million retailers in the tax net,” he said. “The FBR has signed a memorandum this week for the digitization while the work on bringing the retailers into the tax net is underway.”
The global lender wants Pakistan to continue the economic stabilization and reforms agenda “till negotiation of the new loan program,” the official added.
Citing officials, Pakistani state media last week reported that Islamabad’s talks with the global lender for the second review of the ongoing program were “progressing positively.”
Pakistan secured the $3 billion IMF program in last June after it narrowly escaped a sovereign default. Its economy has been under extreme stress with low reserves, a balance of payment crisis, inflation at 23 percent, policy interest rates at 22 percent and record local currency depreciation.
Washington urges Pakistan to ‘exercise restraint’ following Afghanistan airstrikes
- White House official Karine Jean-Pierre urges Taliban to ensure “terrorist attacks” are not launched from Afghan soil
- Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces on Monday against alleged militant targets
ISLAMABAD: The White House this week urged Pakistan to exercise restraint and the Afghan Taliban to rein in militants from launching cross-border attacks, as tensions escalated between Islamabad and Kabul following Pakistan’s airstrikes in neighboring Afghanistan on Monday.
Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces early Monday against what it said were militant targets. The move infuriated the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, which said the strikes killed five women and three children, prompting their forces to fire at Pakistani forces along the border.
The incursions occurred at a time when relations between the two neighbors have been soured by an increase in militant attacks in Pakistan that Islamabad has blamed on militant groups operating from Afghanistan. Kabul denies the use of its soil against any country.
In a press briefing to reporters, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Washington deeply regrets the loss of lives and injuries sustained during Saturday’s attack on Pakistani security forces, which saw seven soldiers killed in the country’s northwest. She also regretted the loss of civilian lives during the strikes in Afghanistan.
“We urge the Taliban to ensure that terrorist attacks are not launched from Afghan soil,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “We urge Pakistan to exercise restraint and ensure civilians are not harmed in their counterterrorism efforts.”
The White House official urged both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.
“We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists who wish to harm United States or our other partners or allies,” she said.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, particularly in its western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering Afghanistan, after the Pakistani Taliban called off a fragile truce with Islamabad in Nov. 2022.
In a separate development, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome extended his condolences over the loss of lives of Pakistani soldiers in Saturday’s attack in the North Waziristan district. The remarks came after his meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
“The Ambassador conveyed his condolences for the loss of Pakistani soldiers in the recent terrorist attack in Waziristan and assured the President the United States stands with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism,” the US embassy said in a statement.
The two figures discussed a broad range of issues, including US support for continued economic reforms, human rights, and regional security, as well as the two countries’ shared interests and goals, it added.