ISLAMABAD: Opener Shahzaib Khan’s scintillating 159 powered Pakistan Under-19 to a 43-run victory over arch-rivals India in a Group A match of the ACC Men’s U19 Asia Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Shahzaib’s knock, spanning 147 balls and featuring five fours and 10 sixes, anchored Pakistan’s innings as they posted 281 for 7 in 50 overs.
India, in reply, were bundled out for 238 in 47.1 overs despite a fighting 67 by Nikhil Kumar.
The Mansehra-born opener shared a 160-run stand with Usman Khan (60 off 94 balls), setting a solid platform. Their partnership came on the back of impressive recent form, with Shahzaib and Usman scoring 330 and 314 runs, respectively, in a tri-series against Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates.
“There was a lot of seam movement, and the fast bowlers were getting good support,” Khan said after the match. “But after spending some time at the crease, when the spinners came on, I focused on dispatching deliveries in my range to the boundary.”
“By God’s grace, it worked out for me today,” he added.
Khan continued to dominate with a 71-run third-wicket stand with Muhammad Riazullah (27). Pakistan accelerated late in the innings, adding 74 runs in the last 10 overs, as captain Saad Baig’s decision to bat first paid off.
India’s Samarth Nagaraj was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-45, while Ayush Mhatre chipped in with 2-30.
India started their chase positively but lost early wickets. Abdul Subhan dismissed Mhatre (20) in the fourth over, while Ali Raza removed Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the next spell, leaving the team reeling at 28 for 2.
Usman Khan and Faham-ul-Haq continued to build pressure, reducing India to 81 for 4.
A 53-run partnership between Nikhil Kumar and Kiran Chormale (20) briefly revived India, but Faham broke the stand by dismissing Chormale.
Kumar’s valiant 77-ball 67 ended when he was caught off Naveed Ahmed Khan at 174, dashing India’s hopes of a recovery.
Ali Raza’s 3-36 led the bowling for Pakistan, with Abdul Subhan (2-45) and Faham-ul-Haq (2-41) providing crucial support.
Pakistan will next face the UAE on December 2 at the same venue.
Shahzaib Khan’s brilliant 159 powers Pakistan Under-19 to 43-run victory over India
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Shahzaib Khan’s brilliant 159 powers Pakistan Under-19 to 43-run victory over India
- Khan’s extraordinary performance anchored Pakistan’s innings, helped them post 281 for 7
- In reply, India were bundled out for 238 in 47.1 overs despite a fighting 67 by Nikhil Kumar
Pakistani politicians urge dialogue with Imran Khan’s party as PM offers talks
- National Dialogue Committee group organizes summit attended by prominent lawyers, politicians and journalists in Islamabad
- Participants urge government to lift alleged ban on political activities and media restrictions, form committee for negotiations
ISLAMABAD: Participants of a meeting featuring prominent politicians, lawyers and civil society members on Wednesday urged the government to initiate talks with former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, lift alleged bans on political activities after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently invited the PTI for talks.
The summit was organized by the National Dialogue Committee (NDC), a political group formed last month by former PTI members Chaudhry Fawad Husain, ex-Sindh governor Imran Ismail and Mehmood Moulvi. The NDC has called for efforts to ease political tensions in the country and facilitate dialogue between the government and Khan’s party.
The development takes place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last month invited the PTI for talks during a meeting of the federal cabinet, saying harmony among political forces was essential for the country’s progress.
“The prime objective of the dialogue is that we want to bring the political temperatures down,” Ismail told Arab News after the conference concluded.
“At the moment, the heat is so much that people— especially in politics— they do not want to sit across the table and discuss the pertaining issues of Pakistan which is blocking the way for investment.”
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who heads the Awaam Pakistan political party, attended the summit along with Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Liaquat Baloch, Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan’s Waseem Akhtar and Haroon Ur Rashid, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Journalists Asma Shirazi and Fahd Husain also attended the meeting.
Members of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PTI did not attend the gathering.
The NDC urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to initiate talks with the opposition. It said after the government forms its team, the NDC will announce the names of the opposition negotiating team after holding consultations with its jailed members.
“Let us create some environment. Let us bring some temperatures down and then we will do it,” Ismail said regarding a potential meeting with the jailed Khan.
Muhammad Ali Saif, a former adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, told participants of the meeting that Pakistan was currently in a “dysfunctional state” due to extreme political polarization.
“The tension between the PTI and the institutions, particularly the army, at the moment is the most fundamental, the most prominent and the most crucial issue,” Saif noted.
‘CHANGED FACES’
The summit proposed six specific confidence-building measures. These included lifting an alleged ban on political activities and the appointment of the leaders of opposition in Pakistan’s Senate and National Assembly.
The joint communique called for the immediate release of women political prisoners, such as Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and PTI leader Yasmin Rashid, and the withdrawal of cases against supporters of political parties.
The communiqué also called for an end to media censorship and proposed that the government and opposition should “neither use the Pakistan Armed Forces for their politics nor engage in negative propaganda against them.”
Amir Khan, an overseas Pakistani businessperson, complained that frequent political changes in the country had undermined investors’ confidence.
“I came here with investment ideas, I came to know that faces have changed after a year,” Amir Khan said, referring to the frequent change in government personnel.
Khan’s party, on the other hand, has been calling for a “meaningful” political dialogue with the government.
However, it has accused the government of denying PTI members meetings with Khan in the Rawalpindi prison where he remains incarcerated.
“For dialogue to be meaningful, it is essential that these authorized representatives are allowed regular and unhindered access to Imran Khan so that any engagement accurately reflects his views and PTI’s collective position,” PTI leader Azhar Leghari told Arab News last week.
