Month: March 2021

KARACHI: The High Performance department of the Pakistan Cricket Board will hold a month-long camp for elite cricketers who are not featuring in the HBL Pakistan Super League 6.

 

The camp will commence at the National High Performance Centre in Lahore on Tuesday, 2 March, in which the High Performance coaches will work on various technical and physical aspects of the elite cricketers.

 

The objective of this camp is to help the elite cricketers in identifying, working and overcoming their technical flaws so that they can be back in contention for reclaiming their places in the national side.

 

The coaches will help the players to keep the players who are not participating in the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 remain connected and involved with the game so that they are ready and prepared for the April series in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

 

National High Performance Centre’s world-class coaches, including Atiq-uz-Zaman, Mohammad Yousuf, Mohsin Kamal, Saqlain Mushtaq, Umar Rasheed, will work with these elite cricketers according to a robust programme.

 

Director – High Performance, Nadeem Khan said: “This camp is being organized as part of our philosophy and strategy to build the profile of the National High Performance Centre as a developing and finishing school for the cricketers so that our national coaches can extract the required performances at the international stage.

 

“This camp has been designed in such a way that the current players who are not part of the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 and may potentially be in contention for the April tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe can remain connected and can hit the ground running when they land in Africa.

 

“As part of our commitment, we have invited players who have recently lost their places in the national side. We believe it is our responsibility and obligation to provide them the necessary coaching support so that they can overcome their deficiencies and stake claims for national recalls.

 

“This camp was always envisaged to take place at the back of an extensive and complete domestic season 2020-21 so that we have more and complete data about the players than before the start of the season.

 

“The camp will be led by Saqlain Mushtaq, who will have the support of some of the most experienced and qualified coaches in Mohammad Yousuf, Atiq-uz-Zaman, Mohsin Kamal and Umar Rasheed. I am expecting Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis to also visit us regularly and, besides contributing in coaching, will also provide their inputs and feedback.

 

“This skill development and conditioning camp is a part of the combined strategy developed by the national team management in collaboration with the high performance department and national selectors of providing training and practice opportunities for national players.”

 

Chair of national men’s selection committee, Muhammad Wasim: “We have organized this camp as part of our plans of working on the technical aspects and improvement of the players dropped from the team. This is an excellent opportunity for these players to work on their shortcomings.

 

“We will be keenly observing them as this camp will help us shape our plans for our upcoming international cricket commitments.”

 

Players invited for the camp are:

 

Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Ahmed Bashir, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Bismillah Khan, Fawad Alam, Hammad Azam, Haris Sohail, Hassan Khan, Imran Butt, Irfanullah Shah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Nauman Ali, Rehan Afridi, Sajid Khan, Salman Irshad, Saud Shakeel, Tabish Khan, Taj Wali, Umer Khan and Yasir Shah

KARACHI: Late onslaught from David Wiese and half-centuries from Fakhar Zaman and Ben Dunk guided last year’s runners-up Lahore Qalandars to an emphatic six-wicket win over defending champions Karachi Kings in the 11th fixture of the HBL PSL 6 at National Stadium on Sunday night.

 

Chasing 187 to win, Qalandars found themselves in a spot of bother losing two wickets for no run in the first over. Mohammad Hafeez (15 off nine, one four, one six) was the next batsman to go as Qalandars were reeling at 33 for three in the fifth over.

 

Left-handed Fakhar was joined by another left-hander Dunk. Both contributed a 119-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Fakhar top-scored with a 54-ball 83. He smoked eight fours and four sixes.

 

Requiring 30 runs from two overs, the right handed Wiese got two fours off Mohammad Amir before he smashed a six in the penultimate over, as Qalandars collected 20 runs and brought down the equation to 10 required off the final over.

 

Wiese hit two consecutive sixes off Daniel Christian first two balls to help Qalandars over the line with four balls spare.

 

Dunk (57 not out off 43, five fours, two sixes) and Wiese (31 not out off nine, three fours, three sixes) contributed an unbeaten 47-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

 

Earlier, half-centuries from Sharjeel Khan and Mohammad Nabi helped Kings post 186 for nine. After being put into bat, Kings had a wobbly start, as they lost their premier batsman Babar Azam -the top run getter in HBL PSL -for five, to a scorching in-swinging delivery from Shaheen Afridi. Joe Clarke (four off six, one four) and Colin Ingram (0 off one) were next to follow Babar with scoreboard reading at 37 for three at the end of fifth over.

 

Sharjeel, who got a life in the first over of the match, made full use of his dropped catch, as he punished Qalandars bowlers all around the ground, and struck five fours and six towering sixes in his innings of 64. He was equally supported by Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi, who scored his first half-century in the HBL PSL 6. He contributed 57 off 35 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes. Both batsmen knitted 76 runs for the fourth wicket partnership.

 

After the departure of Nabi, Kings managed to add only 24 runs in the last four overs, and ended up scoring 186 for nine.

 

For Qalandars, Shaheen was the most successful bowler, taking three wickets for 27.