Mad Dog Game

Karachi: South Africa’s left-arm orthodox spinner Keshav Maharaj has accepted that it takes time to understand the stance of Fawad Alam.

“It’s not something you are used to and it’s not conventional. It does take few balls to adopt to constantly focus on him,” Maharaj said in a post-day virtual presser.

“You just stick to the line and lengths and at the end when the ball is about to be delivered, he is in the neutral position,” he added.

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old thinks that South Africa is still in the match after Pakistan dominated day two’s proceedings

“Obviously Pakistan is in a little bit of a lead. We didn’t let the scoring rate get out of hand, and that’s still under three runs an over. Hopefully, tomorrow we can get the two wickets up and put a substantial score on the board and turn the match around and put ourselves in a position to win this match,” Maharaj added.

Note, Maharaj has taken two important wickets of captain Babar Azam (7) and well-settled Azhar Ali (51). He also removed Hasan Ali but the ball was called ‘No-ball’.

Read: Never blamed anyone in past, was waiting for my time: Fawad Alam

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London: Arsenal completed the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Martin Odegaard on loan until the end of the season to boost their push for a return to the Champions League.

Odegaard shone when on loan at Real Sociedad last season, but has struggled for game time since returning to the Spanish champions this campaign.

“Martin is of course a player that we all know very well and although still young, he has been playing at the top level for a while,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

“Martin will provide us with quality offensive options and we’re all excited to be integrating him into our plans between now and May.”

Arsenal won for the fifth time in six Premier League games at Southampton on Tuesday to move up to eighth and within five points of the top four.

After 19 consecutive seasons in the Champions League between 1997/98 and 2016/17, Arsenal have missed out on European club football’s premier competition for the past four years.

Winning the Europa League offers another path back to the Champions League and Odegaard will also be available for the Gunners’ when they face Benfica in the last 32 next month.

At just 22, the Norwegian has already had a nomadic career since signing for Madrid as a 16-year-old.

After loan spells at Vitesse and Herenveen in the Netherlands, it was on another loan spell at Sociedad last season that Odegaard began to show the talent that made Europe’s top clubs scramble for him as a teenager.

Such was the impact he made in the Basque country that Madrid cut his two-season loan deal in half to bring him back to the Bernabeu.

Yet, like many other creative talents, Odegaard has not found favour with Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

Arteta, a former Sociedad player himself, was key to convincing Odegaard to come to the Emirates.

“I spoke to him before coming here, of course. That was very important for me and he seems like a top manager and I liked his ideas, the way he sees football and also the way he is,” said Odegaard.

“I think every time you go to a new place, you want to make sure that it feels good and that there is a plan. But I think everything here just seems good.

“I like the club and I always liked the way that the club wants to play. Everything about the club and now how the manager wants to play, I think it’s a club that really suits me well. So I think it’s a good match.”

No option for Arsenal to make the move permanent at the end of the season has been included in the deal.

Read: Arsenal outcast Ozil joins Fenerbahce

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Karachi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the introduction of the ‘ICC Player of the Month’ awards to recognise and celebrate the best performances of both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.

Cricket’s governing body in its media release stated that an independent ICC Voting Academy comprising former players, broadcasters, and journalists from around the world, will team up with fans to vote for the ICC men’s and women’s player of the month respectively.

For the month of January, India’s Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, T. Natarajan, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin are nominated for ICC Men’s Player of the Month award. England’s Joe Root, Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Steve Smith are also nominated.

Read: Stokes takes a dig at Test Team of the Decade cap

For the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award, Pakistan’s Nida Dar and South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk are nominated.

Meanwhile, the three nominees for each of the categories will be determined by the ICC Awards Nominations Committee based on on-field performances and overall achievements during the period of that month (the first to the last day of each calendar month.)

The Voting Academy will have a share of 90% of the vote while fans will have a 10% share of the vote. The winners will be announced every second Monday of the month on the ICC’s digital channels.

Read more: No Pakistani in ‘ICC Teams of the Decade’

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Karachi: Fawad Alam remained not out for 63 runs as Pakistan posted 178-6 at Tea on Day 2.

Fawad and Rizwan (33) scored 55 runs together after Azhar Ali lost his wicket to Keshav Maharaj. Fawad scored his maiden Test fifty off 137 balls in his first Test appearance at National Stadium.

Earlier, Fawad and Azhar (51) survived in the first session on Day 2 as Pakistan posted 104-4 at Lunch.

Resuming at 33-4, Fawad and Azhar suffered aggressive pace from Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje but they added 77 runs together. They scored 71 runs in the first session on the second day.

Altogether, they partnered to score 94 runs for the fifth wicket partnership.

Squads

Pakistan: Abid Ali, Imran Butt (Debut), Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Faheem Ashraf, M Rizwan, Nauman Ali (Debut), Yasir Shah, Hassan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Faf Du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton De Kock, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi NGini

Read: Series whitewash will take Pakistan to fifth in Test Rankings

More to follow………..

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Karachi: Australia has announced two different squads for the New Zealand T20Is and South Africa Tests.

The kangaroos are scheduled to play five T20Is in New Zealand in February while the dates of three-match Test series against South Africa are yet to be finalized.

Cricket Australia has kept faith in Tim Paine and has retained him as Test captain after suffering a historic Test series defeat to India.

Meanwhile, Matthew Wade has lost his place from the Test squad and he will serve as Aaron Finch’s deputy for New Zealand T20Is.

Uncapped bowlers Sean Abbott, Michael Neser, and Mitchell Swepson are again included in Test squad, with fellow quick Mark Steketee and Carey the only newcomers.

The absence of regular T20 stars David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc have allowed Australia to include Big Bash League’s (BBL) performers.

Uncapped teenage leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha, wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Philippe and fast bowler Riley Meredith are named while pacers Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff and spinner Ashton Agar make their return to Australian colours after lengthy injury layoffs.

Test squad for South Africa

Tim Paine (capt), Pat Cummins, Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

T20 squad for New Zealand

Aaron Finch (capt), Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa

Read: Defiant Paine wants to lead Australia to South Africa

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Karachi: Azhar Ali (38*) and Fawad Alam (39*) have survived in the first session on Day 2 as Pakistan posted 104-4 at Lunch. 

Resuming at 33-4, Fawad and Azhar suffered aggressive pace from Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje but they added 77 runs together. They scored 71 runs in the first session on the second day.

Squads

Pakistan: Abid Ali, Imran Butt (Debut), Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Faheem Ashraf, M Rizwan, Nauman Ali (Debut), Yasir Shah, Hassan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Faf Du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton De Kock, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi NGini

Read: Series whitewash will take Pakistan to fifth in Test Rankings

More to follow………..

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