The Londoner

By Sikander Hayat There has seldom been a player in the history of Pakistan cricket who had so much potential but showed very little results. Muhammad Sami is such an enigma who bowls at 90 miles an hour but takes very few wickets. I personally believe that playing with Shoaib Akhtar destroyed whatever chance he had of learning as Shoaib had other things on his mind than helping a youngster who was trying to make something out of his career. Muhammad Sami was highly spoken of by Imran Khan who was a good judge of talent but Sami somehow failed to succeed in international cricket. Now that he is 28 years old and potentially with a mature head on his shoulders, he has got this final opportunity to prove the selectors right. He still has time to prove to the world that he is the real deal but this is the last chance. He must keep this fact in his mind.

Dynamic but injury-prone New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond announced his retirement from Test cricket Wednesday, saying his body was no longer up to the rigours of the five-day game. ‘It’s been a tough call, because Test cricket remains the ultimate form of the game, but I’m comfortable I’ve made the right choice,’ the 34-year-old said. Bond’s latest comeback in the Test series against Pakistan ended after the first Test – in which he took eight wickets – when an abdominal muscle tear ruled him out of the remaining two matches. ‘I’ve worked really hard to get back to Test match fitness – it’s what I’ve been working towards for the past two years – and I feel I gave as much as I could,’ Bond said. ‘But looking back, so many of my injuries have come during Test cricket.’ ‘Unfortunately my body just won’t let me continue to play at that level, given the workload and demands of Test cricket.’ Bond played only 18 Tests after his debut in 2001 because of a series of injuries and his involve

ISLAMABAD, Former captain of Pakistan cricket team Imran Khan has said Indian lobby along with umpires could be involved in match-fixing in the semi-final against New Zealand. Talking to a private TV channel, former captain said the poor level of umpiring in the semi-final raised doubts. Though, over confident Pakistani team played badly but match-fixing allegations by the standing committee against team are baseless. The legendary bowler further said that there is no place of Younis Khan in the team and his role is not more then a captain. He said Muhammad Asif should have been included in the team in place of Umer Gul in the semi-final. Read the full story here.

Sri Lanka will now be a distant memory for these two teams. Leading into this tournament, both Pakistan and New Zealand took turns in getting battered and bruised in the heat and humidity of Sri Lanka. They came to South Africa with doubts looming over their ability to stick it out with other teams in formats longer than Twenty20. Both duly won their Twenty20s in Sri Lanka, and lost both Tests and ODIs comprehensively. The weather in South Africa has been different, and so have been the results. New Zealand extracted swift revenge, knocking Sri Lanka out. But with every passing match they seem to be losing one player to injury. During their must-win game against England, Grant Elliot joined Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Daryl Tuffey on the injured list, and Scott Styris has been flown in as a stand-by. Their travel agent won't mind flying another man in, if that means making it to the next stage. Their opponents have no such problems. Unlike their famous triumphs, the 1992 World Cup

2016 Olympics are to be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro ("City of Jesus", English pronunciation: /ˈriːoʊ dɪ ʒəˈnɛəroʊ/; Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈxiu dʒi ʒaˈneiɾu]) is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. It is also the former capital of the Portuguese Empire (1808–1821). Commonly known as just Rio, the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa, or "The Marvelous City". Rio was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic Games on October 2nd, 2009 in Copenhagen. Rio de Janeiro is famous for its natural settings, its carnival celebrations, samba and other music, and hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana and Ipanema. Some of the most famous landmarks in add

India were crushed out of Champions Trophy as Australia defeated Pakistan by two wickets in a nail-biting encounter here today. Pakistan and Australia have qualified for the Semi Finals fro Group B. Australia to meet England in the semi finals while Pakistan will take on New Zealand.

Pakistan made it two wins from two in the Champions Trophy as Shoaib Malik's masterful 128 set up a 54-run win over an out-of-sorts India in Centurion. Malik and Mohammad Yousuf (87), who put on 206 together, built up their score gradually before cutting loose in the last 15 overs to rack up 302-9. Rahul Dravid took 103 balls to reach 76 and when he was seventh out in the 42nd over, India quickly lost their way. They were all out for 248 with five overs and one ball remaining. With such a strong net run-rate, it would take a heavy loss to Australia, and two other results going against them, to prevent Pakistan, the World Twenty20 champions, making the semi-finals. India's key match could be against Australia, with the winner of that likely to take the other semi-final berth from Group A. A critical difference between the two sides was the effectiveness of each set of spinners. India off-spinners Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan were cut for a succession of wonderful boundarie

For once, India and Pakistan will not be playing on an island. India-Pakistan matches are usually separate events within the main event, oblivious to the larger picture of the tournament, but this game doesn't seem to be the usual matter of life and death. For once, this match, though the first big clash of the Champions Trophy in terms of traditional rivals coming face to face, is more about the cricket. What's helped is the tight draw in the tournament format. Pakistan, who have been more vocal in setting up the match (Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul and Younis Khan have been quoted on how badly they want to beat India), will know only net run-rate can keep them out of semi-finals if they win this match. India, blighted by injuries to Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, have a year and a half of good work done in ODIs to defend. A loss in their opening match will leave them needing to beat Australia and possibly run-rate calculations to go their way. The build-up for this

Pakistan survived an early-innings scare to begin their Champions Trophy campaign with a wobbly five-wicket victory over West Indies at The Wanderers. Three wickets each for Mohammad Aamer and Umar Gul looked to have set Pakistan up for a comfortable win after they bowled their opponents out for 133 in 34.3 overs – Nikita Miller (51) was the mainstay for the Windies with his maiden half-century. But Gavin Tonge (four for 25) posed a constant threat, reducing Pakistan to 76 for five at one stage before Umar Akmal (41 not out) and Shahid Afridi (17 not out) led their side to victory with almost 20 overs to spare. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the second-string Caribbean team – missing all their top players because of a contractual dispute with their board which has since been resolved – began poorly, losing Dale Richards (one) after just six balls when he pushed a return catch to Aamer (three for 24). His fellow opener Andre Fletcher was next to go, and after lifting Rana N

JOHANNESBURG: Six years have passed since their humiliating loss to India in a World Cup match but Pakistan captain Younus Khan says the defeat still hurts and his team would be eyeing revenge when the two sides clash in the Champions Trophy on September 26. In a 2003 World Cup match, Pakistan lost the match despite defending a competitive 270 owing to batting ‘It hurts. I played that match. We scored 270 and still lost. A score of 250 in these conditions is considered safe. But the way Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag batted, and backed by Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, we were outplayed. That defeat still hurts,’ Younus said in a pre-tournament press conference. ‘Indeed, we have lost to India in most of these ICC match-ups except only once. Now we deserve to win, going by the law of averages,’ he added. Younus said he wished there were more matches between the two sides. ‘If you get beaten, it’s a long wait to get even. It keeps hurting you,’ he quipped. Also hurting Younus and h