Pakistan captain Younus Khan praised Shahid Afridi as a “fantastic performer” after the all-rounder starred with both bat and ball in their side’s convincing win over New Zealand in the first one-day international on Tuesday.
Afridi hit a fiery 50-ball 71 to help Pakistan post 287-9 in their allotted 50 overs before taking two wickets to restrict their rivals to 149, helping Pakistan win the match by 138 runs at Abu Dhabi Stadium.
“Afridi is a fantastic performer and it’s wonderful to see him perform like this,” said Younus after the win. “He batted like he always does, aggressive, and when he has the ball in his hands he aims to take wickets.”
PHOTO: AFP
The victory gave Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match one-day series, relocated to the United Arab Emirates after New Zealand refused to tour Pakistan over security fears.
Afridi was well supported by Kamran Akmal, who hit a 43-ball 67, while opener Khalid Latif laid the foundations with 64.
Latif slowly built the innings through a third-wicket stand of 57 with veteran Mohammad Yousuf (30), after Pakistan lost Salman Butt and Younus Khan — both without scoring to Kiwi quick Shane Bond.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said Afridi and Akmal were the difference.
“Obviously we couldn’t execute as well as we could, Afridi and Akmal played some aggressive cricket and we conceded far too many runs in the last 12 overs, and that was the real reason we lost the game,” Vettori said.
Pakistan mustered 107 runs in the last ten overs, including 55 in the batting power-play — runs Vettori thinks lost his side the game.
“On such flat wickets you need to hit good areas consistently, which we tried, but Afridi and Akmal were excellent and we were left to chase a very big total,” said Vettori, who took two wickets for 34 in his ten overs.
New Zealand lost four early wickets before Vettori (38) and Aaron Redmond (52) added 69 for the fifth wicket — then entered Afridi the bowler.
“We were thinking of scoring 100 runs in the last ten overs but Afridi again made that breakthrough. He has been a very good bowler, No. 10 in the world, and brings aggression and control to the bowling,” Vettori said.
Vettori hoped pacemen Kyle Mills and James Franklin — who both missed the first match through injuries — would be available for the next game.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but