Sri Lanka all-rounder Thisara Perera hit a towering six off the penultimate ball to steer the World XI to a thrilling seven-wicket win over Pakistan in the second Twenty20 on Wednesday.
Perera made a whirlwind 47 not out off 19 deliveries with five sixes, while Hashim Amla finished on 72 not out off 55 balls to help the World XI overhaul a 175-run target and level the three-match series 1-1 at a packed Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
That left the series intriguingly placed with the final match today, also in Lahore.
Photo: AP
Pakistan registered a 20-run win in Tuesday’s first match, which marked the return of international cricket to Pakistan.
Left-hander Perera went on a rampage as the visitors needed 33 off the final two overs, smashing two sixes off the 19th over bowled by Sohail Khan before sealing the match in the final over.
Amla, who scored his seventh international Twenty20 half-century, was the steadier of the two, with two sixes and five fours as he helped Perera add 69 runs for the fourth wicket off just 35 deliveries.
That partnership lifted the World XI after they lost Tamim Iqbal (23), Tim Paine (10) and skipper Faf du Plessis (20).
“It was a very happy day,” Perera said. “Hash [Amla] told me to stay till the last moment because we can catch up. I listened to him and we did really well. It’s a habit for me to be in the situation like this. This is a dream come true for me playing in this World XI. Thanks to Pakistan’s fans for coming out in good numbers.”
Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it wants international teams back in Pakistan after an eight-year absence due to security concerns, but added it could be a “long process.”
The “ICC has already agreed to invest in security and develop security capabilities [of Pakistan] for a three-year period,” ICC chief executive David Richardson said. “Certainly I think the intention would be to bring member countries to tour Pakistan, not a World XI tour, and that would be the ideal to have international cricket return to Pakistan in normal circumstances.”
Richardson said it was too early to say when the Pakistan Cricket Board could host a full bilateral series and organize international games in other big cities like Karachi and Rawalpindi.
“It’s a long process,” Richardson said. “This is a stepping stone in the right direction. I think the next step is to improve capabilities to areas and cities outside of Lahore itself.”
However, terror gripped neighboring Afghanistan when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a cricket stadium in the capital, Kabul, on Wednesday, killing three people, including a police officer, and wounding five.
The attacker detonated the bomb after he was stopped at a security checkpoint by police as he walked towards Kabul’s main cricket ground where a match was under way.
The SITE monitoring group said the Islamic State’s local Khorasan Province affiliate had claimed the attack.
“The security forces by sacrificing themselves have prevented the attacker from reaching the crowd [inside the stadium] and creating a catastrophe,” police spokesman Basir Mujahid told reporters.
Two of the wounded were police officers.
Scores of police blocked the road leading to the stadium where the sixth match of the Shpageeza Cricket League, a domestic Twenty20 tournament, between the Boost Defenders and Mis Ainak Knights was under way.
Hundreds of spectators could be heard from outside the stadium as firefighters washed down the road where the bomber had blown himself to bits.
Afghanistan Cricket Board spokesman Farid Hotak told reporters that the match was briefly interrupted and “all players and cricket board officials are safe.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS