Classic News

Pakistan make World Baseball Classic

LAHORE: Though Pakistan could win only one match at the recently concluded 27th Asian Senior Baseball Championship, still they qualified for the qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic 2017. The Asian event was held in Chinese Taipei from Sept 16 to 20. According to the Pakistan Federation Baseball executive director Syed Fakhar Shah, Pakistan are placed in Group-4 alongside Brazil (world ranking 15), Israel (22), and Great Britain, ranked 25, just one place below Pakistan. The World Classic is scheduled to be held in New York from Sept 22 to 25. According to Fakhar, Pakistan had improved their Asian ranking to fifth from sixth after featuring in the six-nation Asian Championship won by South Korea. Hosts Chinese Taipei remained second and world’s top-ranked team Japan finished third, followed by China, Pakistan and Indonesia. Pakistan’s lone victory in the event came against Indonesia. “Another honour for Pakistan in the Asian contest is that Jawad Ali of Swabi was named the outstanding defensive player in the presence of teams like Japan, world No.4 Chinese Taipei and World No. 8 Olympic champions South Korea,” Fakhar stated. Meanwhile, PFB president Khawar Shah, who was accompanying the national team in Chinese Taipei, also attended the executive committee meeting of the Baseball Federation of Asia there. He also met the president of the International Baseball Federation Riccardo Fraccari who lauded Pakistan’s performance in the sport. Published in Dawn, September 23rd , 2015 Down Memory Lane: 9 Classic India-Pakistan Cricket Showdowns 1. 22 March, 1985 (Sharjah) After being put into bat first, India were bowled out for a meagre 125. Azharuddin top scored with 47 and Imran Khan completed his 10 overs for 6 wickets, giving away just 14 runs. However, in reply, Pakistan’s team had 5 players finish with a duck as India managed to successfully defend their total. To date, it is the lowest total defended in a 50-over match. 2. 18 April, 1986 (Sharjah) The final of the Austral-Asia Cup, with Gavaskar scoring 92, India set Pakistan a 246-run target. Javed Miandad came at two down and remained unbeaten on 116. He hit a six off the last ball guided Pakistan to the title. 3. 18 December ,1989 (Gujranwala) The second ODI of Pakistan’s four-match series and a young Sachin Tendulkar made his ODI debut. Coming in a three-down, he faced just two balls before getting out for a duck. Pakistan won the match by 7 runs. 4. 9 March 1996 (Bangalore) The 1996 World Cup quarterfinal, opener Navjot Singh Sidhu came out and scored a 115-ball 93, helping India set a 288-run target. The total though had a 45-run contribution from Ajay Jadeja who destroyed Waqar Younis in his innings of 25 balls. India won the match by 39 runs but the tie went down in history for the infamous incident between Venkatesh Prasad and Amir Sohail. During his innings of 55, Sohail hit a boundary off Prasad and pointed in the directed as if to say, “go fetch that”. Prasad silently walked to his mark and ran down for his next delivery, picking up Sohail’s off stump 5. 28 January, 1999 (Chennai) Sachin Tendulkar scored a memorable fourth innings 136. However, India lost the first of the two match series by just 12 runs 6. 7 February 1999 (Delhi) Chasing 420 for the win, something that had never been done in Test history, Pakistan had their task cut out when Anil Kumble started his spell post lunch. 100 already on the board, the spinner started with the wicket of Shahid Afridi, and then Ijaz Ahmed in the very next ball. In a matter of 2 hours and 22 minutes, Kumble earned his full Legend status having picked up all 10 wickets in the innings. India won the match by 212 runs 7. 1 March 2003 (Centurion) A pool A World Cup match, Pakistan posted a 273-run target. In reply, Sachin Tendulkar anchored the innings with his 98 and helped India win the match by 6 wickets. 8. 28 March-1st April 2004 (Multan) Virender Sehwag scored his record 309 in this match after India batted first. Rahul Dravid famously declared India’s first innings at 675, leaving Sachin Tendulkar hanging at 194. In the end though, it all panned out as India won the match by an innings at 52 runs, picking up the team’s first-ever Test victory in Pakistan. 9. 2007 World T20 If the bowl-out in the league phase between the two teams wasn’t nail biting enough, India and Pakistan faced off once again in the final of the first-ever World T20. India posted 157 and Pakistan needed 13 runs in the final over to win the tournament. However they were down to their last wicket. Young skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni handed the ball to an unassuming Joginder Sharma. A six in his third delivery and Pakistan needed just 6 from 4 balls. However, he managed to get Misbah-ul-Haq out in the very next ball. India won the inaugural World T20 With inputs from Arun Gopalakrishnan