Aaqib Javed has been appointed as the limited-overs head coach of the Pakistan men’s national cricket team. The 52-year-old has been appointed to the white-ball coaching role on an interim basis. He will continue this role till the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. 

Aaqib Javed's responsibilities 

Javed will start his interim coaching journey for the Pakistan team after the end of the Australia tour. It means he will serve as the head coach during Pakistan's tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa. While Pakistan will play six white-ball matches in Zimbabwe, they will also play another six limited-overs matches in South Africa before Jason Gillespie takes charge of the Pakistan Test team to play a two-match Test series against South Africa. 

SEE ALSO: PCB opens up on head coach Jason Gillespie's removal news

Before the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Pakistan will also play a two-match home Test series against West Indies and a short ODI tri-series with New Zealand and South Africa. 

Pakistan will host the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in February 2025. 

While he is ready for the interim coaching role, Javed will also continue his role as a senior member of the Pakistan men’s national selection committee.

Aaqib Javed's international career

In his international career between 1988 and 1998, the right-arm fast-medium bowler picked up 54 wickets in 22 Tests and 182 wickets in 163 ODIs.

At the age of 19 years and 81 days, Javed recorded an ODI hat-trick against India in Sharjah during the Wills Trophy final in October 1991. He still holds the record for the youngest player to record an ODI hat-trick. In that same ODI, Javed ended with the bowling figures of 10-1-37-7. While he was the second bowler in ODI history to claim a seven-wicket haul (after the Caribbean Winston Davis in 1983), he recorded then the best bowling figures in ODI history. 

After finishing playing career

Javed was the head coach of the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. He was also the head coach of the Pakistan U19 cricket team during their successful journey in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2004, where they won their first U19 WC trophy. 

While Javed worked for the development of the Afghanistan national cricket team, he also worked as the bowling coach for the Pakistan men’s national cricket team. He was also the bowling and head coach of the United Arab Emirates men’s team.  

For the Pakistan Super League team Lahore Qalandars, Javed was involved as the director of cricket operations, bowling consultant, and head coach. 

For a short period, Javed also worked this year with the Sri Lankan men’s national cricket team as the fast bowling coach. 

Former Australian star pacer Jason Gillespie is likely to be removed from the head coach of the Pakistan national cricket team, as former Pakistan pacer and 1992 World Cup winner is set to replace Gillespie.

Jason Gillespie was working as the Test head coach and former South African cricketer Gary Kirsten was the white-ball head coach for the Pakistan men’s team.

Jason Gillespie took additional responsibilities after Gary Kirsten's resign

Recently, Kirsten stepped down from the head coach role of Pakistan’s limited-overs sides. In his absence, the Test head coach Gillespie was working with the white-ball teams on an interim basis. 

After Pakistan dramatically won the home Test series against England by 2-1, despite losing the first Test, they started the ongoing Australia tour with a historic ODI series win (2-1) once again after losing the series opener. 

However, Pakistan have lost the three-match T20I series as they are already down to 2-0 before the last game of the series. 

According to the latest ESPNcricinfo report, Gillespie is likely to be released from all the head coach duties for Pakistan. While Australia vs Pakistan's last T20I match has been scheduled for Monday (November 18) at Hobart, Gillespie’s tenure can officially end on Monday.

The reason for Gillespie's step down

According to an ESPNcricinfo report, as Kirsten left the Pakistan team, the Test coach Gilespie was asked to take the additional white-ball roles without changing the present contract. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was expected to see Gillespie as the all-format head coach till the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which Pakistan will host in February 2025.

However, Gillespie refused to accept the additional role under the present contract. As both parties have different views, the PCB is set to release Gillespie, as the board wants an all-format head coach.

Aaqib Javed is set to replace Gillespie

The 52-year-old Aaqib Javed is likely to take the all-format head coach role of the Pakistan men’s cricket team. He played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs, where the right-arm fast-medium bowler took 54 and 182 wickets, respectively. 

Javed was one of the key members of the Pakistan team that won the ODI World Cup 1992. He took 11 wickets in 10 games of that tournament. In the final against England, where Pakistan won by 22 runs, Javed was the best economical bowler for Pakistan with the bowling figures of 10-2-27-2.    

Hosts Australia have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against Pakistan after winning the rain-curtailed Brisbane T20I on Thursday (November 14). However, there was a controversy, and some cricket fans were confused and surprised by the incident. 

The series-opener Brisbane T20I was shrunk to a 7-over contest. Australia scored 93/4, thanks to the powerful batting from Glenn Maxwell (43 off 19 balls) and Marcus Stoinis (21 not out off 7 balls). 

In reply, Pakistan scored 64/9 in seven overs, where Xavier Bartlett (3/13) and Nathan Ellis (3/9) took three wickets each, while Adam Zampa (2/11) and Spencer Johnson (1/29) shared the other three wickets.

The Controversy

In the first innings, Pakistan used four bowlers. After Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf completed their two-over quotas, Naseem Shah delivered the final over of the innings, which was his second over of the match. As Abbas Afridi bowled one over (2/9), Pakistan used four bowlers in the game.

Some cricket fans raised questions in that innings as Pakistan didn’t use the five bowlers in the innings. Even before the toss, the broadcasters also clarified that two bowlers can deliver a maximum of two overs each, and three other bowlers can deliver one over each. 

It will be a seven-over game 2 over powerplay, 2 bowlers can bowl two overs and three can bowl one#PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/6LOveDiSQD

— PTV Sports (@PTVSp0rts) November 14, 2024

Play will start at 3:20 PM (Pakistan Time), with 7 overs per side.

2 bowlers can bowl 2 overs each, and the other 3 bowlers will bowl an over each.#AUSvPAK | #PAKvsAUS | #PakistanCricket | #Cricket pic.twitter.com/jjffkh5pxt

— PakPassion.net (@PakPassion) November 14, 2024

In fact, if we look at the second innings of the match, Australia also used the same tactics as Johnson, Bartlett, and Ellis bowled two overs each before Zampa delivered the last over. 

Usually, in limited-over matches, a team must use five bowlers (excluding a team’s innings was interrupted and not possible to restart their innings). In the shortened limited-over matches, the total overs have been divided between five bowlers, and some bowlers can deliver one additional over to make up the balance in the case of total overs not being divisible by five.

Special rule

However, T20I cricket has a special rule to allow each team to complete the innings with less than five bowlers in special cases.  

The ICC playing condition 13.9.4 claims, “for innings of rescheduled length of between 5 and 9 overs, no bowler may bowl more than two overs.” In this special condition, there is no requirement to use at least five bowlers if the innings are rescheduled between 5 and 9 overs.

So, the umpires and both the teams didn’t make any mistakes. However, the broadcasters made mistakes that brought more confusion to the cricket fans. 

In fact, it wasn't the first time we experienced it. The 2017 Thiruvananthapuram T20I between India and New Zealand also experienced a similar incident, where the Blackcaps used four bowlers, and each bowled two overs in the 8-over innings. 

While Pakistan batter Babar Azam has maintained the top position in the ODI batting rankings, a Pakistan pacer has returned to the top in the ODI bowling rankings. 

Recently, Pakistan shined with a historic ODI series win against the hosts Australia, as the visitors won the three-match ODI series by 2-1 after losing the series opener. 

ODI bowling rankings: Shaheen Shah Afridi shines along with Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah

While the left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi finished the away ODI series in Australia with eight wickets after three matches, he climbed to the top place of the ODI bowling rankings. 

Other Pakistan fast bowlers Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah both moved up to 14 positions in the ODI bowling rankings, as Rauf is in the 13th place and Shah is in his career-best 55th position. Rauf won the Player of the Series award in the ODI series in Australia after picking up 10 wickets and finishing the series as the leading wicket-taker. Meanwhile, Shah took five wickets in the series.

In the ODI bowling rankings, while the Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan has kept his second-place position, South African Keshav Maharaja and the Indian Kuldeep Yadav are in the third and fourth places, respectively. 

While Babar Azam finished the ODI series as the third leading run-scorer with 37, 15 not out, and 28 not out, the right-handed Pakistan batter remained on top of the ODI batting rankings. Indian batters Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli are in the second, third, and fourth places, respectively. 

Former Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi, who won the Player of the Series award against Bangladesh in the ODI series, has continued his top place in the ODI all-rounder rankings. Afghanistan cricketers Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai have climbed third and ninth places, respectively. Bangladesh cricketer Mehidy Hasan Miraz is in fourth place.

SEE ALSO: Mohammad Nabi set to retire from ODIs after Champions Trophy 2025

T20I bowling and batting rankings

English spinner Adil Rashid is staying in the top place of the T20I bowling rankings, while the Sri Lankan star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga is in second place after jumping four spots. Caribbean spinner Akeal Hosein and Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi have climbed to third and seventh positions, respectively. 

While the Australian cricketer Travis Head is on top of the T20I batting rankings, the English cricketers Phil Salt and Jos Buttler and the Caribbean star Nicholas Pooran have climbed to second, sixth, and 10th places, respectively. 

Sanju Samson, who recently became the first Indian cricketer to record T20I centuries in back-to-back innings, has improved 27 ranks by reaching 39th position in the T20I batting rankings. 

Pakistan created a new history by winning the three-match ODI series against the hosts Australia after winning the last game of the series by eight wickets. 

Pakistan pacers dominated in the entire ODI series. In the third or series-decider ODI match at Perth, Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan chose to field first after winning the toss. Australia saw five changes in the playing XI, and Josh Inglis made his captaincy debut in international cricket. All the players, excluding only Inglis, related to the first Test match against India have been rested for the ODI series decider. 

SEE ALSO: Australian squad announced for Perth Test with two potential Test debutants

After bowling out Australia for only 140 runs, Pakistan chased the target in 26.5 overs after losing only two wickets. With this victory, Pakistan won the ODI series by 2-1. 

Among the top seven Australian batters, only the opener Matthew Short (22) and Aaron Hardie (12) reached the double-digit scores in the innings. 

Cooper Connolly was retired hurt

Cooper Connolly was retired hurt after scoring seven runs. On the second ball of the 17th over in the first innings, Connolly received a blow on his left hand from Mohammad Hasnain’s delivery. He went for a pull, but the ball hit his glove. He faced the next delivery before realising his injury. 

The 21-year-old cricketer Connolly has been ruled out from the upcoming home T20I series against Pakistan due to a fractured left hand. The scan report found a fracture to the fourth metacarpal of his left hand. His replacement for the upcoming T20I series will be announced soon. 

Coming back to the game, Australia were struggling at 88/6. Sean Abbott (30), Adam Zampa (13), and Spencer Johnson (12) added some runs to take the scoreboard close to 150 runs. 

All Pakistan pacers took wickets

Pakistan bowlers conceded 22 extras, including 16 wides, but those didn’t affect the visitors. While Shaheen Shah Afridi (3/32) and Naseem Shah (3/54) bagged three wickets each, Mohammad Hasnain (1/24) and Harsi Rauf (2/24) also picked up wickets. 

Pakistan batters chased comfortably

In reply, all the top Pakistan batters provided valuable contributions to chase the target comfortably. Openers Saim Ayub (42) and Abdullah Shafique (37) had an 84-run partnership for the first wicket, while Babar Azam (28*) and Mohammad Rizwan (30*) easily finished the game after both openers were dismissed in the same over. 

Among the Aussie bowlers, only Lance Morris (2/24) managed to pick up wickets. 

While Harris Rauf won the Player of the Match award, he also won the Players of the Series award after finishing the series as the leading wicket-taker (10 wickets).  

Pakistan created history as the first Asian team

It was Pakistan’s second ODI bilateral series victory in Australia. Previously, they recorded it in the 2002 tour when they won the three-match ODI series by 2-1. 

Pakistan became the first Asian team to win an ODI bilateral series more than once in Australia. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan also became the second visiting team in Australia to record twice winning an ODI bilateral series with more than one match. South Africa is the other team in this record as they won the 2009 and 2018 ODI series in Australia tours. 

The extraordinary might of the Australian team was crushed at the Adelaide Oval as Pakistani speedster Haris Rauf ran through the batting lineup like a hot knife through the butter. On a steamy pace-friendly wicket, Rauf extracted prodigious bounce and seam movement to trouble the Aussie batters early on. He received ample support from his pace counterpart Shaheen, who accounted for three dismissals while Naseem and Hasnain finished with one wicket apiece.

Four out of five of his dismissals featured soft dismissals that came in the form of caught behind whereas one solitary dismissal came in the form of bold dismissal. Inglis, Labuschagne, Hardie, Maxwell, and Cummins succumbed to his hostile pace bowling. His figures of 5-29 are his best-recorded ODI figures on Australian soil and on the back of such a ground-breaking performance, the Men in Green can now dream of a potential victory in this series. 

A look into Haris Rauf's obliterating bowling spell   

Out-class Spell by Haris Rauf Today #PAKvsAUS pic.twitter.com/9zKl7mAYAb

— Ahsan Shah 💙 (@parh_ly_ahsan) November 8, 2024

Inglis was the first victim to fall to Rauf's hostile bowling. He was dismissed during the 14th over when he attempted to pull a shortish delivery angling down the leg side. Haris was rewarded for this ordinary delivery as Inglis only managed to get some glove on the way making it all too easy for Rizwan to complete a simple catch behind the stumps. 

Labuschagne was the next batter to depart and he was dismissed at a very crucial time when Australia needed a partnership to stay afloat. Rauf bowled an absolute peach in the form of a seam-up delivery and Labuschagne poked at it tentatively to find the outside edge through to Rizwan behind the stumps. 

Hardie was the next victim to fall and he too succumbed in a very similar fashion as his predecessor Labuschagne during the 26th over of the match. A regulation seam-up delivery on a length deviated very late to take the outside edge of Hardie's bat which ultimately resulted in his demise on 14.

Then a big wicket of Maxwell which completely derailed Australia during the 28th over. Maxwell made a very poor choice to counter-attack Rauf for which he paid a hefty price.  Maxwell's eyes lit up after seeing a short and wide delivery outside off. He tried to take a swipe at it only to drag the ball back onto his stumps.

And then finally, Rauf delivered a final nail in the coffin by removing the skipper Cummins who could have threatened Pakistan in the dying phase of the innings. His dismissal broke the back of the Australian innings as the home side failed to put up a big score on the board.

Where does the match currently stand? 

Shaheen Afridi picked up the final wicket of the innings to clean up Australia for 163. Haris's inspirational bowling spell has given the visitors a fighting chance of getting back into the series. The Men in Green narrowly missed out in the first ODI at Melbourne but with such a relatively small target to chase, Pakistan find themselves on the cusp of a maiden ODI victory in Australia since 2017. 

See also: Low scoring Oman vs UAE ODI enters the record books

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the complete white-ball squads for the upcoming Australia and Zimbabwe tour. The Pakistan men’s national cricket team will now play under the new captain in the upcoming overseas tours.  

Early this month, Babar Azam stepped down from the white-ball captaincy role of the Pakistan national cricket team, citing his workload issue as he wants to put more focus on his batting.

SEE ALSO: PCB announces central contracts with only two names in Category A

Mohammad Rizwan is Pakistan's new ODI and T20I captain

Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has been appointed as the Pakistan ODI and T20I captain. He will lead the Pakistan white-ball teams in the ODI and T20I series in the upcoming Australia and Zimbabwe tour, except for the T20I series in Zimbabwe, where he has been rested.

In the Australia tour, Pakistan will play a three-match ODI series and a three-match T20I series, starting on November 4. Then, Pakistan will travel to Zimbabwe for another three-match ODI and T20I series, starting on November 24. 

Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Naseem Shah, who were rested for the last two matches of the recently concluded three-match home Test series against England, are ready for the Australia tour as all of them are present in both ODI and T20I squads of the tour. However, they have been rested from the Zimbabwe tour. 

Salman Agha will lead T20I team in Zimbabwe 

After leading Pakistan in three successive away white-ball series, ODI and T20I series in Australia and ODI series in Zimbabwe, Mohammad Rizwan will be rested from the T20I series in Zimbabwe. While Salman Agha will play the deputy role of Rizwan in these three straight white-ball series, he will play the captain role of the T20I squad in the Zimbabwe tour. 

Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Faisal Akram, and Haseebullah are the uncapped players in the ODI squads. Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Saim Ayub. Jahandad Khan and Salman Ali Agha are the non-debutant names in the T20I squads. 

After these two tours, Pakistan will travel to South Africa for a three-match T20I series, a three-match ODI series, and a two-match Test series.   

Pakistan squads for Australia tour 

ODI squad: Mohammad Rizwan (Captain and wk), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi

T20I squad: Mohammad Rizwan (Captain and wk), Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Usman Khan

Pakistan squads for Zimbabwe tour

ODI squad: Mohammad Rizwan (Captain and wk), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir

T20I squad: Salman Agha (Captain), Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wk), Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan

Just after Pakistan won the home Test series against England, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the new central contracts for men’s cricketers for the ongoing 2024-25 season. 

The PCB has offered the 2024-25 central contracts to 25 cricketers. This contract is effective from July 1, 2024, for 12 months. 

The PCB officially stated, “The contracts have been offered under the structure that was agreed last year between the players and the PCB for a three-year period.”

Five new names in the central contract

Out of the 25 players, five have been named for the first time in the annual central contracts. These players are Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Usman Khan. All of these players have been named in Category D. 

Only Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been named in Category A. 

Test captain Shan Masood has earned Category B along with the top pacers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi. 

Nine cricketers have been named in Category C, and 11 players have been included in Category D. The players like Haris Rauf, Saud Shakeel, and Abdullah Shafique are in Category C. 

2024-25 Central Contract

Category A: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan

Category B: Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood

Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan

Category D: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan

Pakistan recently won the home Test series against England

After losing the shocking home Test series against Bangladesh by 2-0, Pakistan recently won another home Test series against England. Despite losing the first Test shockingly, Pakistan dominated the next two Tests to stunningly win the series. 

Pakistan will now travel to Australia for a three-match ODI and another three-match T20I series. Then, they will play another three-match ODI and T20I series in Zimbabwe tour.  

India Women secured a comprehensive 6-wicket victory against Pakistan Women in their 100th T20I match, held in Dubai, marking their first win in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Pakistan Women struggled to gain momentum. Early breakthroughs in the powerplay saw them lose two wickets cheaply, and India’s disciplined bowling, led by Arundhati Reddy's impressive 3/19, kept the pressure on throughout the innings. Nida Dar top-scored for Pakistan with 28, but their innings never took off, as they were restricted to a modest total of 105/8 in 20 overs.

In response, India Women had a cautious start, with the openers finding it hard to score freely. Smriti Mandhana fell early for 7, but a steady 43-run partnership between Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues helped stabilize the chase. Despite a few stumbles along the way, with Skipper Fatima Sana’s double strike threatening to turn the match, Harmanpreet Kaur stepped up with a crucial knock of 29 to steer India home. Though she retired hurt in the final over due to neck pain, her efforts ensured India clinched their sixth World Cup victory against Pakistan.

See Also: Why did India Women falter? analyzing the blunders

Analyzing India Women's Powerplay Efficiency Against Pakistan

In their 100th T20I match, India Women put on a dominant display in the powerplay against Pakistan Women during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. After winning the toss and opting to bat, Pakistan's hopes of a strong start were dashed by India’s disciplined bowling attack. The Indian bowlers, led by Arundhati Reddy and a cohesive unit, applied pressure right from the first over. Pakistan lost two key wickets inside the powerplay, limiting their ability to set an aggressive tone.

India’s bowling performance was a clinical one, with a remarkable economy rate of 4.83 during the powerplay. The standout feature of their attack was their ability to bowl dot balls consistently, with 23 out of the 36 deliveries not conceding any runs. This strangled Pakistan’s batting lineup and prevented them from finding any rhythm. India’s bowlers were sharp in their lines and lengths, ensuring that the batters struggled to rotate the strike.

Pakistan, in response, could only muster 29 runs during the six-over powerplay. While they tried to break free with a few boundaries, India’s tight fielding and precision bowling kept them in check. The powerplay ended with India taking two wickets, leaving Pakistan reeling at 29/2 and struggling to recover from the early damage. The wickets that fell during this phase proved crucial, as Pakistan was never able to recover and post a competitive total.

The two wickets that India Women secured were pivotal in turning the match in their favor. One of the key dismissals came when Pakistan’s opener attempted to counter-attack but mistimed a shot, leading to a catch. Harmanpreet Kaur, India’s captain, was instrumental in setting the field and keeping the pressure on Pakistan’s batters, making quick bowling changes and ensuring Pakistan never found a way back into the game. 

As the powerplay concluded, India’s bowlers had already set the tone for the rest of the innings. The consistent dot balls and disciplined bowling helped restrict Pakistan to a modest score of 105/8 in their full 20 overs. India Women’s performance in the powerplay, marked by pressure, wickets, and precision, laid the foundation for what would become a comfortable six-wicket victory over their arch-rivals.

See Also: How did each New Zealand batter falter against Prabath Jayasuriya's spin?

Pakistan’s fast bowler Faheem Ashraf has voiced concerns over the umpiring standards in the country’s domestic cricket, specifically during the ongoing Champions One Day Cup. He pointed out how decisions on the field are often influenced by personal relationships between players and umpires, raising questions about the impartiality of officiating. His remarks have ignited a fresh debate on the quality of umpiring in Pakistan's domestic tournaments.

Umpiring standards under scrutiny

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently launched the Champions One Day Cup, a domestic tournament featuring five teams: Markhors, Dolphins, Panthers, Stallions, and Lions. High-profile cricketers like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Haris, and Mohammad Rizwan are captaining these teams, with star players like Haris Rauf, Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, and Naseem Shah also participating. Despite the star-studded lineup, the spotlight has turned to the performance of umpires in the tournament.

In a post-match presentation, Faheem Ashraf, who is playing for Markhors, commented on the inconsistencies in umpiring. He noted that while the umpires' performances have been under constant surveillance due to improved camera coverage, issues still persist. "The standards of umpiring remain consistent at the domestic level, but due to limited coverage, the quality often goes unnoticed," Ashraf remarked, calling for stricter scrutiny of umpire appointments.

صرف سوچیں یہ بیان عمر اکمل / احمد شہزاد یا کراچی کے کسی کرکٹر نے دیا ہوتا تو کرکٹ بورڈ کیا کرتا pic.twitter.com/nfVmeW7TvL

— Shoaib Jatt (@Shoaib_Jatt) September 19, 2024

Friendships affecting decisions?

Faheem Ashraf made a startling revelation regarding the potential bias in umpiring decisions. He shared that in some domestic matches, players have benefited from their friendly relationships with umpires, leading to favorable decisions. "In domestic cricket, if we have a friendship, we are safe from the umpires. The umpire takes our number. But now, there is no friendship in this tournament, and everything is being broadcast. Everyone in Pakistan is watching," Ashraf said, emphasizing that the current tournament’s extensive coverage leaves no room for favoritism.

See Also: Jasprit Bumrah reaches new milestone in Chennai Test against Bangladesh

Markhors, Faheem’s team, are currently leading the points table, having won all three of their matches so far. The Stallions sit in second place, having won two out of their three games. As the tournament progresses, Ashraf’s comments have sparked important discussions about the integrity of domestic cricket and the need for higher standards in officiating.