Tag: Spin

LAHORE - Investigation into the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam took a new turn when the newly-appointed Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Malik Iqbal appointed another investigator to the same case and reduced the scope of investigations handled by Additional Director General (ADG) Zafar Qureshi, the investigator already appointed to the case.
Well-placed sources in the FIA told Pakistan Today that Iqbal had taken the step on special orders

NEW DELHI - Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowed out of international cricket after Saturday's World Cup final, left behind a career marked by record-breaking performances and bitter controversy over his action. The off-spinner, who quit Tests last year with 800 wickets in 133 matches, went wicketless in the six-wicket defeat to India, leaving him with with 534 scalps in 350 ODI.
It was a disappointing end to a two-decade career in which he bamboozled batsmen around the world. It will

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara hopes fit-again spinner Muttiah Muralitharan rises to the challenge of a World Cup quarter-final against England on Saturday. Sangakkara said the 38-year-old off-spinner, who will retire from international cricket after the tournament, was fully fit for the R. Premadasa stadium clash.
Muralitharan, who has a world record of 530 one-day wickets, injured his hamstring during Sri Lanka's impressive 112-run win over New Zealand last week,

DHAKA - South Africa captain Graeme Smith says the deliberate shift from pace to spin could help his team beat New Zealand in the World Cup quarter-final on Friday. South Africa, who in the past always used their accomplished battery of fast bowlers to blow away rivals, have played three spinners to take advantage of the slow wickets in the sub-continent. Smith has often handed the new ball to either off-spinner Johan Botha or left-arm spinner Robin Peterson even though South Africa

DHAKA - Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi led a spin assault on the West Indies to bowl out their flat-footed rivals for 112 in the World Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Afridi, already the tournament's leading wicket-taker, took his tally to 21 as he finished with four for 30, including two wickets off successive balls.
Off-spinners Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal chipped in with two wickets each as the West Indies collapsed in a heap after electing to take first strike at

MUMBAI - Veteran spinner Muttiah Muralitharan shrugged off a worrying injury scare to take four wickets as Sri Lanka defeated New Zealand by 112 runs in their World Cup Group A clash on Friday. It was always a tough ask for New Zealand on the Wankhede Stadium pitch, which will stage the April 2 final, where the highest ever successful run chase was 229. Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara had earlier led from the front, hitting a fine 111 as his team posted 265-9 before Muralitharan

NEW DELHI - New Zealand's brittle top order will have to toil for every run against Zimbabwe's nagging spin attack in Friday's World Cup Group A match in Ahmedabad. Australia cruelly exposed New Zealand's vulnerability against raw pace last Friday, skittling them in 45-odd overs for 206, a target they overwhelmed in 34 overs for a ridiculously easy seven-wicket victory.
Zimbabwe, however, will bank on their army of miserly tweakers to straitjacket a New Zealand team grappling

BANGALORE - India look set to beef up their spin options for their blockbuster clash against England on Sunday as both sides face the first major Test of their World Cup credentials. India, strongly fancied to add a second World Cup trophy to their 1983 success, are expected to go into the day-night match with a second specialist spinner in addition to their clutch of part-timers.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla looks likely to join off-spinner Harbhajan Singh at the expense of paceman

DHAKA - Bangladesh will bank on spin to outwit Ireland in Friday's World Cup match, with skipper Shakib Al Hasan warning the visitors they will struggle in Dhaka. "I don't think Ireland like to play in these conditions," Shakib said of the leading non-Test nation ahead of the day-night match at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.
"This is not to say we will take them lightly. Ireland have been playing good cricket. But in our conditions, which suit slow bowlers, we are a good bowling

NAGPUR - Matt Prior paid tribute Sunday to the influence of former Pakistan leg-break bowler Mushtaq Ahmed after being labelled England's best player of spin by team-mate Stuart Broad. Prior's return to the middle-order from an opener's berth for England's World Cup campaign has largely been seen in the context of Kevin Pietersen's promotion to partnering captain Andrew Strauss at the top of the order.
But England are convinced moving Prior down the order is a positive move for

BANGALORE - Piyush Chawla spun India to a remarkable 38-run win over defending champions Australia in a high-profile World Cup warm-up match on Sunday. The leg-spinner took 4-31 as Australia collapsed to 176 chasing a modest 215-run target, after being strongly placed at 118-1 in the day-night match before a sizeable crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Chawla, 22, also upstaged Australian paceman Brett Lee, who earlier gave a superb exhibition of fast bowling to rock

COLOMBO: Part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan bagged two wickets in one over in fading light to boost Sri Lanka's hopes of gaining the lead in the second Test against the West Indies on Thursday.
The off-spinner dismissed well-set Darren Bravo (80) and Brendan Nash (29) before the West Indies reached 165-5 in their first innings at stumps on the third day in reply to Sri Lanka's 387-9 declared. Carlton Baugh was unbeaten on four and Dwayne Bravo on one not out when play was

DUBAI: Rival captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Graeme Smith geared up for a spin battle in the first Test starting here from Friday, as Pakistan seek their first series win in four years.
Pakistan's last Test series win was against the West Indies at home in 2006 and since then they have lost six and drawn the remaining three, but newly inducted captain Misbah hopes his team makes a fresh start at Test cricket's newest venue.
"We are focusing only on cricket and will play to our

KARACHI
Indifferent to the suffering of flood-hit people across the country, some ruling parties' senators have been busy smuggling luxurious items into the country under the guise of relief goods for the affected people.
An official of the Customs told Pakistan Today that he had witnessed luxury goods worth Rs 2.3 billion get cleared by the authorities under the pretext of flood relief aid, in a single day of duty.
There was no record or a check and balnce on other