Latest News
Babar and Iftikhar centuries serve up Pakistan victory
On a tricky pitch in Multan, Nepal had made early breakthroughs to leave Pakistan in a precarious position. Babar consolidated the innings during that period, taking 72 balls to reach his fifty. Gradually, he increased the tempo and moved from 51 to 100 in 37 balls. Once he reached his hundred, he went into the T20 mode and smashed 51 off the next 22 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav recently said that ODIs are challenging because you have to bat like all three formats. On Wednesday, Babar showed how to do it.
Babar and Ifthikar Ahmed, who smashed an unbeaten 109 off 71, added 214 off 131 balls in a fifth-wicket stand that lifted Pakistan to 342 for 6. Babar didn’t come out to field and Shadab Khan captained the side during the chase. It made little difference, as Nepal were bowled out for just 104 in 23.4 overs.
Nepal were making their Asia Cup debut, and playing against Pakistan for the first time in any format. That inexperience, and probably the nerves, showed on several occasions. In the first over of the match, Sompal Kami drifted down the leg side a couple of times, and Fakhar Zaman helped himself to two boundaries.
However, the slowness of the pitch and some good fielding came to Nepal’s rescue. With the ball not coming onto the bat, both Fakhar and Imam-ul-Haq struggled for timing. When Fakhar threw his bat at a length ball from Karan and got a thick outside edge, wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh stretched to his left to grab it with both hands. In the next over, Rohit Paudel nailed a direct hit from mid-off to find Imam short.
With Pakistan 25 for 2, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan started rebuilding the innings. Playing risk-free cricket and still picking up a boundary here and there, they took the side to 100 in the 22nd over.
But then Nepal struck back, once again via their fielding. This time Dipendra Singh Airee, from cover, hit the stumps at the bowler’s end to find Rizwan’s bat and both feet in the air as the batter tried to avoid getting hit by the throw. Had Rizwan run normally and grounded his bat, he would have been safe. He made 44 off 50 balls.
Agha Salman attempted a sweep from well outside off and a reverse sweep in the first three balls he faced; neither shot fetched him any runs. Three overs later, he tried another reverse sweep, off Sandeep Lamichhane, but failed to keep it down and was caught at short third.
At 124 for 4, Pakistan were in trouble but Babar was unperturbed. Against spin, he used the cut shot well to rotate the strike, and reached his fifty in 72 balls.
While Nepal fielded like the World XI at certain times, they looked like Ilford Second XI at others. Having dropped Imam on 5 earlier, they put down Babar on 55, not to mention several other causal efforts resulting in misfields. Babar made them pay. He started finding the boundary with increasing frequency and got to his hundred in 109 balls. Fittingly, it was another cut shot against spin that took him to the milestone.
After that, he really opened up. In the 45th over, he hit Kami for 4, 4 and 6 off successive balls before smashing back-to-back sixes off Lamichhane.
From the other end, Iftikhar was even more brutal. In fact, it was his knock that allowed Babar to shift the gears gradually.
Iftikhar attacked right from the moment he came to the crease. He hit the first six of the innings when he launched Kami over deep midwicket in the 35th over. It took him just 67 balls to bring up his maiden ODI hundred against a helpless Nepal attack. In all, Iftikhar hit 11 fours and four sixes as Pakistan ransacked 129 in the last ten overs.
Shaheen Shah Afridi then picked up two wickets in the first over of the chase. He first strangled Kushal Bhurtel down the leg side before trapping Paudel lbw for a first-ball duck. In the next over, Naseem Shah had Aasif caught at first slip to make it 14 for 3.
Aarif Sheikh and Kami gave the innings some semblance of stability by adding 59 off 78 balls but the pair didn’t last long against Haris Rauf’s pace. He first cleaned up Aarif and then had Kami caught behind. The only resistance Pakistan’s fast bowlers faced was from the muggy weather: both Shaheen and Haris had to leave the field for a breather after their first spells.
Nepal’s lower order was no match for Shadab’s variations. Mixing his legbreaks and googlies, he picked up the last four wickets to finish with figures of 4 for 27.
Brief scores:
Pakistan 342/6 in 50 overs (Babar Azam 151, Iftikhar Ahmed 109*; Sompal Kami 2-85) beat Nepal 104 (Sompal Kami 28; Shadab Khan 4-27, Haris Rauf 2-16) by 238 runs.
(Cricinfo)
Donald Trump has stressed that any deal with Iran must result in the country’s “unconditional surrender”, setting maximalist war objectives for the United States.
The US president’s remarks on his Truth Social platform on Friday appear to reject the prospect of a compromise amid Iranian confirmation of diplomatic mediation to end the conflict.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said earlier that some countries are engaging in mediation efforts to end the war, emphasising that Iran is committed to peace in the region but prepared to defend itself.
“Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict,” Pezeshkian said in a social media statement.
The conflict has spread across the Middle East, igniting Iranian attacks across the Gulf and a war between Hezbollah and Israel, resulting in a mass displacement crisis in Lebanon.
Iran has been launching missiles and drones at Israel and US interests and assets across the region. Iranian forces have also targeted energy and civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries, straining ties with the Arab world.
The violence, which saw Iran largely succeed in closing down the Strait of Hormuz, has sent oil prices soaring globally.
Iranian officials have expressed defiance since the start of the war, stressing that they are ready for a long conflict and prepared to fend off a US ground invasion should it occur.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a message to Trump on Thursday that the US plan for a “clean rapid military victory failed”.
“Your Plan B will be even a bigger failure,” Araghchi wrote on X.
On Friday, Iran’s top diplomat posted a photo of the coffins of a mother and child, the apparent victims of US-Israeli attacks. “Our Brave and Powerful Armed Forces will avenge each and every Iranian mother, father, and child who has been targeted by hostile forces,” Araghchi wrote.
The war has killed at least 1,332 people in Iran, among them 181 children, according to UNICEF.
The deadliest incident was a strike on a girls’ primary school in the southern city of Minab on the opening day of the conflict, which Iranian authorities said killed about 180 pupils and staff.
The Trump administration has pushed to project confidence and dominance over Iran, with top officials saying that the US would “rain missiles”, “death and destruction” on the country.
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly said that he would like to replicate the Venezuela playbook in Iran – keeping the governing system in place but installing a leader who is friendly to US interests.
On Wednesday, Trump said he has to be “involved” in choosing the successor of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated in a US-Israeli attack on Saturday.
Trump told CNN later on Thursday that the situation in Iran is going to work “easily” like it did in Venezuela when Delcy Rodigues replaced President Nicolas Maduro after he was abducted by US forces in January.
Rodriguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president, has allowed Washington to sell Venezuela’s oil and cut off petroleum supplies to Cuba under the threat of further US strikes.
Trump said he does not mind of the next leader of Iran is a religious figure.
“I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they’re all our partners,” he told CNN.
The supreme leader of Iran must be a Shia Muslim religious scholar.
Khamenei’s successor will be selected by an elected council of 88 members known as the Assembly of Experts.
[Aljazeera]
A tiny possum with one extra-long finger on each hand is one of two species thought to have been extinct that have been discovered in West Papua, in what’s been called an “exceptional” scientific discovery.
The other is a a ring-tailed glider with a tail that can grasp branches. Both have been found living in remote rainforests after they were thought to have disappeared 6,000 years ago.
Finding living examples of a lost species is rare, but discovering two is “remarkable,” say scientists who published their findings in the Records of the Australian Museum journal on Friday.
Such discoveries are known as “lazarus taxon”, a term inspired by a biblical figure who was raised from the dead.
“The discovery of one lazarus taxon… is an exceptional discovery,” said Prof Tim Flannery, a prominent Australian scientist best known for his 2005 The Weather Makers book about climate change.
“But the discovery of two species, thought to have been extinct for thousands of years, is remarkable.”
The first rediscovered species was the pygmy long-fingered possum, a striped marsupial weighing about 200g, which is understood to have vanished from Australia during the Ice Age.
A distinguishing feature is that on each hand, the possum’s fourth finger is twice the length of other digits, which scientists say help it dig out wood-boring insect larvae, it’s main source of food.
The second species is the ring-tailed glider, and just like its Australian cousin the greater glider, it lives in the hollows of tall trees.
The discoveries were made by piecing together parts of a puzzle with scientists combing through decades-old fossils, rare photos and old specimens to gather clues before making visits to remote New Guinea locations.
Flannery, along with another of the paper’s co-authors Prof Kris Helgen and researchers from the University of Papau, spoke to local elders from the Tambrauw and Maybrat clans – some of whom have only had contact with the modern world since the 1960s.
Identification of the species would not have been possible without their help, according to Rika Korain, a Maybrat woman and another co-author.
“They’re very traditional people,” Flannery added, and regard the glider as so sacred that “not only won’t they hunt it, they won’t mention its name”.
But the gliders habitat was increasingly coming under threat from logging in the area, Flannery said.
This, in part, has prompted efforts by scientists and wildlife groups to try secure native title for the forests to ensure logging cannot be carried out without consent from locals, he said.
(BBC)
The death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon this week has risen to at least 123 people, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health says, as a new wave of strikes pounded the country and Hezbollah warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns within 5km (3 miles) of their northern border, in one of the fiercest fronts in the wider United States – Israel war on Iran.
“The toll from the Israeli aggression on Monday, increased to 123 martyrs and 683 wounded,” a ministry statement said on Thursday.
Lebanese state media said early on Friday that Israel had launched air strikes on several towns in southern Lebanon.
“Enemy warplanes launched nighttime strikes on the towns of Srifa, Aita al-Shaab, Touline, as-Sawana and Majdal Selem,” the official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Another strike hit the eastern Lebanese town of Douris at dawn, the NNA said.
The Israeli army also reported a new attack on the suburb of Dahiyeh in Beirut.
It has also continued attacks in southern Lebanon with raids on the area’s biggest city Sidon, according to sources on the ground.
NNA also reported Israeli warplanes over the southern towns of Tyre and Bint Jbeil.
(Aljazeera)
‘No deal with Iran except unconditional surrender,’ Trump says
Tiny possum and glider thought extinct for 6,000 years found in remote West Papua
Maldives Coast Guard Ship Huravee departs island
Cost to US for war on Iran is $3.7bn in first 100 hours, says think tank
More than 120 killed in Israel’s Lebanon attacks as Beirut, south, east hit
Hungary confirms it is holding seven Ukrainian bank workers and $80m
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
Features5 days agoBrilliant Navy officer no more
-
Opinion5 days agoSri Lanka – world’s worst facilities for cricket fans
-
News2 days agoLegal experts decry move to demolish STC dining hall
-
Features5 days agoA life in colour and song: Rajika Gamage’s new bird guide captures Sri Lanka’s avian soul
-
Business2 days agoCabinet nod for the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported good
-
Features6 days agoOverseas visits to drum up foreign assistance for Sri Lanka
-
Features6 days agoSri Lanka to Host First-Ever World Congress on Snakes in Landmark Scientific Milestone
-
Latest News2 days agoAround 140 people missing after Iranian navy ship sinks off coast of Sri Lanka