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Babar, Rauf, all-round Shadab help Pakistan brush aside New Zealand

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On a day where everything clicked into place for Pakistan, they swept aside New Zealand to cruise to a six-wicket win. A day after Bangladesh had been given short shrift, another near-flawless bowling performance against a rusty, stilted New Zealand batting-line-up saw the hosts restricted to 147 with Haris Rauf yet again the star. In response, Babar Azam steered Pakistan’s chase with an effortless, unbeaten 53-ball 79. Quickfire cameos from Shdab Khan and Haider Ali helped Pakistan seal the win with 10 balls to spare.

New Zealand struggled to get going early on, with Devon Conway and Kane Williamson struggling for fluency during their 61-run partnership off 52 balls. The pacers cramped New Zealand for room during the fielding restrictions, while Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz kept things tight during the middle. A one-over blip, during which Mark Chapman hammered Nawaz for 22, threatened to see New Zealand claw back some ground they had lost, only for the visitors to hit back and ensure there would be no further shift in momentum. The last three overs saw 17 runs scored with five wickets lost, by which stage New Zealand were hobbling.

Mohammad Rizwan couldn’t find the fluency that has been characteristic of his game for the past two years and was trapped in front by Tim Southee, before Blair Tickner sent Shan Masood back for a duck. Shadab was the wrecking ball through the middle order, complementing his captain especially well in a fluent, destructive partnership that also yielded 61 – though they took just 42 balls to get there. By then the required rate was effectively around a run-a-ball, where it stayed for the next few overs. Haider Ali and Babar smashed Tickner for 21 in the 18th over, and sealed a second successive win.

Shadab’s promotion

The clamour to have Shadab bat higher up the order has occupied much social-media real estate in Pakistan, and its immediate vindication upon its deployment could potentially have ramifications for Pakistan through the next five weeks. It is in the top four that Shadab has boasted the highest average and strike rate for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League, and Pakistan’s tendency to slow down in the post-powerplay overs had led to baying calls to promote Shadab reaching a crescendo.

On Saturday, Shadab showed why. Everything seemed to fall into place after Rizwan and Masood both fell towards the end of the powerplay. It prompted the allrounder’s first-ever promotion to No.4 with Pakistan, and in the absence of the high pace of Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne, it was a very fruitful match-up. Tickner was slashed through point first ball he faced, before Ish Sodhi’s first ball was hammered over cow corner and out of the stadium.

In just six balls Sodhi bowled to Shadab, Shadab would plunder 19. In all, Shadab scored 34 off 22 balls to easy any pressure in a fairly small chase, allowing his team-mates to cruise along at a much more sedate pace. The option he gives Pakistan would appear to add another dimension to their batting, though how frequently they deem fit to ustilise it is very much an open question.

Williamson and Conway struggle

Conway is New Zealand’s highest-ranked batter, and Williamson perhaps the most reliable, but in their first home game of the season, both looked off-colour. Williamson acknowledged his side’s performance had been “scrappy”, and the 61-run second-wicket stand between the two exemplified that. Pakistan in top form with the ball aren’t an ideal opponent for your first home game of the season, and perhaps that showed.

Conway was able to find the odd four or six, but the dot balls interspersed between those boundaries only continued to add the pressure. It was perhaps telling that only after they fell did New Zealand enjoy their best passage of play with the bat, thanks to Chapman who briefly raised hopes of New Zealand posting a total in excess of 160.It contrasted heavily with the Babar-Shadab stand, which also saw 61 runs scored. But the ten fewer balls it took made all the difference – that was exactly the number of deliveries Pakistan had to spare when the target was chased down.

An all-round bowling performance

Really, though, this game was about Pakistan with the ball. The old adage around bowlers winning tournaments bodes particularly well for Pakistan in this tri-series as two superb bowling performances see them sitting pretty at the top of the table. Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohammad Wasim each kept the hosts on a leash during the powerplay, and backed up by the spinners later on, there wasn’t a weak link to go after.

Aside from that 22-run over, not once did New Zealand score 12 runs or more in any over, making it difficult to catch up to what the par score might have been. Rauf, Dahani, Wasim and Shadab’s 15 combined overs went for just 91, while even the one over Iftikhar bowled cost Pakistan only five. There was simply no place to hide. (cricinfo)

Scores:

New Zealand 147 for 8 wkts in 20 Overs (Devon Conway 36; Haris Rauf 3-28, Mohammad Wasim 2-20, Mohammad Nawaz 2-44)

Pakistan  149 for 4 wkts in 18.2 Overs (Babar Azam 79 n.o., Shadab Khan 34; Blair Tickner 2-42)



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Qualifier Chwalinska sets up final against Andreeva

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Maja Chwalinska lost in the Wimbledon second round (2022) and Australian Open first round (2025) in her only two previous Grand Slam appearances (BBC)

Qualifier Maja Chwalinska is one win away from a fairytale French Open triumph after setting up a final showdown with Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva.

The Polish world number 114, who had only ever won one match at a Grand Slam before this tournament, continued her astonishing run at Roland Garros by beating 25th seed Diana Shnaider 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Three weeks and nine matches after her French Open campaign began, Chwalinska dropped to the ground after firing in the 32nd and final winner of another scintillating display.

With that, she became the first qualifier in history to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros, and the crowd chanted her name as she spoke in her post-match interview.

On Saturday, she will attempt to become only the second qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam after Britain’s Emma Raducannu at the 2021 US Open.

It would be a fitting conclusion to a French Open filled with spectacular shocks  from the outset.

But, on the evidence of her dominant victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the in-form Andreeva will provide the sternest test of her credentials to date.

A beaten semi-finalist in 2024, the 19-year-old was hugely impressive in a 6-1 6-3 victory that made her the third-youngest woman to reach the Roland Garros showpiece this century, after Coco Gauff and Kim Clijsters.

Should she prevail in her first major final, eighth seed Andreeva would become the third-youngest first-time Grand Slam champion this century, after Maria Sharapova and Raducanu.

(BBC)

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Shreyas Iyer to replace Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain

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Shreyas Iyer is India's new T20I captain (Cricinfo)
Shreyas Iyer  is set to replace Suryakumar Yadav as India’s  T20I captain, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set for his maiden call-up, as the national selectors look ahead to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and the next T20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand the same year.
The T20I squad will be announced on Saturday for the upcoming tour of Ireland and England, India’s first T20I assignment since Suryakumar led them to the T20 World Cup title in March.
Suryakumar, 35, is likely to be dropped from the squad altogether. The debate around his position arose following a lukewarm 2026 T20 World Cup, where he scored 242 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 136.72, and a poor IPL 2026 where he recorded only 270 runs in 13 innings at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 147.54.
His successor Shreyas is 31 but has not played a T20I since December 2023 due to India’s inability to find a place for him due to squad combinations, with Suryakumar and Tilak Varma occupying middle-order positions. Shreyas was most recently called up to the T20I squad as an injury replacement during the home series against New Zealand in January this year, but did not play a game because India preferred to pick the players who were going to play in the T20 World Cup that followed.
Shreyas, however, has proven captaincy credentials, having led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title in 2024 and led Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final in 2020 and 2025, respectively. He scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07 in IPL 2025 and 498 runs at a strike rate of 168.81 in IPL 2026.
It is the second successive year in which India’s selectors are making such a decision. In 2025, Rohit Sharma had captained India to the Champions Trophy title in March, but the selectors replaced him as ODI captain before India’s next series in Australia in October. Rohit, however, continued to be part of the ODI squad.
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Sooryavanshi is set to become the youngest player selected in an India men’s squad since Sachin Tendulkar in the late 1980s, following a blockbuster IPL season where he made 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30.   Before the T20I tour of Ireland and England,  Sooryavanshi will play for India A in a tri-series in Sri Lanka also involving Afghanistan from June 9 to 21.
India play Ireland in two T20Is in Belfast on June 26 and 28, followed by five T20Is in England from July 1 to 11.
(Cricinfo)
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Pakistan hold their nerve to take series in low-scoring scrap

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Shadab Khan made another impact with the bat having ended a long wait for wickets [Cricinfo]

Pakistan edged home in a low-scoring tussle to secure their third straight ODI series win against Australia. They batted with grit and patience to scale the target of 158 with four wickets and 49 balls remaining on a square-turner in Lahore.

Pakistan – in a surprising move – produced spin-heavy surfaces for this series, which was supposed to test their player pool ahead of the next year’s ODI World Cup in southern Africa and the pitch for the last match offered extra bite to the spinners as the ball turned and bounced sharply, making run-scoring a difficult proposition, especially during the chase.

Maaz Sadaqat seemed aware of how tough batting would get as the innings progressed and he provided Pakistan a rapid start with a 26-ball 27, hitting five fours. He must have taken notes watching Josh Inglis bat in the first innings, as the Australia captain picked up boundaries in the first powerplay to make the most of the run-scoring opportunities with the balls – one from each end – hard and new.

However, Sadaqat was trapped in front by Matt Short as he looked to paddle-sweep his off-break. The left hander did not curb his attacking instincts despite the wicket of Sahibzada Farhan in the third over as he fell prey to Nathan Ellis’ vicious off-cutter.

The chase was anchored by Babar Azam who made a gutsy 40. He hit only three boundaries – two off Matt Kuhnemann and the other off Ellis – in his 84-ball vigil at the crease. Ellis, who had removed him in the previous two matches, tested his defences with his variations, but Babar had done his homework and seemed to be picking his cutters and slower-ones from the hand rather than the pitch.

The highlight of his stay was his battle with Kuhnemann, who beat his outside edge on myriad occasions. The left-arm finger spinner dragged him forward with his tossed up deliveries on a length and spun the ball away from him sharply. Babar, on each occasion, covered his off stump intelligently, bringing his bat and front foot in unison. But he was undone when Kuhnemann dragged his length back a fraction and produced a magnificent delivery which ripped past the outside edge as Babar went on the back foot.

Kuhnemann had previously removed Ghazi Ghori and Salman Ali Agha to keep Australia in the contest and he finished with 3 for 38. When Matt Renshaw also struck for his first ODI wicket, having Arafat Minhas held at slip by Cameron Green after a bobble, Pakistan were wobbling on 112 for 6

They were dragged over the line by Shadab Khan, who Pakistan feel is their next batting allrounder, as he made an unbeaten 29 off 42 in an unbeaten partnership of 49 with Abdul Samad.

Australia had been skittled for 157 in 42 overs, losing 7 for 38 from 119 for 3, as Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets alongside two apiece for Abrar Ahmed and Shadab after Inglis decided to bat having comfortably defended 232 in the previous match.

The decider began 15 minutes late because of a brief downpour. The only innings of note in the first half of the match was posted by Inglis who made 65 off 71 balls having been moved up to open, with the next best score was 19.

After Short had picked out mid-on second ball of the match (following Alex Carey’s first-ball dismissal two days ago) Inglis batted with fluency. He took on Afridi and welcomed Minhas with a crunching drive for four then a monstrous inside-out six over cover. In an innings in which he scored heavily on the off side, Inglis unfurled reverse sweeps against the spin. He made only 13 out of 65 runs on the leg side.

Marnus Labuschagne’s struggles in ODIs and on this tour continued as a mix up in the 12th over curtailed his stay. He was supporting Inglis by milking the spinners and seemed to have settled when Inglis did not return his call for a second. He had to scramble back from the middle of the wicket only to fall short of a Minhas’ direct hit from the non-striker’s end.

Carey provided a supporting hand to Inglis in a 52-run partnership before a scorching delivery from Haris Rauf nipped into him and struck the top of middle stump. It sparked a collapse and soon Afridi had Inglis and Cameron Green caught across three balls at the start of his second spell.

Salman then took a sharp catch at slip as Abrar lured Renshaw – Australia’s best batter on the tour – into a drive. Abrar also bowled Cooper Connolly in his next over as Australia slipped from 119 for 3 to 131 for 7. Connolly, who replaced Tanveer Sangha, was playing as a batter only as he continues to recover from a back injury which prevented him bowling during the IPL.

Shadab’s wicketless patch finally ended after five ODIs (and more than 300 deliveries) when Ghori took a spectacular catch as the ball looped off Oli Peake’s foot after taking an inside edge. It was after the second ODI that Mike Hesson, the Pakistan head coach, had relegated Shadab to the fifth bowler in this line-up, but the legspinner bowled with good rhythm, bringing the stumps into play more often by tossing the ball on length regularly.

He had Adam Zampa bowled off a ball that stayed low in the 42nd over before the run out of Ellis brought an end to the innings.

Whether producing rank-turners for these three games was the best preparation for the 2027 World Cup which will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia is debatable. That Pakistan have something to celebrate after their poor ODI and Test tour of Bangladesh and a hapless outing in the T20 World Cup will motivate this side.

Scores:
Pakistan 161 for 6 in 41.5 overs  (Babar Azam 40, Shadab Khan 29*;  Matthew Kuhnemann 3-38) beat Australia 157 in 42 overs (Josh Inglis 65; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-30, Abear Ahmed 2-19, Shadab Khan 2-28 ) by four wickets

[Cricinfo]

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