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Skipper Shan says challenge is to perform consistently after South Africa win

Published

2 weeks ago

October 15, 2025

Pakistan men’s Test captain Shan Masood said the challenge was to perform consistently after the Green Shirts’win against South Africa on Wednesday in the first Test.

Left-arm spinner Noman Ali was South Africa’s chief tormentor as Pakistan won a gripping first Test by 93 runs at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

Set a daunting 277-run target for victory, the visitors and World Test champions were bowled out for 183 on day four.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, skipper Shan said: “The message is this — we are playing good cricket against quality oppostions.

“But at the same time, the challenge is that we need to consistently perform and win matches against top teams.”

He added that talk regarding the first and second divisions of teams in Test cricket would become moot as a result.

Shan also said that mistakes were made, and although there was room to work around them in home conditions, there might not be similar chances in away conditions.

South African left-armer Senuran Muthusamy took 11-174 in the match.

Pakistan made 378 in their first innings, with South Africa scoring 269 in reply.

On a deteriorating surface, the hosts collapsed in their second innings to 167, but it proved enough.

Player-of-the-match Noman finished with 4-79 and 10-191 in the match for his third haul of ten wickets or more in Tests with his left-arm spin.

As Noman continued to play the main character, bamboozling South African batters on an abrasive pitch in the first Test at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, Shaheen Shah Afridi keenly waited for his turn.

It finally arrived on the fourth day of the contest after Pakistan’s pace spearhead had bowled in the earlier stages of the match, but for no real avail.

However, on the match’s penultimate morning, when the left-armer’s length delivery darted into South African top-order batter Tony de Dorzi’s pads to trap the southpaw lbw, it was evident that Shaheen was keen to take the centre stage.

The lanky pacer went on to take three more wickets to blow away the South African tail and finished with figures of 4-33.

Shan was all praise for the left-arm pacer, saying: “He showed why he is counted amongst the top bowlers of the world today with his performance.”

The victory gives Pakistan an ideal start to the World Test Championship (WTC), having come last in the previous edition.

The second and final Test starts in Rawalpindi from Monday.

“The spinners came into play, reverse swing helped the bowlers do their job today, and the batters did well enough, but we still have a lot of challenges in the middle order,” said Shan.

“We lost 11-37 over the course of two innings, which is not good; we must overcome that.”

‘First innings deficit was crucial’: South Africa skipper

The defeat broke South Africa’s sequence of ten straight Test wins, culminating in the WTC title in June this year when they beat Australia at Lord’s.

Skipper Aiden Markram said the first-innings deficit of 109 was crucial.

“They (Pakistan) had a really good partnership in the first innings when we had them five wickets down,” he said Markram of a Mohammad Rizwan-Salman Agha stand of 163 runs for the sixth wicket.

“We probably could have scored a few more runs in the first innings but I am proud of the way we fought.

“But we need to clean up our game and come back better in the next match.”

He added that the toss was not that crucial to the final result.

Brevis took the fight to the Pakistan spinners in the morning and had reached an aggressive career-best 54, with six fours and two sixes, when Noman bowled him with a sharply turning delivery.

Pakistan had struck in the first over of the day through fast bowler Shaheen, who trapped Tony de Zorzi for 16 without any addition to the overnight total of 51-2.

Tristan Stubbs struggled to cope with the sharp turn and was on two when a premeditated reverse sweep off Noman safely landed in Salman Agha’s hands.

Brevis reached his second Test half-century with a six off Noman before becoming the spinner’s fourth victim.

Opener Rickleton’s dogged resistance was broken by Sajid just before lunch for a gritty 45.

Additional input from AFP

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Babar Azam picked as Fakhar Zaman’s replacement for South Africa T20Is, says Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson

Published

4 hours ago

October 26, 2025

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After staying out of favour in the Twenty20 International format for Pakistan’s last five assignments, former skipper Babar Azam was picked for the upcoming three-match series against South Africa only after Fakhar Zaman’s decided to skip it, white-ball head coach Mike Hesson said on Sunday.

Since Hesson took over the role in June, Babar hasn’t featured for Pakistan in T20Is with the national side playing series against Bangladesh, the West Indies and a tri-nation series followed by the Asia Cup during that period.

Hesson had cited the right-hander’s low strike-rate as the reason for his absence. But Babar’s selection for the series, which starts in Rawalpindi on Tuesday raised suggested a change of mind for the coach before the New Zealander clarified it.

“I certainly endorse his selection,” Hesson said of Babar while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Pakistan’s training session at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. “We’ve sent him (Fakhar) back to first-class cricket after a conversation with him.

“He wanted to focus on improving his technique for one-day cricket, so we gave him a bit of a break from T20s. That’s created an opportunity for another top-order player.”

Hesson confirmed that Babar will take the number three spot instead of the batter’s preferred opening position, where he flourished for Pakistan for a substantial period before eventually falling in form and then out of favour.

The coach, however, has expectations from Babar to make a strong comeback and suggested he saw him in Pakistan’s plans for the T20 World Cup, which is set to be held in February-March next year in India and Sri Lanka.

“It’s a great chance to have Babar back,” said the coach. “He’s likely to bat at number three, a role I’m confident he’ll perform well in.

“It also gives our squad some flexibility ahead of the [T20] World Cup.”

‘Haris needs to work’

Babar’s unexpected return also coincided with the axing of wicket-keeper-batter Mohammad Haris from the Pakistan squad even after he received ample backing from the team management across Hesson’s tenure so far.

The 24-year-old proved his mettle with a century against Bangladesh back in June but gradually lost form amid frequent change of batting positions.

Hesson believed Haris needed to go back to the drawing board to fix his issues.

“Haris has had a number of opportunities recently, and he’d be the first to admit he hasn’t made the most of them,” he said. “But he’s still young and developing, so I wouldn’t say his career is over.

“He needs to work on his decision-making with the bat. Even in domestic T20s, he averages around 17, similar to international cricket, so that’s an area for improvement.”

Haris has been replaced by Usman Khan — who last year gave up on a career in the United Arab Emirates to play for Pakistan before being eventually dropped. He emerged out of nowhere and Hesson said he sees the right-hander, who keeps wickets as well, as a good player of spin.

“We see our wicket-keeper batting more through the middle rather than at the top, especially with spin being such a big factor in Sri Lanka during the World Cup. That’s why Usman has been given this opportunity.”

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FIFA announces new ASEAN Cup for Southeast Asia

Published

6 hours ago

October 26, 2025

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A new tournament, the FIFA ASEAN Cup, will be launched as part of an agreement between FIFA and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), aimed at boosting the development of football across the region.

The announcement was made during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, where FIFA President Gianni Infantino and ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding.

The tournament will bring together national teams from all ASEAN member states in a format inspired by the Arab Cup, which was first organised by FIFA in 2021.

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“This will be a great addition to the regional football calendar,” Infantino said.

“Through the FIFA ASEAN Cup, we are uniting countries together, and this competition will be a huge success as it will help boost national team football in the ASEAN region and support the development of our sport across all of Southeast Asia.”

World football’s governing body will work with regional stakeholders including the Asian Football Confederation, the ASEAN Football Federation, and the relevant FIFA member associations to finalise the tournament’s format.

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