Pakistan national cricket team
| Pakistan | |
|---|---|
 Pakistan cricket crest | |
| Test status granted | 1952 |
| First Test match | v India at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi in India. From 16–18 October 1952. |
| Captain | Test cricket: Misbah Ul-Haq One Day International: Shahid Afridi Twenty20: Shahid Afridi |
| Coach | Waqar Younis |
| Official ICC Test and ODI ranking | 6th in Test cricket, 4th in One Day International |
| Test matches - This year | 336 1 |
| Last Test match | v New Zealand at Basin Reserve, Wellington in New Zealand. From 15–19 January 2011, |
| Wins/losses - This year | 107/99 1/0 |
| As of {{{asofdate}}} | |
Pakistan are the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992 champions, ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup champions twice in 2004 and in 2006 making them the first and the only team to become back to back champions in the U-19 Cricket World Cup tournaments and they are also the ICC World Twenty20 2009 champions. Pakistan have been semi finalist 3 times in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000, 2004 and 2009.
After gaining independence from the British Empire in 1947, Pakistan cricket was played before the first Pakistan national team was granted test match playing status. Documentation and archives show that during the 18th century, cricket was played on the western part of India and many successful Indian cricketers played for the English cricket team.It was not until 28 July 1952 that Pakistan started playing test match cricket. Their first match took place in Delhi against India on October of the same year. Their first international tour was to England during 1954. Over the half century, Pakistan has become one of the most challenging and unpredictable teams in the world, the team won the 1992 Cricket World Cup and were runners up in the 1999 Cricket World Cup.
As of October 2007, the Pakistani team has played 332 Test matches, winning 30.29%, losing 26.76% and drawing 42.94% of its games. The team is ranked sixth in both the ICC Test Championship and ICC ODI Championship.On 28 August 2006, Pakistan won its debut Twenty20 International match in England and were runners up in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in September 2007. They won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, beating Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
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History:
1992 Cricket World Cup
Main article: 1992 Cricket World Cup
At the 1992 World Cup Semi Final, having won the toss, New Zealand chose to bat first and ended with a total of 262 runs. Pakistan batted conservatively yet lost wickets at regular intervals. With the departure of Imran Khan and Saleem Malik shortly thereafter, Pakistan still required 115 runs at a rate of 7.67 runs per over with veteran Javed Miandad being the only known batsman remaining at the crease. A young Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had just turned 22 and was not a well-known player at the time, burst onto the international stage with a match-winning 60 off 37 balls. Once Inzamam got out, Pakistan required 36 runs from 30 balls, which wicketkeeper Moin Khan ended with a towering six over long off, followed by the winning boundary to midwicket. The match is seen as the emergence of Inzamam onto the international stage.The 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand marked Pakistan's first World Cup victory. It is remembered for the comeback Pakistan made after losing key players such as Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar and being led by an injured captain in Imran Khan. Pakistan lost 4 of their first 5 matches and were nearly eliminated in the first round of the tournament after being bowled out for 74 runs against England, until the match was declared as a "no result" due to rain. Imran Khan famously told the team to play as "cornered tigers", after which Pakistan won five successive matches, including, most famously, the semi-final against hosts New Zealand and the final against England.
2007 Cricket World Cup
The 2007 Cricket World Cup was one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when Pakistan was knocked out of the competition in a shock defeat to Ireland, who were playing in their first competition. Pakistan, needing to win to qualify for the next stage after losing to the West Indies in their opening match, were put into bat by Ireland. They lost wickets regularly and only 4 batsmen scored double figures. In the end they were bowled out by the Irish for 132 runs. The Irish went on to win the match, after Niall O'Brien scored 72 runs. This meant that Pakistan had been knocked out during the first round for the second consecutive World Cup.Tragedy struck the team when coach Bob Woolmer died one day later on 18 March 2007 in a hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaican police spokesman, Karl Angell, reported on 23 March 2007 that, "Mr Woolmer's death was due to asphyxiation as a result of manual strangulation" and that, "Mr Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaica police as a case of murder.Assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed acted as temporary coach for the team's final group game of the tournament.Subsequent to his team's defeat and the death of Woolmer, Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his resignation as captain of the team and his retirement from one-day cricket, stating that he would continue to take part in Test cricket but not as captain.Shoaib Malik was announced as his successor.Following his return to the squad, Salman Butt was appointed as vice-captain until December 2007.
On 23 March 2007, Pakistan players and officials were questioned by Jamaican police and submitted DNA samples along with fingerprints, as part of the routine enquiries in the investigation into Woolmer's murder.Three days after leaving the West Indies for Pakistan, via London, the Pakistan team were ruled out as suspects. The deputy commissioner of Jamaican police. Mark Shields, the detective in charge of the investigation, announced, "It's fair to say they are now being treated as witnesses." "I have got no evidence to suggest it was anybody in the squad. A memorial service was held in Sacred Heart Church, Lahore, for Bob Woolmer on 1 April 2007. Among the attendees were Pakistan players and dignitaries, including Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was quoted as saying, "After Woolmer's family, the Pakistan team was the most aggrieved by his death. After the World Cup ended, serious doubts were raised about the investigation, with increasing speculation that Woolmer died of natural causes. This has now been accepted as fact, and the case has been closed.Pakistan Qualified for Final Of T20 2009 beating SouthAfrica by 7 runs in 1st semifinal.
On 20 April 2007, a PCB official announced that former Test cricketer Talat Ali would act as interim coach, in addition to his role as team manager, until a new coach had been appointed.On 16 July 2007, Geoff Lawson, previously head coach of New South Wales, was appointed coach of the Pakistan for two years, becoming the third foreigner to take on the role. In the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, Pakistan exceeded expectations to reach the final but ended as runners-up, after losing the final to India in a nail-biting finish. On 25 October 2008, Intikhab Alam was named as a national coach of the team by the PCB.
2009 ICC World T20
On 21 June 2009 Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, beating Sri Lanka in the final by eight wickets. Pakistan had begun the tournament slowly losing two of their first three matches but after dismissing New Zealand for 99 runs in the Super 8 stage they had a run of four consecutive wins including beating previously unbeaten South Africa, in the semi-final and Sri Lanka.
2011 Cricket World Cup
Team Green had an amazing start in the icc world cup 2011. After a huge comeback in the series against New Zealand, Pakistan set its eyes on the World Cup. Defeating the aussies was not an easy task for a fifth class team to do but team green made it possible and after defeating the aussies, Pakistan reached the quater-finals and humiliated the black team. The Pakistan team consisted of Shahid Afridi(captian) Misbah ul Haq(vice captian) Kamran Akmal(wicket keeper), Umar Akmal, Mohammed Hafeez, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Junaid Khan, Shoaib Akhter, Umar Gul, Asad Shafiq and Wahab Riaz.On March 30, Pakistan had a match wit its most bitterest rival, India at Mohali. Against Imran Khan`s recommendations Pakistan did not let Shoaib Akhter play. Wahab Riaz was at his best taking 5 wickets and a beautifully bowled Yuvraj Singh on his first ball. Due to dropped catches, Sachin Tendulkar was very lucky and made an outstanding 50. Pakistan had a target of 260 which was not a difficult task. Due to slow and lazy batting by the vice-captain pakistan lost to India by 29 runs.
After the match, the captain Shahid Khan Afridi said sorry to his nation and left the stadium with eyes full of tears.
Tournament History:
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