Zimbabwe to replace Afghanistan in Pakistan tri-series
Lahore(PTI): Zimbabwe will replace Afghanistan in the three-nation T20I tournament to be played in Pakistan from November 17 to 29, the PCB said on Saturday.
Afghanistan announced earlier in the day that it would not be sending its team to Pakistan for the tournament, citing the tragic death of three of its cricketers which it claimed occurred in Pakistan’s air strikes in Paktika province.
Sri Lanka are the third side in the tournament beginning in Rawalpindi.
In a statement announcing Zimbabwe's participation, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) merely said that "Afghanistan expressed their inability to participate in the tournament."
"Zimbabwe Cricket has accepted the Pakistan Cricket Board’s invitation to participate in a T20I tri-series also featuring Sri Lanka, to be staged in Rawalpindi and Lahore from 17 to 29 November," the PCB said.
"The maiden tri-series on Pakistan soil has been scheduled to provide all three sides with preparation ahead of next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka."
The tri-series will commence on November 17, with hosts Pakistan taking on Zimbabwe at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The second fixture will also be played at the same venue on November 19, when Sri Lanka take on Zimbabwe.
Following the two matches in Rawalpindi, the action will shift to Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, which will stage the remaining five matches, including the final on November 29.
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), in a post on X, stated that several lives were lost in the incident, including the three players returning home after a "friendly' match in Sharana, the provincial capital.
"The ACB considers this a great loss for Afghanistan's sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family," it said in a statement.
Describing the incident as "tragic", the ACB said "as a gesture of respect to the victims" it had "decided to withdraw from participating in the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series."
The ICC and the BCCI have also condemned the killing of the aspiring cricketers.
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Ex-minister Ramanath Rai hits out at BJP leader Ashoka for ‘irresponsible’ comments on KC Venugopal
Mangaluru: Congress leader and former minister B Ramanath Rai slammed BJP leader R Ashoka for calling AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal an agent of the party high command, and asked if the general secretary and other office-bearers in the BJP were commission agents too.
Rai, who addressed a press meet at the Congress office in the city on Friday, expressed fury over the recent comments of the BJP leader that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was presenting himself in a shameless manner in public life. Ashoka, who is also Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, had said that the Congress government had ‘broken every previous record on corruption-related controversies’.
“Ashoka has spoken with sheer ignorance and displays his lack of maturity, as he often does while facing the media. KC Venugopal has been working at organization of the party and it is unbecoming of Ashoka to criticize Venugopal as he did,” Rai told reporters.
“Being in a responsible position, how acceptable is it for Ashoka to pass disrespectful, random comments about another leader who also holds a responsible position? If KC Venugopal is indeed an agent of the party high command, what should we consider BJP leaders to be? Are they brokers?” he asked
Commenting on Ashoka’s allegations of corruption in the Congress government in Karnataka, Rai pointed out, “The KSRTC land was sold to private parties when he (Ashoka) was transport minister. We can find several such cases across the state, which need to be probed.”
The former minister, however, refused to comment on the incident that occurred at Mangaluru airport during CM Siddaramaiah’s visit to the city recently.
Former mayors Ashraf and Shashidhar Hegde, Congress activists Vishwas Kumar Das, Subhodaya Alva, Shabeer, Baby Kundar, Padmanabha, Nazeer Bajal and Prem were present.
