The kit has Pakistan written on it in golden color with a black outline while on the back the same pattern is being followed for the name and number of the cricketers.

Buy the Official World Cup 2015 Pakistan Cricket Team Shirt
Buy Pakistan Cricket Team World Cup 2015 Shirt

NEW DELHI: The Indian Premier League cricket bandwagon rolls into action today with organisers hoping India’s World Cup victory last weekend will help the competition regain some of its lost sparkle.

This year’s edition — spread over 51 days and comprising 74 matches across 13 venues — will be the first after the ousting of its outspoken founder Lalit Modi, who was forced out last year under a cloud of corruption allegations.

The tournament’s future had looked in doubt amid claims of corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide teams’ real owners and even links to India’s criminal underworld.

But a massive PR exercise by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has ensured the IPL has kept its date with fans, as well as sponsors and advertisers hungry for their share of the huge commercial pie.

IPL chief executive Sundar Raman dismissed fears that cricket fans in India, still recovering from celebrations after Saturday’s victory over Sri Lanka in the World Cup final, could suffer sporting overload.

“The success of the Indian team in the World Cup has made it (IPL) more interesting,” Raman told AFP, saying the tournament would “carry on from where the World Cup ended”.

“Fans are already into cricket and celebrating India’s victory. We are confident of building on the success of the last edition.”

This year’s IPL, the fourth time it has been held, will have two new teams in Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Pune Warriors, taking the total number of franchises to 10.

The opening game will feature Chennai Super Kings, led by victorious Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and the Kolkata Knight Riders, owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

The IPL revolutionised the sport when it burst onto the scene in 2008 with a high-octane blend of international star players, scantily-clad cheerleaders and Bollywood glamour.

Using the short Twenty20 form of the game, IPL matches are usually three-hour events packed with music, delirious crowds and countless television advertisements.

Everything from the time-out to the drinks break is sponsored by companies, earning Indian cricket authorities millions in revenue.

The fourth edition is likely to see IPL bosses reduce the decadent post-match parties, which were blamed by some for India’s failure in the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean last year.

The much-discussed cheerleader jobs — all taken by Western women in previous editions — might be given to locals who will don traditional Indian outfits in place of barely-there miniskirts, local media reports say.

MOHALI: Vanquished captain Shahid Afridi expects a mature reaction from fans in Pakistan when their team return after going down to India in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

“In my opinion we have played better than 2003 and 2007 when our teams were much better. Nobody was expecting anything from this team. I am proud of this team,” Afridi told reporters.

The 1992 champions have been unable to play international matches at home since the 2009 armed attack on the Sri Lanka cricketers in Lahore and the recent spot-fixing scandal has raised serious doubts about their players’ integrity.

The scandal robbed them of the services of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and, understandably, few were prepared to bet on Pakistan winning the showpiece event for a second time.

“I think people have realised that we have put in our full effort. We have won six out of eight matches which is a big achievement,” Afridi said.

“We have confidence (in our fans). Our country has backed us so much. People who love you so much can criticise you as well. It’s not a big deal.” Afridi’s counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni recalled the fans’ ire when they stoned the cricketers’ houses after India’s first-round exit in the 2007 World Cup.

Dhoni said those were the moments when support really mattered. “We are here to entertain. We have always given our best whether it was the 2007 World Cup or the 2011,” he said. “We don’t really like losing and always give our best. We always need the support, especially when we are not doing well.

“We know when we are doing well, the whole of India is with us. But it’s moments like the 2007 World Cup when you really need the kind of support to boost the players.

“I still remember it took me over a month to get out of that kind of depression,” he said.

DHAKA: Confident Pakistan take on the West Indies in the World Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday hoping to continue their winning run in the tournament against a side bruised by recent defeats.

The hugely talented, but unpredictable, Pakistanis have been the revelation of the tournament so far by topping Group A with five wins in six matches in the preliminary league.

The West Indies inexplicably lost their last two games against England and India from dominant positions to finish fourth in Group B with three wins, the same as Bangladesh, but with a superior run-rate.

Shahid Afridi’s Pakistan saved the best for the end when they broke three-time defending champions Australia’s unbeaten streak of 34 World Cup matches with a four-wicket win in Colombo on Saturday.

It was just the tonic Pakistan needed after being stripped of big-time cricket at home due to security concerns in their volatile nation and tainted by an unsavoury spot-fixing scandal.

The absence of former captain Salman Butt and pace spearheads Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif due to the controversy was not felt as the team rallied superbly under their inspirational captain.

Afridi is the tournament’s leading bowler with 17 wickets with his fastish leg-breaks, while seamer Umar Gul has kept the pressure on at the other end with 13 wickets.

All-rounder Afridi may have failed with the bat so far with just 65 runs in six games, but young guns Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq have shone brightly in their first World Cup.

Akmal has scored 211 runs at 52.75 and Shafiq averages 124 in the two games he has played so far, while seasoned seniors like Misbah-ul Haq and Younis Khan have lent solidity to the middle-order.

Team manager Intikhab Alam, who was coach when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup under Imran Khan, was delighted with his side’s performance so far.

The former captain attributed the success to “self-belief, fitness and high energy levels.”

“There’s a lot of positive energy among the boys after the victory over Australia and we will take that into the quarter-finals,” Intikhab said. “We are peaking at the right time.”

The West Indies, in contrast, appear to be falling apart just when it matters most.

They were on the brink of victory against England in Chennai when, chasing a modest target of 244, they were comfortably placed at 222-6 before losing their last four wickets for three runs.

Against India on Sunday, they caved in again as eight wickets fell for 34 runs after they were 154-2 and lost by 80 runs.

The West Indies have now lost 18 successive matches against the leading nations, but Darren Sammy’s men cannot afford another defeat in the knock-out rounds.

All is, however, not over yet for the West Indies.

They return to the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka where they shot out Bangladesh for their lowest one-day total of 58 in the league to romp home by nine wickets in a match that lasted under two hours.

Batting star Chris Gayle and key fast bowler Kemar Roach are expected to be back after missing the India game, Gayle with a abdominal strain and Roach due to illness.

Sammy said he was aware of Pakistan’s threat, but remained confident his team can bounce back strongly.

“Pakistan have done well so far, but hopefully they will have their bad match against us and we will bring our A game,” he said. (AFP)

PALLEKELE: New Zealand stopped Pakistan’s winning streak by giving them a shocking defeat of 110 runs in their key World Cup Group A match against Pakistan at the new Pallekele stadium on Tuesday.

Pakistan who were leading the Group A points table with three wins in a row has now went down to second position as New Zealand are now on top.

Pakistan batsmen, who were chasing for the first time in the tournament, could not go for runs against a huge target of 303 and were bundled out for 192 in 41.4 overs.

Abdul Razzaq gave Pakistan some respectability with a defiant 62 from 74 balls with nine fours. He was supported by Umar Akmal (38) and Umar Gul (34 not out).

During his innings, Abdul Razzaq reached 5,000 runs in ODI cricket. He became the fourth allrounder with 5,000 runs and 250 wickets.

The openers failed again as both, Mohammad Hafeez (5) and Ahmed Shahzad (10) went back and then Younis Khan (nought) and Kamran Akmal (8) also departed and Pakistan were reeling at 23-4.

Later, Pakistan’s most in-form batsman Misbah-ul-Haq resisted against the Kiwi attack for a while but he was also dismissed for seven when score reached 45.

Then, captain Shahid Afridi displayed some aggression, hitting two fours and a six, but he was bowled by Jacob Oram for 17, made off nine balls.

However, Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq provided some resistance and took the score to 100 before Umar getting out for 38.

Abdul Razzaq, then found a good partner in Umar Gul and both added 66 runs for the ninth wicket partnership.

Umar Gul, hitting a six and three fours, remained not out on 34.

Earlier, Ross Taylor smashed a brilliant career-best hundred to lift New Zealand to an emphatic 302 for seven after captain Daniel Vettori won the toss.

Taylor was given two 27th birthday gifts by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal who dropped him on zero and eight off Shoaib Akhtar.

Later, Taylor unleashed some of the most incredible slugging ever inflicted on an attack in a one-day international cricket match never mind the World Cup.

He struck seven towering sixes and eight boundaries in his unbeaten knock of 131 scored off 124 balls for his fourth ODI hundred.

Taylor made the most of his good fortune and ran riot in the 47th over of the innings, hitting paceman Akhtar for two boundaries and three sixes — 28 runs in all — to reach his first World Cup hundred off 117 deliveries.

He then hit two boundaries and three sixes to take 30 off Abdul Razzaq’s 49th over, helping New Zealand add 100 in the last five overs.

Taylor added a blistering 85 for the seventh wicket with Jacob Oram (25 off just nine balls, with three sixes and a boundary) off just 22 balls to punish a hapless Pakistan bowling attack.

Taylor’s previous best of 128 not out came against Sri Lanka at Napier in 2006.

In all, New Zealand blasted 92 runs off the last four overs.