Cricket Celebrities

LAHORE: Former fast bowler Shaoib Akhtar’s lawyer Abuzar Salman Khan Niazi has replied to the legal defamation notice served on the pacer by Taffazul Rizvi, the lawyer of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on April 29. Shoaib’s lawyer has dismissed the legal notice of defamation by saying: “That, the notice under reply, for all the intents and purposes, is manifestly invalid in law, defective, faulty, vague and circumlocutory and is susceptible to be rejected because the same fails to satisfy the mandatory requirement of Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002.” “A bare reading of the afore-stated section 8 makes it explicitly clear that no action in any form whatsoever under the ordinance are often initiated unless the mandatory requirement of specifying defamatory material within the notice under section 8 is satisfied,” the lawyer further responded. Shoaib’s lawyer further stated: “That in sight of the above you’re urged to withdraw the Notice under Reply forthwith and tender an apology for defaming, humiliating and ridiculing my client vide the Notice under Reply.” Article continues after ad It may be mentioned that Shoaib, during a statement made on his YouTube channel, had criticised the performance of Taffazul and described him as incompetent. Reac­ting to the tirade, Taffazul sent a legal notice of defamation, asking Shoaib to withdraw his statement plus tender an apology otherwise he would sue him certain Rs 100 million.

Ireland have announced the postponement of home matches against New Zealand and Pakistan because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Irish were scheduled to play the Black Caps in three Twenty20s and three ODIs on 19 June-2 July before taking on Pakistan in two T20s. The away ODI series against England is “under active discussion”. Cricket Ireland added that the three games “could move from their original dates in September”. I Balbirnie ‘worried’ about T20 World Cup postponement Ireland tour of Zimbabwe called off Pay cuts for Cricket Ireland staff The loss of the New Zealand and Pakistan matches effectively wipes out Ireland’s schedule of home fixtures this summer. Government announcements in the Republic of Ireland and UK on Covid-19 restrictions have ruled out the feasibility of staging the matches. Up against it “We deeply regret that we can’t provide any international cricket at home to our fans this year, but we were always up against it with our entire home international programme coming in the first half of the season,” said Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom. "We regard our matches as postponed until further notice, and I know Cricket Ireland is not alone in looking forward to the day that the Full Members can get around a table with the ICC to work out how, and if, we can fit everything in the current FTP cycle. "With regards to the three ODIs against England scheduled for September, discussions with the ECB are ongoing. "We will try to be as flexible as possible around these - as they are currently set to be our first fixtures as part of the new World Cup Super League, however, numerous challenges have to be resolved - notably around timing, bio-secure venues and quarantine requirements for players who travel. “We will continue to work with the ECB on trying to make these fixtures happen, but the issues involved will take a little while to work through.”

Bowlers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz have not had their central contracts renewed by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Amir, 28, retired from Tests last year but had hoped to continue playing international white-ball cricket. He has 259 wickets in 145 matches for Pakistan in all formats while Wahab, 34, has 228 wickets in 147 matches. Chief selector, head coach and former captain Misbah-ul-Haq said the pair “remain in contention” and “can still contribute” to Pakistan. Fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Usman Shinwari and 17-year-old Naseem Shah did receive contracts. Batsman Babar Azam was also named one-day international captain, having already held the position of Twenty20 skipper.

Popular actor and Jeeto Pakistan’s Lahore team captain, Adnan Siddiqui, recently came under attack for ‘mocking’ Sarfaraz Ahmed’s speech impairment during the show. On Friday, after severe backlash on social media, particularly Twitter, the actor apologised to former Pakistan cricket team skipper and fans. In the earlier episode, Siddiqui and Ahmed exchanged jibes that attracted much attention, but not entirely for the proper reasons. Also Read: Twitter cancels Adnan Siddiqui for mocking Sarfaraz Ahmed’s speech impairment Being rivals on live television involved a tug of words, but some moral lines appeared to have blurred for the Meray Paas Tum Ho actor, consistent with Ahmed’s fans. People compared the celebrity with Aamir Liaquat, who Siddiqui himself had called out earlier for his ‘crass’ and ‘insensitive’ sense of humour. Adnan Siddiqui However, yesterday when Ahmed entered the sport show’s stage, Siddiqui was already thereon . He instantly said “Can I say something,” to which the show’s host, Fahad Mustafa responded, “First you Ask him (Ahmed) if he wants to listen to anything.” After this they both laughed and Ahmed picked up his mic saying, “You don’t need to say anything.” Adamant on apologising, Siddiqui retorted, “Just tell me which camera is on behalf of me and that i will.” to the present , Mustafa intervened saying, “You are mine and Sarfaraz’s senior, so albeit you slap us live, we’ll not mind it in the least . We apologise to you that folks talked that way about you.” sarfraz-web But Siddiqui still added, “Sarfaraz I still want to apologise to you, your fans, your friends and relations . I can swear on anything, it had been not my intention to mention anything that might hurt your sentiments or your fans.” Following his apology both Ahmed and Mustafa told him it’s all good and no apologies were required to start with. Have something to feature to the story? Share it within the comments below

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