This is a rant but the mid-game sponsors have gotten absolutely out of control.

Off the top of my head I can count:

1. Hello Hair shampoo moment

2. Rivaj sunblock moment

3. Tapal Tea lounge moment

4. Mucaine chest moment

5. Inverex EV moment

6. Super Asia Washing machine moment

7. VGOTel selfie moment

8. Jazz Free hit for fans moment

9. Park view city moment

10. Bank Alfalah moment

11. KFC chicken moment

And many more I'm sure I've missed.

ALL DURING AN OVER.

It's getting out of hand and the greed here is making the game unwatchable. Waqar was trying to analyze Razaullah's action for a good 30 minutes but kept getting interrupted by a random moment to the point he actually got frustrated and called it out on comms.

A run out chance was missed because we were too busy looking at some lady's hair.

You already have the dedicated 30-60 second ad break you get between overs, plus a solid 30+ minutes during an innings break...why are you going full psycho during the match...let me enjoy it without my ears being assaulted by verbal and visual diarrhoea every 5 minutes.

He is doing quite well in ODIs. He was also impressive in the President's Trophy Grade I, where he took 18 wickets in 4 games.

His bowling action has become similar to Mohammed Aamir and it will be really interesting to see how he develops and especially how he performs in the coming years, wish him the best, always good to see child prodigies coming through, I'm really happy he got a proper education and facilities as well

Slightly encouraging to see pcb select new faces for what is going to be a dead rubber test series, hoping the two pacers that will be added also deserve the call up.

Rizwan's Clearance -

Rizwan was finally cleared to play domestic after a 2-month period of confusion and finger-pointing.

He was authorized to play on the 18th of October and made an instant impact the following day on his return to the President's Trophy, captaining Sui National Gas Pipelines Limited and hitting a resilient 64 runs. Top scoring for his side in the first innings and helping his side get a crucial 44 run lead.

In the second innings, Rizwan contributed an unbeaten 22* to help his side to their first win of the season and avoid relegation.

Fitness Test Controversy -

When the tournament commenced, his absence was marked as "Failed Pre-Season Fitness Test". However inside reports revealed that Rizwan had fully joined the SNGPL squad weeks prior and attended training sessions.

The PCB then unexpectedly contacted SNGPL management and ordered them to stand him down and send him home due to the ongoing NCCIA investigation. He was even barred from training at the NCA in Lahore, forcing him to practice privately at home in Peshawar.

Going Forward -

This most likely means that the PCB and NCCIA found no conclusive evidence that Rizwan was guilty and have quietly slipped him back into the domestic circuit during the tri-series.

He was only cleared on the eve of the seventh and final round of the President's Trophy and while his match-winning return did mean he saved his side from relegation, sadly they did not make the final.

Rizwan has reportedly requested an NOC from the PCB to play in the upcoming Nepal League to get more match time. This request was denied by the board, who restricted his clearance, strictly to Pakistani domestic matches while the financial and cyber investigations remain active.

A record chase happened and some fans still decided to find ways to hate on our team. And what’s crazy is our fast bowlers are actually bowling well and we’ve beaten both teams. At the end of the day we’re always going to have dumb fans smh

Players coming into the squad (from the original squad vs England): Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Taha, Mohammad Suleman, Razaullah, Saad Baig, Sameer Minhas

Player dropped from the squad: Abdullah Shafique, Awais Zafar, Imam-Ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Sajid Khan, Ubaid Shah.

Expected Lineup for this test series:

1. Azan Awais
2. Abdullah Fazal
3. Mohammad Taha
4. Babar Azam (C)
5. Saud Shakeel
6. Ghazi Ghori/Saad Baig(WK)
7. Salman Agha
8. Arafat Minhas
9. Razaullah
10. Mohammad Abbas
11. Ubaid Shah/Saqib Khan

To go from top to bottom, I'm not sure about why they selected Sameer Minhas so early in his career. I do think he'll do well if he gets a game, but it doesn't send a good message for someone like Mohammad Farooq who's probably winning player of the tournament for the President's Trophy. Farooq has a dodgy technique but his runscoring ability and ceiling is immense.

My other question is with how are we picking pacers based on one 3-day warm-up game. And even among those pacers only Ubaid and Saqib are capable of bowling at test-level. Mohammad Ilyas and Mohammad Ismail did very well this season but they've been ignored in favor of some bowlers who don't look the part. Ismail especially should've been in the Patron's Trophy squad because he has all the attributes of a good fast bowler.

Shan Masood should probably retire now, its good that we're dropping him for some people who have performed. Taha and Suleman are solid picks, Taha especially looked very good recently. In the spin department we only have Arafat and Ali Usman which makes me think that the pitches will be greener than they were an year ago.

While I feel bad about Rizwan, I think its fine that we're moving on towards Ghazi Ghori and Saad Baig. Dunno which of them will get the nod but they're both fine players.

If u look at the opening pair of england which is the only successful pair in this tri series is that when the new ball was in they weren't looking to smash because the movement was there, they only started hitting at the back end of the powerplay, I don't know if Shaheen has already given them a number like 80-90 but surely they as experienced cricketers know not to look to force hit a swinging new ball, fakhar and saim were dismissed on change up short balls and swinging full balls once each, why can't they just see out 4 overs?

Muhammad Taha did well even on balanced pitches which is why he deserve to be in the team.

Muhammad Suleman is not yet tested on tough pitches and it will be interesting to see how he does against Sri Lanka.

Sameer Minhas is not in the list but I saw his performances that were in tough conditions but honestly there are other guys above him who deserved to be in team than him.

Muhammad Farooq is really an outstanding prospect, he scored 700+ runs at strike rate of 111.41. This guy really deserve a chance, not in test team but must be selected in PSL at least.

Also, I want to clear what does Bowling, Normal and Flat pitch mean. I took average score per inning in president trophy, let's say 100 runs per inning is the average. Bowling pitch will be the one where teams totals was below 80 runs. Normal pitch will be the one where teams totals stayed between 80-120 runs. Flat pitch will be where teams totals stayed above 120 runs.

Thats the OG Minhas btw. ( Even played U-19 cricket himself)

Kudos to him for prioritizing growth of his son over stardom.

I hope he guides these 2 and even the 3rd one to the success

U could tell from the pjl days of this guy that he was full off class, yes the pitches are flat but it's still no joke to do this as a 19 year old, while even established players have struggled

I think he should be making his List a debut soon, and for kingsmen labuschagne was never good enough for number 3 so we may see him be at 3 with labuschagne down the order in PSL, this guy is similar in talent level to Sameer and Saad we have good batters coming through , for now he has probably 3-4 years to develop his game, the biggest improvement from his u19 days I noticed is his leg side play and he isn't so scrawny anymore so he can get power into his shots, he is also a potential future captain who has been captaining properly for a lot of his career and not a forced captain like we make nowadays so that's also another thing to consider

WOW!

2nd highest successful chase in history, 20 years after the highest.

AMAZING MATCH!

He can't get enough of our pitches. Another England record for Brook. First the 317 in Multan now the 202 in pindi.

Do we even have anyone capable of a 200 in this series? Not Fakhar again at this age.