A series of good news are pouring from Pakistan's sports front since the Commonwealth Games in August to the current Pak-England Test series. And the latest addition to this galore is the fantastic victory by Green Shirts against visiting England team by three runs in a sensational game that prevailed till the final over thriller, bringing the crowed on the feet. 

Both the teams were equally poised for the great victory and both fortunes could swing anyway but with Haris Rauf's fantastic bowling  spell of taking two back-to-back wickets in the penultimate over helped his teammate won the fourth Twenty20 against England in style amid capacity crowd at the National Stadium in Karachi, who were cheering both the teams. With this sensational victory, the two sides are now 2-2 and are equally poised for the next leg of the series which is scheduled to be played in Lahore from the Sept 28th till October 2 next month. Credit goes to Pakistan's bowlers whose efforts bore fruit at NSK. 

Our batsmen had failed to deliver and scored 167 runs which was not a big score for the visiting team to reach the target in the stipulated overs. However, our bowlers restricted them from doing so and it was due to superb bowling by our bowling lot, which snatched a victory from English team's jaw in the last over. It may be recalled here that England team is good at chasing and in the previous T20, they had chased a huge target of 222 runs with ease. Haris Rauf (3-32), Mohammad Hasnain (2-40)  unsettled England batters while spinners Mohammad Nawaz (3-35) and Mohammad Iftikhar also bowled terrifically by containing the English batters to score less runs due to which their target was increasing and a pressure was build-up . 

On the other hand, the Green Shirts reached another milestone at NSK on Sunday as this encounter was Green Shirts' 200th T20 match, becoming the first outfit to achieve this feat.  

The home crowd wants nothing less than victory as they say that losing is not an option for the Green Shirts because cricket is something which brings smiles to faces even in more testing times and currently the nation is need of such moments. They cannot take it when the Green Shirts are defeated on home grounds. On the other hand, Pakistan's athletes who are currently in Pokhara, Nepal for the 3rd Mount Everest Taekwondo Open International Championship have performed marvelously and most of them have ended with a podium-finish, grabbing a good number of medals in the mega regional event. 

Their good show can be gauged from the fact that they overall won fifteen medals in the championship including three golds, three silver and six Bronze Medals. Hamza Omar Saeed and Mazhar Abbas win two Golds medals on Sunday in their respective finals as Pakistan showcased a magnificent display in the 3rd Mount Everest Open Taekwondo International Championship.

On the other hand, Haroon Khan and Arbaz Khan fetched silver medals for Pakistan in the 3rd Mount Everest Open Taekwondo International Championship being played in Pokhara, Nepal. The female athletes also impressed with their show and Mehrun Nisa and Noor Rehman and Naqsh Hamdani delivered best show in Nepal. Pakistan's female Athlete Mehrun Nisa together with Shahbaz Khan won Gold Medals for Pakistan in the U-40 Mixed category of Poomsae event.

While Mehrun Nisa has also claimed the silver medal in the Individual female category as well. In the Female -57kg semi-final, Pakistan's Noor Rehman got a bronze medal. She lost to India's Sonam Rawal 3-0 and 4-0 in a low-scoring contest in the semifinal. It may be recalled here that Pakistan athletes have showcased a magnificent display of martial arts in the Championship and have claimed as many as three gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze in the Khyurogi event while in the Poomsae event, they also collected an impressive tally by winning three gold medals and one silver medal as also four bronze medals.  Overall, their medals tally stands at six gold medals, three silver medals, and six bronze in the  Mount Everest Open Taekwondo International Championship. In the U-30 category, Pakistan's Waseem Ahmed & Naila also won the bronze medal. In another female category, Pakistan's Naqsh Hamdani won bronze medal. She was defeated by Indian counterpart in the semi-final contest. Yet another Pakistan's female athletes also played superbly and in the -57kg Women category Round 1 play, young Noor Rahman of Pakistan won her first fight against Thalapitigoda Kottengangoda of Sri Lanka by 3-2. 

While in Round 2, Noor outclassed SL player 14-4. The purpose to say is that our sportsmen and women are performing superbly at national and international events, winning laurels for the country and improving the image of het country among the comity of nation as a peaceful country. On the one hand, our home grounds are full of activities as English cricket team is in Pakistan after seventeen years while on the other hand, our martial arts players are performing diligently and magnificently in Nepal. 

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 27 2022

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