Young, quick and aggressive, Mashrafe Mortaza has emerged as the leader of Bangladesh’s pack of upcoming young pacemen, although fitness remains a problem. He made great strides under the tutelage of Andy Roberts, working on his stamina, and he was given his first Test cap against Zimbabwe at Dhaka in 2001-02, in what was his first-class debut - indeed by mid-2006 he had played only seven first-class matches outside the Test arena. Though banging it in is his preferred style, Mashrafe proved adept at reining in his attacking instincts to concentrate on line and length. He excelled in the second Test against England in 2003-04, taking 4 for 60 in the first innings to keep Bangladesh in touch, but suffered a twisted knee towards the end of the game that kept him out of Tests for over a year. He was recalled towards the end of 2004, and subsequently enhanced his reputation on the inaugural tour of England, standing head and shoulders above his team-mates in a torrid series. He is not a complete mug with the bat. A persistent back injury caused him to return home early and miss the Test series in Sri Lanka in September 2005 - the sixth time he had failed to last throughout a tour - but he was back to face the Australians in April 2006, and removed Matthew Hayden early on to start the Aussies’ embarrassment in the first Test at Fatullah. Mortaza broke Aftab Ahmed’s national record when he took 6 for 26 to seal a 3-0 win in the one-day series against Kenya in August. Mortaza had a poor Champions Trophy in October-November during which he took only two wickets in three games but he struck form against Zimbabwe and Scotland in the one-day series that followed.

Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the IPL, confirmed that Shoaib will play the tournament. “We look forward to Shoaib playing for us,” Modi said. “I am going to call him immediately and invite him to come to Kolkata tonight or tomorrow morning.”

Farrukh Aftab, the head of the three-man tribunal, announced the decision. “We have suspended the ban for one month and the next hearing will be held on June 4,” Aftab told reporters in Lahore. “Had we not suspended the ban, he could not have been played the in IPL, which we thought was injustice to Akhtar.”

Meanwhile, Shoaib expressed relief after his clearance. “This is a great relief for me as I am keen to play in the IPL,” Shoaib said. “But this is just one battle won and we still have to win the final case.”

The tribunal’s decision to grant Shoaib a temporary reprieve comes after his lawyers pressed for the suspension of his ban.

Earlier, the tribunal, on April 30, had decided to uphold the PCB’s ban on an interim-basis. Shoaib was banned for comments he made after not being offered a contract by the PCB, in which he lashed out at domestic tournaments, pitches and the administration in general. He made the comments while on a two-year probation after hitting team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat before the World Twenty20 last year. Shoaib has the additional burden of dealing with a Rs 22 crore (approx US$3.37 million) defamation suit filed against him by PCB chief Nasim Ashraf.

The Knight Riders franchise, which signed him for US$425,000 in the player auctions, would welcome his arrival and hope for a turnaround in their fortunes. The team has suffered four consecutive losses after winning their first two games. Shoaib returns to one of his memorable hunting grounds, the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where the team has five remaining home games. His was a revelation in his first Test at the venue, picking up eight wickets in a match-winning effort.

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After choosing to bat, India lost two early wickets but recovered through a 50-run stand between Asha Rawat (69) and Priyanka Roy and then moved into a position of strength as Dhar and Rawat put on 89 runs. Rawat remained unbeaten scoring at nearly a run a ball and with the help of some lower-order hitting from Amita Sharma and Jhulan Goswami took India to 275 - the highest total of the tournament.

The Pakistan batting never got going and they lost their openers with the score on 5. Only two of their batsmen got into double digits as they laboured to 93 in their quota of overs with even that meagre total reached with the assistance of 33 extras. Three of the Indian bowlers sent down their ten overs with an economy-rate below one and Gouher Sultana bagged the Man-of-the Match award on debut with figures of 10-7-9-3.

Sri Lanka95 for 2 (Polgampola 32*) beat Bangladesh 94 (de Alwis 3-13) by eight wickets

It was a day of one-sided encounters as Sri Lanka trounced Bangladesh by eight wickets after restricting them to 94. Bangladesh, fresh from their memorable triumph over Pakistan two days ago, were unable to repeat their performance as only two batmen, Shathira Jakir and Ayesha Akhter , managed to cross 20. Left-arm spinner Suwini de Alwis was the most successful bowler and she sparked a collapse, starting with the dismissal of Ayesha, as four wickets fell for one run and Bangladesh slid to 68 for 9. The last pair resisted for more than 14 overs and added 26 runs but Sri Lanka chased down the target with eight wickets and more than 30 overs to spare with the help of de Alwis and opener Chamari Polgampola.

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After their crushing 182-run defeat to India on Friday, Bangladesh bounced back impressively to bowl out Pakistan with an over to spare. Sarkar took two wickets in two overs and Pakistan stumbled to 55 for 3 in 19 overs. She picked up two more wickets and ensured no partnership was forged as Pakistan plodded along at less than three an over. Bismah Maroof top scored with 29 and her opening partnership of 27 with Tasqeen Qadeer was the innings’ highest.

Though the target was relatively modest, Bangladesh got themselves in to trouble early on, losing three wickets for 26 runs. Then Salma joined Panna Ghosh at the crease and the two added 37 together. Ghosh stayed for 51 balls, for her 14, and allowed Salma to push the chase along. Bangladesh lost two more wickets before Salma wrapped up the match with 27 balls to spare. She hit six fours in her 92-ball innings.

India 227 for 8 (Raj 54, de Alwis 3-36, Siriwardene 3-54) beat Sri Lanka 198 (Silva 74, Dhar 3-28, Seema 3-41) by 29 runs

Mithali Raj followed up her unbeaten century on Friday with a half-century as India continued their winning ways at the Asia Cup with a 29-run victory over Sri Lanka in Dambulla.

The Indian openers, Jaya Sharma and Karuna Jain, set the platform for the total with a 62-run partnership before both were dismissed by Shashikala Siriwardene. Raj added another 62 with Priyanka Roy to take India to 227. Suwini de Alwis, who took two wickets against Pakistan, picked up 3 for 36 while Siriwardene ended with 3 for 54.

Though Sri Lanka lost two wickets - to Rumeli Dhar - early in the innings, Friday’s top scorer Dedunu Silva hit 74 off 87 balls to take them to the 100-run mark. But Sri Lanka lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs as Pujare Seema and Dhar shared six wickets between them.

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