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Fakhar Zaman has been ruled out of the ongoing T20 World Cup due to a knee injury just a few hours before their Super 12 match against South Africa in Sydney on Thursday.
Earlier, Pakistan admitted that they took a risk bringing him to the tournament. He came to Australia carrying a knee injury, which got aggravated during their previous match against the Netherlands on Sunday. This means Fakhar will not be available for Pakistan for their must-win encounter against South Africa and their final group game against Bangladesh later this week.
Fakhar was originally not part of the 15-man squad for the tournament because of the same knee injury. He later joined the squad and replaced legspinner, Usman Qadir. Fakhar missed the first two matches against India and Zimbabwe which his team lost before returning against the Netherlands in Perth where he made 20 off 16 balls. However, during that game, his knee injury got worse as he suffered further problems.
Right-handed batter Mohammad Haris, who was a travelling reserve, has been now named as his replacement for the remaining of the tournament.
Pakistan team doctor Najeebullah Soomro said, “Obviously with any knee injury it takes time to have 100% recovery. Fakhar and the team understood the risks of coming into the tournament and we got him in. You saw how he performed with batting in the last match, unfortunately in the last match he had a bit of a twist which aggravated his injury.
“We were aware of the risks of the comeback. He is obviously an important player for the team. The player, the medical staff and the team management were aware of that. We decided to bring him back in. In cricket, and any sport, we take risks. Sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t,” he added.
Fakhar’s absence could now open the chances for Asif Ali who was left out in their previous two games after the opening game against India, as Pakistan went for an extra bowling option. Other batting options available for Pakistan include left-handed Khushdil Shah and Haider Ali.
Pakistan came into the tournament with a few injuries to their players. The biggest loss for Pakistan was their fast-bowling spearhead Shaheen Afridi who was suffering a knee injury before the tournament. He has just one wicket from all three matches in the Super 12s and is not looking completely at his best. He admitted before the Netherlands match that he is still looking to get his rhythm back. However, from a medical point of view, Soomro insisted that Afridi is completely fit and had ticked all the boxes for his return.
“There’s medical fitness, then in matches you need to have a different form of performance attributes,” Soomro said. “From a medical point of view we were confident he was completely fit. You can see how he’s improving every single game…from our point of view we are very confident with how he’s going. In my view, the medical team, the specialists in involved, have all worked really hard with him, day and night, and from a medical point of view we are confident he’s back in full flow.”
“Yes, you do feel bad but you cannot change that,” Naseem Shah said. “You have to move on. The boys have gelled together and the morale of the team is alright. We are trying to focus on the next games and win those because you cannot do anything about the past games.”
Notably, Pakistan’s chances to earn a semi-final spot are quite difficult as they now have to win their final two group matches against South Africa and Bangladesh and also expect other results to go their way.
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