Injured pacer Shahnawaz Dahani has been ruled out, dealing a major setback to the Pakistan side ahead of their first clash in the Super 4s stage against arch-rivals India.
Babar Azam-led Pakistan already faced major setbacks of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s absence in their first meeting with the neighbours and will now also feel the burden of Dahani’s absence as the Men in Green were banking on their bowling after Friday’s record-breaking victory against Hong Kong.
Shaheen suffered a side strain injury while bowling during the second match of the Asia Cup tournament against Hong Kong.
The Pakistan team spokesperson said that the medical will monitor Dahani’s condition in the next 48-72 hours, following which they will make deci-sions, including carrying out a scan and further par-ticipation in the tournament.
In Dahani’s absence, Hasan Ali or Mohammad Hasnain will get a chance to play against India. It should be noted that these two replaced Shaheen and Mohammad Wasim Jr.
Pakistan will play against arch-rivals India in the Asia Cup Super 4 clash tomorrow (Sunday) and they will likely field the same squad against India, sources said Saturday.
The two sides are playing each other for the second time in the tournament at the Dubai Interna-tional Stadium. The Men In Blue won the first en-counter by five wickets.
Pakistan outclassed Hong Kong yesterday and qualified for the Super 4s stage joining India, Af-ghanistan and Sri Lanka.
The sources shared that team management has decided to retain the same team it played in the pre-vious two matches and no change is expected in the final XI.
“The management is not in favour of making any changes due to fitness of players.” On the other hand, the Indian team will not have the services of Ravendra Jadeja — who played a key role in the Indian victory the last time they played.—Agencies
