Fakhar Zaman Ruled Out: Fakhar Zaman is out of ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Pakistan already acknowledged that they took a chance by sending him to the competition. He had a knee issue before he arrived in Australia, which he worsened on Sunday when playing for Australia against the Netherlands. He will thus be unavailable for Pakistan’s crucial match against South Africa tomorrow and their group finale against Bangladesh later this week.
Fakhar was originally left off of the 15-man roster for the competition due to this ailment. He was finally brought in as a late replacement for legspinner Usman Qadir. Fakhar missed the losses to India and Zimbabwe before playing against the Netherlands in Perth, where he hit 20 off 16 balls but also experienced further knee issues throughout the game. The ICC technical committee has cleared Mohammad Haris, a traveling reserve, to take his position.
Officials on Fakhar Zaman’s Injury
According to Pakistan team physician Najeebullah Soomro, “Obviously with any knee injury it takes time to have 100% recovery”. He continued, “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.”
Replacement for Fakhar Zaman in T20 World Cup 2022
Asif Ali may get a chance to play after missing Pakistan’s initial game against India because they wanted an extra bowling option because of Fakhar’s unavailability. Other batting choices are Khushdil Shah and Haider Ali.
Prior to this tournament, Pakistan had many injuries, most notably those involving fast bowler Shaheen Afridi. Despite significant concern about his level of fitness, he has participated in all three Super 12s matches but only has one wicket to show for it. Afridi himself acknowledged this before the Netherlands game. Soomro asserted, though, that Afridi had checked off all the necessary medical boxes for his return.
Fakhar Zaman’s Injury Recovery
“There’s medical fitness, then in matches, you need to have a different form of performance attributes. 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.”
Even if Pakistan defeats South Africa and Bangladesh in their remaining two group games, other outcomes must favour them in order for them to get to the semifinals.
