Pakistan pacers Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah are at risk of being ruled out of the 2023 Asia Cup after they sustained injuries during their Super 4 match against India in Colombo. The injuries to key pacers will be a big blow for the Men in Green going into their final Super 4 game against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Haris Rauf did not enter the field on Monday as he complained of right flank discomfort while Naseem Shah left the field after bowling two balls in the penultimate over of the match. The Pakistan Cricket Board has selected Shahnawaz Dahani and Zaman Khan as backup players for the remainder of the tournament.
After a humiliating loss against arch-rivals India, the Pakistan Cricket Board issued a statement regarding the fitness of their two primary white-ball bowlers, as they said that both the pacers with remain under the observation of the medical team before taking a call on their further participation in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023.
“This is only a precautionary measure keeping in mind the fitness and well-being of the players ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup next month. Haris and Naseem will continue to remain under the observation of the team’s medical panel. The team management will only request a replacement from the ACC technical committee if Naseem or Haris are ruled out for the next seven days.”
Young Naseem Shah bowls with the new ball and can run through any quality batting unit with his sheer pace, seam, and swing movements, The youngster also has the ability to bowl with high pace at any stage of innings making a quite lethal pacer in Pakistan bowling attack and was impressive against the Men in Blue in the Super 4 match, but was unfortunate to not pick up a wicket in the game.
Haris Rauf is arguably one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket and has been a standout bowler in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023 picking up 9 wickets from four games despite not bowling his full quota overs against India on Monday. The right-arm pacer has been in red-hot form for Pakistan in the ODI Cricket and could be a crucial miss for the team going into the final game of the Super 4 stage in Sri Lanka.
As for the game, Virat Kohli (122*) and KL Rahul (111) scored centuries after a brilliant foundation laid by Indian openers on Sunday as India posted their joint-highest ODI score of 356/2 against Pakistan.
Indian bowlers were hot to handle for the batters, as the Men in Blue displayed high-quality fast bowling with the new ball picking up wickets in the powerplay before Kuldeep Yadav took a 5-wicket haul against the arch-rivals as Pakistan were bowled out for 128 – their third-worst record against India.