LAHORE: Pakistan’s pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi is expected to be available for the national side’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup opener against arch-rivals India on Oct 23. Shaheen injured his knee during Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka in July and was ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup T20 despite being named in the preliminary squad.

The left-armer travelled to the Netherlands with the team for the three-match One-day International series against the hosts and to the United Arab Emirates for the Asia Cup. Although the Pakistan Cricket Board had claimed before the Netherlands series that Shaheen would continue his rehabilitation while accompanying the national squad, he was sent to London for what the board’s chief medical officer Najeebullah Soomro termed as “uninterrupted, dedicated knee specialist care”.

The step raised questions if the PCB realised the seriousness of the injury in its early stages. The belief at the board’s higher offices is that Shaheen will be available by the start of the T20 showpiece in Australia. “The PCB medical team has been receiving daily reports over the knee injury status of Shaheen and we expect the bowler will be there with the national team to play against India on October 23 in the World Cup match,” PCB’s chief executive officer Faisal Hasnain told Dawn on Thursday.

“From Sri Lanka to London, the PCB has been following the advice of the medical team and if they advise Shaheen to have treatment in the US then the PCB will follow that too.”

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 03 2022

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.