The left-handed batter struggled with a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury to his right knee and was initially ruled out of the side’s upcoming Super 12 encounter against South Africa. However, upon further examination, the management has ruled Fakhar out of the tournament completely.
The technical committee opted to name the 21-year-old Mohammad Haris as a replacement. Haris made his T20I debut earlier this year during the seven-match T20I series against England at home. He scored seven runs after replacing Mohammad Rizwan in the playing XI as the hosts crumbled to a five-wicket defeat.
The inexperienced player can keep wickets as well as bowl part-time off-spin and was part of the traveling reserves alongside Shahnawaz Dahani. The travel reserves also included Fakhar Zaman at the start of the tournament, but he found a place in the main squad after replacing Usman Qadir.
Zaman, the experienced left-handed batter, was not active in the team’s build-up to the World Cup and found himself on the bench in the side’s first couple of matches against India and Zimbabwe. He replaced Haider Ali in the contest against the Netherlands, where he scored 20 runs off 16 deliveries in Pakistan’s win, but aggravated his knee injury.
Upon diagnosis, Pakistan Cricket’s medical team confirmed that Fakhar and the team management knew the perils of featuring in the T20 World Cup 2022, considering that he was yet to fully recover from the knee injury.
Pakistan set to face South Africa in a must-win encounter
The Men in Green’s narrow one-run loss to Zimbabwe have complicated things in terms of their qualification to the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup. Their case has been weakened by India’s recent set of results, making their upcoming clash against the unbeaten Proteas a do-or-die contest.
Babar Azam’s side will also have to face Bangladesh in their final Super 12 match, but a defeat against South Africa will all but seal their elimination from the competition.
Pakistan will take on South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Thursday, November 3.
Should Fakhar Zaman have played in the team’s losses against India and Zimbabwe?
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