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Journalism of Courage
Pakistan were on Thursday dealt a severe blow ahead of their cricket tour to India with top paceman Mohammad Asif, who is nursing an elbow injury, being ruled out of the five one-dayers and even faced the danger of missing the Test series.
Hours before Pakistan embarked on the high-voltage month long tour, Asif pulled out of the ODI series because of a chronic elbow injury but the Pakistan Cricket Board said he might even miss the full tour.
“He himself told us he is not 100 percent fit because of his elbow problem and he wants more time to make a full recovery,” said Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer of the Board.
“We can’t say when he will be fit. He might be fit for the last two one-dayers or he might miss the full tour. His injury is such there is no medication for it and he has just been advised rest and some specific exercises,” Naghmi said.
He also said that given the uncertainty over Asif’s elbow problem, no replacement was being announced for him.
“The team physiotherapist has designed a rehabilitation programme for him but his injury is such we can’t give a specific time frame when he will make a complete recovery.”
Naghmi said the squad named for the one-day series already included four specialist pacers and couple of all-rounders so there was no emergency to name a replacement.
Pakistan will play five one-dayers and three Test matches during the tour with the first game scheduled to be held in Guwahati on November 5.
A source, however, said Pakistan was also facing some issues with the fitness of pacer Umar Gul who has been in good form in recent matches.
Asif said last week in an interview that he needed a week more to recover from his elbow problem and bowl at his best.
The speedster also missed four of the five one-day matches at home against South Africa last month because of the elbow problem, which has affected him since last year.
He played in the fourth one-dayer in Multan but went for 64 runs in eight overs.
Pakistan, however, have fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who made a successful comeback to international cricket by taking four wickets in the final one-dayer against South Africa.
Shoaib returned to international cricket after serving a 13-match ban for hitting Asif with a bat and four other offences.
