Former Pakistan pace bowler Aaqib Javed criticised the side’s medical team while former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz lamented Shaheen Shah Afridi’s inclusion in the squad after the Men In Green lost the T20 World Cup final to England on Sunday. Afridi had to be taken off in the middle of match after bowling one ball of the 16th over, smarting from taking Harry Brook’s catch earlier in England’s run chase.
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Now, according to a report on Dawn, if the initial injury does not result in more injuries, it’ll take the pacer around 4 months to be fit.
“If the injury doesn’t result in more injuries, it would take Shaheen three to four months to recover,” former Pakistan Cricket Board chief medical officer Dr. Sohail Salim told Dawn.
“If the PCB’s medical board chooses to treat it through surgery, Shaheen will be out for six, seven months,” he added, which means Afridi is going to miss the Test Series at home against England and New Zealand.
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Javed, a former pace bowler himself, said on GEO Super, “Your medical panel declared Fakhar fit as well, but he became unfit after a few overs. We need to make an inquiry on whether they even know anything about sports injury?”
“When they played Shaheen during the initial phases, he wasn’t fit enough to play World Cup games. We are back to where we started. They were unfit before the tournament and they are injured now,” he added.
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“I said before this World Cup that Shaheen is important but the World Cup will come again after 2 years. If something happens to Shaheen, how are you going to bring another bowler like him?,” Javed added further.
Meanwhile, Sarfraz told Dawn, “You have put him in directly in the high profile World Cup without him playing any match since July. His fitness could have been better judged if he played a game before the World Cup and he shouldn’t have been selected without proving it.”
“The PCB wasted 40 days of rehab by making a decision of keeping Shaheen with the national team,” he added.
