LAHORE, Feb 12: Pakistan’s hopes for winning the one-day series against India received a huge setback on Sunday when it was confirmed that fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar will miss the entire series because of his ankle injury.

The final decision on Shoaib, who had missed the two first ODIs in Peshawar and Rawalpindi for the same reason, was made only a day before the crucial third One-day International at the Qadhafi Stadium on Monday.

The five-match series is presently levelled 1-1.

“Shoaib Akhtar has been ruled out for the entire series as he could not recover from his ankle injury,” captain Inzamamul Haq announced at a press conference on Sunday.

The captain, although slightly upset about Shoaib’s absence, played down the factor by saying, “though Shoaib is one of our main bowlers, we have won matches without him in the past and the remaining bowlers are quite capable of responding to the challenge”.

Pakistan had won without Shoaib last year against India and West Indies before defeating Rahul Dravid’s team in the first ODI in Peshawar on Duckworth/Lewis method.

But the way India set a formidable target of 328 in Peshawar and chased 265 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan must have felt the absence of Shoaib, who performed well in preceding Test series against England and India.

Inzamam said that medium-pacer Mohammad Sami could be considered replacement for Shoaib for the remaining matches after being asked to join the squad on Sunday evening.

“Sami is looking fit and he could be recalled to fill in, but we will take a final decision before the start of the match,” Inzamam said.

Sami, who played the Test series against India, was not selected for the one-day series because of poor form.

In fact, Pakistan are in need of an experienced fast bowler in place of Shoaib as the pace attack does not appear to be much experienced with Mohammad Asif, Rana Navedul Hasan, Umar Gul and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq being thrown in against big guns like Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Yuvraj Singh.

Inzamam explained that the Monday’s day/twilight match was important for both sides as taking a lead from this point would give a psychological edge to the winning side.

“It would be a hard task to come back from being 2-1 down with only two matches left,” he said.

Inzamam, who was criticized for his decision to bat first in Rawalpindi, however, was cautious when asked if he would like to bat first in Lahore if Pakistan won the toss.

“Though the pitch is looking good for batsmen, I can’t say at the moment what I will do if we win the toss,” he said.

According to experts, the pitch is full of runs and virtually guaranteeing a full day’s entertainment for the expected large turnout.

Inzamam did not agree that his team needed motivation after losing the second ODI.

“In one-day cricket a defeat does not mean anything and the team needing motivation. The performance changes on match-by-match basis in ODI cricket so there is no point of concern,” he said.

He admitted that poor fielding was still a grey area for Pakistan.

“We were good in Peshawar but we failed to maintain the standard in Rawalpindi. This is an important part of the game and we will show better results in future,” he pledged.

He said the four run-outs in Rawalpindi were not a good sign. “We piled up 264 after a shaky start of 68-4, which showed the strength of our batting line-up.”

Meanwhile, the Indian team preferred to skip practice on Sunday while Dravid also decided not to hold a press conference.

The match starts at 11.00am.

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Inzamamul Haq (captain), Younis Khan (vice-captain),Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Navedul Hasan, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Arshad Khan, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif.

INDIA: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sri Sreesanth, Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Simon Taufel (Australia).

TV umpire: Zameer Haider (Pakistan).

Match referee: Chris Broad (England).