KARACHI: Pakistan are sending tall left-arm paceman Mohammad Irfan to Sri Lanka to bolster their one-day squad.
“The management have asked for Irfan as cover for Junaid Khan who was injured in the second test in Colombo,” a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Junaid was hit on the head by a bouncer in the second and final test that ended on Monday and did not bowl or bat after being taken to hospital for precautionary scans.
Pakistan lost the test series 2-0.
Irfan has not played for Pakistan since injuring his hip in the Twenty20 series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates last year.
The three-match one-day series starts in Hambantota on Saturday.
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On DawnNews
Comments (12) Closed
optimist
Aug 19, 2014 09:08pm
The selectors, coach and captain are taking the risk of sacrificing Irfan for their own greed. They very well know that if Pakistan loses the ODIagainst Sr-Lanka even Shaharyar Khan and Najm Sethi cannot save them.
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mansoor
Aug 19, 2014 09:55pm
Do not risk him please. Let him be ready for the world cup and retire him after that.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad
Aug 19, 2014 10:37pm
Good decision. Maybe they can also send SOS to Yasir Arafat, who is currently doing wonders in country cricket in England.
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Hakim
Aug 20, 2014 12:31am
The first priority should be to make sure Irfan plays the world cup. Why rush him in the squad now? Hopefully he is totally fit and does not carry a bad injury.
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optimist
Aug 20, 2014 01:05am
@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad - No- its not a good decision as Irfan is not yet fully fit. The selectors must save him for the WC. Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir maybe recalled. It is the duty of educated class like you and others to start this awareness among the cricket loving people of Pakistan that these selectors are no good, they take dictations from the higher ups. Pakistan team needs a strong captain and coach who should also select the best team only on merit. The Akmal brothers, Shoaib Malik, M. Hafeez and Imran Farhat are using back door channels to get back into the team. That would be curtains for Pakistan who will eventually be relegated in an associate member of ICC thus having the same fate as hockey.
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Abrar-ul-Haque
Aug 20, 2014 02:43am
The news item doesn't carry a word on the fitness level of Irfan. Had he been fully fit, he would have been part of the team in the first instance, not as Junaid's replacement. So, the people who are at the helm of affairs in PCB, for God's sake, don't take avoidable risk. We need a 100% fit Irfan for the World Cup. There is no dearth of talented cricketers in the country, you just have to look at them on merit, not through nepotism.
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Faisal
Aug 20, 2014 04:33am
he will also become unfit. Umar Gul's career is already over since he himself has said he is not match fit. Saeed Ajmal has a chance of being banned due to suspected action (lab testing due in next few weeks) . So with Junaid , Umar Gul, Irfran, Ajmal out of the picture..... who will bowl against Australia? May be we should go for 11 batsmen and try to bat for 3 to 4 days to win a draw.
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Saiyed zaidi
Aug 20, 2014 05:39am
Maybe be he is already fit but was
not selected get him back in the system see how he does,if rested
untill the World Cup he might forget how to bowl .he is the one who
should say I am straining myself
and stop....
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Canada
Aug 20, 2014 06:51am
@Faisal
Even with 15 batsman they will be bowled out. They may stand a chance if Waqar comes in to bowl himself.
:P
BTW: The last 6-7 at bats for Misbah have been pathetic, I think finally his age is catching up. His last 6-7 attempts must be avg 10 runs or so. If he doesn't get his act together I think he maybe permanently unfit.
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asim osmani
Aug 20, 2014 11:07am
Imran /Qadri are behaving just like children they do not care about Pakistan neither does Nawaz but al least he Nawaz Sharif is working for the betterment of the country but does Imran thinks he can accomplish by making stupid remarks about entering the parliament house and pm house .
I am a simple person just think all those stupid people are following these guys they do not think every day that they are blocking streets we Pakistani are suffering huge losses
.1 people on daily wages are not feeding their families as they do not revenue
2 shops are closed
3 people are afraid to go out
4. image of Pakistan is being down graded by this mullah who lives in Canada.
5 what Imran /qadri are doing today it will happen to them when they are in govt .
6 in my opion both Imran and qadri are losers and they want publicity only.
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Haroon Rashid Khan
Aug 20, 2014 01:22pm
Irfan is also not 100% fit, who will replace him.
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zaheer
Aug 20, 2014 03:24pm
I think better option because before world cup irfan should have some match practice.
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