SWABI: Vowing Pakistan team would remove all the shortcomings well before the 2015 World Cup, young Test paceman Junaid Khan on Monday said his knee injury was not serious hoping he would recover soon.

Left-armer Junaid — considered by many as one of the best Pakistan bowlers in contemporary cricket — told Dawn at his residence at Mathra village that he injured a cartilage in his knee during the training session on Oct 6 and returned home from the UAE. “I was catching the ball when my knee twisted,” he said.

Due to the injury, Junaid said, he missed the ODI series against Australia in the UAE and would not feature also in the Test rubber starting on Oct 22.

In reply to a question, Junaid said: “I have been advised to rest for four to six-weeks. I will soon leave home to meet Dr Sohail who will examine my injured knee. Let us wait what he is saying.

“This injury deprived me of the Australia series but it is not serious and I hope I will recover soon,” Junaid, who has featured in 18 Tests and 48 ODIs, said.

Injury to 24-year-old Junaid and his subsequent ouster from the ODI and Test series against Australia is a big blow to Pakistan who had already lost off-spin wizard Saeed Ajmal [suspended by the ICC due to an illegal bowling action] and Mohammad Hafeez [hand injury] before the Australia series.

Answering a question on Ajmal, Junaid admitted the spinner’s absence in the Australia series was a significant setback for Pakistan, but he hoped Ajmal would correct his bowling action before the World Cup.

“Not only his team-mates but the entire Pakistani nation is missing the great off-spinner,” the paceman said. “I hope Ajmal would return to the team very soon. He has been working hard on his action and we hope he would be part of the World Cup squad.”

Responding to a question about Pakistan’s defeats in the one-off T20 and the ODI series at the hands of Australia, the young bowler said the team consisted of hardworking youngsters who he hoped would fare better in the 2015 World Cup.

“They always need time to settle down in international cricket while resisting pressure, contributing to the team’s cause and meeting the expectations of the nation.

“I expect the plan adopted by the PCB for the World Cup preparations would work. The youngsters, in the series leading up to the mega event, would settle down,” he said. “We would remove all our shortcomings well before the World Cup,” vowed Junaid, who has taken 65 Test wickets at the average of 28.83 and 75 ODI scalps (25.90).”

Junaid was optimistic about Pakistan overcoming arch-rivals India in their World Cup pool match, scheduled for Feb 15 in Adelaide.

“I am fully confident that this time we would break our head-to-head World Cup record against India, and emerge victorious in Adelaide.”

Commenting on cohesion in national team, Junaid, who has also played for Lancashire, said: “There are no differences in our team, we play together for a significant period every year, while learning from each other’s experience in order to come up to the high expectations of the nation.”

Published in Dawn, October 14th , 2014