ISLAMABAD, March 1: Pakistani fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif have been ruled out of the Cricket World Cup 2007 due to injuries, the Pakistan Cricket Board said Thursday.

All-rounder Yasir Arafat and paceman Mohammed Sami were named as their replacements. “We have received Shoaib and Asif's medical assessments and the players are physically unfit,” team spokesman P.J. Mir told reporters.

“Their injuries will take time to heal so after selectors consulted captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, the decision has been taken not to include them,” Mir said.

After the decision, the Pakistan cricket team left for the West Indies, which is hosting the World Cup. Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said his side was under pressure after losing the two key players. Both Shoaib and Asif went to England for checkups on their respective knee and elbow injuries.

On Thursday, the PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf told a news conference in Islamabad that “Pakistan will badly feel the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif, who may take weeks or even months to recover” from their injuries.

He said both Shoaib and Asif would return home soon and that the board will again check their “medical and match fitness,” although he said the chances of the bowlers' recovery from injuries were “bleak”.

Dr Ashraf said Sami and Arafat also were “equally good” and hoped that Pakistan will “do better in the World Cup.” “We had faced similar problems before the 1992 World Cup, but the boys did well under the leadership of Imran Khan. Inzamam-ul-Haq is also a good captain,” he said.

The PCB chief dismissed as baseless the local media reports that the board had secretly done dope tests of Akhtar and Asif, and that they had not cleared the tests. “It is wrong. We have not done any such secret dope tests.”

All-rounder Yasir and paceman Sami will join their team in Jamaica later this week after getting clearance from the International Cricket Council's technical committee, Mir said.

Pakistan is placed in Group D along with host West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe with top two teams going through the Super Eight stage.

Pakistan had already lost another bowler, Abdul Razzaq, after he suffered a knee injury during practice. He has been replaced by all-rounder Azhar Mahmood.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer termed Shoaib and Asif's absence as a major blow for Pakistan. “Its a big blow and I feel sorry for both Asif and Akhtar for missing such a big event,” Woolmer said.

Woolmer said Pakistan had done well in the past without these two bowlers like the one against Sri Lanka last year and against India in 2005. “If we can replicate those performances with the same unity and spirit, we can do well.”

Pakistan will also miss the services of hard-hitting batsman Shahid Afridi for the first two group games against the West Indies and Ireland over a violation ICCs code of conduct during the series against South Africa.

Squad: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf, Mohammed Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Rao Iftikhar, Azhar Mahmood, Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Rana Naveed. -—AP