KARACHI / LAHORE: Pakistan could be forced to play the first of two back-to-back Twenty20 Internationals in Zimbabwe without a regular wicket-keeper after it emerged on Tuesday that Sarfraz Ahmed’s departure has been inordinately delayed.

The 26-year-old wicket-keeper/batsman received an unexpected call-up into the national limited-overs squads last Friday after Umar Akmal was withdrawn from the tour after being reported unfit during the ongoing Caribbean Premier League T20 competition.

The 23-year-old Umar, youngest of the three Akmal brothers, suffered a back injury while playing for the Barbados Tridents and was immediately asked by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to return home. But media reports, quoting a relative of the player, later said that he had suffered an epileptic fit during the flight to Jamaica.

But it seemed at the time of filing this report that Sarfraz could be missing both the Twenty Internationals as well as the three One-day Internationals, according to reliable sources who claimed that he was still waiting for the travel plans to be finalised by the PCB’s logistics department despite arriving in Lahore well ahead of the departing flight to Zimbabwe.

The sources further said that Sarfraz, who played a significant role in Pakistan’s Asia Cup triumph with an unbeaten 46 in the nail-biting final against Bangladesh at Dhaka in March 2012, has been instructed to wait until Wednesday afternoon to know whether he would be participating in the series at all. Moreover, visitors intending to visit Zimbabwe are issued visa upon arrival in the African country.

Five days have already passed since Sarfraz, who has thus far played just two Twenty20 Internationals and 23 One-day Internationals in addition to four Test appearances since his making his Pakistan debut in a one-dayer against India at Jaipur in November 2007, received that SOS call from the cricket board and now the cricketer is left groping in the dark. If Sarfraz were to figure in Friday’s opening Twenty20 fixture, he should be on the long flight to Harare in the early hours of Wednesday.

There is no direct flight available from any city in Pakistan to the Zimbabwean capital and normally whenever the Pakistan side fly to that nation, they take the connecting flight from Johannesburg after first landing in Dubai. The entire journey to the designated destination takes nearly two days.

According to the sources, if Sarfraz is unable to make the flight, the PCB would be flying out Test wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal instead for the limited-overs series. Adnan has not yet played any Twenty20 Internationals and has participated in just five ODIs between September 2011 and February 2012.

Meanwhile, Umar Akmal practised at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore on Tuesday in a bid to prove that he is fit enough to take some part on the Zimbabwe tour and the make-shift wicket-keeper/batsman claimed that he was not faced with any fatal disease.

Talking to reporters after reaching here from the West Indies via New York, the dashing batsman said that the reports of his illness had caused panic among his family members.

“I am quite fit and ready to play and have never been faced with any fatal disease,” maintained Umar, who soon after arriving in the city went to the NCA for practice to prove that he was fit even after a long journey.

“My family is worried about the medical reports coming from the West Indies about my health while I am quite alright and no one from my family is suffering from any fatal disease,” he further said.

The PCB doctor said that according to the initial examination of Umar, who was later on asked by the board to have an MRI, there was no element of any fatal disease.

However, the PCB doctor said that final report of the MRI, coming on Wednesday, would help in taking a final decision in this regard.

The PCB doctor further said that Umar would also go through a fitness test to prove his fitness.

Although Umar’s medical report from the West Indies might represent a serious condition, it is not the first time he has been faced with such a situation.

He recovered in hours from such an unconscious condition during the 2010 World T20 as well as during the Super Sixes tournament in Hong Kong.

The PCB seemed eager to know well-being of the talented batsman but failed to properly help the player since it didn’t assign any official to receive him at the airport to help him in handling the media.

There are also reports that Umar had been instructed by the PCB not to talk to the media.