PCB rubbishes reports on Misbah, Junaid's fitness

E-Paper | June 14, 2026

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has termed reports about the fitness of captain Misbah-ul-Haq and paceman Junaid Khan as 'nonsense', reiterating that both players were vital to Pakistan's prospects at the World Cup.

Misbah and Junaid, both of whom were suffering from hamstring injuries, were part of the training camp for the World Cup. And though Junaid suffered a relapse and was advised further rest, Misbah took part in all training sessions at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, PCB's senior media manager Raza Kitchlew said.

"Reports claiming that Junaid was no longer part of Pakistan World Cup plans are unsubstantiated. He's going through rehabilitation for his injury and as soon as the doctor advises, he will be flying out," Kitchlew said.

Kitchlew also concurred with chairman Shahryar Khan's earlier statement on Misbah in which the PCB boss once again threw his weight behind the captain, quashing all rumours about his fitness.

"Misbah is fit. He took part in all training sessions for the World Cup and will be leading the side."

Shaharyar Khan on Tuesday approved Bhatti's inclusion in Pakistan's squad for a short ODI series against New Zealand on the condition that Misbah will play the right-arm fast bowler in all four matches in New Zealand to judge his form. The development sparked rumours that Junaid had been ruled out of the World Cup.

Paceman Junaid was due to make a comeback in international cricket since last playing against Sri Lanka in August. He missed the series against Australia and New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates due to a knee injury.

Pakistan will be playing two ODIs against New Zealand on January 31 at Wellington, and February 3 at Napier.

They get their World Cup campaign underway on February 15 against India in Adelaide, Australia.

Pakistan's key bowlers, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal, have already been ruled out of the World Cup due to injury and suspension respectively.

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A Pakistani

Jan 22, 2015 02:35pm

Misbah already planned to escape the accountability by announcing retirement. So it doesn't matter whether he is fit or not. Pakistani nation will have to pay the price of 35 punctures.

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IMRAN QASIM

Jan 22, 2015 02:40pm

good to hear Junaid was not dropped out

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KHAN

Jan 22, 2015 02:50pm

Oh Oh Pl. PCB take right decisions as this a WC, put your best players not relatives in the team, Ummar Gul still can ball better than Bhatti

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Shahid

Jan 22, 2015 02:52pm

Look at experience and quality of pakistani bowling attack: Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah and Haris sohail. I hope Irfan can go through the NZ series without falling apart.

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harsh

Jan 22, 2015 03:29pm

expect pak will be knocked out in quarterfinals no luck and getting away this time like lucky 1992 wc win

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Jan 22, 2015 04:53pm

Day 4 of conflicting statements. Could PCB please get its act together and tell the fans for once about, a) Why different statements are being issued by PCB, Team management and Medical Board regarding his fitness ? b) Why is everyone giving statements without talking to each other ? Your poor communications are ridiculous and damaging for whatever little respect Pakistan has left in this game.

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Rogers Evans

Jan 22, 2015 05:05pm

Truth is always bitter. PCB may claim any thing, but reality is that both are unfit and not 100% healthy. They may be vital for the team, but due to health problems, each one is a liability in the tteam.

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Moshim Gorwal

Jan 22, 2015 06:07pm

Good news if Mibah will not fit for WC. Then Fawad Alam will fill his void. Bad news if Junaid will not available for WC. Then Umar Gul/ Imran Khan should replace him,

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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad

Jan 22, 2015 10:17pm

Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong in this case?

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Jawwad

Jan 23, 2015 12:36am

Yasir Arafat would have been much better replacement.

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syed

Jan 23, 2015 01:33am

Not sure if Junaid and Misbah are fit. What is certain is that Intikhab Alam is the fittest PCB employee. 23 years ago I saw a burly overweight Intikhab Alam as the coach in 1992 world cup.23 years later he is still in charge of some kind of useless PCB committee. There is no retirement age for people who are yes man or who have connections.

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syed

Jan 23, 2015 01:47am

PCB is like a government hospital. As a doctor you become registrar of a medical unit and remain registrar for decades or as long as your uncle in Ministry of Health or relative in army is alive. Australian cricket board is different. Selectors and office bearers change no matter how good they were in their cricketing careers. Hence the outcome is good. Azhar Khan, Waseem Bari, Iqbal Qasim, Wasim Jaffer, Intikhab Alam, Mohammad Ilyas are from an era when I was trying to complete my matriculation degree. Now I have 5 children. I am a middle age man and contemplating retirement in next 5 years but the office bearers in PCB remain unchanged!!

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syed

Jan 23, 2015 02:00am

My team:- Yunus (captain), Shahazad, Afridi (one down),Omar Akmal, Sarfaraz, Harris Sohail, Abdul Razzak, Irfan, Anwar Ali, Gul andYasir Shah (presuming PCB hates Fawad Aalam) 7 Batsmen (Yunus, Shahzad, Afridi, Omar Akmal, Sarfaraz, Harris Sohail and Razzak) 3 Fast bowler (Irfan, Gul, Anwar Ali) 3 Allrounder ( Afridi, Razzak, Anwar Ali and ? Harris Sohail) 3 spinners( Afridi, Yasir Shah and Harris Sohail, ? Shahzad)

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optimist

Jan 23, 2015 02:56am

PCB is disorganized. Javed Miandad was inducted in the 1992 team late while still on injured list because he is a match winner. But none of the players coming out of the injured list in the current 15 selected for the WC are match winners. All those players coming out of the injured list would be hesitent perfgromers. I don't see any wisdom in selecting Ehsan Adil, Bilawal Bhatti, Wahab Riaz, Sohaib Maqsood and Misbah. Every Pakistani will back this team and hope the team wins the WC.

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optimist

Jan 23, 2015 04:38am

Time to send back un-fit players and get back fit players who are also in form. Fawd palyed only three tests and he scored 168 in his first test, he has an avg. of 41.66 In ODI his average is 45.14 and first class matches his average is 56.90 and he scored close to 9,000 runs. There is not a single baysman in the 15 member WC team that has a better record. Just check the averages in cricinfo.

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A Pakistani

Jan 23, 2015 03:00pm

@optimist Just one addition to your stats, In his first ever tournament in 2006-2007. He was awarded as Best Batsman, Best Bowler, Man of the series & Man of the Match(Final). But we have captain who never played any one day international in Australia thinks that even Sohail Tanvir is a better batsman than him.

Recommend 0

optimist

Jan 23, 2015 08:44pm

Recently Shoaib Malik, Azhar Ali, Sohail Tanvir and a few others have given interviews. All off them are wishing the team best but have offered their services in case of injuries. In the meantime we hope the players remain fit and we must back the 15 selected. There are two scenarios. If the trip Hafeez, Misbah and Younus Khan bats the first 35-40 overs. At best they can make 3 runs per over. This will leave a burden on the remaining batsmen Umar Akmal, Haris Sohail, Sarfaraz and Afridi to score at 10 runs an over. If the trio gets out within 10 overs after scoring 20-25 runs would be better for the team. So my suggestion is to send the trio lower down the oredr and open with Afridi followed by Umar Akmal and Sarfaraz.

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A Pakistani

Jan 23, 2015 09:09pm

@optimist The batting order you suggested is completely unacceptable by Misbah only.

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