Pakistani batter Fakhar Zaman has been officially ruled out of the remainder of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 after aggravating his knee injury during the match against the Netherlands. Pakistan has called up Mohammad Haris to replace Zaman in the squad.
Zaman was not originally part of Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup because of his knee problems and came in as a risky late replacement for legspinner Usman Qadir. Fakhar missed the defeats against India and Zimbabwe before returning against the Netherlands in Perth on Sunday where he made 20 off 16 balls but aggravated his knee injury.
Meanwhile, Haris, who was traveling with the squad as a reserve, was called up to the main squad just hours before Pakistan is set to clash with South Africa in Sydney in a must-win match, to keep their hopes of semi-final qualification alive.
Haris, who can also bowl off-spin and keep wickets, was approved as a replacement by the event’s technical committee after Zaman was ruled out of the tournament with posterior cruciate ligament damage in his right knee.
The 21-year-old Haris has only played one previous T20 international, against England in Lahore in September. He played in place of Mohammad Rizwan and kept wickets and also scored 7 runs.
Haris has also played four ODIs for Pakistan with the best score of 6 runs against the West Indies in Multan in June this year.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bat first on the SCG pitch. Mohammad Haris was included in the playing XI. On the other hand, South Africa went in with Lungi Ngidi as an extra pacer in the team, unlike their previous match here against Bangladesh, where two spinners played.
(AFP inputs)
