Pakistan opening batter Imam-ul-Haq has replaced injured Fakhar Zaman in Pakistan’s squad for the ICC Champions Trophy ahead of the big contest against arch-rival India.
The 27-year-old, who has featured in 72 ODIs, has 3138 runs to his name at an average of 48.3.
Fakhar got injured during the opening match against New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said he will not travel with the team to Dubai for their highly anticipated match against arch-rivals India on February 23.
The ICC later confirmed that the left-handed opening batter has been ruled out of the tournament ahead of the crunch India game.
Zaman injured himself while fielding in the first over of the match. As a result, he stayed off the field for some time and only came to bat at number 4 due to fielding rules.
Pakistan missed his presence in the dedicated opening slot as the make-shift openers, Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam, scored only 22 runs from the first powerplay while chasing a sizeable total of 321 runs. This was Pakistan’s worst-ever powerplay total at home.
Even when he came to bat, Fakhar was visibly in pain and failed to make an impact. He struggled his way to 24 runs off 41 balls at a strike rate of 58.53, before being dismissed by Michael Bracewell.
Salman Ali Agha (42 off 28) and Khushdil Shah (69 off 49) tried to make up for the damage caused by sluggish batting by the top order but failed to take Pakistan over the line.
The Greenshirts’ title defence got off to a stuttering start with New Zealand winning the Group A match by 60 runs on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s bowling at the later part of the innings was equally poor, as they conceded 207 runs in the last 25 overs and 94 runs in the last 10 overs.
The touring side were 113-3 at the halfway stage of their innings and still racked up 320-5 riding hundreds by opener Will Young and player-of-the-match Tom Latham. However, the host nation only managed to score 260 runs.
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