Senior cricketers Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman may not have been fully fit when they were selected for the T20 World Cup squad, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) medical panel.
Senior selector Aaqib Javed voiced the same worries during a press conference last week and promised that the board would look into the issue.
After assessing Babar and Fakhar during the World Cup, Dr. Javed Mughal, a UK-based specialist on sports physiotherapy and medicine who joined the PCB medical panel in January as director of sports exercise and medicine, voiced his worries, according to a source close to the board.
The issue surfaced when Babar, citing hamstring pain, declined to participate in the National T20 Championship following his return from the World Cup. Fakhar also experienced similar problems.
“When Babar was examined his injury turned out to be more serious than initially diagnosed while Fakhar also has been struggling with the same problem for months now,” PTI quoted the source as saying.
He claimed that after receiving approval from Cliffe Deacon, the physiotherapist for the Pakistani team, the national selection committee informed the medical panel that Babar and Fakhar had been selected for the World Cup squad.
Due of his intimate friendship with players with nagging injuries, Deacon is alleged to have previously permitted them to play.
Under the medical panel’s supervision, Babar is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the national cricket academy. It is anticipated that he would be cleared to participate in the Pakistan Super League, where he will captain Pehsawar Zalmi. The PSL commences on March 26.
Fakhar was not fully fit for the 50-over series in Bangladesh, but he has finally recovered to play in the T20 tournament, he said on social media on Tuesday after making an appearance in a National T20 Cup match.
Both players missed the Bangladesh tour, where Pakistan lost the series 1-2. However, sources close to the selectors have indicated that Babar’s poor performance in the T20 World Cup was the reason for his axe even before the injury concerns surfaced.
