After Junaid, now Hafeez ruled out of Pak WC squad

Pakistan’s tale of woes ahead of the World Cup continued as their experienced allrounder Muhammad Hafeez was on Sunday ruled out of the tournament with a calf muscle injury. “Hafeez has a calf muscle injury and doctors say he requires two to three weeks to make a complete recovery. The tour selection committee has sent in a request to the board Chairman to allow them to replace Hafeez with opener, Nasir Jamshed,” PCB media manager Raza Kitchlew said.

“A request with medical reports has been dispatched to the ICC technical committee to allow this replacement,” he added. The sidelining of Hafeez from the World Cup is a big blow for Pakistan’s chances in the mega event as he has been a leading performer for them in 155 One-day Internationals scoring 4542 runs and also taking 122 wickets. Although he is presently suspended from bowling in international cricket by the ICC due to an illegal bowling action, he was picked in the World Cup squad by the selectors for his batting ability alone. Hafeez was due to appear in a ICC official bowling reassessment in Brisbane on February 16 but the PCB is now contemplating asking the ICC to extend the date until the all-rounder makes a full recovery from his injury.

“Hafeez sustained the injury during the second One-day International against New Zealand, it is taking time to heal,” the PCB official said. He said the decision of replacements was with the tour selection committee but the final approval came from board chairman Shaharyar Khan.