Rehman, Misbah, Akhtar may sit out of Canada encounter

 Flying high in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Pakistan cricket team is facing a couple of injury scares in Sri Lanka as their premier left-arm off-spinner Abdur Rehman is nursing a left leg muscle injury.

Abdur Rehman is likely to miss Pakistan’s next match against Canada on Thursday but he is not the only player struggling with an injury. Pakistan’s top middle-order batsman, Misbah-ul-Haq is also facing an injury.

Pakistan’s manager, Intikhab Alam, told local media on Tuesday that Abdur Rehman will sit out of not so important tie against Canada as his injury will take five days to heal.

 

“Rehman sprained his leg while fielding in the match against Sri Lanka and had to put on a strapping in order to bowl. It’s an adductor muscle rupture,” Alam told reporters here.

Rehman, who turned 31 on Tuesday, is a key member of Pakistan cricket team and has been preferred over an orthodox off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for the past some months. Rehman has represented Pakistan in 17 ODIs so far and taken 13 wickets, one of which he took in the 11 runs victory against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

“We don’t want to risk Rehman and will wait for him to recover,” said Alam.

Rehman’s injury has given Saeed Ajmal the chance to prove his mettle as he has been warming the bench for past some series.

Alam further stated that Misbah-ul-Haq is also nursing a hamstring injury and is likely to be rested in the Canada game while sources told The Sports Encounter that the team management is also considering resting Shoaib Akhtar and give chance to either Junaid Khan or Wahab Riaz.

Pakistan playing a bowler short: Imran Khan

Pakistan may have won their opening two matches of the World Cup but former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan feels the team would struggle as the tournament progresses as it is playing a bowler short.

Imran, under whom Pakistan won their first and only World Cup title in 1992, said he would try to speak to current captain Shahid Afridi and coach Waqar Younis on the matter.

"I strongly believe that although we won against Sri Lanka, Pakistan is playing one specialist bowler short and needs to include a bowler in place of a batsman or all-rounder," he said.

Imran pointed out that against strong opponents and on a good batting pitch, Pakistan's bowling could struggle.

"So far our bowlers have done well in the World Cup but the team could feel the pinch against stronger opposition. I think they must play either Saeed Ajmal or an extra pace bowler," he said.

The cricketer-turned-politician also maintained that it was no use playing all-rounder Abdul Razzaq at the number eight position.

"Frankly speaking he is being wasted there and he is not the one to take the new ball in the sub-continental conditions. I think Pakistan need to be looking at taking wickets with the new ball instead of giving Razzaq a containing role," he said.

"It is very important for Pakistan to win this World Cup as such a victory would go a long way in clearing the image of Pakistan cricket after the recent controversies and also maybe convince teams to start touring Pakistan again," he added
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Afridi, Misbah on the move in rankings

Their good showings in back-to-back World Cup matches against Kenya and Sri lanka have helped Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and his deputy Misbah-ul-Haq to improve their rankings on the International Cricket Council (ICC) computer.

Afridi, who has taken nine wickets from the two games, has rocketed to the 11th position in the bowlers’ list, up by 12 places. Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has also jumped to the 37th spot, up by seven places.

Misbah, who struck an unbeaten 83 against Sri Lanka here on Saturday, has climed to 32nd (up by 12 places) while Younis Khan has jumped to 44th (up by four places). Both Misbah and Younis hit consecutive fifties in the wins against Kenya and Sri Lanka last week.

According to an ICC media release issued on Monday, there has been significant movement in the ICC ODI Player Rankings after 11 matches of the World Cup 2011 with no fewer than four players achieving career-best rankings.

In the latest rankings, which were released after the stunning tied Group B match between India and England in Bangalore, Australia’s Shane Watson, JP Duminy of South Africa, Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate and South Africa’s Dale Steyn have all achieved personal landmarks.

Watson, who scored 79 against Zimbabwe and 62 against New Zealand, has climbed four places to break into the top 10 for the first time in his career. Duminy’s contribution of 42 not out against the West Indies has lifted him two places to share 15th spot with captain Graeme Smith and West Indies’ Chris Gayle while Ten Doeschate’s 110-ball 119 against England has helped him vault 12 places to 20th position as Steyn has jumped four places to fourth position after his figures of 3-24 against the West Indies.

South Africa’s duo of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers maintain the top two positions in batting chart.

Daniel Vettori of New Zealand continues to lead the bowlers’ list with South Africa’s Morne Morkel in second place and Ray Price of Zimbabwe moving up one place to third position.

In the ODI Player Rankings for all-rounders, Ten Doeschate has moved up four places to a career-best fifth position as the top four remain unchanged with Shakib leading the way. Afridi retains the third spot on the list.

Happy birthday Boom Boom Afridi

KARACHI: Pakistan’s skipper for One Day Internationals, Shahid Khan Afridi turned 31 on Tuesday and The Sports Encounter and its team congratulate the skipper on his birthday.

Shahid Afridi, who is leading top bowlers in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2010, born on March 1, 1980 in Khyber Agency and has represented Pakistan in 27 Tests, 314 One Day Internationals and 42 Twenty20 International matches in his almost 15 years career.

Known for his blistering hitting and probing leg-spin bowling, Shahid Afridi is a tailor-made player for ODIs and T20s while he resigned as Test captain and announced his retirement from the format after losing Test match in England last year.

However, Boom Boom Afridi continued to lead Pakistan in the ODIs and T20s and led the team to a historic victory in 6-match One-Day series against New Zealand in their country earlier this year.

Pakistan have played two matches so far in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and in both matches, Afridi has bowled superb spells taking nine wickets and thus is leading the other top bowlers like Mitchell Johnson of Australia and Kemar Roach of West Indies.

Afridi first came into the international cricket fold in 1996 and started his ODI career in a great fashion blowing away Sri Lankan bowling attack in only his second ODI blasting a century from just 37 deliveries.

He never looked back after that day and played crucial role in Pakistan’s victories over the years.

Shahid Afridi has scored 6606 runs and taken 301 wickets from 314 One Day Internationals and is only the second player after Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka to take over 300 wickets and scoring over 6000 runs.

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