The Pakistan cricket team’s opener, Fakhar Zaman, has been ruled of the Green Shirts’ fifth match of the ICC World Cup 2023 against Afghanistan at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on October 23.
Fakhar, 33, couldn’t completely recover from a knee injury and will not be available for selection for the match against Afghanistan, which is a must-win for the Men in Green because any outcome other than a victory would make things difficult for Babar Azam-led Pakistan.
According to reports, the rehabilitation of Fakhar’s knee injury is going on and team management is confident that the left-handed opener will be available for the match against South Africa on October 27.
Fakhar, even though is an important player in the team, was replaced by Abdullah Shafique in Pakistan’s second World Cup game against Sri Lanka.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan is currently having a tough time in the World Cup after suffering back-to-back defeats against arch-rivals India and Australia in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.
The Green Shirts also have two victories to their name but they came against relatively weak sides of the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, with the latter missing a few key players.