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Pakistan team might be dealt a major blow as their star pacer Shaheen Afridi is likely to be ruled out of cricketing action for a significant time in the future after the left-arm quick aggravated his knee injury during the final of T20 World Cup 2022. Afridi could not complete his quota of four overs against England as he faced problems with his knee. The pacer seemed to injure it while taking Harry Brooks’ catch in the outfield.
Now, there is a possibility that Afridi will miss Pakistan’s upcoming assignments against England and New Zealand. Although the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not made an official diagnosis public yet, it appears unlikely that Afridi will be available for the home Tests against England and New Zealand through December-January. PCB is expected to make the details of Shaheen’s injury public only after the team reaches Pakistan.
While the pacer was anyway set to miss the Test series against England as a part of a planned gradual return to the longer format from the original knee injury, Afridi was expected to feature in the series against New Zealand. Now, as the premium pacer will not be available, Haris Rauf can get a maiden Test call up.
“Afridi will fly back home via Dubai with the rest of the Pakistan squad today. Haris Rauf is understood to be in line for a shot at red-ball cricket for the first time as Afridi's replacement,” claimed an ESPNCrincinfo report.
Knee injury haunting Afridi!
It all started when the left-arm quick picked up the injury while fielding during a Test against Sri Lanka in Galle in July. PCB tried to get Afridi back in action as soon as possible but the pacer had to miss a few tournaments and series before ultimately making a comeback at the T20 World Cup 2022. However, Afridi looked off-colour in his first game at the showpiece event. But the pacer slowly gained rhythm and was back at his best with 11 wickets in the tournament.
But during that catch of Brooks, Afridi seemed to land awkwardly on his right knee and looked in pain straight away. He came back to bowl the 16th over but had to walk off the field after delivering one ball.