Pakistan captain Babar Azam said Friday that injured quicks Haris Rauf andNaseem Shah remained central to his team’s World Cup plans, after theirabsence saw the team crash out of the Asia Cup.
Azam’s men went down to fellow co-hosts Sri Lanka by two wickets Thursdayin a last-ball thriller of a rain-shortened Super Four knockout game inColombo.
Both Naseem and Rauf were injured in the Super Four loss to India in the50-over tournament, a tune-up for the ODI World Cup in India starting nextmonth.
“Haris Rauf is not bad, he has a little bit side strain but will recoverbefore the World Cup,” said Azam.
“Naseem Shah has missed a couple of matches but I don’t know about hisrecovery. But in my opinion he will be in the World Cup.”
The pace duo’s absence was felt when Pakistan failed to defend 252 in their42-over-a-side match against Sri Lanka.
Charith Asalanka steered his side home in that game, hitting a four and adouble off the last two balls, bowled by debutant Zaman Khan.
“Definitely when you lose your best bowlers, that costs you and your team,”Azam said after the match.
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“We were not short of effort but didn’t finish well.”
Zaman, a fast bowler who made an impression in the Pakistan Super League,needed to defend eight runs and bowled the first four for just two,including a wicket.
But the left-handed Asalanka, who made 49, had the home crowd rejoicingwith his winning strike to take Sri Lanka, who won the last edition of thetournament, into their 11th Asia Cup final.
Azam said the team would learn from their mistakes to put on a better showin India next month, where they will meet the hosts in a hotly anticipatedOctober 14 clash in Ahmedabad.
“In fielding we lacked the kind of response that we should have got. In thebowling, there is an issue in the middle overs,” said Azam.
“We will try to learn from them and will clear them before going into theWorld Cup. APP/AFP
