The recent concern regarding Pakistan’s fast bowler Haris Rauf’s rib sprainhas been put to rest, as his scans on Tuesday came back clear. The MRIscans revealed no signs of injury to Rauf, ensuring that he won’t miss anyWorld Cup matches.
Rauf had to undergo scanning tests after sustaining a rib sprain during NewZealand’s innings in the match at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium onNovember 4.
Additionally, all-rounder Shadab Khan, who suffered a concussion during amatch with South Africa last month, is recovering well. Shadab had anawkward fall on his shoulder, resulting in a head injury, and he wasreplaced by Usama Mir in the subsequent match against Bangladesh.
Remarkably, this was Shadab’s third concussion since September last year.However, the leg-spinner is reportedly making a good recovery and will beevaluated during the upcoming training day.
With Pakistan getting ready to face the struggling England team onNovember 11, the team members will resume their training tomorrow(Wednesday) at 2 pm local time after a day off today (Tuesday). Despitetheir recent victory via the DLS method against New Zealand, uncertaintiesstill loom regarding whether Babar Azam’s team can qualify for the WorldCup semi-finals.
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Several factors will determine the Green Shirts’ chances of advancing tothe knockout stage of the tournament. The best-case scenario for Pakistanis securing a victory against England, coupled with a win by Sri Lankaagainst New Zealand on November 9, which might lead to Pakistan’squalification for the semis. Beyond this straightforward scenario,Pakistan’s fate in the tournament also hinges on Afghanistan, who arecurrently tied with Pakistan at eight points.
If Afghanistan wins both of their remaining matches, against Australia andSouth Africa, they will qualify for the semis with 12 points. However, evenif they win one of their two remaining matches and Pakistan wins their nextmatch against England, both teams will have 10 points, bringing the netrun-rate (NRR) into consideration.
Currently, Pakistan’s NRR stands at +0.036 compared to Afghanistan’s-0.330. However, the equation may change as Pakistan is yet to play onemore match, while Afghanistan still has two more matches in the tournament.