• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Haris Sohail Unlikely To Play First Odi Against England Remains Doubtful For Entire Series

Haris Sohail unlikely to play first ODI against England, remains doubtful for entire series

Aryasekhar Chakraborty

In what could be a big blow for Pakistan ahead of their limited-overs series against England, middle-order batsman Haris Sohail is unlikely to take part in the opening ODI slated to be played on Thursday, 8 July. He also remains highly doubtful for the two remaining matches as well. 

The stylish left-handed batsman complained of an injury in his right leg and had to subsequently miss the practice sessions and both intra-squad games in Derbyshire. 

Sources close to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that Sohail will undergo an MRI scan and is already under the rehabilitation process and doesn’t seem fit to take part in the first ODI. 

"He has a leg injury and is unlikely to take part in the first ODI and could even miss out on the remaining two matches," the source was quoted as saying by Sportstar. 

With Haris Sohail missing out in all probability, Pakistan could hand potential debuts to two players. Abdullah Shafique or batting all-rounders like Saud Shakil and Agha Salman could be in line to make their international debuts. 

Meanwhile, Sohaib Maqsood who returned to the team after a hiatus owing to his stupendous run of form in the recently concluded PSL is expected to get a look in. 

Coming back to Haris Sohail, the southpaw suffered a back injury during the tour of South Africa in 2019 and had to subsequently fly back home from the Rainbow nation. He also flew back to Pakistan midway through the tour of New Zealand. 

 

Discover more

Top Stories
news

Blessing Muzarabani rattles Bangladesh top order, puts hosts in commanding position

Bangladesh seems to have lost their foothold in international cricket and once again it has been a shoddy performance from the Bangladesh batsmen in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe. Courtesy some exceptional piece of fast bowling by Blessing Muzarabani, Bangladesh finds itself in a spot of bother tottering at 167/6 at the time of writing this piece. It was Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque who won the toss and put Zimbabwe in. Muzarabani made an immediate impact in the very first over castling Saif Hassan with a peach of a delivery. He kept bowling in the right channels creating pressure on the experienced Bangladesh middle-order. Richard Ngarava partnered Muzarabani very well and bagged the other opener in quick time as the Bangla Tigers were reduced to 8/2. A solid partnership of 60 runs between Shadman Islam and the skipper Mominul steadied the ship but Islam’s dismissal again tilted the scales in favour of the home team. Mominul tried to rebuild yet again with Mushfiqur Rahim but the partnership of 37 runs was brought to an end by Muzarabani as he removed Rahim after surviving a few close shaves. Rahim padded up to an inswinging delivery and soon after Shakib Al Hasan was also dismissed and Bangladesh were staring down the barrel. Mominul Haque looked the most assured of all the Bangladesh batsman and went on to notch up yet another half-century. Mominul was dismissed on 70 due to a poor shot. He ended up cutting a short and wide delivery straight to the gully fielder. Litton Das and Mahmudullah are currently at the crease trying to get Bangladesh to a competitive first-innings score.

news

Shubman Gill to fly back home, replacement yet to be named

Shubman Gill has been asked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to head back home after being ruled out of the five-match Test series against England slated to kick off from 4th August. Gill was diagnosed with a stress injury in his shins. It is believed that Gill was carrying the injury for a while and it got aggravated during the ICC World Test Championship final. Meanwhile, no replacement has been named yet for the young gun. Reports in the Cricbuzz states that the BCCI is not pondering the option of a replacement right away but they are in a dilemma of sorts for a potentially tricky situation if one of the openers gets infected just like the England team which had to undergo quarantine after three players and four support staffs returned COVID positive. Ben Stokes will be leading an entirely new team in the limited-overs tourney against Pakistan. The team management has made it pretty clear that KL Rahul is not being looked into as an opening option and could be tried out in the middle order. It means that barring Rohit Sharma, only Mayank Agarwal is the other opening option in the 20 member squad. Abhimanyu Easwaran is part of the extended 24 member squad and could get an opportunity in the series. The team management has left it to the selectors to name the replacement for Gill. "They have left it to the selectors to name a replacement, be it Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal or whoever," an official close to the developments told Cricbuzz. It will be a difficult ask for BCCI to fly any of the players to England with most of the available options already in Sri Lanka preparing for the ODI and T20I series against the home team. Just like India, Sri Lanka is also part of UK Government’s red list. Only British or Irish nationals are allowed to enter UK while the rest have to undergo a minimum of 10 days. While Rohit Sharma underwent self-isolation in Australia before taking part in the last two Tests, it will be difficult for BCCI to suddenly arrange for a 10-day quarantine for a player in foreign conditions.

news

New Zealanders to book date with the Mace as WTC Trophy goes on countrywide tour

The ICC World Test Championship trophy or the Mace will be going on a week-long, nationwide tour of New Zealand, the New Zealand Cricket confirmed. The tour would start in Whangarei on Monday, July 26, with the highest wicket-taker for the BVlackacaps in the WTC, Tim Southee leading the caravan at his home town. Other venues in the Kiwi nation where the trophy would be on display include Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. David White, CEO of NZC said that it was basically the demand of the people that he was persuaded to rethink the idea of the parade, having initially decided against it as many players from the team stayed put in the UK playing the T20 Blast. “It’s quickly become apparent that Kiwis want an opportunity to be part of, and to share in this historic achievement. We’ve been inundated with requests to do something so that New Zealanders can join in with the team and share the moment,” White said in a media release. “This is just as much a chance for our BLACKCAPS to say thank you to New Zealanders as anything else, and for NZC to express its gratitude to the country for creating an environment in which this was even possible,” he added thanking the people of New Zealand for standing behind their team. Will Sommerville, Jeet Raval and Todd Astle, the three players involved with the Blackcaps over the course of the WTC, but not part of the winning team in England would also be presented with their Winner’s medals during the celebratory week. Schedule of the Mace tour in New Zealand 26th July - Whangarei 27th July – Auckland (Eden Park) 28th July - Tauranga/Hamilton 29th July - New Plymouth/Palmerston North 30th July - Wellington 31st July - Christchurch 1st August – Dunedin (Forsyth Bar) 1st August – Invercargill (Stadium Southland)