LAHORE
\nPakistan\u2019s pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi is expected to be available for the national side\u2019s ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup opener against arch-rivals India on Oct 23.
\nShaheen injured his knee during Pakistan\u2019s tour of Sri Lanka in July and was ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup T20 despite being named in the preliminary squad.
\nThe left-armer travelled to the Netherlands with the team for the three-match One-day International series against the hosts and to the United Arab Emirates for the Asia Cup.
\nAlthough the Pakistan Cricket Board had claimed before the Netherlands series that Shaheen would continue his rehabilitation while accompanying the national squad, he was sent to London for what the board\u2019s chief medical officer Najeebullah Soomro termed as \u201cuninterrupted, dedicated knee specialist care\u201d.
\nThe step raised questions if the PCB realised the seriousness of the injury in its early stages.
\nThe belief at the board\u2019s higher offices is that Shaheen will be available by the start of the T20 showpiece in Australia.
\n\u201cThe PCB medical team has been receiving daily reports over the knee injury status of Shaheen and we expect the bowler will be there with the national team to play against India on October 23 in the World Cup match,\u201d PCB\u2019s chief executive officer Faisal Hasnain told Dawn on Thursday.
\n\u201cFrom Sri Lanka to London, the PCB has been following the advice of the medical team and if they advise Shaheen to have treatment in the US then the PCB will follow that too.\u201d
\nFaisal said the decision to keep Shaheen with the team for the Netherlands tour and the Asia Cup was taken to have the PCB\u2019s medical experts at the bowler\u2019s disposal in person.
\n\u201cWe are receiving good reports from London on Shaheen\u2019s recovery and the decision to keep the bowler with the national team was taken because our best medical experts were travelling with the team so he (Shaheen) could get every possible help on time,\u201d said the PCB CEO. \u201cShaheen is our national asset and one of the top world class bowlers.\u201d
\nPakistan is scheduled to host the 2023 Asia Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy but there are questions over the preparedness of the national stadia, which have not hosted international tournaments since the 2008 Asia Cup.
\nFaisal, who joined the PCB in December last year, admitted that the venues were far from ready to accommodate big international events. The 62-year-old said the PCB had to align their stadia according to the standards set by the International Cricket Council (ICC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE Pakistan\u2019s pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi is expected to be available for the national side\u2019s ICC Men\u2019s T20 World Cup opener against arch-rivals India on Oct 23. Shaheen injured his knee during Pakistan\u2019s tour of Sri Lanka in July and was ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup T20 despite being named in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-281195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n